2024
Award Ceremony for Student Video Contest and International Student SDGs Forum held
As part of Osaka University SDGs Virtual Student Exchange 2024 , the Award Ceremony for the Student Video Contest and International Student SDGs Forum were held online on December 16, 2024 under the sponsorship of the Center for Global Initiatives.
Student Facilitators: Nicole Sanchez (School of Engineering) (left) and SATO Kyota (School of Human Sciences)
This 4th Student Video Contest entitled “3 Minutes of Inspiration for Sustainable Development” accepted entries of 3-minute-long videos on the theme of “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” from OU students and students from overseas universities with which OU has agreements.
There were entries of 89 videos from 22 universities from 11 countries, with 11 videos receiving prizes, including the Grand Prize: Osaka University President's Award. These videos showed students’ keen interest in SDGs from various perspectives such as society, economics, and the environment.
In particular, these videos showed a high level of students’ interest in SDGs: 3: Good Health and Well Being, 4: Ensure Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education, and 12: Responsible Consumption and Production.
Prior to the award ceremony, Executive Vice President YAMAMOTO Beverley Anne delivered the opening remarks. Following her talk, Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, Rector of the United Nations University, delivered a powerful message to students in attendance.
At the award ceremony, after Professor ISHIKAWA Mayumi of the Center for Global Initiatives commented on the contest, the 11 prize-winning works were announced by the following presenters.
- Encouragement Award – YOKOCHI Natsumi (Strategy Planning Group, Global Marketing and Sales Department, Panasonic Energy Co., Ltd.)
- Best SDGs Idea Award -- TAKAHASHI Miwako, Advisor for Promotion of Collaboration, Kansai NGO Council)
- Best Production Award - OOTAKE Shinji (CEO, Lamp.K.K. Production Company)
- Grand Prize: Osaka University President's Award - YAMAMOTO Beverley Anne (Executive Vice President for International Affairs (Education), Osaka University)
- Nomination Award -- ISHIKAWA Mayumi, Professor, Center for Global Initiatives, Osaka University
Grand Prize: Osaka University President's Award
Best Production Award
Best SDGs Idea Award
Encouragement Award
At the student forum following the ceremony, a student discussion moderated by OU students, students talked about their efforts to achieve the SDGs and challenges they faced while making videos and answered questions.
Finally, President Nishio congratulated the award winners and thanked attendees, ending the event on a positive note.
Panelists
President Nishio
The International Student SDGs Forum drew more than 90 participants from inside and outside of Japan, providing a valuable opportunity for students around the world to think together about SDGs through online dialogues.
Major Prizewinners
- Grand Prize: Osaka University President's Award - From Fabric Waste to Wonder: Indonesian Women Leading Upcycling Innovation (Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia)
- Best SDGs Idea Award - LOCOL: From Cocoa Waste to Climate-Friendly Cows (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand)
- Best Production Award - Heal Me Out (Osaka University)
- Encouragement Award - Ecoexist: Transforming waste into animal welfare (De La Salle University, the Philippines)
2024 Osaka University SDGs Virtual Student Exchange "Video Production Workshop #2" held
The Center for Global Initiatives held the Video Production Workshop (lectures on filmmaking in English and social gathering) as part of the 2024 Osaka University SDGs Virtual Student Exchange on October 12-13, 2024.
This fourth workshop was jointly held by Osaka University SDGs Virtual Student Exchange Program and the International Exchange Subject “Creative Media Project Course.” Since the course was an international co-learning program with Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), the workshop was held in a hybrid format.
A professional producer of videos selected as one of first-rate works by major broadcasting stations and digital platforms was invited to this workshop for students to explain the fundamentals of filmmaking techniques and provide practical skills training for video making and editing.
19 students (undergraduate: 13, graduate: 6) from 10 schools and graduate schools (Frontier Biosciences, Foreign Studies, Letters, Human Sciences, Science, Medicine, Engineering Science, Economics, Engineering, and Humanities) and the Center for International Education and Exchange (CIEE) participated in this workshop.
The students were from 13 countries: 7 students from Japan and one student from each country of Bangladesh, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mongolia, South Korea, South Sudan, and the UK. 6 students from SJTU participated in the lecture online.
After giving a lecture on filmmaking and editing techniques in the interactive class, in the practical training, the producer answered questions while walking around the classroom, providing practical guidance to each group.
The students had lively question and answer sessions and discussions with the producer during the workshop and made wonderful videos over the limited period of two days.
In the screening of their films, we could see the participants’ growth from films they had made. Some groups planning to enter into a film contest were enthusiastically involved in editing even after the workshop.
Video Production Workshop
2024 Osaka University SDGs Virtual Student Exchange "Video Production Workshop" held
The Center for Global Initiatives held the Video Production Workshop in-person as part of the 2024 Osaka University SDGs Virtual Student Exchange on May 18-19, 2024.
A professional documentary filmmaker was invited to this workshop for students to explain the fundamentals of documentary filmmaking and provide practical skills training.
16 students (undergraduate: 12, graduate: 4) from 8 schools and graduate schools (Engineering, Letters, Humanities, Human Sciences, Foreign Studies, Economics, Engineering Science, and Information Science and Technology) participated in this workshop (capacity: 20).
The instructor spoke about documentary ethics and important things in filmmaking: (1) Documentaries created to convey a filmmaker’s views cannot be neutral and (2) Documentaries can inspire people to take action but have the potential to bring harmful consequences.
In this workshop, participants learned about important things in documentary filmmaking: (1) Narration is an effective tool for documentary filmmakers to provide information in a clear manner and avoid misunderstanding and (2) Filmmaking should involve different people not to make self-satisfied films.
After receiving shooting and editing training, students produced documentaries. Each student group made a 2~3-minute video, presenting them in the presentation, and enjoying interacting with other students.
Video Production Workshop
The 2nd Video Production Workshop will be held in mid-October in English.
We hope you all will join us!