Connect with Society

Master’s and Doctoral Programs in Informatics adopt an interdisciplinary approach to humanities and sciences, focusing on people and information resources, based on the needs in the current society. For example, in research on information resources, efforts are being made to transmit information from one generation to the next by exploring new forms of visual expression, targeting everything from people’s internal memories to the memories of the transmission of culture and knowledge in local communities. We are also conducting research on the minds of the digital native generation through a fusion of the humanities and sciences, and are conducting research and analysis on the new connections and psychological support created by the use of social media.

In the Master’s and Doctoral Programs, we are also working to solve social issues with the aim of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), conducting research and analysis, and proposing models and services to have feedback to the society. In the area of library and information science, which is close to the lives of citizens, we are working on solving problems in local communities through the services of public libraries, and in the fields of information related to education, we would like to clarify what will be suitable learning information resources for children/students to access information. In collaborative research with local governments, the semantic analysis of language is being applied to the automatic collection of citizen opinions on the Internet, and research is being conducted to reflect rapid analysis and changes in actual conditions in local government policies.

Industry-academia-government collaboration at universities is actively pursued as a great opportunity to come into contact with different values, as a place to learn about the needs of society and use them as a trigger for research, and as a place to integrate fields. It is an ideal place where students can develop their expertise and broaden horizons and provides opportunities to sublimate social issues into research topics. In the area of information retrieval, which is one of the most important areas of the Master’s and Doctoral Programs, there are many social issues that have not yet been addressed, and we are working with industry and other research institutions to solve these issues. In contextual analysis, which makes full use of the vast corpus of data and its retrieval, there are high expectations for research on the construction of superior knowledge graphs that represent semantic relevance. In addition, joint research with companies is desired in terms of the evaluation of search algorithms and the fairness of search results.

In sum, Master’s and Doctoral Programs in Informatics are not limited to research within the university, but also places great importance on expanding one’s insights through interaction with society, new ideas born from a global perspective through interaction with academic staff and students from diverse backgrounds, and understanding of different cultures. Here, we introduce some of the laboratories that are energetically working on the aspect of “Connect with Society”.

Regional Cooperation

Joint Research / Contract Research

KAKEN