Purpose

Based on a report by Subdivision on Science, Council for Science and Technology, titled “Promotion of the Humanities and Social Sciences Addressing Risk Society and Matured Intellectual Society,” issued in July 2012, this program has been established to contribute to advancing the Humanities and Social Sciences in three areas:

(1) Joint research that will yield breakthroughs through close linkages with other fields of science

(2) Joint research aimed at making societal contributions

(3) International joint research that contributes to advancing the Humanities and Social Sciences

*Report by Subdivision on Science, Council for Science and Technology（Full version）
http://www.mext.go.jp/component/b_menu/shingi/toushin/_icsFiles/afieldfile/2012/12/13/1325360_2_1.pdf

Contents

The program is carried out in three subsets:

(1) Area Cultivation

(2) Responding to Real Society

(3) Global Initiatives

The research itself is recruited in two categories: Topic-setting research on themes related to the research areas selected by the Program Committee, and openly recruited research on themes proposed by researchers themselves. This dual structure is established to advance joint research in the most Cutting-Edge fields and cross-fields of the humanities and social sciences.

3 Programs

Area Cultivation	Sought are research topics devised by researchers from different scientific fields that can spur unexpected jumps to new research domains and more innovative yet durable methodologies.
Responding to Real Society	Sought is close collaboration between researchers and working level specialists from the planning and implementation of the research to the dissemination of its results. This linkage with the working level specialists who bridge the research and its application to society is essential in advancing research that makes real societal contributions.
Global Initiatives	Sought are dialogue and interaction between Japanese and overseas researchers and the generation of globally significant results through the advancement of international joint researcher across diverse fields of the humanities and social sciences and the building of robust international networks.