NINS is made up of five inter-university research institutes that have transcended their traditional academic boundaries to conduct cooperative (interdisciplinary) research. Our goals are to create an interdisciplinary research base in natural science, to promote the establishment of a “researcher community”, and to be recognized as a high-caliber international researcher community.
Since NINS was established in April 2004, the five institutes have been linked and conduct activities as “bases for interdisciplinary and international research through cooperation across fields of study”.
Activities being promoted by NINS include “Imaging Science” and “Hierarchy and Holism in Natural Science” as part of NINS’ Creating Innovative Research Fields (Project).
Promoting NINS’ Creating Innovative Research Fields Project
"Imaging Science" and "Hierarchy and Holism in Natural Science"
In “Imaging Science”, various phenomena that we cannot directly see - whether they are too small, too big, or beyond our visibility - are rendered into “images” that can be visualized. Techniques created in “Imaging Science” allow us to discover new axioms and principles never seen before. “Imaging Science” is a common key phrase in the natural science fields (space, substances, energy, and life) among all five research institutes that make up NINS. They then create images that, when analyzed with advanced cutting-edge techniques, demonstrate the hidden potential of generating new fields.
“Hierarchy and Holism in Natural Science” is a research theme that aims at understanding the connecting pattern among the entirety of the hierarchical structure of complex natural phenomena. For example, as is commonly known, substances come from molecules, molecules are made up of atoms, and atoms in turn are constructed by subatomic particles. However, within each hierarchy, are certain natural laws pertaining to that particular hierarchy. It is impossible to comprehend the entire structure by looking only at the entire structure of these layers. In this way, in natural science, we ask “How are the hierarchical layers and the entire structure connected?” and “What is the nature of the entire structure itself?” Thus, these are some of the ultimate propositions that our scientists tackle.
With the Research Cooperation and Liaison Office at its core, NINS is working on novel and original research topics. Through annual conferences and accumulative research results, NINS is progressing towards building a base for future international development.
