Sophia Open Research Weeks have been held since 2014, organized by the Sophia Research Organization to share a variety of research activities of our university.

It was held from 5 to 24 November 2024, and a total of 21 events were conducted, involving research institutes and centers, as well as affiliated institutions and research projects carried out on campus with more than 1,600 people participating through face-to-face sessions, Zoom and other interactive platforms, and more than 600 views were received for the streaming sessions.

During this period, a wide range of events were organized, including presentations by guest speakers, to provide an accessible overview of research topics that have come to the fore in recent years, such as migration, refugees, AI, and the SDGs, covering each institute’s area of expertise.

Many participants from outside the university, including high school students and members of the public, attended the event, demonstrating that the event is well recognized both inside and outside the university as an open research event worthy of its name.

The event also serves as a forum for the presentation and exchange of the next generation of researchers, with report sessions by young researchers from our research institutes, as well as poster presentations by graduate students from the Graduate School of Science and Technology.

As a new initiative, this year, University Research Administrators (＊URAs) of the Center for Research Promotion and Support, hosted the exhibition ‘The Sophia Researcher Matching Project’. It encouraged interdisciplinary research exchange and collaboration by inviting visitors to comment and respond with post-its and stickers to a poster consisting of a single image with three answers to questions (‘This is my research’, ‘What I want to know, discuss with you, and learn about’ and ‘Ask me about this’). For an open discussion, both posters and written comments are displayed anonymously.

This event started at Kyoto University and is now held at various universities across the country. This was the first attempt at our university, and 60 posters were submitted from a wide range of fields, both in the art & humanities and sciences, from undergraduate students to faculty members. More than 200 people visited the exhibition during the period of the event. This project reminded us that our university is a truly multidisciplinary institution with a wide range of research fields.

Sophia Open Research Weeks will continue to serve as an open forum to communicate research at Sophia University to a wide range of audiences both within and outside the university, and to share its achievements with the general public.