On Wednesday, June 2, 2021, an information session about PLANE3T student programs was held online as part of the PLANE3T project undertaken by Soka University under the Private University Research Branding Project.

The university started the PLANE3T project in the 2017 academic year to establish "plankton engineering" as a distinctive interdisciplinary research field. The project team has undertaken technology development and promotion activities in Ethiopia in the areas of environment, health, business, and education to build a sustainable recycling-oriented society. The PLANE3T student programs aim to facilitate Soka students to independently learn the current situation in Ethiopia and make proposals on how to achieve the project's goal. The programs have been carried out every year except for last year, which was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The 2021 academic year is the third year, and the following four programs are scheduled. The purpose of this information session was to provide the details of each program.

Program 1: Study on the effective use of overgrown water hyacinths in Lake Tana
(Supervisors: Prof. Sato of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Lecturer Akizuki, and Assistant Prof. Kishi of the Institute of Plankton Eco-engineering)
Program 2: Construction of an information-sharing system using the PLANE3T server
(Supervisor: Prof. Kinoshita, Faculty of Science and Engineering)
Program 3: Usage proposal and product development regarding microalgae
(Supervisors: Prof. Takagi, Prof. Nishiura, and Associate Prof. Chikasada of the Faculty of Economics; Prof. Sasaki of the Faculty of Nursing, and Prof. Shimura of the Faculty of Business Administration)
Program 4: Environmental and economic education for researchers and entrepreneurs
(Supervisors: Associate Prof. Kakegawa of the Faculty of Economics, and Prof. Suzuki and Prof. Kuwahara of the Faculty of Education)

The information session started with opening remarks from Vice President Koichi Kandachi, who also serves as the project supervisor. Then, the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering Tatsuki Toda, who serves as the research representative, provided the outline of the project contents. Following Professor Toda's briefing, Professor Kishi of the Institute of Plankton Eco-engineering provided proposals on this year's activities based on a questionnaire answered by the students who participated in the programs in the academic year 2019 and shared the messages from those students to the prospective participants. After that, more details about each program were provided, followed by Q&A sessions, and commemorative photo-taking, and breakout sessions for respective programs.

42 students participated in the event, and 25 undergraduate students registered to participate in the programs. Although it was an online event due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it attracted students from a wide range of faculties, including economics, international liberal arts, letters, law, and science and engineering. This year is the final year of the project and the program participants will present the final results, including the results produced so far on the following two occasions: the Soka University Festival in October 2021 and the final symposium scheduled in March 2022.