Female researchers have to deal with a wide array of difficulties as they conduct their research. From marriage and childcare to unprovoked discrimination and the disadvantages that women have encountered over the course of history, these difficulties are the products of myriad factors and causes. Nature and other media outlets have published feature stories calling for solutions to these hardships, which continue to affect female researchers on a global scale. With approximately 200 female researchers on its faculty, Kyorin University has long been engaged in providing organizational support that helps women handle important life events and attain an optimal work-life balance.

As a testament to these ongoing efforts, the University was selected to participate in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Program to Support Research Activities of Female Researchers (general type), a part of the government's funding for the Development of Human Resources in Science and Technology project, for FY2014. Kyorin University has already worked to improve the standing of female researchers in many ways, including a proactive approach toward appointing female researchers to high-level positions with the power to make decisions on University and Faculty operations and efforts to create support systems for life events and work-life balance. Using the funding from the Program, the University will forge an even stronger, more extensive environmental infrastructure that allows female researchers on the faculty to engage in creative, constructive research on a continuing basis.

In 2016, the University plans to open the new Inokashira Campus and make Mitaka, Tokyo, the center of its research and education operations. These changes, I believe, will enable all of our Faculties to coordinate their support for female researchers in a far-reaching, united front. Mitaka, Tokyo, which is home to the Mitaka Campus and Inokashira Campus, is also taking comprehensive steps toward ensuring a gender-equal society and enacting important policies that help citizens balance their work lives and private lives more effectively. Moving forward, Kyorin University will use its new Gender Equality Promotion Office to nurture and expand its collaborative relationship with the Mitaka city government.

Yutaka Atomi, President of Kyorin University

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