An international symposium titled “New Directions in Empirical Research of Humanity” was held at the G-SEC Lab in the East Research Building on Mita Campus on March 7. This symposium was part of MEXT’s Top Global University Project. A total of 6 researchers, including Professor Helmut Leder and Professor Raphael Rosenberg, were invited from the University of Vienna, with which Keio University signed a research collaboration agreement last year, and the symposium was held to formally mark the beginning of the partnership.
With Professor Leder and Keio University’s Associate Professor Hideaki Kawabata serving as the masters of ceremonies, the symposium started with speeches from Professor Takayuki Sakagami, Dean of the Graduate School of Human Relations, Vice-President Atsuko Iwanami, and Professor Takami Matsuda, Dean of the Graduate School of Letters. From the University of Vienna, Professor Helmut Leder, a leading researcher in the field of experimental esthetics, Professor Raphael Rosenberg, who conceives new concepts of art history based on visual culture, and an up-and-coming researcher in experimental esthetics, Dr. Matthew Pelowski gave lectures, and from Keio University, Professor Yuji Itoh from the Graduate School of Human Relations, Professor Juko Ando, Professor Hiromoto Makabe, and Professor Masayuki Okahara gave talks. The presentations discussed new research possibilities in human studies that cross over the fields of psychology, art history, education, and sociology. In particular, the potential of empirical research on esthetic experience centered around art was enthusiastically discussed.
Many external researchers also participated at the symposium and lively debates took place. The final overall discussion went overtime, and there were strong convictions that there will be the future development of research in these fields through the collaborations between the two institutions.