June 28, 2023
To powerfully promote the globalization and interdisciplinary research of Keio University, KGRI provides grants for startup research projects that align with this objective. Since its launch in FY2019, research activities have long been conducted in a restrictive environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, since the latter half of last fiscal year, in-person activities have been making a comeback, with many seminars and research exchanges being held face-to-face. Among the research projects that received this grant, there have been cases where international and interdisciplinary initiatives have led to successful outcomes.
For this fiscal year's call for applications, in addition to more widely publicizing the application guidelines by requesting that the administrative offices of each faculty and graduate school help with outreach to attract applicants from a wider range of fields than last year, we also made changes such as establishing new research keywords to reflect KGRI's goal of promoting cross-disciplinary and international research. Furthermore, the review process included an in-person open hearing conducted in English. As points for reflection, we will consider future improvements, noting that despite our publicity efforts, the number of applications unfortunately saw sluggish growth, and that the emphasis on cross-disciplinarity and internationality—key aspects of KGRI's direction—was not always clearly conveyed in the applications.
This fiscal year, following a document review and hearing, the following three new research projects were selected for the KGRI Startup Research Grant (2 million yen for each of the 3 projects). We hope that this grant will serve as a catalyst for the selected projects to develop, leading to the formation of cross-disciplinary research teams within the university, the promotion of collaboration with researchers in Japan and abroad, and the acquisition of further external research funding.
[Recipients]
"Social and Emotional Learning: From the Perspectives of Culture and Physical Learning"
Akiko Hayashi (Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Commerce)
Ko Nangu (Full-time Lecturer, School of Medicine)
Masaki Mori (Full-time Lecturer, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies)
[Comments from the Recipients]
Akiko Hayashi
Thank you for selecting my project for the KGRI Startup Research Grant. "Social and Emotional Learning" is the Japanese translation of Social Emotional Learning (SEL), an educational approach aimed at fostering "non-cognitive skills." While SEL has been introduced in many educational settings, concerns have been raised that the implemented SEL programs do not take into account "diversity" in terms of culture, region, and race. This research will demonstrate the need for practices suitable for the "culture" in SEL. I hope to develop this research so that SEL can reach all children growing up in diverse environments, and I look forward to your continued support.
Ko Nangu
Thank you very much for selecting my project for the KGRI Startup Research Grant. The COVID-19 pandemic has made me think more deeply than ever about the relationship between society and infectious diseases. It is self-evident that all matters related to "society"—such as human rights, ethics, economics, politics, and history—are deeply connected to infectious diseases, and that a medical approach alone is insufficient to address these problems; an interdisciplinary approach is essential. Personally, I became interested in infectious diseases through my interest in global health as a student, and in the process, I learned about "human security" as advocated by Dr. Amartya Sen. It is also predicted that another pandemic will arrive in the near future. This project aims to elucidate the pathophysiology of Long COVID through an interdisciplinary approach. In addition to steadily advancing the project, I want to look to the future and use this valuable opportunity at KGRI as a springboard to re-examine infectious diseases from multiple perspectives and demonstrate the competency to execute an interdisciplinary approach together with the project members.
Masaki Mori
I am truly honored to have been selected for the FY2023 KGRI Startup Research Grant. This research project aims to elucidate the mechanisms of the phenomenon known as grid illusion and to explore new forms of visual expression. We believe our approach is unique in that our joint research group consists of an experimental psychologist and an applied mathematician, and we will approach the topic from both the perspectives of psychological experiments and mathematical models. I will devote myself to this research to accumulate knowledge that will lead to a deeper understanding of the wonders of visual information processing and enable the creation of richer art and design.
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