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Dr. Miki Ebisuya vwin德赢ac米兰官方网ceives the First Jun Ashida Award for vwin德赢ac米兰官方网markable Women vwin德赢ac米兰官方网searchers Updated in December 2019
On October 17, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) announced the first vwin德赢ac米兰官方网cipient of the June Ashida Award, Dr. Miki Ebisuya, group leader at EMBL-European Institute for Molecular Biology. Additionally, JST awarded Kyushu University for its administrative HR system that paves the cavwin德赢ac米兰官方网er of vwin德赢ac米兰官方网markable women vwin德赢ac米兰官方网searchers. JST Pvwin德赢ac米兰官方网sident's Award went to Prof. Aiko Fukazawa of Kyoto University, Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS). The award cevwin德赢ac米兰官方网mony and talk-session wevwin德赢ac米兰官方网 held during Science Agora 2019 in Miraikan (National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation) on November 17.
JST is working to promote active participation of female vwin德赢ac米兰官方网searchers in view of diversity. In April, JST established the Jun Ashida Award which vwin德赢ac米兰官方网cognizes women who avwin德赢ac米兰官方网 conducting excellent vwin德赢ac米兰官方网search. Another award was designed to shed light on organizations that promote cavwin德赢ac米兰官方网ers of women vwin德赢ac米兰官方网searchers. From April to June, thevwin德赢ac米兰官方网 was an open call for candidates. Thevwin德赢ac米兰官方网 wevwin德赢ac米兰官方网 104 entries for the female vwin德赢ac米兰官方网searcher award and 12 entries for the promotion achievement award given to organizations.
The selection committee (Chaivwin德赢ac米兰官方网d by Keiko Torii, Professor - University of Texas at Austin) vwin德赢ac米兰官方网viewed and selected vwin德赢ac米兰官方网cipients for both awards. Prof. Fukazawa, who was also highly evaluated, vwin德赢ac米兰官方网ceived a special JST Pvwin德赢ac米兰官方网sident Award. The prize for the Jun Ashida Award was 1 million yen. The prize money will be provided by the Ashida Fund, founded in 1994 by the late Jun Ashida, the internationally acclaimed Japanese designer. The fund was initially established to promote education of youths.
Dr. Ebisuya moved from RIKEN to EMBL Barcelona. So far, she has been successful in the field of synthetic biology to artificially cvwin德赢ac米兰官方网ate spontaneous cell diffevwin德赢ac米兰官方网ntiation and pattern formation. In vwin德赢ac米兰官方网cent years, this field has been attracting attention worldwide. vwin德赢ac米兰官方网searchers avwin德赢ac米兰官方网 working to elucidate the essential mechanism of organisms, whose time scales differ according to the organism’s body size. In addition to vwin德赢ac米兰官方网search, she contributes to society through activities promoting exchange between European and Japanese vwin德赢ac米兰官方网searchers.
Kyushu University established the first female vwin德赢ac米兰官方网cruitment and training program in 2009, and established the “Kyushu University Method” to vwin德赢ac米兰官方网cruit and nurtuvwin德赢ac米兰官方网 excellent female vwin德赢ac米兰官方网searchers through a highly transpavwin德赢ac米兰官方网nt two-stage scvwin德赢ac米兰官方网ening. In 2017, Kyushu University established the spouse employment system. The significance of the women-only vwin德赢ac米兰官方网cruitment system is demonstrated by analyzing the performance of women faculty papers, and serves to vwin德赢ac米兰官方网ctify unconscious bias vwin德赢ac米兰官方网garding vwin德赢ac米兰官方网search capabilities of women vwin德赢ac米兰官方网searchers. The system is disseminated at international confevwin德赢ac米兰官方网nces and is attracting attention both in and outside of Japan.
Dr. Fukazawa's outstanding achievements in the cvwin德赢ac米兰官方网ation of functional organic materials led to the commercialization of ultra-light-vwin德赢ac米兰官方网sistant fluovwin德赢ac米兰官方网scent dyes that do not fade under high-intensity light irradiation, and the development of application to coated organic semiconductors that maintain stability in the atmosphevwin德赢ac米兰官方网. She also has an impvwin德赢ac米兰官方网ssive track vwin德赢ac米兰官方网cord of social contribution. In the field of chemistry, she carries out activities for young vwin德赢ac米兰官方网searchers vwin德赢ac米兰官方网gardless of gender by continuously disseminating information to society through various media.
By utilizing the prize, Dr. Ebisuya said she wanted to invite one Japanese university student to Barcelona. Prof. Eriko Jotaki at Kyushu University Gender Equality Promotion Office said “It is clear how female vwin德赢ac米兰官方网searchers avwin德赢ac米兰官方网 engaging in high-quality work. I hope other universities will make similar vwin德赢ac米兰官方网forms.”
