OMU News

On July 27, 2022, Professor Makoto Tsubota, Vice President in charge of International Relations, met with an OCU alumna: Associate Professor Abida Farooqi, from Quaid-i-Azam University (Islamabad, Pakistan), who has been conducting her research as a visiting researcher under the JSPS Invitational Fellowship for Research in Japan. Professor Farooqi’s host, Professor Harue Masuda, who is currently a Visiting Professor at the Urban Resilience Center, attended the meeting. The group discussed Associate Professor Farooqi’s time as a PhD student in Japan and the importance of ongoing international research collaborations.

Professor Farooqi’s talking about life in Japan during her PhD studies
and the importance of international scientific collaboration

Associate Professor Farooqi was invited to Japan to complete a JSPS Invitational Fellowship for Research in 2020, intending to study the systematic risk of lead contamination of soil. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, she was unable to attend for two years and finally she recently joined OMU, in May 2022. 
Associate Professor Farooqi’s studies at OCU began when she met Professor Masuda—who was serving as a Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Expert—on a two-month international training program in Pakistan. After this encounter, she made up her mind to study in Japan. She was accepted as a MEXT scholarship student at OCU, and under Professor Masuda’s supervision, she earned her PhD in 2007.
She is proud to be an OCU alumna and considers Japan her second home.

“No matter where I go, after two years or so, I miss Japan, so, I always try to come back here,” Professor Farooqi explained. “This is my Alma Mater; I recommend my students to come here.”

The assembled professors: Harue Masuda (left),
Vice President Makoto Tsubota (middle),and Abida Farooqi (right)

Contact

International Relations Division
Tel：06-6605-3557