Project History
The perspective of “Information and Systems” enables Interdisciplinary Research
The four research institutes—the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), the National Institute of Informatics (NII), the Institute of Statistical Mathematics (ISM), and the National Institute of Genetics (NIG)—came together in 2004 to establish the Research Organization of Information and Systems(ROIS). As the name suggests, the Organization deals with complex phenomena such as the earth, environment, life, human beings, and society from the perspective of information and systems, and originated from the vision of the founding director, Dr. Yoshiki Hotta, to conduct such hands-on research. Being composed of institutes with long histories of research achievements in their unique fields, such as the NIPR and NIG which have methodologies that respond to the demands of the times, such as the ISM and the NII, imparted great potential to the organization to conduct proactive interdisciplinary research. In this way,in 2005 soon after its foundation, Transdisciplinary Research Integration Center directly affiliated by ROIS was established to fulfill the philosophy that sparked the foundation of the organization.
Needs for the Seeds of Transdisciplinary Research Integration and Human Resource Development
Our transdisciplinary research, which is based on the Transdisciplinary Research Integration Center, entered its second stage in 2010 when it became one large project of around 80 members, including project researchers and research assistants. The Center began with five projects: Earth and Environment Systems, Life Systems (later Genetic Function Systems), Social Communication, Statistical Mathematics Platform, and Information Platform. However, in 2011 Japan experienced an unprecedented tragedy: the Great East Japan Earthquake. In response, a new project was added in 2012—entitled Systems Resilience—under the leadership of President Genshiro Kitagawa, who was newly appointed in 2011. In addition, an annual retreat-style event was established called”(Cross-Talk for Young Researchers, which allows discussions between young researchers in an open atmosphere to continuously be able to seek new integrative research topics. By promoting collaborative research with a variety of universities and institutions, the Center has developed its own style of cultivation of human resources.
Increased Opportunities for Data-Centric Science in the Age of Big Data
Meanwhile, entering the age of big data, our expectations have greatly increased for the development of ICT and its manipulation, and our demand have been also growing rapidly so that management of academic data can facilitate this cooperative research and its usage . For this reason, in 2007, prior to the creation of the Research Commons, the Database Center for Life Science (DBCLS) was established in the Organization with the aim of building an integrative database for life and health sciences. There is increasing awareness of the importance of development of new methodologies and analytical technologies in order to utilize data that transcend disciplinary and institutional boundaries, as their application can contribute to solving a variety of contemporary societal problems.
Towards a Research Commons with a Unique Triad Feature
The Research Commons started in 2013 as a culmination of all of the Organization’s research activities thus far. The Research Commons has the unique feature of being comprised of a triad of data platforms, modeling and analytics platforms, and human resource development. In terms of data platform, a total of four integrated databases have been adopted, including DBCLS, Earth and Environment Data, Human and Social Data, and, more over as a new project, Data-Centric Chemistry. In modeling and analytics platform, the project is promoting Data Assimilation and Simulation Support Technologies (formerly the Statistical Mathematics Platform),e-Science Platform Technology (formerly the Information Platform), as well as Image Data Analytics and Data Mining, in order to continue and further develop transdisciplinary research integration. In addition, the second generation Transdisciplinary Research Integration Project continues to carry out day-to-day research and development that form model cases for the promotion of data-centric science.
(As of April 1, 2014)