Since its establishment, Tohoku University, as one of its policies, planned building of attached research institutes and centers to embody the concepts of ‘Research – the first principle’, ‘open door policy’ and ‘respecting practical science’. The research institutes and centers attached to the university are carrying out research and education by imparting education based on specialized research, focused on a specific goal in a systematic and continuous manner, just like the two wheels of a vehicle. Furthermore, it is also contributing to the society by conducting activities open for interested domestic and overseas researchers. However, in the modern society, which follows global development, the environment around learning or research is changing at a bewildering rate and as a result, the boundaries between different fields are being lost.
With the above background, the research institutes and center linking body of Tohoku university is aiming at strengthening the link between research institutes, developing new interdisciplinary research and creation of framework, while respecting the goal and mission of each of the research institutions.
Heads of the research institutes are the managing body. The research institutes linking project was started in 2003 and the research activities were developed with the basic theme of ‘Human science and information technology’, while aiming at next-generation technology and industrial fields based on cross-cutting concepts. Specifically, it is a dual theme, namely theme A ‘ Nanomaterials and energy environment science’ and B ‘Human science and information technology’. The linking project was promoted through 7 groups crossing the framework of research institutes.
This project with a term of 3 years continued for 4 terms, i.e., 12 years and until its end in 2014, many results of linking research have been obtained.
From 2015, research institute young researchers’ ensemble project was launched and with the aim to promote interaction, research meetings and workshops were conducted and young researchers’ ensemble grant was started, thus providing assistance for linking research.
