[Closed](The field of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) Call for Unit Leaders (Principal Investigators, PIs)

1. Description

F-REI (hereinafter referred to as “the Institute”) aims to be a world-premiere "center of excellence of creative reconstruction" that will serve as a hope for realizing the future and dream of Fukushima district as well as the other part of Tohoku region. We also expect this institute to lead the Japan's scientific and technological innovation as well as strengthen the industrial capabilities, therefore to contribute to the growth of economy and the human well-being.

To this end, the Institute prioritizes recruitment and infrastructure development for research and development activities led by Principal Investigators (PIs). The Institute also plans to step up in stages its industrialization function, such as support for creation of businesses and joint research with companies, as well as its human resource development function for partner graduate schools and the younger generation. Regarding the recruitment of research and development personnel, the Institute will move in phases to recruitment through direct employment and cross appointment, shifting from research using outsourcing etc., the approach taken initially, as shown in the attached “F-REI Roadmap (for illustrative purposes).”

The Institute invites applications for unit leaders (PIs) to carry out the following research and development projects in the field of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries:

• Research Policy
  We aim to realize creative reconstruction in the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries by establishing a profitable and sustainable regional recycling-oriented economic model which goes beyond recovery from the earthquake and nuclear disaster, and expanding it to the Hamadori area and other areas of Fukushima, as well as to spread it to other areas in Japan and abroad. To this end, we will conduct the following research themes that will lead to the development of core technologies, which are to play a pivotal role in the F-REI's research field of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries.
  • - Basic research on animals, plants and soils
  • - Applied research to realize super-laborsaving, super-efficiency, and large-scale production to realize high profitability and sustainability through robotization, smart and fully automated operations
  • - Research in collaboration with other research fields of F-REI: “Robotics and drones,” “Energy,” “Radiation Science, Development of Medicines Using RI,” and “Knowledge Management on Nuclear Disasters”
• Examples of research topics
  • - Development and demonstration of smart technologies and laborsaving technologies that contribute to achieving super labor-efficient agriculture, forestry, and fisheries
  • - Multi-omics analysis of physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil and application of the results
  • - R&D of alternative technologies that contribute to reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and agricultural chemicals
  • - Basic research on animal physiology and immunity, and its application to livestock production, measures for prevention of damage caused by wildlife, and fisheries
• Priority research areas
  • - Development and demonstration of sensing technologies that contribute to achieving smart agriculture, forestry, and fisheries
  • - Research on economics that contributes to achieving profitable and sustainable agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, as well as research that contributes to entrepreneurship, management, and industrialization for achieving social implementation
  • - Research on future climate change adaptation and mitigation in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries.
• About core facilities
  Research facilities will be constructed. We will consider the unit leader's request in the development of core facilities.
• About the development of research infrastructure
  We plan to develop research infrastructure for the unit's activities by renting laboratories. We expect that the budget for the procurement of the research equipment etc. to be used by the unit will be approximately 100 million yen.
• Labor expenses
  A unit will consist of several researchers. We expect that the budget for labor expenses to be used by one unit will be approximately 100 million yen.
• About research expenses
  We expect that the budget for the research expenses per unit will be approximately 100 million yen per year (including labor expenses for postdoctoral fellows and other personnel with limited contract period).

• * The structure of units will be determined later.

2. Application Deadline

4:00 p.m. Friday, 21^st June, 2024 (JST).

3. Application Guidelines and Forms

• (1) Guidelines (HTML, PDF: 143KB)
• (2) F-REI Roadmap (for illustrative purposes) (PDF: 214KB)
• (3) Forms (Word: 90KB)