1. Interplay between core fundamentals and practical applications

To support fellows’ acquisition and enhancement of Global Insight, L-INSIGHT puts together a program, comprised of core and practical program groups, that aims for interplay between foundation-building and actual practice as a researcher. The Core Program Group provides opportunities to understand how to find in oneself and continuously activate the qualities necessary for PIs. These include opportunities for mindset enhancement, career advancement, as well as teamwork and project management skill improvement. So that fellows can acquire this know-how through the Practical Program Group, L-INSIGHT actively creates opportunities to interact with world-class researchers and refine global insight competencies. Even after progressing through the Core Program Group to the Practical Program Group, fellows who wish to further deepen their understanding of these competencies can take additional core programs. In this and other ways, L-INSIGHT prides itself on its flexibility.

2. Semi-customized program approach

L-INSIGHT does not require Fellows to undergo all of the training programs.
Instead, we adopt a semi-customized program approach in which each Fellow will strategically select components from the suite of available programs based on his/her individual targets for Global Insight competencies and self-evaluations.

3. Evaluations facilitated by mentors’ support

In order to support L-INSIGHT fellows in setting their own global insight competency goals and then conducting self-assessments while taking into account necessary mindsets and skillsets, a Kyoto University professor emeritus/emerita mentor is assigned to each of them. The mentor is either close to the fellow’s area of expertise, or similar to the mentor profile requested by the fellow. L-INSIGHT is building a system that allows fellows to track their progress towards acquiring and strengthening their global insight competencies by keeping a record of their mentor interviews and enrolled programs. This reflects the importance we attach to helping fellows conduct self-assessments, utilizing dialogues with and advice from people such as their mentors, as they attend programs.

4. Co-creation of the program through dialogue

L-INSIGHT is a program created through collaboration. It is developed and improved while incorporating early career researchers’ perspectives and advice from experts inside and outside the university. For example, it actively incorporates the opinions of such stakeholders when establishing global insight competencies and performance self-assessment criteria for these competencies. We plan to continually review and hone these competencies and criteria through dialogue-based program co-creation through 2030. Also, in the 2021 academic year, we are launching programs based on L-INSIGHT fellows’ proposals.

5. Flexible cooperation with international institutes

With L-INSIGHT leveraging Kyoto University’s outstanding resources for collaboration with international research institutions (the university’s overseas offices¹, academic and corporate partner institutions, and collaborating organizations), they cooperate in providing L-INSIGHT fellows with opportunities to interact with potential joint researchers (early career researchers, top talent) and to gain experience as a convener at international conferences. Flexibly cooperating with overseas entities, L-INSIGHT is creating a system by which fellows can select the sites they visit. It is centered on HeKKSaGOn², on-site laboratories³, as well as Kyoto University’s overseas academic exchange partner schools and strategic partnership institutions.

¹ North America (Washington, D.C.), Europe (Heidelberg, Germany), ASEAN (Bangkok, Thailand).
² In 2010, six universities from Japan and Germany established an academic exchange program to promote the advancement of science and knowledge in both countries. These universities are Kyoto University, Osaka University, and Tohoku University from Japan, and University of Heidelberg, University of Göttingen, and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology from Germany. The second phase began in 2019. Throughout both phases, Kyoto University and Heidelberg University serve as the liaison offices for each country.
³ Locally operated research offices established in collaboration with overseas universities, research institutions, and so on.

6. Application of industry’s practical capabilities

L-INSIGHT places emphasis on developing its programs with direct input from industry perspectives. To create opportunities for early career researchers to exchange knowledge with industry, we collaboratively work with our corporate partners. For example, L-INSIGHT holds joint industry-academia research presentations and retreat programs, as well as facilitates short-term dispatches to companies, thereby both providing many opportunities for fellows and company researchers to plan joint research, as well as aiming to build and expand networks of early career researchers in industry and academy. Also, to put global insight competencies into practice, fellows must understand the competition to which companies are exposed. Therefore, L-INSIGHT refers to their human resource development efforts and works to create a synergy effect through fellows’ learning alongside corporate researchers. This enables fellows to draw from industry’s ability to “get things done,” so to speak.

7. Financial support that encourages active participation

To encourage “autonomous participation by financial support”, we provide “Program Activation Support” for each L-INSIGHT Fellow who actively participates in our core and practical programs.
The support includes travel expenses to attend the programs and publication charges to disseminate the results of one’s research work.