Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

お問い合わせ先

Center for World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI Program Center)
Kojimachi Business Building 10F, 5-3-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0083, JAPAN
TEL+81-3-3263-0967
MAILjspstoplevel@jsps.go.jp

MEXT
Basic and Generic Research Division, Research Promotion Bureau, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
3-2-2 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8959, JAPAN
TEL+81-3-5253-4111(ext.4244)
FAX+81-3-6734-4074
MAILtoplevel@mext.go.jp

JAPANESE

World Premier International Research Center (WPI) Initiative

WPI ACADEMY

Concept of WPI Academy

The World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI Program) was launched in 2007 by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Over the past 10 years, the program has been highly successful in building top world-standard research centers with powerful research capacity and a high level of internationalization, centers that now boast wide global visibility.

In FY 2017, MEXT established the new WPI Academy to take the vanguard in internationalizing and further renovating Japan’s research environment, making it place that expands and accelerates the international circulation of the world’s best brains. The WPI centers that have achieved “world-premier status” will be the initial members of the WPI Academy. They may possibly be joined later by other Japanese research institutes that have amassed research results and created research environments of the very highest world standard. As it becomes operational, the WPI Academy will position Japan as a pole at the pinnacle of international researcher circulation.


Academy Director (AD), Academy Officers (AOs)

as of October 2022

AD/AO Name Position, Affiliation Assigned center
AD UKAWA Akira Director, Center for World Premier International Research Center Initiative, JSPS
AO OSADA Yoshihito Senior Visiting Scientist, RIKEN Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), Tohoku University
AO NAKANO Toru Emeritus Professor, Osaka University Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), Kyoto University
AO MATSUSHIMA Kouji Professor, Research Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Tokyo University of Science Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC), Osaka University
AO KATAYAMA-YOSHIDA Hiroshi Emeritus Professor, Osaka University International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science
AO DOMEN Kazunari University Professor, The University of Tokyo/Special Contract Professor, Research Initiative for Supra-Materials, Shinshu University International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research(I2CNER), Kyushu University
AO SANDA Ichiro Professor Emeritus, Nagoya University Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe(Kavli IPMU), The University of Tokyo
AO MIYAMA Shoken President, Gifu Shotoku Gakuen University Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI), Tokyo Institute of Technology
AO OSUMI Noriko Vice President, Tohoku University International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine (IIIS), University of Tsukuba
AO HAMACHI Itaru Professor, Department of Synthetic Chemistry & Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (ITbM), Nagoya University

Academy Working Group

With the assigned AO as its chair, an Academy working group including one overseas member for each center has been established under the Program Committee.

List of Academy Working Group Members(FY2020).

WPI Academy Members

The Center Selected in FY2007 and certified as a WPI Academy Member in FY2017

Host institution Center name Center Director Outline of the Center
Tohoku University Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR) ORIMO
Shin-ichi
Establish a World-Leading Research Center for Materials Science
AIMR aims to contribute to society through actions as a world-leading research center for materials science and continuous challenges to research frontiers. To this end, the institute gathers excellent researchers in the fields of physics, chemistry, materials science, engineering, and mathematics and provides world-class research environment.
The University of Tokyo Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) OOGURI Hirosi Cross-Disciplinary Research Center for Addressing the Origin and Evolution of the Universe
Establishing a top-level research center visible worldwide for the most urgent issues of basic science such as dark energy, dark matter, and unified theories with a close collaboration of mathematics, physics and astronomy.
Kyoto University Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) KITAGAWA Susumu Creating a new field of integrated cell-material science in the mesoscopic domain
Our institute seeks to illuminate a chemical basis of cells, creating compounds to control processes in cells such as stem cells (materials for cell control) in addition to sparking cellular processes to create chemical materials (cell-inspired materials), to ultimately establish an integrated cell-material science.
Osaka University Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC) TAKEDA Kiyoshi
The pursue of fundamental immunology research and elucidation of immune diseases
IFReC has selected excellent researchers from Japan and overseas in cutting-edge research areas, and has promoted globally competitive fundamental research. IFReC aims to overcome immune-related diseases by clarifying the whole picture of the immune system.
National Institute for Materials Science International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA) TANIGUCHI Takashi
Materials Nanoarchitectonics – a new paradigm of materials creation –
MANA aims to develop new materials based on our own concept "nanoarchitectonics" through precise organization of well-designed nanomaterials at atomic/molecular scale. For such an interdisciplinary and pioneering challenge, international cooperation and training / fostering of next-generation leaders are essentially important to generate sustainable growth of related research in the future.

The Center Selected in FY2010 and certified as a WPI Academy Member in FY2020

Host institution Center name Center Director Outline of the Center
Kyusyu University International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research(I2CNER) Petros SOFRONIS Contribute to the creation of a sustainable and environmentally friendly society
I2CNER's broad-based approach cuts across the boundaries of chemistry, physics, materials science, mechanics, geoscience, and biomimetics bridging multi-dimensional spatial and temporal scales for phenomena occurring at the interface between materials and hydrogen, oxygen, and CO2.

WPI Academy Proposals and Reports

The Center Selected in FY2007 and certified as a WPI Academy Member in FY2017

Host institution Center name Proposal Activities Report
(FY2017 – FY2019)
Tohoku University Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR) PDFファイルのダウンロード
(Updated: June 19, 2019)
PDFファイルのダウンロード
The University of Tokyo Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) PDFファイルのダウンロード
(Updated: September 20, 2018)
The report is included into the Progress Report of the WPI Center for Final Evaluation
Kyoto University Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) PDFファイルのダウンロード PDFファイルのダウンロード
Osaka University Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC) PDFファイルのダウンロード
(Updated: June 19, 2019)
PDFファイルのダウンロード
National Institute for Materials Science International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA) PDFファイルのダウンロード PDFファイルのダウンロード

The Center Selected in FY2010 and certified as a WPI Academy Member in FY2020

Host institution Center name Proposal Report
Kyusyu University International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research(I2CNER) PDFファイルのダウンロード