On Saturday, July 26th, 2025, the Health Sciences Leadership Program (HSLP) hosted the first-ever Discussion Café under the newly established Institute of Science Tokyo. To commemorate the merger between Tokyo Medical and Dental University and Tokyo Institute of Technology, a diverse group of students gathered at the Yushima Campus. There were six undergraduate students from medical and dental science fields, three from science and engineering fields, one master’s student in a medical-related discipline, six doctoral students, and even several students from Science Tokyo’s wider alliance with Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. 

The Discussion Café was designed to encourage cross-disciplinary dialogue and strengthen ties between fields. Students from different academic and cultural backgrounds engaged in meaningful discussions in English, sharing ideas and aspirations while deepening their understanding of each other’s work. 

The workshop was divided into two sessions. The first session, titled “Future Team Time Capsule,” invited participants to share their personal histories and formative experiences that reflected their current academic and career passions. As teams exchanged ideas on where they see themselves in 5-10 years and the impact they hoped to cultivate, some students realized that they were, in fact, working on very similar topics from different angles. The seeds of future collaboration were planted here. 

The second session held more creative energy with the theme “Spill the Beans.” This invited teams of participants to pitch ideas for university improvement that would attract investment from a hypothetical billionaire. This improvisational topic prompted participants to speak candidly about the challenges they face and personal thoughts regarding their current activities, leading to wider discussions about focusing on interdisciplinary research, cultivating students who are problem solvers, establishing a more dynamic startup ecosystem, and actively fostering an international community in Tokyo. 

Overall, despite varying levels of confidence in English, this Discussion Café successfully created a vibrant and empathetic space for students to connect beyond academic discussion. It was exciting to see students exchanging contacts and staying afterward for longer chats with new faces, achieving the dual purpose of making this event a strong place to network as well as celebrate the newly integrated Institute of Science Tokyo. Students actively imagined the future of interdisciplinary collaboration and committed themselves to fostering a new culture where medicine, engineering, language, and leadership converge.
 
We look forward to seeing these connections grow and flourish, and hope that similar initiatives will expand in future events.