On December 9, 2022, Director Nanba attended the award ceremony held at the Embassy of France

On December 9, 2022, Director Nanba attended the award ceremony of the 2nd Science Photo Contest “Beauté cachée de la science” sponsored by the Embassy of France in Tokyo on behalf of his French collaborator Dr. Andre GILLES, who was selected as one of the 12 finalists.

Andre’s photo titled “Kintsugi” is a close-up of a frog’s eye, and the frog’s golden iris looks like a piece of kintsugi, a Japanese art of repairing broken pottery. Our collaborative team is studying the effects of ionizing radiation on the DNA of tree frogs (damage and repair).

The contest is open to photos that focus on the beauty behind the science, and the finalists will be posted online for everyone to vote on the winning photos. Unfortunately, Andre’s work did not win a prize. Importantly, however, the light falls also on the research project itself and researchers’ collaboration behind the photo through the contest.

Participants engaged in lively conversations about science, art, future exchanges and so on with the Ambassador, members of Service for Science and Technology (SST), researchers from a wide range of fields and corporate CSR professionals, as they viewed the photos displayed at the reception hall. It is hoped that future collaborations between Japan and France will be greatly promoted and deepened.
Reference URL (finalists and winners) https://concoursyugen.jp.ambafrance.org/ja/