New Year Interviews, Part 1: Susumu Satomi, President of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)

Although the Kishida administration positioned science and technology as important pillars of its policy, Japan's global position has declined amid severe international competition. Under these circumstances, how should Japan's science and technology policy be advanced? During the first of our New Year Interviews, Susumu Satomi, president of the JSPS, said, "The most important thing is to show young people the way forward for the future."

― What is important for the development young researchers?

I think the special researcher system of the JSPS is an example of a successful system to train Japanese researchers. The earlier incentive research system started in 1959, and the special research system now offers DC1 and DC2 to graduate students (doctoral course), PD (post-doctoral) to graduates and foreign special researchers, CPD (international competitiveness enhancement researchers) to those who go abroad, and RPD to those involved in childbirth and childrearing. In the case of DC, 70% are full-time researchers within 5 years of completion and 90% within 10 years of completion. For PD, it is 90% within 5 years of completion. In other words, being a special researcher offers a path to becoming a researcher.

This system has three positive aspects. The first is that the applicants are selected through a very strict screening process from among many applicants. The desire to have these selected applicants become researchers is conveyed to them. Hence, these individuals understand that there are expectations from them. The second is that the system provides support for living and research expenses, so that those interested can independently work on their own research theme. The third is that the system is designed to encourage people to go abroad. Both DC and PD offer opportunities to go abroad, and CPD requires you to go abroad for 3 out of 5 years. This is a mechanism to get people out into international networks.

― What is the role of senior researchers in the development of young researchers?

The three elements of the special researcher program that I mentioned just now will encourage young people. It conveys the feeling that we, the senior researchers, have expectations for them. It creates a system that allows them to work responsibly from an early stage. Senior researchers encourage, scold, and teach with a sense of expectation. Moreover, I think there is work to be done within the organization. However, in order to encourage young people to become independent researchers as soon as possible, I want senior researchers to guide the young ones with composure. This is to ensure that they have the time to engage in their own research, if possible. When it comes to young researchers going abroad, even though it may be painful for them to get out of the lab, I think it is still a good opportunity for them to grow. It is important to create an opportunity for that. I think becoming such an instructor will contribute to the fostering of good researchers.

― The causes and solutions for Japan's decreasing research capacity

The biggest problem is the lack of clarity on how to train researchers from the start to the end of their research journey. Originally, there was a path set for universities to employ young researchers trained through the JSPS special researcher system and elsewhere. However, the reduction of grants for operating expenses has reduced the number of posts available to young researchers. There is also some difficulty in finding a job once you graduate from school. Since the country as a whole has not been able to find a path to foster researchers, many young people have chosen safer paths, and as a result, the percentage of students progressing to doctoral programs has decreased. This makes the layer of researchers thinner.

At the entry level, the government has recently stated that it will allocate living expenses to about 7,000 late-doctoral students through its "Next-Generation Researcher Challenging Research Program" and "University Fellowship Founding Program." This may increase the percentage of students pursuing advanced studies; however, if the exit opportunities remain clogged, we may end up back at square one.

As a national policy, it is necessary to formulate a strategy that determines how many people will be fostered and at what stage. For example, how many people are needed at the PD level and how many young teachers are needed to compete appropriately in order to get a regular job. Universities will also create educational arrangements that equip students with practical skills, appealing to companies to hire these students, saying that they will develop students with practical skills. If we have a discussion on such matters among all the concerned parties, including the government, universities, and industry, and have a presentation of the framework for graduate school education, paths to become a researcher, and paths to become corporate human resources, then we will probably see a significant increase in Japan's research capacity in 10 to 20 years.

― Arrangements to support graduate students

The "Next-Generation Researchers Challenging Research Program," which was recently launched, will provide support through universities to students in doctoral programs selected through project supervision decided in advance by the universities. In addition, the "University Fellowship Foundation Program" will provide support to the students in doctoral programs through universities in two ways: "designated field type," where students are supported in the fields designated by the national government as having increasing human resource needs, and "bottom-up type," where students are supported in a wide range of fields proposed by the universities based on university and regional strengths.

Actually, during my tenure as the president of Tohoku University, I created a doctoral program support system independently within the university. By selecting 30 people each year, the university supports their living and research expenses of up to 200,000 yen per month per person, and this is continued for three years. I started it as I thought this was a good system; however, the number of entries to DC from Tohoku University has decreased. From the point of view of students, it seemed easier to apply for an on-campus public application than to apply for a highly competitive special researcher fellowship.

On the other hand, the special researcher system does not designate a specific field, and a large-scale recruitment is carried out from all over the country, implemented through a strict selection process. In addition to providing opportunities to outstanding young researchers to independently select study subjects and other topics, it also provides support to individuals (not through universities and such), making it possible for successful applicants to conduct research activities as professional researchers at the earliest. As a training system for young researchers, this system has characteristics that are not found in other late-term doctoral student support programs. This way, a system for selecting and supporting outstanding young researchers in Japan through a nationwide system will continue to be indispensable in the future. We would like to further enhance and promote the special researcher system, a system for training researchers in Japan. This was created and has been functioning effectively over a long period of time. Further, this is done to ensure that outstanding young people are able to apply and take on challenges in the future as well.

― Early notification of the results of Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research reviews and leading international research

The timing of the notification for the results of Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research reviews has been gradually advanced by improving the efficiency of administrative procedures and other factors. Starting in 2009, it became possible to receive tentative decisions from April 1, but there was still a challenge in that the preparation for the employment of research staff and procurement of goods could not start until April. Considering the opinions of researchers and others, internal discussions were held, and the timing of the notification of the review results was further moved forward owing to it being more convenient for researchers. Moreover, within the framework of Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Japan will establish a new international leading research program that boldly supports large-scale, long-term international joint research.

We are currently in the process of designing the system. However, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the proportion of international exchanges has decreased. Hence, our vision is to send a large number of young researchers abroad with their participation being made mandatory. The JSPS intends to continue to strengthen the support offered to researchers, for example, advancing institutional designs that look at the entire career plan of the researchers.