Global COE Program - Kyoto University - In Search of Sustainable Humanosphere in Asia and Africa

Human Resource Training in the G-COE Program

This newly launched research program has the ambitious goals of training young researchers and a new generation of human resources. Research has value precisely when it is sustained and developed, and comes to address new issues, and therefore the training of young researchers is important in any field. In this project, it is important not just to raise this as a goal, but to put into place institutional arrangements to make the nurturing of young researchers possible. This is the significance of the establishment of the “Human Resource Training Center.”

The center will be further subdivided into two divisions: the “Division of Education Programs,” and the “Division of Junior Scholars’ Research and Training.” As shown by these names, these two divisions focus on graduate students studying for their doctorates, and on those in the next phase, who are conducting research, with the aim to work together to create research forums for both groups, help them to polish their knowledge, and learn together the joy of intellectual creation.

At present, we are encouraging all people developing their research potential to take advantage of the center and to participate in the new project. And when we say “young researchers,” we do not mean to classify people by age. Rather, we hope to open the door to people of whatever age who are in the process of taking on the challenge of new research and self development.

In August, the members of the Division of Junior Scholars’ Research and Training carried out a recruitment drive for the faculty and researchers of the center. We will carry out another round of recruitment in the new academic year. However, public recruitment is only one way to bring participants into the project. The Division of Education Programs is preparing for the establishment/strengthening of field stations and the introduction of a “Course on Sustainable Humanosphere Studies” at the graduate school. We are also thinking of a variety of different methods for participation. If you have any ideas of your own for ways to participate, we will be delighted to hear them. Let’s hold meetings and exchanges together to create new paradigms and promote new developments in area studies. (Kosugi Yasushi)