RIHN operates a system of five-year fixed-term research projects like those of the 21st Century Center of Excellence (COE) and Global COE programs, but which differs in that projects are evaluated at several stages in their progress. The first preliminary stage, taking from six months to one year, is the incubation study (IS), in which a research proposal is drawn up. If the proposal is approved, the research moves to the stage of feasibility study (FS), in which preparatory research is conducted for about one year. The FS then passes through the Project Evaluation Committee and, if approved, the Board of Advisors. With the board's approval, the project proceeds through a transitional period of about one year of pre-research (PR) to three to five years of full research (FR). After the second year of full research, a mid-term evaluation is carried out; and further evaluations follow one year before completion and at the time of completion. The validity and feasibility of research plans and the significance of results are thus subjected several times to evaluation and review, in a system designed to assure the quality as well as the independence of research.

•The Process Leading to Full Research

The “Policy for Implementation of Research Projects” states: The research project system at RIHN is to produce results through the cooperative research of specialists in diverse fields for a fixed period on a designated topic that accords with the founding mission of RIHN. The launching of research projects as designated joint research is to be based on the collaboration and concerted action of the wider community of researchers and should undergo the following process.

•System for evaluation of completed research

The three research projects completed in 2007, together with the five completed in 2006, bring to eight the number of research project results that RIHN has published. In 2008, full research is progressing in fourteen projects. This number is unlikely to change greatly in the future, meaning that the proportion of completed projects will continue to grow. The content of these completed projects and the value accorded them will be important in shaping the future of RIHN, being reflected in the further development of research and the launching of new projects.

With this idea in mind, the system for evaluation of completed research was revised during the 2007 academic year, as follows.

1) While previously the Project Evaluation Committee evaluated projects retrospectively at the time of completion (FR5), since 2007 progress has also been evaluated in the year before completion (FR4). The results of the evaluation are reflected in the research activities and collation of results in the final year, which are reported to the committee for the final evaluation upon completion of the project (FR5).

2) Two years after completion (CR2), a report is submitted to the Project Review Task Committee on the publication and ramifications of the research results and their contribution to society; and the committee makes a retrospective summary evaluation from the standpoint of RIHN.

With these changes, the February 2008 meeting of the Project Evaluation Committee examined the three projects completed in the 2007 academic year (retrospective evaluation under the old rules) and the two projects due to be completed in the 2008 academic year (evaluation one year prior to completion, under the new rules).

•Projects Completed in 2007

The three projects completed in academic year 2007 differed in the global environmental problems they addressed, their fields and methods of research, but all were carried out as “integrated research” involving specialists from a range of disciplines. At the end of each project, the results are disseminated in various forms, not only academic papers but also books, films, and educational materials. Detailed evaluations of each project are also published on RIHN's home page.

All three projects concerned the utilization and management of forests and green spaces in Asia; and based on their results, in October 2007 RIHN held its second international symposium, entitled Asian Green Belt: Its Past, Present and the Future, where opinions were exchanged with scholars from around the world. The results are due to be published in a collection of papers, and summaries can be viewed on RIHN's home page.

•Projects due to be completed in 2008

	Interactions between Natural Environment and Human Social Systems in Subtropical Islands. (Project leader: Takaso Tokushiro)
	Interactions between Environmental Quality of a Watershed and Environmental Consciousness: With Reference to Environmental Changes Caused by the Use of Land and Water Resources. (Project leader: Sekino Tatsuki)