After completion of the coursework component of the program in their first six months, students in MSc engage in full-time research for the remaining 18 months. Throughout the program, students are actively involved in the School’s research community, participating in weekly seminars, thematic workshops and academic conferences.
IPADS offers various areas of research that constitute the fundamentals of Agricultural Development Studies.
<Research area offered by IPADS>
The research component of the MSc program and the entire PhD program are conducted under the supervision of one or more of the School’s faculty. Students have opportunities to work with suitable members of staff to satisfy their own requirements and research interest.
Research topics currently being undertaken at the School include, but are not limited to:
Note:
*1 : Adjunct faculty who can also supervise postgraduate students
*2 : Unable to become thesis supervisor
*3 : Unable to become thesis supervisor for PhD student
*4 : New adjunct faculty who can supervise postgraduate students after April 1st, 2024
Plant Science
- Faculty:
- Toru FUJIWARA, Professor
- Saneyuki KAWABATA, Professor
- Yoichiro KATO, Professor
- Akihiko KAMOSHITA, Professor
- Kae MIYAZAWA, Associate Professor
- Studies on plant mechanisms to respond to different nutritional conditions
- Crop management assisted with modeling in Africa and South America
- Agro-ecosystem responses to the combination of conservational practices in arable crop production
- Intercropping and green manure effects on phosphorus cycling
- Water-saving rice production systems
- Regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis under LED plant factory
- Optimizing plant growth under LED plant factory by modifying LED light quality
Plant Material Science
- Faculty:
- Yukie SAITO, Professor
- Takuya AKIYAMA, Associate Professor
- Satoshi KUBO, Associate Professor *1
- Technology development to use under-utilized plant resources
- Study on function of plant components in ecosystems
- Development of the techniques for performance evaluation of material for lesser-utilized biomass resources
- Effective utilization of lignin and other chemicals from wood materials
- Wood-based building materials and components
Plant Biotechnology
- Identification and isolation of Fe acquisition related genes from graminaceous plants.
- Identification of Fe-deficiency inducible gene expression mechanism
- Plant tissue culture to introduce useful genes to produce functional molecules
- Genetic studies on acquisition and efficient use of phosphorus
- Analysis of stress response and molecular genetic breeding of stress tolerant plant
Economics
- Faculty:
- Nobuhiro SUZUKI, Professor *2
- Takeshi SAKURAI, Professor *2
- Katsuhiro SAITO, Professor
- Kentaro KAWASAKI, Associate Professor
Takeshi Sato, Associate Professor - Sakiko Shiratori, Associate Professor *1
- Effect of global warming on world agriculture and forestry
- Food supply and demand in the world interpreted by system model
- Economic development and environmental problems in the developing countries
- Historical study for climate change, agriculture and population growth in the world
- Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa and Poverty Reduction
- Comparative Economic History on the Development of Market Institutions
- Volatility of International price of rice and poverty
- Quantitative agricultural policy evaluation
- Agricultural economics and environmental economics utilizing remote sensing, GIS and questionnaire survey
- Food consumption and human nutrition in developing regions
- Global food systems
- Nutritional improvement through agriculture
Animal Science
- Virus-based recombinant vaccines for animal diseases
- Molecular pathology of malaria and leishmaniasis
- Development of edible vaccines and other mucosal vaccines
- Studies on the morphological diversity of vertebrates
Food Science
- Faculty:
- Tetsuya ARAKI, Associate Professor
- Daisuke NEI, Associate Professor *1,2
- Food engineering including the optimization of freeze-drying processes
- Value chain analysis in developing countries
- Application of membrane separation technology for food processing
- Optimal distribution model for fresh produce in rural Java, Indonesia
- Food Engineering
- Food Hygiene
- Food Microbiology
Agroinformatics
- Faculty:
- Masaru MIZOGUCHI, Professor *2
- Wei GUO, Associate Professor *4
- Fumiki HOSOI, Associate Professor *4
- Constructing monitoring system for agricultural and soil information using IT technologies
- Engineering development in the conservation of agricultural farm
Forestry
- Faculty:
- Satoshi TSUYUKI, Professor *2
- Naoto KAMATA, Professor *3
- Kenji FUKUDA, Professor
- Tamotsu SATO, Professor *1
- Ryo KOHSAKA, Professor *4
- Chunlan LIAN, Professor *4
- Toshiaki OWARI, Associate Professor
- Takuya HIROSHIMA, Associate Professor
-
- Policy options for collaborative forest governance
- Comparative analysis on participatory forest management policy
- Forest monitoring using satellite remote sensing
- Forest environment assessment by remote sensing and GIS
- Close-to-nature silviculture
- Development of forest certification system for the rural communities
- Prediction of timber harvest from forest plantations
- Survival analysis of individual tree populations in uneven-aged forest stands
- Carbon stock estimation in sustainably managed forests under the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement
- Forest insect population ecology
Fisheries
- Faculty:
- Nobuyuki YAGI, Professor
- Shuichi ASAKAWA, Professor
Marcy N. WILDER, Professor *1
Tomohiko KAWAMURA, Professor *2 - Yutaro SAKAI, Associate Professor
- Hiroe ISHIHARA, Associate Professor (Environmental Sociology)
- Economics and policy for conserving marine biological resources
- Analysis of marine biodiversity and economic development
- Life histories, population dynamics and community structures of coastal fishes in southern Japan and Southeast Asia
- Material cycles and food web systems of coastal areas in Southeast Asia
- Improvement of aquaculture systems for sustainable utilization of coastal environments in Southeast Asia
- Genome analysis of pearl oyster, eel, tuna, grouper, flatworm, dolphin, sea slug, shark, etc.
- Metagenome/environmental DNA analysis of the Pacific ocean, Japanese coastal area
Environmental Science
- Influence of rice paddy fields on iron dynamics in rivers and the structural features of humic acids in their sediments
- Influence of freshwater from terrestrial sources on iron concentrations in coastal areas
- Effective utilization of agricultural waste in Africa for environmental conservation
Soil Science
- Faculty:
- Taku NISHIMURA, Professor
- Unsaturated water and solute transport through soils
- Colloid facilitated migration of pollutants
- Behavior of Cs in soil
- Remediation of alkalization and salinization of clayey soil
- Effect of forest fire on soil physical and chemical properties
- Water erosion and conservation of sloped agriculturallands
- How biochar and compost affects soil physical properties
- GHG emission from agricultural lands
Ecology
- Land and vegetation dynamics in agro-ecosystemm
- Sustainable land use planning/management
- Restoration and sustainable use of ecosystem services
- Biodiversity conservation
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Applicants for the PhD program must contact their potential supervisor(s) DIRECTLY and prepare a research proposal with him/her/them prior to application. The IPADS Office does not offer assistance for potential applicants to select their PhD supervisors.
For the MSc program, prospective students shortlisted for admission will be able to contact their potential supervisors to discuss research opportunities. Until then, all MSc application-related inquiries should be directed to the IPADS Office.