On May 15, 2013, PSU received a visit from Prof. Dr. Maritta Välimäki and Dr. Minna Anttila from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Turku, Finland, at the President’s Office Building, Hat Yai Campus. Prof. Dr. Amornrat Phongdara, Vice President for International Affairs, Dr. Ruth Sittichai, Vice-Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and representatives from the International Affairs Office warmly welcomed our guests.

Collaboration in the past and now: DepisNet

Prof. Dr. Välimäki has been collaborating with Dr. Ruth Sittichai since 2008, when both of them participated in a Cyber-Bullying prevention project under the sponsorship of the European Commission. Afterwards, Dr. Ruth visited the University of Turku in February 2013 and discussed more about the cooperation between our universities, starting with a project for preventing possible mental problems in adolescents, named DepisNet. This program has been running in Finland since 2006, and a pilot project will be implemented in Thailand in the near future.

This collaboration and the subsequent Memorandum of Understanding open up new opportunities for more cooperation among various faculties at PSU and University of Turku, such as staff and students exchange, and visiting scholars.