About the Meeting

NICE (Network of Inter-Asian Chemical Educators) was established in August 2005 based on a proposal made by a Korean member of the IUPAC Committee on Chemistry Education (CCE) to Taiwanese and Japanese CCE members during the IUPAC CCE meeting and the Asian Chemical Congress. It is a network of chemistry education professionals, mainly high school and university educators, centered around Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.

The objectives of NICE’s activities are to compare the current state of chemistry education in Asia, discuss shared challenges, and provide advice on country-specific issues from international perspectives. To achieve these goals, countries take turns hosting symposia and conferences. The first NICE symposium was held in Seoul, Korea, in July 2006. In Japan, it was hosted for the third time following the 6th symposium held in 2015 at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan).

The NICE symposium (or NICE conference) offers a slightly different atmosphere compared to typical international symposia. International conferences generally focus on presentations by researchers, often university professors, which means the topics are not always directly related to lessons conducted at high schools or middle schools. Additionally, oral presentations in English dominate such conferences, which can make it challenging for participants who are not fluent in English to fully engage with the content.

In contrast, NICE has included school educators as participants since its inception (the "E" in NICE stands for "educator" with this intention). As a result, many of the topics addressed are particularly engaging for educators. Furthermore, many general presentations are conducted as poster sessions or small-group workshops. Even those who are not proficient in listening to or speaking English can easily understand each other's ideas by discussing them in front of posters and handling tangible materials. After all, the symbols and formulas used in chemistry are universally recognized across all nations.