Unit Leader

Job Description

The responsibilities of the new position as a research manager (principal investigator) involve conduct for basic research activity, management of a research lab, supervision of trainees such as post-doctoral fellows. We are looking for the applicants who can conduct the research in either of the following two themes:

Theme 1
Embodied empathy, which is based on the physiological and cognitive processes of a body, both in a real space and a virtual space.
Examples of research topics:
-Neuroscience research of intersections of “I” and “We”, or how individuals become a group
-Brain science of empathy based on embodied processes
-Metacognitive processes that distinguish and connect bodies and minds of self and others
-Mechanism of large-scale phenomena of empathy in virtual space and its ethical considerations

Theme 2
Theoretical models of groups and social norms, which contribute to thriving and flourishing individual human work and lives
Examples of research topics:
-Values shared in groups (culture, rules, social norms) and mechanisms of their genesis and propagation
-Quantitative models of temporal dynamics of trust and empathy in groups
-Neuroscience-based theoretical and mathematical models of altruism in individuals and groups
-Generative mechanisms of intelligence and shared consciousness in groups

• This collaboration center has a strong connection to the Japanese industrial sector. In addition to the research activity at the internationally competitive levels, a unit leader is expected to collaborate with Toyota Motor Company, Toyota Central R&D Labs and Genesis Research Institute, Inc. By working together with these partners, the unit leader is encouraged to contribute to the industry and society as a whole by producing the scientific knowledge valuable for these stakeholders in the society and industry.
• A unit leader can utilize the facility and human resources of RIKEN for the research in the unit.
• It is possible for a unit leader to apply for external grants in Japan such as Kakenhi and international grants.
• Independently, a unit leader can conduct her/his own research and choose and hire the post-doctoral fellows and technical research scientists.
• Experiments involving sacrifice and suffering of non-human animals are not allowed. (Please contact us for further details.)