Recruiting Starts for Third NYK Nature Fellowship Five-year project sends Japan-based university students to marine research sites around the world
December 26, 2007
Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK; head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; president: Koji Miyahara) started recruiting university students on December 21, 2007, for the third NYK Nature Fellowship, which will take place in summer 2008. Recruitment is in collaboration with the nonprofit organization Earthwatch Japan.
The five-year NYK Nature Fellowship was set up by the company in 2005 to mark its receipt that year of the Thor Heyerdahl International Maritime Environmental Award. Under the annual program, Japan-based university students are dispatched to marine environmental research sites around the world, where, in collaboration with volunteer staff members, they assist in research while receiving instructions and guidance from scientists. Administered jointly with Earthwatch Japan, NYK has already dispatched 10 university students to marine environmental research from 2006.
Guidelines for fellowship applicants may be viewed at:
http://www.nyk.com/english/csr/society/npongo/index_fellowship.htm
Protection of the ocean, land, and sky is an important theme of NYK Group's social contribution activities. The company intends to continue to provide resources for activities that support people who will be responsible among future generations for such protection.
Earthwatch Japan (http://www.earthwatch.org)Established in 1971 in Boston, USA, Earthwatch is one of the world's largest nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). It provides staffing and funding for field research and surveys around the world. Volunteers dispatched by Earthwatch take active roles at scientific sites, receiving instruction from world-class scientists. Earthwatch Japan was formed in 1993 as a branch office with the aim of promoting Earthwatch activities in Asia. In 2003, it was certified by the Japanese Government as a specified nonprofit organization.
NYK Nature Fellowship (http://www.nyk.com/english/csr/society/npongo/index_fellowship.htm)NYK Nature Fellowship Project is one of the NYK-Thor Heyerdahl Commemorative Projects. It was established in commemoration of NYK's receipt in May 2005 of the Thor Heyerdahl International Maritime Environmental Award. The project was set up using a total of 50 million yen: a U.S. $100,000 (approx. 10 million yen) cash award and a 40 million yen matching gift from NYK. It supports various activities, including six selected research projects on marine environmental protection and activities for human resource development. The five-year fellowship (2006 to 2010), administered jointly with Earthwatch Japan, dispatches Japan-based university students and NYK employees to marine environmental research sites around the world.
Thor Heyerdahl International Maritime Environmental Award (http://www.heyerdahlaward.com)The Thor Heyerdahl International Maritime Environmental Award was set up in 1999 by Dr. Thor Heyerdahl and the Norwegian Shipowners Association. Its purposes are: to contribute to improving the global environment, promoting to all segments of society the environmental benefits of shipping as a mode of transport; and to encourage enactment of new, specific environmental laws. The award has been given biennially since 2001, when it went to the Green Award Foundation. The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation took the honor in 2003, and NYK won the third award in 2005.
Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002)Norwegian cultural anthropologist and explorer Dr. Thor Heyerdahl traversed the Pacific Ocean in 1947 from Peru to Polynesia on a "kon-tiki" raft of balsa wood, made without nails or wires.