Assistant Prof. Nakano has received the Brilliant Female Researchers Award (The Jun Ashida Award) for Outstanding Women Researchers, sponsored by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). This award recognizes one female researcher per year, primarily under the age of 40, from all academic fields, who is conducting outstanding research contributing to a sustainable society and future. The award ceremony was held on Sunday, October 26, 2025, at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan).（2025/10/26）

The National Science and Technology Fair (hosted by the National Museum of Science and Technology, Thailand) was held at the Queen Sirikit International Convention Center in Bangkok from August 9 to 17. We presented the achievements of the SATREPS project at the event. Professor Voranop, the principal investigator (PI) of Thai side, also attended. On the 13th, we participated in the trophy presentation ceremony for participants of the International Pavilion and received a plaque from the organizers.（2025/08/14）

Professor Isobe delivered a keynote speech at PlasticCon 2025. During the same period, he also participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a newly established microplastics research and training facility in the Philippines. Further collaboration with Filipino researchers is anticipated.

The joint research team led by Assistant Professor Jandang (May-sensei) and Thai researchers summarized and compared the results of three scientific papers on microplastic pollution in Seechang Island, which were presented at the 8th Marine Science Conference held from June 25 to 27, 2025.

Among the 128 participants, the team was selected as the most outstanding presenter and received the ‘Excellence Research Presentation Award’ from Her Royal Highness Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana. Additionally, Dr. Pinsak Srasawadi, Director of the Marine and Coastal Resources Bureau, presented the ‘Distinction Presentation Award.’ Congratulations!

Conference details and ceremony video links

• Website: https://marinescience.rmutsv.ac.th/scholarly_work.php

• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1Z974Oh1PM

Kyushu University has launched "Kyushu University Young Female Researchers and Female Graduate School Students Awards (Sanae-I. Itoh Awards)" to honor young female researchers and graduate students who have made outstanding research achievements within the past three years.

And in 2024, Associate Prof. Alfon was prized by this award. Congratulations!

【Young Female Researchers Award / The Outstanding Researchers Award】

María Belén Alfonso

（Associate Professor, Center for Ocean Plastic Studies, Research Institute for Applied Mechanics）

“Presence and impact of microplastic pollution in marine and freshwater aquatic environments”

For more information, please visit Kyushu Univ Website (2024/11/28)

Dr. Nakano gave a presentation on Japanese microplastics analysis at the International Conference on Marine Plastic organized by the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER), Korea (2024/11/1).

Dr. Nakano gave a presentation on Japanese microplastics research at the International Conference on Marine Debris organized by the Ocean Affairs Council, Taiwan (invited lecture; 2024/09/23-09/26).

Senior Lecturer Dr. Rashidi from Universiti Putra Malaysia stayed at our Thailand and Fukuoka offices to research microplastics. The photo shows the process of collecting plastic (2024/05ー06)

A webinar titled “Best Practices for Microplastics Research.” The event shared the latest findings on research methods for microplastics. More than 120 participants gathered from not only Thailand but also Malaysia, the Philippines, and other countries (2024/5/17)

A marine litter survey of the Gulf of Thailand was conducted by the SEAFDEC2 research vessel of the South East Asia Fisheries Development Centre (SEAFDEC) as part of a SATREPS project (2024/4/3ー2024/4/10)

Assistant Professor Suppakarn Jandang (Dr. May) was praised for the Outstanding Alumni 2024 by Prince of Songkla University. She was selected as the prizewinner out of 400 candidates! Congratulations to her! (Mar 13, 2024).

Kyushu University's international exchange forum, "KYUDAI NOW in Thailand 2024," was held in Bangkok. In this event, the Japanese ambassador in Thailand and the governor of Bangkok were invited. Professor Nakano had a presentation on COPS's activities.(2024/03/12)

SATREPS project members gathered and held a symposium. This symposium commemorated the arrival of the training vessel "Umitaka-Maru" of the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology to Thailand. From Kyushu University, COPS professors and a Ph.D. student gave presentations (2023/12/09)

We visited Viet Nam Environmental and Marine Science Institute (VEMSI) and the University of Science, Hanoi to exchange information on newly introduced microplastic analysis equipment and laboratories. They exchanged information on newly introduced microplastic analysis equipment and laboratories (2024/11/26ー2023/11/30)

Assist. Prof. Jandang as representative of Thailand and Assist,. Prof. Nakano as representative of Japan attended the workshop on the "Determining Microplastics Distribution in Coastal Aquaculture Input Systems and Developing a Mitigation Plan towards Seafood Safety"  (APEC, OWFG) in Indonesia. We will contribute to drafting a final report of this workshop.(2023/11/08ー2023/11/11)

We conducted a collaborative survey with Prof. Moritz from the Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus (2023/10/22ー2023/10/23)

A marine litter survey of the Gulf of Thailand was conducted by the SEAFDEC2 research vessel of the South East Asia Fisheries Development Centre (SEAFDEC) as part of a SATREPS project. Seven researchers from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Prince of Songkhla University participated. From Japan, three COPS faculty members and a team from the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology participated. A joint Japanese-Thai team will now analyze the collected samples. (15/10/2023 - 22/10/2023)

We participated in the Tioman Island Clean-up Campaign on 20 September (IMBC@TIOMAN 2023, organized by the University of Putra Malaysia; please visit the official website). Also, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency reported that COPS contributed to the beach cleanup event "IMBC@TIOMAN 2023." (here) (2023/9/20)

Satreps project members had a joint seminar to report on their research progress. This is the first meeting after the Covid situation (2023/8/26)

Dr. Nakano joined an MP monitoring in Tioman Island, Malaysia, organized by Dr. Rashidi from the University of Putra, Malaysia. Dr. Nakano met Prof. Taufiq, who is the head of the school of Science, UPM (2023/07/27-2023/08/04)

Dr. Jandang and Dr. Nakano joined a meeting "Determining Microplastics Distribution in Coastal Aquaculture Input Systems and Developing a Mitigation Plan towards Seafood Safety."

Professor Isobe, Atsuhiko will give a presentation at the official side event: "A global instrument to tackle global pollution" (Event ID: OBZA5)

The event builds on the UN Decade “Clean Ocean” Satellite activity One Integrated Marine Debris Observing System (IMDOS), that took place in November 2021. It will focus on the need for monitoring marine litter to inform action

29 June 2022, Centre Cultural de Cascais & Hotel Baia, Cascais, Portugal. More information at: https://www.eu4oceanobs.eu/marine-litter-monitoring-to-inform-action/

The Second United Nations Ocean Conference will take place from 27 June to 1 July 2022, at the Lisbon Altice Arena Convention Center, located in Parque das Nações, Rossio dos Olivais, Lote 2.13.01A, 1990-231 Lisboa. More information at: https://www.un.org/en/conferences/ocean2022

Prof. Alfonso participated in the event "4-Dimensional Virtual Ocean for Sustainable Development and Smart Applications". This was a satellite event for the DITTO Summit at London, organized online by JAMSTEC (Japan).

The professors and director of COPS met with Mr. Ryoichi Kawabe (Senior Representative, JICA), Mr. Takahiro Morita (Chief Representative, JICA), and Dr. Shingo Takeda (Project Coordinator, JICA) in Thailand. 

Prof. Isobe and Prof. Alfonso participated in The Future of Ocean Plastics: Designing Diverse Collaboration Frameworks workshop organized by the SCOR and Ocean Bridges.  The session "Ocean plastic monitoring in East Asia: using artificial intelligence, cameras, phone apps, and oceanographic models" was developed on the second day of the workshop, with the participation of Dr. Mitsuko Hidaka (JAMSTEC), Dr. Tomoya Kataoka, and Mr. Fujio Kojima, as panelists.

The Research Institute for Applied Mechanics (Kyushu University) launched a new satellite center in Bangkok, Thailand. This center will help to strengthen international collaborations in the Japanese scientific community. The Center for Ocean Plastic Studies (COPS) is conformed of researchers from Japan and abroad (Argentina, Thailand).