Words from the Chairperson

Toshihiro KASUGA (Nagoya Institute of Technology, Professor)

I have been appointed as the 15th President at the General Meeting held on September 29, 2022. I am working under the organization as shown in the list of officers. In 2023, Professor Kazuaki Hashimoto of Chiba Institute of Technology and Mr. Kenta Takahashi of Shimonoseki Mitsui Chemicals have been appointed as Vice Presidents. Professor Hirokazu Nakayama of Kobe Pharmaceutical University is continuing to assist us in the management of the society as an Executive Director. I would also be happy to receive various opinions from Honorary President, Professor Kimihiro Yamashita, and the advisory board members.

JAIPC will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of this Society in 2026. A wide range of academic and technological topics related to inorganic phosphorus chemistry have been discussed so far. Recently, there may seem to be an emphasis on the development of functional materials, and this would not be possible without fundamental studies. I believe that the studies on inorganic phosphorus chemistry being discussed in JAIPC are promoted in line with the current trends. I believe that JAIPC plays a platform role to create and develop functions of biomaterials, battery materials, catalysts, structural materials, environmental materials, living materials, and so on, based on inorganic phosphorus chemistry.

JAIPC is a small society, but I believe that we can/should take advantage of this flexibility in our activities. The main activities of this society are the publication of “PHOSPHORUS LETTER” (PL) and the international journal “Phosphorus Research Bulletin” (PRB), and the organization of the Annual Symposium on Inorganic Phosphorus Chemistry. I believe that it is an important responsibility of this society to make good use of these activities, especially in fostering researchers and engineers who will lead the next generation and in promoting collaboration between industry, government, and academia. One of our new initiatives is the establishment of the “Mirai Award,” which was approved at the meeting of the board members on September 20, 2023. This award is intended to be given to researchers and engineers who are enthusiastic about the academic and technological research and development in inorganic phosphorus chemistry, and also who are expected to continue to contribute to the further development of this field, especially with a vision toward industry-academia-government collaboration. Details about the call will be published in PL issue 109.

I also believe that this society’s role is to create opportunities for individual members to interact and trigger new collaboration on inorganic phosphorus chemistry. The 11th International Symposium on Inorganic Phosphate Materials (ISIPM 11), which had been postponed, was held in a face-to-face meeting on November 2023. We are back in an environment where we can conduct our society’s activities as we should.

We would like to make a small contribution to the activities of JAIPC. I sincerely welcome the frank

comments and remarks about our scientific activities at JAIPC.