ASHBi Administrative Office

The ASHBi Office was established to provide support that enhances research performance and strengthens institutional administrative management. The Office consists of the Administrative Director, Research Acceleration Unit, and Administrative Management Unit.

This unit was established to develop and provide flexible and problem-solving type support. For example, the Unit is responsible for planning and organizing the Institute’s events (international symposiums, retreats, etc.), creating and managing support programs to solve Institute-wide issues (diversity of researchers, etc.), and organize seminars for fostering early-career researchers (seminars in English for writing scientific papers, grant applications, news releases, etc.). In addition, this unit also supports individual researchers (especially foreign and young researchers) in promoting their activities.

All members support research activities at ASHBi, but some tasks (e.g. scientific writing, grant application, public relations/outreach, industry-academic cooperation) are divided and handled according to the expertise of the individual. The Unit is currently staffed by the unit head (Tadashi Ogawa) and four experts. Spyros Goulas is a former scientific editor at Cell Press (Journal Name: Developmental Cell) and is expected to support the Institute’s members (especially young researchers) to develop and improve their abilities in writing their research papers. Makoto Shida is hired as an industry-academia collaboration manager and is also responsible for strengthening the ability to obtain grants. Hiromi Nakao-Inoue has five years of experience as a lab manager specializing in life sciences at UCSF. She utilizes this experience to support the Institute’s management. She is also responsible for strengthening the visualization of research results.

To effectively fulfill the Unit’s missions, the individual experts operate as a hub, maintaining close cooperation with the Kyoto University Research Administration Office (KURA), the Kyoto University Public Relations section, and other Kyoto University offices that manage projects to foster early-career researchers.

An interview article about the support provided to researchers by the Research Acceleration Unit was published in the WPI Forum.
>>Click here for the article (in Japanese only)<<

Members

	Tadashi Ogawa　(Professor) Administrative Director Unit Head
	Spyros Goulas　(Lecturer) Scientific Adviser
	Makoto Shida　(URA) Grant acquisition/industry-academic cooperation
	Hiromi Nakao-Inoue　(Research Coordinator) Lab setup support/overseas and early-career researcher support

The unit supports ASHBi researchers, especially foreign researchers and young PIs, on administrative matters to simplify procedures for institutional research activities. The Unit consists of bilingual staff, and all administrative announcements are made in English.

We provide research support that goes beyond the conventional framework of an administrative office, such as handling bureaucratic tasks that can distract foreign researchers from their research activities and help young PIs set up their laboratories easily and in a short period of time.

For example, since it is difficult for many foreign researchers to understand the administrative procedures at Japanese universities, we have prepared visual guidebooks that explain purchasing procedures for experimental equipment and recruitment procedures for hiring researchers/technicians. In addition, we provide support to foreign researchers (including their family members) beginning from before they arrive at ASHBi, such as obtaining visas to enter Japan and coordinating housing arrangements, in collaboration with the Overseas Research Support Office at the Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Study (ORSO-KUIAS).

Members