December 24, 2022
The 93rd Annual Meeting of the Zoological Society of Japan
Waseda Tournament / Tournament Executive Committee Chairperson
Takashi Kato
Post-tournament report
Dear Members of the Zoological Society of Japan
Here is the review of the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Zoological Society of Japan, held at Waseda University on September 8, 9, and 10, 2022. The work of the organizing committee for this meeting began with the creation of the meeting poster. The poster featuring animal feet on a black background, which many of you saw, was designed by Mr. Taro Hasebe, who was enrolled in an art university at the time. He produced three draft designs, and through a member vote, that particular poster was chosen with overwhelming support, especially from younger members.
The symposium and related meetings, which had a deadline of March 22, 2022, received a higher number of applications than in previous years. However, the initial pace of submissions for general abstracts, which began recruiting the following April, was slow, barely exceeding 100 entries even as the deadline approached. As a result, we reconsidered the program scheduling and took the unusual step of extending the deadline by two weeks. As if awakened by something, submissions poured in like a broken dam, ultimately reaching 430 abstracts. After all, the long-lasting pandemic must have subtly influenced the mindset toward participating in academic conferences. As for the high school poster presentations, we were concerned about the impact of various activity restrictions in school settings, but when the time came, abstracts were collected smoothly and without confusion. However, in the first week of August in Tokyo, the number of new COVID-19 cases exceeded 30,000 per day, marking the arrival of the peak of the seventh wave. Fortunately, cases began to decline toward September, but predicting the nationwide spread was difficult, and the organizing committee repeatedly discussed various options, including switching to a remote or hybrid format. Ultimately, while asking participants to take thorough infection prevention measures, we aimed to realize a fully in-person event by securing presentation and reception venues under the condition that capacity would be kept to two-thirds or less of their maximum limits.
As of the advance registration deadline on Saturday, August 20, the number of registered participants was 874 (381 regular members, 299 student members, 38 non-member invitees, 21 regular non-members, and 135 student non-members). Furthermore, during the conference period, an additional 234 participants registered (33 members, 187 students including non-members, and 14 non-members). Although the number of regular participants was slightly lower than expected by the organizers, student participation reached approximately 600—more than double the initial estimate. With a total of 1,108 participants, a grand in-person interaction was realized for the first time in two years. The breakdown by category is shown below.
Public announcement of open recruitment
- General presentations (430 oral presentations, including several withdrawn presentations)
- 17 symposia (83 oral presentations)
Related meetings and satellite symposia: 6 (19 oral presentations and 2 special sessions)
High School Poster Presentations: 71 Abstracts
- Zoology Square: 11 items (Misaki Marine Biology, Sea Squirt, Freshwater Jellyfish, Comb Jelly, Zebrafish, Planarian, Sea Urchin and Amphioxus, African Clawed Frog and Iberian Ribbed Newt, Blue Stentor, Garden Eel, Lungfish [Cancelled])
Society-sponsored events and activities
・The Zoological Society of Japan Board of Directors and Committees
HQ Planning Narishige Symposium
Special Lecture by Professor Yoshinori Ohsumi and 4 Oral Presentations
- International Symposium on Zoology (6 presentations)
・Academic Society Award and Other Award Ceremonies / Encouragement Award, Academic Society Award Winner Lectures (4 Presentations)
Annual conference of the academic society
Public Lecture: "The Future of Environment and Education: A Message from Zoology" (4 presentations)
Tournament planning
- Zoological Society of Japan x NHK "Darwin's Come!" Collaboration Project (2 items)
Zoology Video Production Consultation Office
Nature Program Production Staff Lecture (1 lecture)
Corporate exhibits: 9
Corporate Presentations (2)
Total of sponsorships, advertisements, and support: 28 organizations, 2 individuals
Now, speaking of academic conferences, the banquet is a valuable opportunity for interaction that transcends generations and affiliations. For this conference as well, we eagerly proceeded with preparations to host a lively banquet following the post-pandemic era. Comparing the situation with Waseda University's COVID-19 infection control regulations, we held numerous meetings among the university's General Affairs Department, the academic society secretariat, the organizing committee, and the venue hotel. We ultimately decided to make the final decision on whether to hold the banquet by August 25, just before the scheduled date of September 9. As a result, we had to give up serving alcohol and providing a buffet-style meal, separate the dining and conversation areas, and set the condition that the event's purpose would be an "academic information exchange meeting" rather than an unnecessary and non-urgent banquet, thus giving the green light to hold the "large gathering." We had already collected banquet fees, so we tried our best on the day of the event to implement measures for the participants to offset the sense of high cost, but how did you find this unprecedented non-alcoholic gathering? While there were some harsh comments in the conference survey, we also received many positive opinions such as, "Even without alcohol, you can still have quite deep and meaningful conversations!" I imagine that the venue on that night was filled with memorable conversations that could not have been achieved remotely.
At the Waseda conference, reflecting the proposals and creativity of the executive committee, we implemented the following new initiatives. (All of these were approved by the society's board of directors, but this does not mean they will necessarily be carried over to future annual conferences.)
1) Free conference registration fees for students, regardless of whether they are members or non-members of the society, undergraduate students, or graduate students.
2) Establishment of a new category for "Emerging and Interdisciplinary Fields" in the general presentations
3) Tournament Executive Committee Planning - Implementation of a collaborative project with the NHK nature program "Darwin's Amazing Animals!"
4) Corporate presentation
5) Oral presentations using Zoom
1) This was seen as an opportunity because it was held in Tokyo, where many universities and research institutions are concentrated, and it was intended to welcome younger generations to choose the Zoological Society as a venue for academic activities. Fortunately, Waseda University waived the venue fee, making this possible. Item 2) was established by reflecting the voices of the young executive committee members who said, "Even zoology is constantly advancing, and it should be so." When we opened the lid, we were able to form a single venue with this category, and I am looking forward to the future trends of participants. Item 3) stems from the assumption that there are not a few researchers who entered the world of zoology by watching the NHK program "Darwin's Here!". As many as 20 professional program staff members from NHK Enterprises/NHK participated, and we established a consultation and exchange venue called "Darwin Came to the Zoological Society!" to visualize various scenes in zoology. Furthermore, episodes of program production were disclosed in two lectures. Later, we received comments from the NHK staff: "It was a truly valuable experience for us as well. We were moved to meet Darwin's fans in person. As for the general consultation desk, there were consultations from professors that far exceeded expectations, and the two lectures were a huge success as we are searching for points of contact with viewers outside of broadcasting. We are considering planning participation in other academic societies and workshops as a future program development." Item 4) is an attempt to help with the convention holding costs. Although there are already many examples of implementation in other academic societies, we decided to implement it because depending on the method, there are also merits for researchers to obtain information from companies. Item 5) is the result of considering the convenience of switching PC connections for presenters at each presentation venue and infection control measures. In addition, it was adopted on the premise of transitioning to an online event if it became impossible to hold it in person. About 20 Zoom accounts required were provided by Waseda University. Although some confusion occurred, fortunately, many presenters were already accustomed to remote presentation tools, and things progressed more smoothly than expected. In addition, it became possible to accommodate presenters who were forced to present from remote locations due to various circumstances. Various other attempts were made besides 1) to 5) above, but looking at the post-conference questionnaire, it seems that all of them were understood and accepted by everyone.
Was it the right decision to push ahead with an in-person event during the pandemic, taking on a certain amount of risk, and to go through with an in-person event by discarding the option of adopting the increasingly fulfilling online format? This post-conference report should have been delivered much sooner, but after taking a breather following the Waseda conference and attending multiple basic science and clinical medicine conferences, I searched for the answer to this question. My conclusion is that, after all, it was truly wonderful for everyone to make the trip to Tokyo to participate in this conference and reunite.
The annual meetings over the past few years have been a series of tumultuous events. As noted in the convention announcement, the 89th Sapporo Convention in 2018 had to abruptly relocate its venue to Tokyo and was changed to a partial meeting due to the Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake. The 91st Yonago Convention in 2020 was held as a scaled-down online event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, the Waseda Convention was actually being prepared with the initial schedule to be held in 2021, following the Yonago Convention. However, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed to 2021, and because it was necessary to avoid holding the convention in Tokyo at the same time as the Olympics, a second attempt at the 92nd Yonago Convention was scheduled as the 2021 annual meeting. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 infection situation did not improve, and holding the event in Yonago was not realized for the second consecutive year, resulting in an online convention. The ingenuity and hardships of the Yonago Convention organizing committee have become valuable know-how for holding annual meetings and have been passed on to the Waseda Convention. The postponement of the Tokyo event in 2021 caused various confusions, such as having to cancel the once-secured venue and asking Professor Yoshinori Ohsumi, who was invited to give a special lecture, to wait two years for his presentation. However, this 93rd Waseda Convention, which was shifted to a 2022 holding, became the first “in-person” convention since the 90th Convention held at Osaka City University in 2019.
I have brought up quite a complicated matter, but looking back, if we were to set a theme for each annual conference, the theme for the Waseda conference, which lies between the Yonago conference and the upcoming Yamagata conference, would be "connectI think " is appropriate. As a result of continued irregular scheduling, a historical "disconnect" could easily occur for the Zoological Society, which has a 140-year history. Various things "connectwas important. The reason we insisted on making all general presentations face-to-face and oral at this conference is that a generation is emerging—even among doctoral students—that has only experienced online presentations. Furthermore, the 71 student staff members who supported the venue operations were unfamiliar with conference setup procedures, such as chairpersons' desks, next-speaker desks, microphone handling, and venue guidance. While we were prepared to receive reprimands due to such issues, everyone watched over us warmly. We conducted a post-conference survey, and the fact that 300 responses poured in immediately shows how high everyone's level of interest is in the evaluation of this conference. We received not only positive comments but also criticisms (the survey results are scheduled to be made public). Various issues have emerged, such as how to utilize the new styles of academic exchange brought about by the pandemic moving forward—for instance, the pros and cons of permanently introducing hybrid formats or on-demand streaming, and the positioning of high school student presentations within the Zoological Society. We are passing the baton to the Yamagata conference with these issues still unresolved, and we sincerely hope you will forgive our various shortcomings. Finally, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the companies, organizations, and individuals who provided support for the Waseda conference. We also extend our sincere thanks to all non-society members who showed interest and participated in this conference, to Waseda University for providing the venue, to the executive committee members and all staff who supported the conference operations, and to the society headquarters staff. On behalf of the executive committee, we look forward to seeing you at the Yamagata conference in September 2023.
That's all.
