Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences
Tohoku University

Open Staff Positions

Seven Assistant Professor Positions Starting in 2024

Application Deadline: Applications should be uploaded by 17:00 (JST) July 26, 2023

Number of Positions Seven Assistant Professors (We especially encourage applications from women.)
Organization and Department
Creative Interdisciplinary Research Division, Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences (FRIS), Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
Research Field and Job Description Six research categories (1. Material and Energy, 2. Life and Environment, 3. Information and System, 4. Device and Technology, 5. Human and Society, 6. Advanced Basic Science). Successful applicants will be required to promote interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary sciences as a principal investigator (PI). This recruitment is based on the “Frontier Researchers for Interdisciplinary Sciences Shoshi Program (FRIS Shoshi Program),” which is a university-wide system for fostering young researchers under the Tohoku University Comprehensive Package for Supporting Young Researchers. Please visit the following URL for the details of the “FRIS Shoshi Program.”
# FRIS Shoshi Program:
https://www.fris.tohoku.ac.jp/en/about/missions/fostering.html
Research Funding
The following research funding will be provided.
  • A total of 11 million yen will be provided as basic research expenses over five years (2.5 million yen per year for the first three years, 2 million yen for the fourth year, and 1.5 million yen for the fifth year; flexible execution is possible through carryover).
  • Expenses for overseas travel for presentations at international conferences and collaborative research, expenses for collaborative research with researchers in different fields, expenses for organizing international conferences, and expenses for publishing papers when excellent results are published in open-access journals, will be provided upon review.
In addition to the above, successful applicants are expected to actively aim to obtain external competitive funds such as Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research.
Required Qualifications
PhD degree at the time of appointment
Starting Date April 1, 2024 (subject to negotiation)
Term
5 years (no reappointment)

Based on the FRIS tenure-track system, the tenure review is conducted for assistant professors prior to the completion of the term of appointment. If they pass the review process, they will be appointed as a tenured assistant professor or a fixed-term (5 years) associate professor in FRIS. If they do not pass the review, they will still be employed as a fixed-term (1 year, maximum 2 years) assistant professor after a separate review. Additionally, it may be possible for FRIS assistant professors to continue to be employed as faculty members by other departments or institutes (not guaranteed).
For details, please visit the following URL.
# Tenure track system of FRIS:
https://www.fris.tohoku.ac.jp/en/about/tenure-track.html
Remuneration
An annual salary and allowance will be provided in accordance with Tohoku University’s regulations
Remarks on Application
Applicants should select one of the above six research categories to which they wish to apply and describe it in their proposal. Please note that the research category will be reviewed and may be changed by the selection committee.
Applicants should select a professor or associate professor of the University (but not a visiting or specially appointed professor) as their mentor. Applicants are required to obtain the prior consent of the mentor regarding the internal regulations on the mentors and the attached description of the responsibilities of mentors shown at the URL below. When selecting a mentor, applicants are expected to experience a variety of research environments, for example, by selecting a mentor from other than the applicant’s former laboratories. The TOHOKU UNIVERSITY Researchers website at the URL below is also helpful.
# Internal regulations on the mentors and the responsibilities of mentors
https://www.fris.tohoku.ac.jp/media/files/mentorregulations_rev20220620_EN.pdf
(English)
https://www.fris.tohoku.ac.jp/media/files/mentorregulations_rev20220620_JP.pdf
(Japanese)
# TOHOKU UNIVERSITY Researchers:
https://www.r-info.tohoku.ac.jp/
Application Deadline Applications should be uploaded by 17:00, Wednesday, July 26, 2023 (JST)
Requested Documents
Please submit the following documents by following “How to Apply.” All documents should be prepared in PDF format and the total file size must not exceed 10 MB. Please use our provided format for (1) and (4), which can be downloaded from our website as shown below.
(1) Curriculum Vitae (Please be sure to use our provided format, and to include your photograph, current postal and e-mail addresses, and your phone number in the resume.)
(2) List of research achievements such as publications (original papers, international conference proceedings, and books and commentaries), conference presentations (distinguish between domestic and international, contributed and invited presentations), awards, patents, competitive research funds, achievements collaboration, other notable items, etc.
(3) Brief statement detailing your research achievements (less than 400 words)
(4) Research proposal (in our provided format, within 4 pages)
(5) One letter of recommendation (in any format)
(6) Brief introduction of up to 5 major papers (preferably with journal impact factor and number of citations) or up to 5 major achievements (NOT necessary of a copy of each paper or achievement)
How to Apply

Please apply from the following application website. After completing the pre-registration, please register using the URL you will be notified of and upload the required documents from “My Page.” After the upload of your documents is complete, a confirmation e-mail will be sent to you.


# You can also visit above website from the recruitment information posted on FRIS’s website below.
https://www.fris.tohoku.ac.jp/en/
Inquiries Professor Junji Saida, Managing and Planning Division, FRIS
E-mail: kikaku_atmk_fris.tohoku.ac.jp (Please replace “_atmk_” with “@”)
Others
  • An information session for this recruitment will be held online on Monday, June 19, 2023 from 14:30 to 15:00. If you wish to attend, please register below.
    Information session registration:
    https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0pdOCqqzgoG932Fqj-YeZnEef4Drh4rScd

    Added June 22, 2023:
    The information session has ended. The recording of the session (except for the Q&A part) and the questions and answers are now available.

    - Recording of the information session
    - Questions and answers
  • After the first screening (examination of application documents), successful candidates will be contacted for an online interview scheduled on Friday, September 29, Monday, October 2, or Tuesday, October 3, 2023. Detailed announcements will be informed by early September 2023.
     
  • FRIS is developing FRIS CoRE (Cooperative Research Environment), a new form of “start-up support” proposed by young researchers at FRIS to promote interdisciplinary fusion and explore the frontiers of knowledge, by providing under-one-roof access to basic research facilities in different fields (a research environment that enables a series of daily experiments and discussions). Currently, the experimental facilities are for life science, chemistry, and engineering, but in the future, FRIS CoRE will expand to a collaborative environment that includes researchers in the humanities and social sciences. The FRIS CoRE will also provide facilities in fields different from the mentor's expertise. Please visit the following website for the status of the FRIS CoRE.
    # FRIS CoRE: https://www.fris.tohoku.ac.jp/fris_core/en/
     
  • Tohoku University promotes gender equality and encourages people of varied talents from all backgrounds to apply for positions at the university.
     
  • Pursuant to Article 8 of the Act on Securing, Etc. of Equal Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women in Employment, Tohoku University shall, as a measure for increasing the presence of women among the academic staff, prioritize the hiring of women deemed qualified for each job opening, based on impartial evaluation.
     
  • Tohoku University has the largest on-campus childcare system of all Japanese national universities. This network comprises three nurseries: Kawauchi Keyaki Nursery school (capacity: 22) and Aobayama Midori Nursery school (116), both open to all university employees, as well as Hoshinoko Nursery school (120), which is open to employees working on Tohoku University Hospital. In addition, Tohoku University Hospital runs a childcare room for mildly ill and convalescent children which is available to all university employees.
     
  • See the following website for information on these and other programs that Tohoku University runs to assist work-life balance, to support researchers, and to advance gender equality.
    # Tohoku University Center for Gender Equality Promotion:
    http://tumug.tohoku.ac.jp/en/
     
  • In cases where the person hired for this position takes childcare leave, the term of employment may be extended by up to the number of days taken off for that leave, if such extension is deemed necessary for educational and/or research purposes.
    # Tohoku University Human Resource Department:
    https://c.bureau.tohoku.ac.jp/jinji-top/external/a-4-kosodate/
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