My roles as COO are to assist the Director, Dr. Aono, and to quickly and appropriately implement various research management matters in MANA. In my previous position as the first Managing Director of the International Center for Young Scientists (ICYS), I grappled with the internationalization of the ICYS and the training and development of young researchers. Taking advantage of the experience and knowledge that I gained during that period, I am working every day to ensure that MANA grows into one of the world’s top level research centers, where outstanding young scientists will gather from around the world.

Fortunately, international indicators like the ratio of foreign researchers at MANA and the ratio of international co-authored papers with foreign research institutes show that MANA has already become one of the most internationalized research centers in Japan.

In addition to my research management work as COO, I am also involved in research activities as a MANA Principal Investigator. Precisely because I know the actual research environment, I believe that I can provide the detailed, and at the same time, gentle research management that researchers need.

Since the original ICYS, MANA has created a unique interdisciplinary fusion research environment that we call a “melting pot,” and we are continuing to promote leading-edge, interdisciplinary materials research based on the new research concept of nanoarchitectonics.

I hope to see and share in many challenging plans by young scientists.