On the occasion of Talent-Spot 2023 Manila held in January 2023, ICR Travel Award was presented to 4 top-performing students out of 17 student candidates from the Philippines. In March 2023, the awardees, two of them were from University of the Philippines Diliman, and one each of the other two were from University of Santo Tomas and De La Salle University.

They were invited to participate in a week-long research training at the laboratory of their utmost interest at ICR, Kyoto University. At the conclusion of the training program, each of the awardees gave a short presentation of their research experience at ICR. Through the relaxed and open discussion, the students interacted with young researchers and faculty members of ICR to promote networking. One of the students, Matthew Denwell Herrera, will join an ICR laboratory as a MEXT scholar and pursue a Master’s degree from Kyoto University.