Research Institute for Letters, Arts and SciencesWaseda University

Research Institute for Letters, Arts and Sciences

From the Director

OHTOSHI Tetsuya

The Research Institute for Letters, Arts and Sciences (RILAS), Waseda University, is an affiliated institute of the Faculty of Letters, Arts and Sciences (FLAS), Waseda University, and it leads the study of humanities at Waseda. RILAS is an institution that symbolizes one of the directions that Waseda pursues: “Waseda University – Best Research: Envisioning a Waseda that Shines on the Global Stage.” It is also positioned as one of the driving forces behind the University’s pursuit of excellence in research. Affiliated to FLAS, which is known for its exploration of traditional academic studies, RILAS has never forgotten to address contemporary issues that are related to the study of humanities and social sciences from a global perspective. It is also RILAS’ mission to present its own idea of what academic studies should be in the form of collaborative efforts by researchers from a broad range of academic disciplines.

All full-time and non-tenure-track faculty members affiliated with FLAS, research associates/assistant professors from both inside and outside RILAS, and adjunct researchers from outside the University are also members of RILAS. In the fall of 2023, RILAS began to hire researchers who were recipients of the Research Fellowship for Young Scientists-PD of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. RILAS has 13 ongoing research projects (as of September 2024), and its activities can be found on its website. The research activities vigorously carried out in each project include organizing international symposiums, lecture meetings, and research conferences in Japan, as well as inviting overseas researchers, disseminating research results, and providing research support for graduate students. RILAS as a whole is also responsible for organizing a variety of symposiums and research conferences, undertaking contract research projects, supporting young researchers, securing spaces for research activities funded by large sums of Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI), and supporting academic conferences in the University.

RILAS’ previous activities that are worthy of note include joint research projects with other East Asian countries and the establishment of Global Japanese Studies, among other activities, all of which have resulted in multiple international symposiums and joint research projects taking place at the University. For example, RILAS makes a significant contribution as the center for the Global Japanese Studies under the aegis of the Top Global University Project led by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Exchange programs with Columbia University, UCLA, and Stanford University, to name a few, are expected to continue after the completion of the Project. The Annual Forum, which is an international symposium staged by RILAS, will play a pivotal role in its activities in the future.

RILAS also places focus on supporting young researchers and hosts a challenging seminar for applicants aspiring to be endowed with the Research Fellowship for Young Scientists run by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and also offers seminars on writing dissertations in English. Furthermore, RILAS proactively provides information on job postings from both inside and outside the University, a wide range of research grants and scholarships, and overseas study programs. The role of Waseda RILAS Journal, a research publication issued by RILAS, must also be emphasized. The Waseda RILAS Journal publicizes reviewed dissertations, special features of the symposiums and research conferences hosted by our diverse research projects, and reports from its annual forum. Its content is made available for viewing online, so please feel welcome to take a look at it.

RILAS has faculty members from both the School of Culture, Media and Society (CMS) and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), and as such a regretful side effect of its sheer size is the fact that its faculty members are not always well aware of the swath of research activities undertaken by their colleagues. To address this situation, RILAS has organized research introduction seminars, which are conducted by new faculty members, but there is still room for further improvement. It is also necessary for the boundaries between theoretical configurations and courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels are able to be crossed freely. Undoubtedly, RILAS has the duty to develop a cross-disciplinary mechanism that exchanges stimuli for research and education and converts them into research energy. This effort must not be made only within FLAS, but it must also be extended outside the University, both at home and abroad. Thankfully, RILAS has already accumulated a wide array of international joint research achievements. 

Please join us in discussing how best to stimulate the study of humanities and to develop an environment conductive to doing so. We hope you continue to support us in our endeavors to connect researchers beyond domestic and international boundaries in order to promote the study of humanities.