Tokyo College Researchers Awarded JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up

We are pleased to announce that Project Assistant Professor Evan KOIKE, Postdoctoral Fellows David TILT and Anna WOZNY have each been awarded a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up. 

Project Assistant Professor Evan KOIKE was awarded the grant for a project titled "Fatherhood, Gender Roles, and Fertility Rates in Japan’s Rural 'Miracle Town'."

Project summary: Involving fathers in child care is key to mitigating Japan’s low birthrate and to improving gender equity within society. To better understand how to address the demographic issues and gender inequities that will greatly impact the future of Japan and other postindustrial societies around the world, this project will investigate the activities of fathers in rural Nagi-cho, known as Japan’s “miracle town” because the birthrate exceeds that of almost all other Japanese localities. Conducting ethnographic fieldwork in community spaces and among families, as well as interviews with residents and city officials, the project will ask these questions: How have everyday practices among parents, particularly fathers, shaped gender roles in Nagi-cho? How have these behaviors contributed to the town’s surprising divergence from national population trends?

Postdoctoral Fellow David TILT was awarded the grant for a project titled "A Global Investigation of Export Control Legislation and Universities: How are University-Developed Military Technologies Affected by Recent Reform?"

Project summary: Funding of military technologies in universities has become a worldwide issue – this project looks into whether existing legislative safeguards on dual-use technologies are effective at keeping these technologies within national borders. Do they protect researchers or are they seen as an intrusion that limits academic freedom? Universities and the military have always had a complex relationship, though recent examples of university-developed technologies (such as advancements in drone technology) are especially controversial. Japan, the UK, the EU, the US, and Canada have all passed new regulations and policies since 2021 that further restrict or define the parameters of the international transmission of dual-use technologies. My project approaches this topic comparatively to investigate the legal frameworks on military technologies and universities, but contextualizes their implementation using data drawn from interviews with university researchers and administrators.

Postdoctoral Fellow Anna WOZNY was awarded the grant for a project titled "Gendered Standards and Reproduction of Inequality in Japanese 'Marriage-Hunting'."

Project summary: The increasingly popular marriage support services called “marriage-hunting” (konkatsu) promise to abate population decline while offering new avenues for meeting romantic partners in Japan. This research aims to uncover how various services supporting marriage activities function as a cultural mechanism reproducing social inequality and exclusion. Specifically, it examines how the marriage-hunting market channels long-standing classed and gendered notions of the Japanese family and assesses its long-term effects on individuals who use these services.

JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research <Kakenhi> are awarded on a competitive basis and are intended to significantly develop all scientific research, from basic to applied research in all fields. The grants provide financial support for creative and pioneering research projects that will become the foundation of social development.