The University of Tokyo
WINGS-PES

Dean’s Welcome

I know of no other graduate school like the GSFS where so many experts from so many diverse fields gather in one place and share the same space and facilities and this could be considered GSFS’s core strength. Recognizing GSFS’s unique position, GSFS established The World-leading Innovative Graduate Study Program in Proactive Environmental Studies (WINGS-PES). WINGS-PES offers a five-year integrated program spanning both a master’s and a doctoral course.

　In the past, the mainstream approach to dealing with problems was to be reactive. That is to say, deal with problems after they occur. In contrast, in the WINGS-PES program, we envision an ideal future and identify and define related environmental and social issues or problems. Only by doing so can we position ourselves to be able to respond appropriately in the future and this is what is embodied in our program name: “Proactive Environmental Study”. I would like all the members of the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences to consider taking a more proactive approach and create new, more highly predictive research methods in the process. One that both grasps the future direction in their respective fields but one that is also open to incorporating advances taking place in all other fields. From the combinations of human resources and technologies originating from different fields will evolve a multitude of creative solutions. For this transformation in research to happen, we must be able to obtain and gradually enhance knowledge from other fields that can help us re-frame issues and add new perspectives to our research. Young researchers will need to develop skills to “coordinate” knowledge, ideas and people from fields very different from their own. In the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, anyone on any day can interact with experts from other fields and I hope that such exchanges will improve young researcher’s intuition.

　Our world will forever face problems that will demand skillful research. Every solution is immediately followed by a new set of problems. However, the problem changes when addressed from different perspectives. The same applies to solutions. There is no straightforward approach. How to solve problems is the quintessential skill, and I would like all participants of this program to obtain it. Society is full of problems, but with the keys to the solutions in your hands I hope that you will conduct research that will change the world and create a new set of problems.

The message can also be viewed in the video by clicking here

Program Coordinator’s Welcome

　The “Education and Research Commons for Transdisciplinary Sciences”（ERC) established by the GSFS, is both a place and a platform. ERC has borrowed the term “commons” from the field of economics which uses the term to refer to “common resources” or “common property”. ERC strives to gather existing know-how, techniques, and research methods under one “common” roof and promote a platform that nurtures “knowledge professionals,” capable of transcending their diverse backgrounds and chosen fields and engaging in trans-disciplinary research and education for the “commons”.

　“Commons” in the traditional economic sense has focussed attention on establishing rules for and managing the depletion of limited resources. GSFS established ERC in the belief that knowledge should be considered a common property that does not deplete but accumulates. As such, ERC students’ and faculty’s guiding principle provides a much stronger sense of sharing and creation. By sharing accumulated knowledge more and more new knowledge can be created. The ERC philosophy of the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences is strongly reflected in the educational philosophy of the WINGS-PES program. WINGS-PES encourages “environmental knowledge professionals” to embrace the philosophy of sustainability science in order to proactively anticipate, define and address challenges that may hinder the creation of a sustainable global society. WINGS-PES further endeavors to equip these talents with sophisticated data analysis and prediction technologies necessary to address problem-solving difficulties inherent in complex and/or large-scale systems. Graduates of this program are expected to become sharp and fearless researchers willing to spread their wings in society.

　I appreciate that many students just entering their Master’s course may struggle with the decision to commit to pursuing a doctoral degree. The WINGS-PES program is designed to provide both the financial and moral support to those students who are seriously considering pursuing their doctoral studies even as they begin their master’s course. WINGS-PES provides students with long-term financial support as well as a place to interact with other highly motivated students. So, if you ever find yourself stuck in your doctoral research, you will be in a mentally supportive environment with close companions, and much more.

The message can also be viewed in the video by clicking here.