FAQs

What is the "Global COE"?

The "Global COE" is a program of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, which provides financial support to enhance the institutional capability to foster young researchers, who are expected to become tomorrow's world leaders in their respective fields, including industries, as well as to establish education and research centers that perform at the apex of global excellence.
- Global COE Program, MEXT (in Japanese)
- Global COE Program, JSPS

Please briefly explain "Origins of the Social Mind - Reconstruction of Sciences Related to Cognition, Emotion, and Volition".

Our program is a scientific approach to further elucidate the mechanisms of the rich human mind based on the accomplishments of the educational and research activities in the "Integrative Human Science Program", which was selected for the 21st Century COE Program in 2002.

Please explain your current research environment.

The Brain Science Institute is fully equipped with the latest research equipment, including a 3T fMRI machine and a genetic analysis system.
Moreover, the Tamagawa Baby Lab, which is a center for infant development research, has more than 1000 babies registered.
Also in intelligent robotics research, we are developing a wide range of robots, including one for home use, which won the world championship the RoboCup@Home league in 2008.

Please explain your international collaborations.

We collaborate with other outstanding institutions, who play central roles in neuroscience research around the globe, including the NIH, University of Cambridge, besides Caltech. Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, and Showa University. We also associate with institutions such as Boston University and University of Oxford. Through this network, we exchange information on cutting-edge research as well as that on researchers including postdoctoral fellows.
As we have established an education and research cooperation agreement with Caltech we recognize the course units when our graduate students participate in the short or long training course at Caltech, as well as exchange of research instruction. In addition, we hold an annual international lecture course either in Tamagawa or Pasadena in an intensive course format.

Do you provide financial assistance to graduate students?

We provide graduate students in doctoral programs with financial aid as research assistants.
Moreover, graduate students have opportunities to visit and conduct research at Caltech, our overseas partner institution.

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