An Initial Visit Represents the Beginning of Collaboration

between HNUE and NSYSU (National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan) 

Probably, at the hottest period in Hanoi of the begin of the summer season, in June 3, 2016, Prof. Hin-kiu Mok from the Asia-Pacific Ocean Research Center, National Sun Yat-sen University (Taiwan) has brought a dozen interesting contents to students and staff from Faculty of Biology, HNUE.

In the morning, he spent much time on giving a lecture about fish evolution and ecology to the freshman and sophomore students who will teach Biology in English. Some basic concepts of evolution were explained clearly and helpfully to those students, namely microevolution, macroevolution, natural selection and speciation by addressing on particular evidences of fishes. Another part of his lecture was about some ecological terms detailed about autecology, synecology and system ecology. He also made a highlight on the aims of a fish ecology course, especially to the Coral reef fishes that was published by Dr. Peter F. Sale, and audiences could comprehend the main contents of this book as he focused on some.

In the afternoon, Prof. Mok introduced a topic entitled the bioacoustics and its applications with examples on invertebrate to vertebrate representatives, e.g., cicada, snail feeding, fishes, amphibians, birds, bats and cetaceans by summarizing related papers. Actually, this field has been received comparatively little concern in Vietnam, particularly of fish, which attracted the audience when he documented about the swim bladder of croaker that is a key structure in sound production. The seminar went into the importance of bioacoustics studies’ application, herein soundscape or acoustic ecology that will be applied to conservation on biodiversity. How do you feel when you are listening to fish sounds in the Amazon River? It must be glorious, hence, listening to nature sounds may have therapeutic effects to human beings. The speaker shared his experience in utilizing electronic equipment to start the new field and encouraged the audience to explore bioacoustics in Vietnam. Various effects of anthropogenic sounds on fishes were also addressed at the end of the seminar. Students really enjoyed the topic and they had some challenging questions.

The official visit closed by the discussion between the Dean, Faculty of Biology (HNUE), Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Lan Hung Son and Prof. Hin-kiu Mok what we should consider for the further corporation between the two institutes in education and researching. The HNUE hopes that the visit could open a new door in establishing a relationship with the National Sun Yat-sen University, especially with respect to the presented topic – bioacoustics studies.

In company with the mentioned lecture and seminar, Prof. Mok took a Hanoi tour across some famous sites, such as The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, The Ho Chi Minh Museum, Hoan Kiem Lake, and he tried varieties of Vietnam traditional dishes during the first time in the capital of Vietnam. “This is one of the unforgettable trips in my life and   hope to revisit soon”, he said.     

Here are some photos from the visit:

Photo 1. Fish evolution and ecology lecture at Faculty of Biology (HNUE)

Photo 2. Fish evolution and ecology lecture at Faculty of Biology

Photo 3. Seminar about bioacoustics and its applications

Photo 4. Group photo at Faculty of Biology

Photo 5. Fish study instruction at Faculty of Biology

Photo 6. Prof. Mok with bike carrying fish traps at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology

Photo 7. Hanoi visit at the Temple of Literature

Photo 8. Prof. Mok and students of Faculty of Biology at Hoan Kiem Lake