On Wednesday, November 8, 2023, the United Graduate School of Agricultural Science (UGSAS, doctorate course), Gifu University (GU), hosted the "IC-GU12 Roundtable 2023" and two other events, with the members of the "International Consortium of Universities in South and Southeast Asia for the Doctoral Education in Agricultural Science and Biotechnology (IC-GU 12^*1)."

Twenty-nine academic staff (16 people in-person, 13 people online including university liaisons) attended the meeting and discussed the agenda, such as the new membership of King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (Thailand), and the prospects for the double degree programs among member universities.

At the "IC-GU12 Joint Lecture Series 2023," guest speakers gave a speech on post-harvest engineering. They were Associate Professor Chairat Techavuthiporn (King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang), Associate Professor Pongphen Jitareerat (King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand), Associate Professor Khandra Fahmy (Andalas University, Indonesia), and Assistant Professor MA Gang (Shizuoka University, Japan). Forty-two students listened to their speeches in person, and 27 students listened to them online.

In the last session titled, "UGSAS-GU & BWEL Joint Poster Session on Agricultural and Basin Water Environmental Sciences 2023," which was co-hosted by GU's "Rearing Program for Basin Water Environmental Leaders (BWEL)," 19 students displayed and explained their research results in a poster session. Of them, two presenters were awarded the best prizes, and three were awarded the prizes of excellence.

At the roundtable meeting, various opinions were expressed concerning the future of IC-GU 12, and students asked many questions to the speakers during the Joint Lecture session.

The following are the comments by the winners of the poster session. "We were finally able to exchange opinions face-to-face after months of the Covid restrictions." "Thanks to the support from all concerned, we won the prize."

We will continue to work closely with IC-GU 12 members and promote international research exchange for the implementation of new projects and joint research activities in the days to come.

1) 20 member universities in nine countries in south and southeast Asia including Japan