On December 9, 2025, at the 50th Anniversary Ceremony of the Faculty of Agriculture of the National University of Laos (NUOL) held in Vientiane, the capital of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, JIRCAS Senior Researcher MARUI Junichiro was presented with a certificate of appreciation on behalf of the Minister of Education and Sports of Laos by the President of NUOL. The award recognized his long-standing achievements in international collaborative research in the field of fermented foods.

JIRCAS has conducted joint research with the Faculty of Agriculture at NUOL since 2012, and Dr. Marui has clarified a production method that contributes to stabilizing quality and improving the safety of padaek, a fermented freshwater fish seasoning widely used in Laos. Through technology dissemination activities in rural areas, he has demonstrated the effectiveness of these methods. In addition, to utilize rice—a major agricultural product—for nutritional improvement and health promotion, he has developed a method for producing koji amazake using Japanese koji mold and has worked to introduce it locally.

Furthermore, he has helped establish laboratory facilities for analyzing microorganisms and components of fermented foods, and has cooperated in providing practical training for students and capacity building for young researchers in the field of food science. These efforts were highly praised for their contribution to the development of food science, contributing to the improvement of rural livelihoods through the enhanced quality of fermented foods, the dissemination of technology, and human resource development.

At the 10th International Agricultural Science, Technology and Development Conference held the following day (December 10), Dr. Marui delivered a keynote lecture introducing the outcomes of the collaborative research to date. In addition to JIRCAS, universities and international organizations from France, Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Republic of Korea that have collaborated with the Faculty of Agriculture of NUOL participated in the conference. JIRCAS was also presented with a certificate of appreciation by the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture of NUOL in recognition of its contributions, including the exhibition of research results at the conference.

【Reference Information】
Presentation of JIRCAS collaborative research results at the 40th Anniversary Ceremony of the Faculty of Agriculture, National University of Laos (NUOL), and at the academic conference, “2nd National Research for Development Forum on Getting Ready to AEC,” hosted by NUOL.