Record number of applicants receive grants from the Watanabe Trust Fund

14 students and researchers at the University of Iceland are heading to Japan for study and research work and 10 students and researchers from Japanese universities are coming to Iceland for the same purpose. These people are all recipients of grants from the Watanabe Trust Fund at University of Iceland, which was established to foster academic links between Iceland and Japan. This year has seen a record number of grants allocated from the Fund, which is based on one of the largest individual donations ever made to the University of Iceland.

The grants awarded from the Watanabe Trust Fund were announced in the University of Iceland Aula on Tuesday 21 May. Toshizo Watanabe, the founder of the Fund, was present. A total of 66 students and researchers have received grants from the Fund since the first allocations in 2011 and now 24 new recipients join that group, which is a record. This was made possible by a handsome donation of USD 2 million to the Fund from Toshizo Watanabe last year, bringing the capital up to USD 5 million, the equivalent of ISK 600 million.

As previously stated, the Watanabe Trust Fund is intended to foster academic links between Iceland and Japan and has provided students at the University of Iceland with the opportunity to study at Japanese universities as well as enabled Japanese students to apply to study at the University of Iceland. The Fund has also supported academics at UI to travel and conduct research in Japan and vice versa, thereby encouraging increased research collaboration between Iceland and Japan in various fields.

The total funding allocated this year is ISK 12 million.

Scholarships to study in Japan were awarded to:

• Finnur Helgi Malmquist, student in engineering physics, to study at Sophia University.
• Haukur Júlíus Arnarson, BA student in Japanese language and culture, to study at Kansai Gaidai University.
• Steinar Darri Þorgilsson, BS student in computer science, to study at Waseda University.
• Katrín Kjartansdóttir, BS student in biology, and Kristlaug Inga Sigurpálsdóttir, student in radiography and Japanese, to study at Kyoto University.
• Gesina Kernchen, BA student in Japanese language and culture, to study at Kyushu University.
• Helgi Björn Hjartarson and Saga Unnsteinsdóttir, BA students in Japanese language and culture, to study at Seinan Gakuin University.
• Svandís Ólafsdóttir, BA student in Japanese language and culture, to study at Nagoya University.

Scholarships to study at the University of Iceland were awarded to:

• Daichi Yamaguchi, BA student in archaeology from Kyoto University.
• Hana Ishii, BS student in chemistry from International Christian University.
• Hikari Tsutsui, BA student in sociology and professional development from the State University of New York and Kansai Gaidai University.
• Miu Fukuda, student in Asian and Pacific studies from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.
• Miyako Irie, BA student in sociology from Kwansei Gakuin University.
• Saori Fukusawa, BA student in English from the University of Iceland.
• Yuriko Kobayashi, BS student in environmental science from International Christian University.

Grants for research stays in Japan were awarded to:

• Edda Óskarsdóttir, adjunct lecturer at the University of Iceland Faculty of Education and Diversity, who will stay at Hokkaido University.
• Kristín Loftsdóttir, professor of anthropology at the University of Iceland Faculty of Sociology, Anthropology and Folkloristics, who will stay at Tokyo University.
• Hafdís Guðjónsdóttir, professor at the University of Iceland Faculty of Education and Diversity, who will stay at Hokkaido University.
• Milan Chang Guðjónsson, senior lecturer in gerontology at the University of Iceland Faculty of Health Promotion, Sport and Leisure Studies, who will stay at Tsukuba University.
• Carlos Argáez García, post-doc in mathematics at the University of Iceland Faculty of Physical Sciences, who will stay at Hiroshima City University.

Grants for research stays at the University of Iceland were awarded to:

• Jun Shiota, PhD student in political sociology from Kobe University.
• Koo Bonjun, PhD student in urban planning from Kyoto University.
• Oliver Trinidad Belarga, senior lecturer in special education from Kansai Gaida University.

More about the Watanabe Trust Fund at the University of Iceland

The Watanabe Trust Fund was founded at the University of Iceland in 2008, with the aim of strengthening academic ties between Iceland and Japan.

Toshizo Watanabe, who donated the Fund's founding capital, is an entrepeneur and one of the owners of Nikken, a wellness products company based in the USA. As an exchange student at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, he met Geir H. Haarde, the former prime minister of Iceland. Watanabe received a scholarship to fund his study in the USA and was forever grateful to those who supported his education. Watanabe wanted to repay the help he had received by establishing a fund to support young people to study abroad. He contacted Geir H. Haarde, his former classmate, with the idea of establishing a fund at an Icelandic university.

Toshizo Watanabe sits on the board of the Fund, along with the chair, Már Másson, professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Iceland, and Dr Kristín Ingvarsdóttir, programme manager at the Nordic House.