On Wednesday, January 14, 2026, the FY2025 JSPS Symposium on Promoting Gender Equality — Walking with Local Communities, Emerging from Local Communities: The Future of Local Regions Shaped by Gender Equality and Academia — was held online.

JSPS organizes Gender Equality Symposiums to share valuable insights, including best practices for gender‑equality initiatives implemented across various fields, particularly at universities and research institutions.

In its fifth year, the symposium focused on local communities, featuring a keynote speech, case studies from universities engaged in distinctive local initiatives, and a panel discussion exploring the future of gender equality, academia, and local communities.

In Part 1, YOKOYAMA Hiromi (Director of the National Institute of Technology (KOSEN) and Professor at the Kavli Institute for Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study)  delivered a keynote speech titled “DEI Initiatives at the National Institutes of Technology (KOSEN) and Trends in Research on Gender Diversity.” She introduced examples of DEI initiatives at KOSEN and presented the latest research findings on why women remain underrepresented in STEM fields.

In Part 2, case studies of DEI initiatives were presented by three universities in local regions in Japan: Iwate University, Nagaoka University of Technology, and Okayama University.

Iwate University
KAIZUMA Keiko (PhD of Gender Studies, Vice President for Diversity and Environmental Management, and Director of the Diversity Promotion Office) from Iwate University presented “Developing Women’s Talent Together with Local Communities: Fifteen Years of Iwate University’s Initiatives.” She outlined the university’s collaboration with local communities, reflecting on its progress to date, current challenges, and future directions.

Nagaoka University of Technology
KOGUCHI Ryotaro (Administrative Staff for Gender Equality) from Nagaoka University of Technology presented “Exploring the Potential Contributions of Regional Universities: Gender Equality and the Decline and Revitalization of Local Communities.” He discussed how regional stakeholders and local universities can collaborate and examined the potential of such partnerships to raise social awareness and promote change within local communities.

Okayama University
NAKAMURA Yuri (Technical Expert, Division of Technical Support for Education, Department of Comprehensive Technical Solutions) from Okayama University presented “Toward a Broader World Emerging from Okayama: International Seminar Practices through Regional Collaboration.” She introduced a hands-on “glocal” initiative that started with a children’s chemistry workshop and has since fostered connections among overseas partners, local communities, students, and private companies, expanding its impact from the local to the global level.

In Part 3, a panel discussion was held with the speakers from the earlier sessions, moderated by Prof. KAWANO Ginko (Office for the Promotion of Gender Equality; Sociology Education, Gender and Science, Kyushu University; Advisor for Gender Equality Promotion at JSPS). The panelists reflected on their presentations and discussed key issues from the perspectives of local communities, gender equality, and academia.

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the approximately 500 participants who joined the symposium and to everyone who shared their valuable feedback in the post‑event survey.

The archived video of the symposium are available on the official JSPS YouTube channel.

For more details about the symposium and information on JSPS support programs, please visit the JSPS Gender Equality website “JSPS CHEERS!”.