Welcome Message

It is our great honor and privilege to host the UOEH International Symposium 2025, which will take place on Friday and Saturday, November 14–15, 2025, at the University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan (UOEH) in Kitakyushu.

This year’s symposium will be held under the theme, “Inclusive Occupational Health: Advancing Beyond Well-being Through Diversity—from Epidemiology to Green Transformation.”

Since 1981, our university has had the pleasure of convening this international symposium on an annual basis. However, due to various unavoidable circumstances, we were unable to continue the event after 2011. In 2022, with the establishment of the International Center and the generous support of partner organizations and our alumni, we proudly reinstated this important tradition.

The 2025 symposium offers a rich and stimulating program. We are delighted to welcome Professor Ichiro Kawachi from Harvard University for the Keynote Lecture, and Professor David Koh of the National University of Singapore for the Plenary Lecture. We will also host symposia featuring distinguished speakers from the University of Padua in Italy—where Ramazzini, the father of occupational medicine, once taught—China Medical University, the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand, and UOEH.

In addition, our students who participated in the ILO Youth Congress during the Global Initiative on Safety, Health and Well-being at the Osaka Expo will give presentations. We will also hold a Transition Session, a Collaborative Workshop, and a Poster Session, where outstanding presentations will be honored with awards.

Looking ahead to what safe and healthy workplaces should look like beyond 2040, we will adopt a backcasting approach to explore what steps we should collectively undertake now to realize a desirable future.

We warmly encourage your enthusiastic participation and look forward to active and thoughtful discussions.

November is a beautiful and comfortable season in Japan, with colorful autumn leaves decorating the hillsides. We are preparing heartfelt omotenashi (Japanese hospitality), and sincerely hope you will join us for this special occasion.

On behalf of the steering committee, we warmly welcome you to the UOEH International Symposium 2025.

This year, we look to the future: What will an inclusive workplace look like in 2040—and what must we do today to get there? As societies confront the challenges of aging, digitalization, and green transformation, we must rethink how work can be redesigned to support diversity, equity, and human dignity.

Our theme, “Inclusive Occupational Health: Advancing Beyond Well-Being through Diversity from Epidemiology to Green Transformation,” invites broad discussion across fields. We begin with occupational health and epidemiology, but extend our dialogue to include technology, environment, and the economy. We believe that by integrating these perspectives, we can better understand the path forward.

This symposium will explore not only the physical and mental health of workers, but also the deeper connections between people, nature, and kizuna—the bonds that sustain us. We aim to imagine new futures where digital innovation and human-centered values go hand in hand.

We are also excited to present forward-looking sessions. Together, we hope to create a space for reflection, imagination, and action toward more inclusive, sustainable workplaces.

We look forward to welcoming you to a stimulating and collaborative event.