The 4th World Materials Research Institutes Forum

2011.05.22-26
(2011.06.03 Update)

The 4th World Materials Research Institutes Forum (4th WMRIF) was held at the Institute of Metal Research　(IMR), Chinese Academy of sciences, at Shenyang, China, during May 22-26, 2011. This Forum has been established to share the issues concerning management and operation of the institutes, consequently leading to more efficient research and development, and NIMS Advisor, Prof. Teruo Kishi (former NIMS President) and Distinguished Advisor Dr. Masaki Kitagawa have been the President and the Secretary-General respectively since its establishment.

"Picture: Group Picture of the 4th WMRIF participants (at IMR in China)" Image

Picture: Group Picture of the 4th WMRIF participants (at IMR in China)

WMRIF organizes a summit meeting of the directors of materials research institutes from all over the world every two years. This year's meeting was the 4th and the number of member institutes increased from 44 to 47 compared to the last time, indicating that the Forum is getting well acknowledged globally year by year.

The Symposium held during the meeting focused on "Materials Challenges for Safety and Reliability" and 18 invited top-notch researchers including 3 from NIMS presented their latest research results for the four topics, "Design and Fabrication of High-performance Materials", "Characterization and Evaluation of Advanced Materials", "Property and Performance of Advanced Materials" and "Applications of Advanced Materials".
"NIMS president speaking" Image

NIMS president speaking

The total number of participants was as many as 120 people, which is 1.6 times more than the last meeting.

Several participants of the Symposium remarked that it had been very valuable because each presentation was of good quality and they could learn research results in a wide range in such a short period.
The members of the Round Table Discussion of Directors expressed their impression that the discussion on confronting issues of the research institutes was very valuable and the selection of theme was quite appropriate.

During the Round Table Discussion, the administrative office was handed over to the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) from NIMS and NIMS Advisor Prof. Kishi was assigned to the Honorary Director and President Prof. Ushioda to the Vice President.
The next meeting will be held in 2013 sponsored by the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA) in Dubendorf, Switzerland.
Previous Forums
  • 1st: 2005, Tsukuba, Japan, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS)
  • 2nd:2007, Berlin, Germany, Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM)
  • 3rd: 2009, Maryland, USA, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)