i) Support for international activities and development of a sense of responsibility for worldwide disease control for Ph.D. course students and young researchers This program will support the overseas activities of students in Ph.D. course and young researchers at Hokkaido University who want to learn practical epidemiology and need to develop a sense of responsibility for worldwide disease control. We will utilize the overseas institutions established by our previous 21st COE program and the Program of Founding Research Centers for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Lectures and practical training are to be annually provided by experts on infection control. We will encourage young researchers to organize international symposia. Specialists in risk management will also be educated with the aid of the MEXT International Training Program, in which we will send Ph.D. candidates and young researchers to overseas laboratories that operate Biosafety Level 4 facilities. ii) Training of zoonosis control experts The educational program is designed to train Ph.D. candidates, graduates and young researchers from relevant domestic facilities and overseas collaborative establishments, thus forstering zoonosis control experts who will be responsible for the control of zoonoses worldwide. iii) Enhancement of education for students from abroad In collaboration with the International Priority Graduate Programs scholarship scheme adopted by MEXT in 2007, the process of the Ph.D. course for students from abroad will be improved. Masters course education specializing in infectious diseases will be established during this COE program. Through the training courses described above, we will develop human resources who will participate in the international collaboration research network and play a vital role in the control of zoonoses in their own countries. iv) Encouragement of Ph.D. candidates to design original research projects Research plans will be proposed by Ph.D. candidates. Students whose plans are adopted by the scientific committee consisting of faculty members on the COE program will be promoted to research assistants, and will receive financial support under the program. v) Education for young researchers and technicians in overseas institutions In our previous 21st COE program, we conducted zoonosis control training courses for researchers and technicians from other countries. In this global COE program, we will conduct an advanced training course for zoonosis control that will provide lectures and practical training with higher levels of knowledge and technology than the previous ones. Page Top Global COE Office Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine Hokkaido University N18,W9,Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-0818 Japan Tel/Fax +81-11-706-5294 gcoe@vetmed.hokudai.ac.jp