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Welcome to the website of the Hakubi Center for Advanced Research, Kyoto University.
The Hakubi Center for Advanced Research, established originally as the Young Researcher Development Center in September 2009, has moved into its 10th year. During the first six years since the establishment, we have selected each year around 20 researchers based on Kyoto University’s original program and we have recruited a total of 110 researchers. Since the call for applications published in the academic year of 2016 (the 7th year of the project), the Hakubi Project supports two types of appointments: Global Type and Tenure-track Type. The latter type has been newly introduced as part of the “Leading Initiative for Excellent Young Researchers (LEADERS)” of the MEXT, and 10 positions have been allotted to this type. Because of this change, on this 10th year, we have appointed 10 Global-Type Hakubi researchers and 3 Tenured-Type Hakubi researchers as new 10th batch members. We have appointed a total of 167 researchers (14 of them are Tenured-Type) since the inauguration of Hakubi project (as of April 1, 2020). Among 167 Hakubi researchers, 113 Hakubi researchers have already moved out to some other research institutions after the completion of the full term of 5 years or by getting new appointments during the term, and a total of 44 Hakubi researchers are supposed to be engaged in Hakubi Center at the beginning of the academic year of 2020.
Hakubi project is characterized by accepting any application without limiting to the position at specialized discipline but by its attitude to pick up outstanding, promising researchers who are full of the idea for a distinctive study with a strong research mind. As a whole, Hakubi Center aims the establishment of trans-disciplinary and novel studies based on a wide perspective and profound scientific curiosity. The Hakubi researchers do not merely operate within an environment that focuses on their own fixed themes of research but develop their work with their eyes on the future, with an open mind and a deep, and trans- or inter-disciplinary curiosity. In fact, unique exchanges between different fields and joint research have taken place at seminars and presentations regularly and frequently held at the Center. The activities of the Hakubi Center and Hakubi researchers are available from this website.
The Hakubi Project was established as an independent initiative of Kyoto University and does not rely on national programs or government funding; its reputation has grown both domestically and internationally with each passing year. Now, in a similar way to the Hakubi Project, various systems to support the next generation of researchers have been newly established inside and outside Kyoto University and/or as a national policy. The Hakubi Center will continue to work in the future while closely cooperating also with these new organizations.
Akihiko Akamatsu
Director
The Hakubi Center for Advanced Research
Kyoto University