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The Joint Summer School was established in 2012 as an international joint program together with the Karolinska Institute (Sweden), King's College London (UK), and Peking University (China). The program brings together outstanding doctoral students from around the world to learn the latest insights from faculty members at each university and engage in research exchange with one another. The host university rotates between the four participating institutions around a program that primarily consists of lecture courses.

The Joint Summer School 2024 was held at Keio University from Monday, July 1, to Friday, July 5, on the theme of “Longevity: from Science to Social Biology,” welcoming two faculty members and three to five doctoral students from each university. From Keio, sixteen faculty members gave lectures, led by Prof. Masato Yasui of the Department of Pharmacology in the School of Medicine, who played a crucial role in establishing the program. Participating Keio lecturers were from the School of Medicine, Faculty of Pharmacy, Faculty of Science and Technology, Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care, WPI-Bio2Q, Center for Supercentenarian Medical Research, Center for Preventive Medicine, and the Keio University Global Research Institute (KGRI).

Faculty members from other universities also gave valuable lectures on a wide range of topics, including Life sciences & Medicine, Human & Applied Physiological Sciences, Health Development Studies, Advancement of Integrated Medical and Engineering Sciences, Health Data Science, and Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics. Since some researchers were already familiar with each other's work, lively Q&A sessions and subsequent discussions continued long after the lectures had ended.

The program featured many group work activities, promoting interaction among students. Many participants expressed positive feedback about the opportunity to interact with researchers from diverse fields, and there were numerous instances of participants engaging in discussions across national boundaries. Some students voiced their intention to collaborate with researchers they met during this program, demonstrating a proactive attitude toward applying what they learned to their future research. The program also included a tour of the National Stadium, the venue for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, and an AI Hospital tour led by the student ambassadors from the Keio University School of Medicine, where participants observed cutting-edge medical technology.

On the final day, the doctoral students were divided into three groups to discuss how they could incorporate the lectures into their own research themes, with a representative from each group presenting a summary of their discussions to the entire assembly. This activity provided a valuable opportunity for researchers from various fields, ranging from science to social biology, to exchange opinions on how to solve problems in an aging society. It is our hope that the students participating in this program will become future global leaders and that the participating institutions will come together to create an international medical alliance.

With a focus on longevity and AI, the Joint Summer School 2025 is scheduled to be hosted by the Peking University Health Science Center and is expected to be a catalyst for future research development.