The Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN) is an inter-university research institute founded in
2001 for the purpose of conducting interdisciplinary research aimed at generating scholarship for solving
environmental issues.
The mission of RIHN is to bring together research efforts from multiple fields to shed light on the fundamental nature of environmental issues and present comprehensive ideas on the relationship of humans and nature. Since our founding, we have taken the view that problems of human cultures lie at the root of environmental issues. Accordingly, we have always promoted solution-oriented research through a diverse range of interdisciplinary and *transdisciplinary research projects which span the natural sciences and humanities and involve direct collaboration with social stakeholders.
*Transdisciplinary research: In transdisciplinary research projects, researchers collaborate with various social stakeholders with the aim of generating new knowledge. These projects involve a number of processes, including identifying the stakeholders, planning the collaboration, organizing the collaborative research, communicating the study’s findings, and applying these findings in society.
Ⅱ. Research Projects within RIHN’s Program-Project System
In fiscal 2016, we introduced a new system of program and project organization that brings together and integrates projects that have been developed in a bottom-up manner in order to facilitate the generation of robust comprehensive knowledge. Our programs now consist of Research Programs and the Core Program.
There are three research programs, each administered by a separate program director. Each research program covers multiple research projects.
(Program Director: Professor Tatsuyoshi Saijo. Contact: ）
Under the leadership of each program director, the research projects conduct research in line with the priorities of the relevant research program. Research Project Leaders are employed by RIHN and form research teams inside RIHN while collaborating with universities, research institutes, companies, and regional public organizations. In doing so, they leverage the various resources available within RIHN. In this way, the projects can make use of all the resources at RIHN. In the end, it is expected that this scholarly research, in collaboration with social stakeholders, is aimed at solving global environmental issues and produces options for social transformations to reshape public attitudes and values or usher in new social models.
Ⅲ. Project Trajectory
The project trajectory for research projects helps to deepen the contents of the research through a series of internal reviews at RIHN as well as an external review. The trajectory of a project includes three stages: the Incubation Study stage, the Feasibility Study stage, and the Full Research stage. Before entering the Full Research stage, projects may go through a preparatory Pre-Research phase.
As described in “IV Content of the Research Proposal/2. Possible Feasibility Studies” below, proposals with the potential to contribute to a research program swiftly may skip the Incubation Study stage and move directly to the Feasibility Study stage.
RIHN Project Trajectory : Research Project
Incubation Studies
Incubation Studies are joint research projects that aim to discover new avenues of inquiry for comprehensive research aiming to solve global environmental issues. Incubation Studies are meant to lead to Feasibility Studies. RIHN will provide a maximum half year budget of ¥500,000 during this stage.
Feasibility Studies precede Full Research Projects and are joint research projects that aim to test the feasibility of a project. Feasibility Studies are meant to lead to Full Research projects. RIHN will provide a maximum half year grant of ¥2 million during this stage.
When a project is approved as a Feasibility Study, the project representative must become a Visiting Professor or Visiting Associate Professor at RIHN.
For example, a Feasibility Study that commences in October 2019 and passes an internal review by RIHN (usually held in late November) and an external review (usually held in February) by the External Research-Evaluation Committee, composed of Japanese and overseas members, will then be authorized by RIHN’s Board of Advisors and advance to the Full Research stage in April 2020 at the earliest. (See “Ⅳ Content of the Research Proposal/7. Schedule Following Application” and “Ⅶ After the Project is Approved” below.)
Pre-Research
After a project is recommended for Full Research status by the external review, it may go through a one-year preparatory phase. RIHN will provide a maximum annual budget of ¥16 million during this stage (reduced by the appropriate monthly amount if the preparatory phase is less than one year). Project leaders can use this preparatory phase to assemble their team and make other preparations necessary to ensure that research can commence smoothly as soon as the project enters the Full Research stage.
A project cannot enter the Pre-Research phase until the project leader has become employed by RIHN and (if necessary and applicable) joint-appointment arrangements have been made so that the project leader is a full-time researcher at RIHN.
Full Research
Depending on its research plan, a project can spend a maximum of five years in the Full Research stage. RIHN will provide a maximum annual budget of ¥50 million during this stage. Note that ¥50 million is the upper limit for annual budgets. Depending on the characteristics of the research fields involved, project proposals may also aim for annual budgets of, for example, ¥25 million or ¥30 million. While it is possible to request slightly different amounts from year to year, as long as the amount does not exceed ¥50 million, the amount of all annual budgets should be approximately the same throughout the Full Research period.
Please read the details about the available research stages below and apply to the stage that best fits the initial conditions, etc., of the research plan you wish to submit.
Ⅳ Content of the Call for Research Proposals
1. Incubation Studies
If you wish to submit a proposal for a project at the Incubation Study stage, please refer to the overview of research areas below and decide on a specific research topic. We welcome a wide range of proposals that meet the conditions outlined in “Expectations towards Research Projects” items 1 to 8.
Feel free to direct any questions about the research areas or our system to RIHN’s deputy director-general in charge of research (Makoto Taniguchi, deputy director-general. Email: ). For administrative matters, please contact the staff listed in “Ⅷ Other”.
Programs and Research Themes
Overview of research areas
(Research Program 1) Societal transformation under environmental change
The aim of this program is to facilitate a transformation toward a society that can flexibly respond to human-caused environmental changes (including global warming and atmospheric pollution) and natural disasters. To this end, the program focuses on presenting detailed options that incorporate long-term perspectives and that help shape public opinion. Key examples of research under this program include studies that focus on Asia’s long-term paths of development, studies in which the team works with stakeholders to explore the conditions necessary for securing and maintaining basic livelihoods, and high quality solution-oriented scholarly research.
(Research Program 2) Fair use and management of diverse resources
The aim of this program is to help ensure that the resources we depend on for survival (including water, energy, food and other ecological resources) are used fairly, managed optimally, and governed wisely. To this end, the program focuses on providing multifaceted options (that take tradeoffs into account) to the stakeholders who produce, distribute, or consume these resources. Key examples of research under this program include studies that present socioeconomic mechanisms for using resources fairly (which may involve private enterprises) or criteria for evaluating resource use, studies that explore the interfaces between different resources, and scholarly research that presents multiscale models for fair resource use.
(Research Program 3) Designing lifeworlds of sustainability and wellbeing
The aim of this program is to reshape popular notions of the lifeworld and to elucidate the interfaces between different lifeworlds (such as those between urban and rural spaces). The program also seeks to work with stakeholders to solve problems, outline a vision for a sustainable lifeworld, and examine the feasibility of such a vision. Key examples of research under this program include studies that present future models of lifeworlds that sustainably provide for our basic needs (food, clothing, housing) and studies that elucidate the interplay between different lifeworlds. The program also welcomes scholarly research focused on designing social models (“future design”) that will transform the behavior, attitudes, and decisions of today’s generation.
2．Feasibility Studies
If you wish to submit a proposal starting from the Feasibility Study stage, please refer to the overview of research areas below and decide on a specific research topic. We welcome proposals that meet the conditions outlined in “Expectations towards Research” items 1 to 9 and that have the potential to contribute to a research program swiftly.
(Research Program 1) Societal transformation under environmental change
Program 1 aims to foster three kinds of studies: studies that focus on Asia’s long-term paths of development, studies in which the team works with stakeholders to explore the conditions necessary for securing and maintaining basic livelihoods, and high quality solution-oriented scholarly research. We are looking for projects that fall under at least one of these three categories and that can play a central role in strengthening and expanding the program.
(Research Program 2) Fair use and management of diverse resources
In line with the aims of Program 2, we are looking for projects that focus on enabling fair use of diverse resources that takes tradeoffs and synergy between diverse stakeholders into account.
(Research Program 3) Designing lifeworlds of sustainability and wellbeing
The aim of this program is to reshape popular notions of the lifeworld and to elucidate the interfaces between different lifeworlds (such as those between urban and rural spaces). The program also seeks to work with stakeholders to solve problems, outline a vision for a sustainable lifeworld, and examine the feasibility of such a vision. We especially welcome scholarly research focused on designing social models (“future design”) that will transform the behavior, attitudes, and decisions of today’s generation.
3．Types of Projects
From the Feasibility Study stage on, projects are divided into two types: Independently Organized and Institutional Collaboration. If you wish to propose a project for the Feasibility Study stage, you need to choose the appropriate type. (Applicants for the Incubation Study stage do not need to choose a project type.)
Independently Organized Type
In projects of this type, an individual researcher organizes a research project at RIHN and conducts joint research there. If the project advances to the Full Research stage, the researcher must become a full-time researcher at RIHN and serve as project leader. A project leader must be a professor or associate professor. RIHN will consult extensively with the project representative’s institution of affiliation about employment and related personnel matters.
For Independently Organized Type projects, the joint-appointment system cannot be used. Note that this is different for Institutional Collaboration Type projects.
Institutional Collaboration Type
In projects of this type, a researcher from a university or research institute (or department thereof) partnered with RIHN organizes a research project at RIHN and conducts joint research there. The researcher’s organization need not have concluded a partnership agreement with RIHN at the time of application. After a project is selected, RIHN will begin negotiations with the organization in question. The necessary procedures will be finalized by the time the project enters the Pre-Research or Full Research stage, after which the project will be officially launched.
When a project advances to the Full Research stage, the project leader should be seconded or dispatched to RIHN from the institution of affiliation. Alternatively, the project leader can become a full-time researcher at RIHN. A project leader must be a professor or associate professor. RIHN will consult extensively with the project representative’s institution of affiliation about employment and related personnel matters.
If the project leader plans to use the joint-appointment system, RIHN and the institution of affiliation will enter into discussions to establish the percentage of time the project leader will devote to research at RIHN.
To encourage project leaders to make research at RIHN their primary focus to the maximum extent possible, RIHN requires those who use the joint-appointment system to devote at least 70% of their work time to research at RIHN (including participation in meetings at RIHN). This will be stipulated in the partnership agreement or memorandum of understanding between RIHN and the institution of affiliation.
4．Eligibility
Applicants must:
1） be a professor, associate professor, lecturer, or assistant lecturer at a national, public, or private university or similar institution; or
2） be recognized by the Director-General as having at least the same level of competence as such.
5．Research Period
October 2019 to end of March 2020
6．Expenses
RIHN will cover the cost of travel and expendable items within the scope of the project’s budget. Please prepare a plan with a budget of ¥300,000 to ¥500,000 for the Incubation Study and a budget of maximum ¥2 million for the Feasibility Study. Please note that we do not subsidize fixtures and fittings with a purchase price of ¥100,000 or more during the Incubation Study and the Feasibility Study periods.
7．Schedule Following Application (subject to change)
Incubation Studies
・Notification of document screening results
Friday, August 23, 2019
・Research proposal presentation (of proposals that passed document screening)
Monday, September 2, 2019
・Research project commences
Thursday, October 1, 2019
・IS report, FS application presentation
Friday, February 28, 2020
Feasibility Studies
・Notification of document screening results
Friday, August 23, 2019
・Research proposal presentation (of proposals that passed document screening)
Monday, September 2, 2019
・Research project commences
Thursday, October 1, 2019
・Presentation at RHIN General Meeting
Wednesday, November 27, 2019 to Friday, November 29, 2019
・External Research-Evaluation Committee hearing
Wednesday, February 5, 2020 to Friday, February 7, 2020
8．References
For more information on creating a proposal, consult the following guidelines and “RIHN’s mission” and other content on the RIHN website.
Documents must arrive no later than 17:00, Monday, August 19, 2019 (JST)
Please email the documents as attached PDF files. The PDF of Form 1-1 or Form 1–7 should be a scanned copy of a printed form bearing the necessary seal (signature). In the subject line, please write “Re. 2019 Call for Proposals for Incubation Studies (or Feasibility Studies)” followed by your name and the name of your institution. Please send us Form 1-1 by postal mail, or deliver it to us by hand, by Monday, September 2, 2019. You will receive a confirmation email after you email the documents. Please contact us if this confirmation email does not reach you by 13:00, Thursday, August 20.
3．Where to submit
Email:
Sending by postal mail or delivering in person:
Research Planning Subsection, Planning and Collaboration Section, the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, 457-4 Motoyama, Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto, 603-8047
Ⅵ Review Process
Research proposals will be reviewed by RIHN’s Project Review Committee. The committee will review the documents you submitted in your application, including your budget plan. If your application passes this step, you will be invited to present your proposal at a public seminar at RIHN for comprehensive review.
Ⅶ After the Project is Approved
After a proposal for an Incubation Study is approved, the researchers who will participate in the project are invited to a workshop with the relevant RIHN program director and other RIHN researchers to improve their understanding of RIHN’s mission and the goals of the relevant research program, as well as exchange ideas about how the research project could advance to the Feasibility Study stage. This workshop will be hosted at RIHN. For a research project to advance to the Feasibility Study stage, its representative (the applicant) must report on the Incubation Study and present a research plan for a Feasibility Study at the “IS report, FS application presentation,” which will be held in March 2020. Please note that the Incubation Study report may be made public.
After a project is approved to advance to the Feasibility Study stage, the project leader will present a Feasibility Study report and a plan to transition the project to the Full Research stage at the RIHN General Assembly in November 2019. If the project passes an internal review by RIHN’s Project Review Committee, it will advance to review by the External Research-Evaluation Committee in February 2020.
Ⅷ Other Matters
When preparing the documents to submit, please be aware that certain sections must be completed in the language indicated. Where there is no such indication, you can use either English or Japanese.
As noted in “Ⅵ Review Process,” RIHN’s project system calls for a research proposal presentation (hearing of proposals that passed document screening) that will be attended not only by reviewers but also by RIHN researchers and others. All application documents will be made available to these RIHN researchers. Please take care not to include research data that may not be disclosed.
For the research proposal presentation (presentation of proposals that passed document screening), you may use either Japanese or English. RIHN does not subsidize any travel expenses for attending the research proposal presentation.
The review and debriefing session may be conducted in Japanese or English, but the External Research-Evaluation Committee uses English exclusively.
Inquiries
Planning and Collaboration Section (Research Planning Subsection) of the Administrative Office
E-mail：
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