Deep Sea Exploration with Dr. Yosaku Maeda and Dr. Shojiro Ishibashi (JAMSTEC)

Vancouver, BC — October 27, 2025 — Dr. Adrien Desjardins welcomed two researchers from the Japanese Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) to the University of British Columbia (UBC) for a seminar talk and discussion on advancing marine science and technology.

JAMSTEC is Japan’s national research institute dedicated to improving science and technology, developing academic research, and understanding the Earth and life through ocean research.

During the visit, Dr. Yosaku Maeda, from the Deep-Sea Exploration Systems Engineering Group, and Dr. Shojiro Ishibashi, from the Marine Robotics Technology Research Group, delivered seminar presentations highlighting JAMSTEC’s current research activities. As part of their presentations, they discussed deep sea exploration with autonomous robots and imaging of the sea floor with laser scanning in the hadal zone (6,000m – 11,000m). 

Both Dr. Maeda and Dr. Ishibashi expressed a strong interest in fostering Pan-Pacific collaborations in research and teaching. Follow-up discussions between JAMSTEC and UBC are planned to explore potential joint collaborations and exchanges, for those interested in engaging with JAMSTEC moving forward, please contact Dr. Desjardins.