Program Outline
Young Researcher Overseas Visits Program for Vitalizing Brain Circulation: Triangulation Project for the Understanding of Asian and African Areas
The “Triangulation Project for the Understanding of Asian and African Areas” (to be carried out in the 2010 to 2012 academic years) has been adopted by the “Young Researcher Overseas Visits Program for Vitalizing Brain Circulation,” initiated by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science in the 2010 academic year.
What is the Young Researcher Overseas Visits Program for Vitalizing Brain Circulation
(hereafter, the “Brain Circulation Program”)
The Brain Circulation Program is a competitive research funding system established by the independent administrative institute the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for the purposes of promoting academic research in Japan through support for the overseas dispatch of young researchers taking part in joint international research and the international vitalization of brain circulation based on the “World-Leading Innovative Research and Development Strategic Funding Reinforcement Subsidy.” Through the implementation of this program, as well as allowing young researchers to be exposed to world-level research, and expand their opportunities to come to grips with various global issues, the program will strengthen the research network with universities, governments and private research institutes overseas.
Kyoto University ASAFAS Brain Circulation Program
ASAFAS has endeavored to foster area studies researchers and
area experts who have acquired cross-disciplinary knowledge of area studies
and the wisdom of Asian and African local societies, with field work as
the main educational and research technique. As an extension to this, the
Program has established two goals.
The first goal is to aim for a revision in the reproduction system of global
knowledge dominated by the West and to foster human resources that are able
to further a multifaceted understanding of the concept of “area.”
The second goal leads on from the first goal by positioning the following
three areas as pilot projects and attempting to fuse leading edge research
being carried out in the West and the countries of Asia and Africa with
the area studies being advanced at ASAFAS:
1) Comprehensive research in communication
2)
Interregional comparison of languages and culture that are presumed to be
related
3)
Cross-disciplinary education and research with a practical orientation
In order to meet these goals, ASAFAS intends to strengthen collaboration
with research institutes that excel in the research environment concerning
1) to 3) mentioned above, and to dispatch each young researcher to at least
two such research institutes within the implementation period of the Program
(academic years 2010 to 2012).
Joint International Research
Through the three sub-programs, “Output Activity,” “Research Collaboration,” and “Facilitation of Organizing Skills,” this Program will further joint research on the three areas mentioned above (Comprehensive research in communication, Interregional comparison of languages and culture that are presumed to be related, and Cross-disciplinary education and research with a practical orientation). The locations of implementation and composition of participants in the three sub-programs will be different. At the same time, each of these will promote mutual understanding, or triangulation within area studies, between specialists with differing involvements and differing perspectives on the area. By having a thorough command of the three sub-programs young researchers will learn to see themselves in a relative and objective manner and acquire an impartial attitude toward the association with the “area” they have chosen.