An Expert Panel Discusses the Future of RIKEN
16 December 2011 (Volume 6 Issue 12)
Chair of the RIKEN Advisory Council (RAC), Rita R. Colwell (third from left), leads a series of meetings to discuss the future direction of RIKEN.
A high-level panel of experts from around the world gathered in Tokyo for a three-day series of meetings on the future of RIKEN, held from 26 October. This body, known as the RIKEN Advisory Council (RAC), was established in 1993 with the goal of transforming RIKEN into an internationalized and world-class research institute. At this meeting—the eighth so far—RIKEN was evaluated by a group of 18 people, including six Japanese, headed by Rita R. Colwell, Distinguished University Professor of University of Maryland and former director of the National Science Foundation in the United States.
The RAC meeting was the culmination of a process which began earlier this year with evaluations of the individual RIKEN research centers as well as an evaluation of the administrative structure by the Administrative Advisory Council, a newly established committee of experts. RIKEN is in the fourth year of its current five-year plan, so the RAC members were charged with evaluating its responses to the previous recommendations, made in 2009, and to offer recommendations for the framework for the next five-year plan, which will begin in fiscal 2013.
Executive Director Maki Kawai (left) and RIKEN President Ryoji Noyori (right) at the RAC meeting in Tokyo.
The meeting began with presentations from RIKEN’s top management on the direction and current status of RIKEN’s operations. The center directors then gave presentations on the activities of their own centers and institutes, their advisory council meetings, and their future plans. The members of the RAC then met in a series of private sessions to formulate a set of initial recommendations.
On the final day, the chair presented an initial set of recommendations to RIKEN President Ryoji Noyori. Due to be presented in about two months’ time, the final recommendations will provide a framework for the future operations of RIKEN.
