Case Studies

Dr. Paul Richardson

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Short Term Postdoctoral Fellowship

Host Institution: Slavic Research Centre, Hokkaido University

Report: Dr. Paul Richardson

(July 2011 to July 2012)

Dr. Stephen Freeman (University College London)

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JSPS Short Term Postdoctoral Fellowship

Host Institution: RIKEN Centre for Developmental Biology

Report: Dr. Stephen Freeman (University College London)

(May 2011 to 2012)

Ms. Holly Pelling (Bangor University)

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JSPS Short Term Postdoctoral Fellowship

Host Institution: Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University

Report:_Ms. Holly Pelling (Bangor University)

(January to May 2012)

Mr. Heye Freymuth (University of Bristol)

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JSPS Short Term Postdoctoral Fellowship

Host Institution: Institute for Research on Earth Evolution (IFREE), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)

Report: Mr. Heye Freymuth (University of Bristol)

(January to April 2012)

Dr. Yaron Silberberg

polly — 2012-04-23T17:31:36+09:00

JSPS Standard Postdoctoral Fellowship

Host Institution: Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University

Report: Dr. Yaron Silberberg

(April 2009 to 2011)

Professor Kristian Skrede Gleditsch (University of Essex)

polly — 2012-04-13T22:50:48+09:00

Joint Research Project

Project title: Advancing the Scientific Study of Conflict and Cooperation: Alternative Perspectives from the UK and Japan

Japanese Lead Scientist: Professor Atsushi Tago, Department of Government, Kobe University

UK Counterpart: Professor Kristian Skrede Gleditsch,Department of Government, University of Essex

Workshops held September 2011 and March 2012

ESRC/JSPS funding for collaborative workshop on “Advancing the Scientific Study of Conflict and Cooperation: Alternative Perspectives from the UK and Japan"

Based on shared research interest on domestic politics and international military collaboration and commitment, Gleditsch of the University of Essex and Tago of Kobe University submitted a bid for the ESRC-JSPS call for collaborative research workshops in September 2010.

Our proposal highlighted the increasing prominence in the study of conflict and cooperation of scientific approaches, emphasizing systematic theory and rigorous empirical testing. However, we noted a series of problems arising from the US dominance in existing research, and how excessive attention to US institutions and foreign policy undermines our ability to understand variation in the constraints and incentives for multilateral cooperation and the implications of differences in domestic institutions for international behavior. The UK and Japan provide interesting comparison cases, with very different institutions, capabilities, and constrains for international behavior.

The ESRC-JSPS funding (£14,435 from the ESRC plus approx. £15,000 from JSPS) has helped bring together UK and Japanese researchers for two research workshops, 20-23 September 2011 in Kobe, Japan and 20-22 March 2012 in Colchester, UK. The workshops were very helpful for the participants in developing their research, and have helped foster a number of collaborative projects between UK and Japanese researchers, including joint papers presented at scientific conferences, new data on military bases, a replication of a UK survey experiment on attitudes to intervention in Japan, and various funding applications in progress.

Weblinks:

Kobe workshop: http://www2.kobe-u.ac.jp/~tago/Kobe_Essex_Collaboration.html

Essex workshop: http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~ksg/esrcjsps2012.html

Essex news item on workshop: http://www.essex.ac.uk/government/news_and_seminars/newsEvent.aspx?e_id=4088

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Professor Samar Hasnain (University of Liverpool)

polly — 2012-04-12T19:40:36+09:00

JSPS Short Term Invitation Fellowship

Host institution: RIKEN, Harima Campus

Report: Professor Samar Hasnain (University of Liverpool)

February 2012

Dr. Alejandro Gomez Roca (University of York)

polly — 2012-04-03T03:03:35+09:00

JSPS Short Term Postdoctoral Fellowship

Host Institution: Department of Electronics, School of Engineering, Tohoku University

Report: Dr. Alejandro Gomez Roca (University of York)

(February to May 2012)

Dr. Christina Pantazis (University of Bristol)

polly — 2012-03-28T23:47:33+09:00

Project Title: State-of-the-Art Measurement of Poverty and Social Exclusion: Comparison of UK and Japan Seminar

Japanese Lead Scientist: Dr. Aya Abe, Director of the Department of Empirical Social Security Research at the National Insitute of Population and Social Security Research, Tokyo

UK Counterpart: Dr. Christina Pantazis, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol

Seminar Project Held January 2012

Description of Project

Despite their relative wealth, poverty, inequality and social exclusion are major issues of concern for both the UK and Japan. The main objective of the collaborative seminar project was to advance the theory and practice of poverty and social exclusion measurement from a comparative UK/Japanese perspective. The event held in Japan in January 2012, involving a research workshop and two large public seminars, brought together some of the leading researchers in the UK and Japan as well as younger academics to:

· review the ‘state of the art’ of poverty and social exclusion measurement in each country;

· discuss and compare the evidence from recent surveys; and

· consider their implications for public and social policies.

Politicians, policy-makers and practitioners working in the public, private and voluntary sectors, as well as activists, journalists, and members of the general public attended the public events held in Tokyo and Kyoto.

Departments and Institutions Involved

The project was a collaboration between Christina Pantazis and Professor David Gordon from the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristol, England and Dr Aya Abe, Director of the Department of Empirical Social Security Research at the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Tokyo, Japan.

How the Collaboration Started

The collaboration consolidates an existing working relationship between the partners. Dr Aya Abe is an international advisory board member on a major research project into Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK. The project, led by Professor Gordon and involving Christina Pantazis and others, aims to provide the most detailed assessment of the experience of poverty and social exclusion among the UK population following the recession and subsequent financial crisis (http://www.poverty.ac.uk).

Amount of money awarded

£30,000 in total

How participants are benefitting from the scheme

The event facilitated an exchange of knowledge about comparative approaches on the theory and practice of poverty and social exclusion measurement. It contributed to improved understandings of public policy responses to the pressing issues of poverty, inequality and social exclusion in each country and what lessons, if any, could be learned.

What have been the collaborative developments since the project started?

The project consolidated existing collaborations and also created new working relationships. Several of the participants are collaborating on research which will further comparative UK/Japanese understandings of poverty, inequality and social exclusion. This includes research on the necessities of life, the minimum income needed to avoid poverty and social exclusion, the extent of inequality, the role of parenting in poverty alleviation, and child poverty and social security.

In March 2012, Professor Uazuhasi from the Department of Social Work at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan and his research team visited Bristol, York and London as part of the project ‘The Development of A Welfare-Education Programme enhancing "Competency" of Children in Poverty’. They met a number of child welfare organisations and with several of the seminar participants and other academics working in the field of child poverty and welfare.

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Dr. Isao Watanabe (RIKEN/ ISIS Facility, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)

polly — 2012-02-15T18:50:35+09:00

Joint Research Project

Project Title: Develpment of Laser muSR Method and Investigation of Novel Excited Electronic State in Materials

Japanese Lead Scientist: Dr. Isao Watanabe, RIKEN/ ISIS Muon Group, Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory

UK Counterpart: Dr. Francis Pratt, ISIS Muon Group, Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory

Project Duration: April 2010 to 2012

Our institute, RIKEN, is a Japanese national institute for natural science research. RIKEN has established the RIKEN-RAL Muon Facility with the ISIS Muon Source at the Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Didcot, Oxfordshire in 1994 on the basis of an international agreement between the UK and Japan for accelerator-based natural science researchs. The RIKEN-RAL Muon Facility can provide one of the world’s most intense pulsed muon beams which can be used for material sciences. This experimental technique is known as mSR. The RIKEN-RAL Facility can in particular provide special sample environmental conditions in order to achieve unique results which cannot be obtained in other muon facilities. One of those is to combine laser application with muons. Our project supported by JSPS is to initiate this laser irradiation technique to a new experimental port and carry out exotic laser-irradiated experiments. We are collaborating with the RAL Muon group, the RAL Central Laser Facility group and the ISIS Project Engineering group in order to develop this laser irradiation setup. Such a collaborative project can be realized on the basis of the long-term reliable relationship between RIKEN and RAL. We have been funded by JSPS at the level of 2.5 million yen per year for 2 years (in total 5 million yen) to work on building up a new laser irradiation setup. This laser irradiation setup will be open to all RIKEN-RAL users for mSR research on photo-excited states. mSR studies with laser irradiation are quite unique and users can therefore have lots of benefits to investigate new fields of material science. At this moment, a new experimental setup for laser irradiation research is being arranged and will be open soon for general users. Our project will need more funding to upgrade the laser equipment in the near future. For this, we are planning to apply for more funding to JSPS to achieve worldwide unique experimental conditions at RIKEN-RAL on the basis of this continuing scientific relationship between the UK and Japan.

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