About us

MEET THE TEAM

LAST UPDATED: 12 April 2020

Our team in 2019-2020 consisted of 9 graduate students from 6 countries and 5 graduate schools (4 men and 5 women). 

TIMELINE

LAST UPDATED: 12 April 2020

Our project in 2019-2020 consisted of two streams:

(1) Research of causes and development of solutions for the "leaky pipeline" of female researchers at the University of Tokyo (orange).

(2) Outreach to promote gender awareness among both students and faculty members, via documentary screenings and student-led workshops (green).

At the end of the project, we were honoured to address a letter to the President of the University of Tokyo, Professor Gonokami. We summarised the main findings of our project, and humbly presented some recommendations to improve the situation, based on feedback we received from senior management in the Office for Gender Equality and within the governance structure of the University of Tokyo.

LOGO

LAST UPDATED: 12 April 2020

Our logo represents our conviction that UTokyo draws its strength from diversity, among the student, faculty and staff bodies. The red building is the roof of Akamon, an iconic symbol of UTokyo's academic leadership. The infamous "red gate" is instantly recognisable by many across Japan. The two characters jointly supporting the gate show us that the body of knowledge, research, innovation, and contributions to society produced by UTokyo are contingent on balanced empowerment of all members of its community.

Looking to the future, the two characters are welcoming a diverse student body through the gates, to become the next generation of change makers in Japanese research, industry and society. The unfinished characters drawn in simple monochrome lines show the absence of pre-conceptions on the grounds of incidental personal characteristics, advocating respect between genders and encouraging all members of the university to proudly contribute to academic and social life on campus in their own individual way.

Logo design process: from hand-drawing to computer graphic

"Toward Daiversity" is a play on UTokyo's abbreviated Japanese name, "Todai". "Toward Daiversity" acknowledges that the University of Tokyo's values are deeply intertwined with respect for diversity, and encourages continued efforts towards gender equality.

SUPPORT

LAST UPDATED: 18 April 2020

Our student initiative project (SIP) is supported by the University of Tokyo's Global Leader Program for Social Design and Management (GSDM). GSDM offers graduate students the opportunity to engage in research beyond their primary area of specialisation, encouraging them to explore, identify and respond to cross-cutting social and technological challenges. GSDM is part of a network of 62 Programs for Leading Graduate Schools spanning 33 Japanese universities, and was given the highest rank ("S") by MEXT post-project evaluation in 2019. 

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One major component of the GSDM student experience is the SIP. Students are given full autonomy to: develop a proposal for multidisciplinary research and action, set up a team, refine a methodology, establish necessary contacts, manage a budget, and make measurable progress towards addressing a social issue of their choice. During our SIP, we were fortunate to receive financial support from GSDM, administrative support from the GSDM office, and constructive advice from GSDM faculty members during semi-annual review meetings.