Greeting
The Japanese Association for the Advancement of Science (JAAS) aims to promote science through dialogue and collaboration among all people under the slogan “Make Science More Vibrant in Japan”.
Last year, we launched the “Students’ Idea Factory”, a mechanism to discover and nurture students’ original and out-of-the-box research ideas, and our first challenge has been a great success.
While the Students’ Idea Factory project targets the undergraduate students in Japan, we have an ambition to add a global dimension to this project by promoting collaboration between domestic and international students.
This new project “Global Students’ Idea Factory” provides students the opportunity to address social issues with a global perspective, to find colleagues from different backgrounds and universities around the world, and to take a step forward in their future.
We are confident that this project will contribute to “Building ideas to tackle social issues with global colleagues!”
Global Students’ Idea Factory Project Description
Motivated and engaged to “Build ideas to tackle social issues with global colleagues!”, Japanese Association for the Advancement of Science (JAAS; the host of this project) aims to promote science through dialogue and collaboration among people of all kinds.
The “Global Students’ Idea Factory” invites domestic and international graduate students who are interested in science to submit original research ideas to address social issues with a global perspective. We will offer participating students the opportunity to experience teamwork in an interdisciplinary context with global colleagues and support them in translating their research ideas into a concrete project proposal to be presented to the public.
Furthermore, by providing an opportunity to present and exchange ideas in an open forum, the participating students are expected to become leaders of the ‘Build ideas to tackle social issues with global colleagues!’ initiative.
Objectives and expected contributions
For international students in Japan, by deepening exchanges with international and domestic students from other universities, students will be able to see the connection between their home country and Japan from multiple perspectives, which will be food for future activities.
For domestic students, by encountering issues in countries around the world as a reality, and through the experience of facing them together, they will gain a “global” perspective for themselves.
For overseas university students, through the experience of viewing Japan from the perspective of their research ideas, students will have the opportunity to further deepen their contact with Japan.
Finally, for all participating students, this will provide an incentive to pursue research activities as a member of the global community.
Activities
In-person Workshop
In-person workshop will be held at a training facility in JICA Ogata Research Institute Conference Center (Tokyo) in March 2025 (detailed dates will be provided later on this web site).
The aim of this workshop is to incubate project proposals to address social issues by mobilizing students’ research ideas, identifying 5-6 specific challenges, and forming a team for each challenge. Students are invited to work in teams to draft an initial proposal, a presentation and the way forward to the final presentation.
In addition, participants will deepen their team building skills and knowledge through interactions with JICA and other supporting organizations. Please look forward to interacting with enthusiastic domestic and international students!
Global Workshop (online)
After the in-person workshop, we will propose two online meetings to further improve the initial proposal within your team. For this phase, an additional cohort of 10 international students abroad will join the students. If necessary, you can seek advice from JICA and other supporting organizations.
Final Presentation
In August 2025 (detailed dates will be provided later on the web site), final presentations on the research proposal, research plans, and future prospects will be made at a venue in Tokyo. Oral presentations will be made by each team.