Disclaimer: machine translated by DeepL which may contain errors.

  Messages from the Dean of the Graduate School and the Dean of the Faculty

	Toward the Development of a Hub for Cutting-Edge Research in the Natural Sciences and Education
	Dean of the Graduate School of Science and Dean of the Faculty of Science Shinichi Ohkoshi (Professor, Department of Chemistry)* At the time of writing

I will step down as Dean of the Graduate School of Science and Chair of the Faculty of Science in March 2026. As this is a rare opportunity, I would like to take this chance to introduce the initiatives undertaken by the Graduate School of Science and the Faculty of Science during my tenure.

From the perspective of cutting-edge research in the natural sciences, the Quark and Nuclear Physics Research Institute (Director: Satoshi Nakamura) was established in fiscal year 2024 as a new affiliated facility and has begun operations as the core of our international collaboration network.This institute will serve as Japan’s hub for next-generation large-scale accelerator research, conducted in collaboration with the United States, to unravel the grand mystery of “What lies inside an atomic nucleus?” Additionally, the opening ceremony for the University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO)—which took twenty years to build—was held in Santiago, Chile.At the Institute for Photon Science and Technology, Vice Dean Shinji Tsuneyuki took the lead in strengthening collaboration with the RIKEN Institute. We believe that both of these initiatives will serve as powerful drivers of basic science in Japan.

In graduate education, we have established the Graduate School of Global Excellence (GSGC), the Forefront Physics and Mathematics Program to Drive Transformation (FoPM),and the International Graduate Program for Excellence in Earth-Space Science (IGPEES), among others. Additionally, the Science Division’s Accounting Section and Information Technology Team are responsible for operating SPRING GX (Project Director: Shin-ichi Ohkoshi), a university-wide organization, and support for doctoral students has been significantly expanded.

From the perspective of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I), led by Vice Dean Kaoru Sato, we have added five new Assistant Professor positions for women under the annual salary system.As a result of these initiatives, the proportion of female faculty members has increased from 9% in fiscal year 2021 to 13% in fiscal year 2025 (45 out of 357 faculty members). We look forward to continuing to increase the number of female faculty members.Regarding the internationalization of education in the School of Science and the Faculty of Science, the Department of Chemistry has been offering the “Global Science Course (GSC)”—a program allowing third- and fourth-year undergraduates to graduate entirely in English—since the 2014 academic year.Under the “Global Standard Science (GSSE)” initiative, launched in the 2023 academic year to advance the internationalization of the latter half of the Faculty program and graduate studies, seven international faculty members have joined the faculty, and the organizational framework for further internationalization is taking shape.Furthermore, for doctoral students, a collaborative research-based dual-degree program began in the 2020 academic year and is currently being implemented with the University of Paris-Saclay in France, the University of Manchester in the UK, and Leibniz University Hannover in Germany.We are also in the process of finalizing arrangements with the University of Rennes in France and National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan. This comprehensive program provides support for living in both countries and awards doctoral degrees from both partner universities. A major objective of this program is to foster new international collaborative research through cooperation between Departments at our partner universities.

Led by Vice Dean Kazuo Emoto, the Communications & Public Relations Committee, the Public Relations Office, and the Information Technology Team are conducting robust and multifaceted public relations activities to highlight the appeal of the natural sciences, and we are widely disseminating this message to society through events targeting various age groups.

The School of Science and the Faculty of Science have always strived to create an environment where researchers can conduct their work freely and creatively, and where students can hone their fresh perspectives and go on to play leading roles on the global stage.We sincerely hope that the Graduate School of Science and the Faculty of Science will further enhance their world-class research capabilities and continue to be an attractive hub for research and education.

Published in Faculty of Science News May 2026