I hope you, the readers, will indulge me these personal reflections as I prepare to finish my time as HFSPO Secretary-General. Many wonderful memories have been flooding in.
The peer review panels of HFSPO
Although a lot of hard work for the committee members and HFSPO staff, these have been an unadulterated pleasure for me. The insight, rigour and collaborative nature of the meetings are stunning, with all members stretching themselves to understand the exceptionally wide scientific scope of the HFSP applications. It is a privilege to be able to read these frontier science applications and to listen to the discussion on the most innovative ideas for interdisciplinary research. How quickly the ‘frontier’ changes each year, with the top research applications being different to those of the previous year and the technology, which one year is cutting edge and provides new conceptual approaches, becoming routine within a year or two.
30th anniversary celebration of HFSP in Washington DC (left to right: Warwick Anderson (Secretary-General, HFSPO), Shigekazu Nagata (President, HFSPO), Roger Glass (Director, Fogarty International Center), France Cordova (Director, National Science Foundation), Shinsuke Sugiyama (Japanese Ambassador to the USA), Francis S. Collins (Director, National Institutes of Health), Makoto Suematsu (President, AMED), Yoshio Yamawaki (Senior Deputy Minister, MEXT)).
HFSPO’s internationality
What a pleasure it has been to get to know and work with our Trustees, Councillors and peer review committee members from our member countries around the world: five, in addition to the European Commission, from Europe, two from North America, five from Asia (one from the Middle East, one from south Asia and three from east Asia) and two from Oceania. With science as a universal venture, it is marvellous to have seen how harmoniously HFSPO’s committees operate.
Remarkable events
The Awardees Meetings in Singapore, Lisbon, Toronto and Tsukuba have been undoubtedly the most interesting scientific meetings that I have attended during my career. Listening to the outstanding and complexly interdisciplinary presentations quickly convinces us of the value of HFSP.
Japan’s leadership in the establishment of HFSPO and its continuing generous support is inspiring. The special meeting hosted by the Japanese Ambassador to the USA at his residence in Washington, attended by the Directors of NIH and NSF, was a chance to acknowledge the remarkable leadership that Japan has shown over 30 years. This was reinforced at the 30th anniversary celebration in July 2019 in Tokyo. It was a particular honour that former Prime Minister Nakasone’s son Hirofumi Nakasone was a guest of honour at that meeting. My visits to Tokyo have been another personal pleasure for me. It is one of the world’s most remarkable cities and cultures. The pleasure was always enhanced by the assistance of Deputy Secretary-Generals Hideki Mizuma and Masami Watanabe.
30th anniversary of HFSP in Tokyo - the HFSP Nakasone Award ceremony (left to right: Shigekazu Nagata, Michael Hall, Hirofumi Nakasone, Warwick Anderson)
We have held a number of successful scientific meetings of HFSP alumni and current awardees. A particularly memorable one was held in Beijing in 2016 and Guntram Bauer and I will never forget the fiery Sichuan dinner afterwards, hosted by HFSP alumnus Xiaohui Zhang. Another wonderful scientific meeting took place with alumni in the UK in 2016, held immediately prior to the London triennial meeting of HFSPO Members. It was yet another demonstration that HFSP’s peer review identifies outstanding scientists and that their frontier-extending research continues throughout their careers.
Inspirational people
HFSPO alumni include winners of the Nobel Prize and many other prizes awarded in recognition of high scientific achievement. In Stockholm, I was delighted to meet the 2018 Nobel laureate Dr. Tasuku Honjo, who has held an HFSP research grant, hosted several HFSP fellows, and served on and chaired the HFSP Fellowship Review Committee. We are also proud that we awarded the HFSP Nakasone Award in 2016 to Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, who subsequently won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2020.
HFSPO Presidents Nobutaka Hirokawa (2012-2018) and Shigekazu Nagata (2018 - present) are towering figures in their scientific fields. For me, both have been marvellous to work with, showing the wisdom and leadership characteristics often (but not always) found in scientists who have reached the top of their fields. I thank them both from the bottom of my heart.
Last, but not least, my thanks go to the small, efficient and friendly team at the HFSPO office in Strasbourg. Working with them has been a delight.