In 2026, Tohoku University and University College London (UCL) will support six collaborative research projects through their matching fund.
The matching fund was established by UCL and Tohoku University following the conclusion of an agreement between the two universities to promote and encourage joint research. The first call for projects to be supported by the fund was made in June 2019.
There were 19 applications for funding in the 8th round this year. After a joint review carried out by the two universities, the following 6 interdisciplinary joint research projects have been approved.
The fund will provide financial support to the 6 projects for up to one academic year beginning in April 2026.
| Research Areas | UCL Lead | Tohoku University Lead | Project |
| Al, Statistical Shape Modelling,
Computational, Fluid Dynamics |
Dr. Simao Laranjeira
(Engineering Sciences) |
Assoc. Prof. Hitomi Anzai
(Institute of Fluid Science) |
Cerebrovascular Digital Twin from Medical Imaging: 3D Morphology–Guided Segmentation and Blood Flow Simulations for Population-Level Insights |
| Resilient Society | Assoc. Prof. Stephen Law
(Social & Historical Sciences) |
Assoc. Prof. Kanako Iuchi
(International Research Institute of Disaster Science) |
Leveraging Mobility and Urban Form Analysis to Measure Post-Disaster Transitions after the Great East Japan Earthquake |
| Spintronics,
2D Materials and Nanoribbons, Phosphorene and Layered Semiconductors, etc. |
Assoc. Prof. Thomas Macdonald
(Engineering Sciences) |
Prof. Mikihiko Oogane
(Graduate School of Engineering) |
Phosphorene Nanoribbon Engineering for Next-Generation Spintronic Devices |
| Use of hybrid quantum/classical machine-learning approaches for medical image processing | Prof. Paul Warburton (Maths & Physical Sciences) | Prof. Masayuki Ohzeki
(Graduate School of Information Sciences) |
Quantum Image Processing for Medical Applications |
| Al, Machine Learning in Health | Assoc. Prof. Kezhi Li
(Population Health Sciences) |
Prof. Toshio Miyata
(School of Medicine) |
Smart Insulin Therapy: A UCL–Tohoku collaboration on reinforcement learning approaches for personalized diabetes management |
| Neuroscience Al,
Machine Learning in Health |
Prof. Sebastian Crutch
(Brain Sciences) |
Prof. Takashi Watanabe
(Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering) |
Towards Personalised Care: Activity Classification and Behavioural Change Detection for Cognitive and Physical Impairments |
Contact:
Global Strategy Office
Tel: +81 22 217 6311
Email：kokusai-c*grp.tohoku.ac.jp (replace * with @)