With support from the JST Sakura Science Program, eight master's course students from the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH) were invited to NIMS from December 1 to December 7, 2024, During their visit, NIMS provided them with valuable opportunities to explore examples of the 'state-of-the-art materials science research'. This invitation program also focused on visits to laboratories of NIMS 25 researchers who serve as doctoral course faculty members at seven top-ranking domestic research universities participating in the NIMS Joint Graduate Program.

Prior to this program, a hybrid-format NIMS-IITH workshop was held at the IITH campus to identify highly motivated students with the potential to become leading scientists in the near future. As part of the recruitment process for the JST invitation program, two top-level NIMS researchers visited the IITH campus, where they gave presentations and engaged in discussions at the hybrid workshop, and gave special lectures to the IITH students.

Students who participated in both the hybrid-format workshop and the special lecture by two NIMS researchers, and who expressed a strong desire to conduct joint research with NIMS during their future doctoral research, were picked up through an internal process at IITH. Based on this selection, NIMS invited the eight master's course students with support from the Sakura Science Program grant support.　

On the first day of SAKURA Science Program, the students arrived in Tsukuba in the evening. To welcome them, we organized a “Tsukuba City Life Start Guidance” session, which also served as a welcome dinner. During this session, we provided advice on how to make their short stay enjoyable in Tsukuba. 　

On the second day, we held a guidance session introducing early-career researcher support programs designed to strengthen collaboration within NIMS, and then IITH students were introduced to the data-driven materials research being conducted in NIMS .

From the second to the fifth day of their visit, the students toured the laboratories of the 25 NIMS researchers who also serve as faculty members in the doctoral programs of Japan's seven top-ranking research universities that have established Joint Graduate Program agreements with NIMS. Through these visits, they gained firsthand experience of cutting-edge materials science research.　

During their lab visits, as it is difficult to feel the atmosphere of Japanese university campuses by touring only NIMS laboratories, they also visited the laboratories of the faculty members in charge of the joint PhD courses at the University of Tsukuba and the Institute of Science Tokyo (formerly the Tokyo Institute of Technology), both of which have established agreements with NIMS for Joint Graduate Programs.　

On the sixth day, the final day of the lab visit program, we held student-led workshop in which the eight IITH students and the eight PhD students enrolled in NIMS Joint Graduate Program presented their research project's results. This workshop was designed to encourage exchange among the students, with pairs of IITH master's course students and NIMS Joint Graduate Program doctoral course students serving as chairs and asking questions based on the presentations from the perspective of the students.　

After the student-led workshop, the IITH students, along with the doctoral students of the NIMS joint Graduate Program, moved to the laboratories and engaged in a fulfilling exchange of opinions with NIMS researchers for nearly three hours.

Following the exchange, each participant received a JST certificate of completion. They then gave the short speeches sharing their impressions of the NIMS lab visits and their future ambitions regarding joint research with NIMS researchers. After that, the friendly get-together was held.

As the last day of the Sakura Science Program was the day of their return to India, the IITH students made a promise to return to Japan, with three NIMS staff members seeing them off at Narita Airport near the passport control gate. NIMS hopes that the IITH students who participated in the Sakura Science Program A will continue to visit NIMS after enrolling in doctoral programs and play a key role in strengthening the partnership between both institutions.