Collaboration and community is the way forward: A postcard from Japan

There are many amazing instances of effective open science initiatives in Japan. I will focus on a few specific examples that come from my direct personal experience.

Japan is known as a very traditional society but also very innovative society. 

My earliest exposure to open science was during graduate studies at Kanazawa University in Japan.  Now Professor Emeritus Kazue Tazaki was a strong proponent of citizen science, science outreach and education.  Her approach to science embraces a solid foundation of community engagement building cooperative relationships with local citizens.

This community engagement was implemented on multiple levels. Many of her group’s research projects were built around collaborations with local people to solve local issues.  She held events to provide education to the broader public.  Collaborators were invited to group meetings to discuss research findings.  In addition, she was open to non-traditional students, encouraging and mentoring mid-career and retired individuals towards impactful research projects.  Her influence and impact has continued even in retirement, including work in Fukushima in the aftermath of the tsunami and nuclear disaster.  It is hard to overstate the energy and dedication of such prolific scientists, and those of us fortunate to have worked with her are eternally grateful for her leadership and mentorship. 

Some interesting, very current examples of open science have recently come out of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, where (full disclosure) I had the opportunity to work for ten years as part of a dynamic and talented team, building a world-class institution from the ground up.  The institution itself is founded on principles of breaking down barriers among disciplines and it has created a strong and diverse community of global scientists within the context of Okinawa, Japan.  As the institution has become more established, it is increasingly growing its outreach and public-facing events.

One such event series is hosted by OIST Innovation.  Hackathons are organized around themes addressing a relevant challenge, teams are formed and work to build proposals around this theme. I directly participated in a 2023 weekend-long hackathon related to Carbon Removal and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of building on open-source prototypes from The Open Air Collective to increase efficiency and effectiveness of carbon capture devices.  Participants included local community members as well as many students and members of the OIST community.  A reconfigured student team, led by Professor Mahesh Bandi and made up of participants from the initial challenge weekend were among the five student groups chosen as finalists at the global challenge!  Interdisciplinary teams of creative scientists can make great impacts, and I look forward to seeing how these teams continue to push solutions forward.       

Other initiatives aim to facilitate citizen science and champion existing climate solutions.  Started by OIST graduate Dr. Shivani Satish, Atiera aims to leverage the power of individuals to support promising solutions, by gathering their climate science-related data for environmental monitoring, supporting the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change.  Individuals are provided with incentives to upload their relevant data, contributing to scientists' efforts to document climate impacts on fragile ecosystems.  A flagship project is focused on the coral reefs of Okinawa.  These are early days, but as more projects and more individuals join the network (at no cost) its positive impacts will rapidly increase.  Your photos from your next scuba trip could help support coral reef research!

Innovators around the globe are needed, and collective action is powerful.  Openness and collaboration are keys to solving the pressing challenges of today and building a resilient future.