On June 20, Antoine Petit, Chairman and CEO of France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) visited Tohoku University, where he and his delegation met with President Teiji Tominaga, university leadership, and faculty.

President Tominaga highlighted the significant progress in international joint research made possible through the joint laboratory ELyTMaX (Engineering Science Lyon-Tohoku for Materials and Systems under Extreme Conditions) and the research network ELyT Global - collaborations with CNRS, INSA Lyon, and Centrale Lyon. Achievements include 149 co-authored papers, 20 invited lectures, over 15 double degree PhD graduates, and more than 150 presentations at international conferences. He also emphasized the contributions made to nurturing the next generation of researchers through ELyT Global and expressed his hopes for deepened collaboration with CNRS.

Petit mentioned last year's launch of a joint project at CREATE, the international research hub established with the Singapore government, in which both CNRS and Tohoku University participate. He expressed high expectations for large-scale collaboration in the future in areas of shared strength such as ammonia combustion, materials science, disaster science, and advanced medical care.

The delegation also toured ELyTMaX, the Institute of Fluid Science (IFS), the Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), the Chiba Laboratory within the New Industry Creation Hatchery Center (NICHe), the Advanced Institute for Marine Ecosystem Change (AIMEC), NanoTerasu, and the Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences (FRIS).

This visit is expected to serve as a catalyst for further strengthening research and educational collaboration between Tohoku University and CNRS.