On February 25, 2020, Ritsumeikan University and the University of California, Berkeley (“UC Berkeley”) signed a research cooperation agreement.

For the past dozen or so years, a research team of the Art Research Center (“ARC”), Ritsumeikan University, led by Prof. Ryo Akama (College of Letters), has been collaborating with the UC Berkeley on research with its focus on digital archiving. The conclusion of this agreement turns this research collaboration into a permanent joint research partnership.

Last year, the ARC was selected for an International Joint Usage/Research Center Program by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Among the seven university research centers selected for this Program so far, the ARC is the only one selected as a private university research center. We expect the conclusion of this agreement with the UC Berkeley, one of the world’s leading universities, to further advance the ARC’s international research activities. Moreover, because the agreement is a comprehensive one with no restrictions on research fields, we highly hope to promote international partnership and joint research with the UC Berkeley in fields other than what the ARC focuses on, as well.

At the signing ceremony held at the UC Berkeley, Vice President Yoko Matsubara gave a talk, outlining Ritsumeikan’s research activities. After her talk, the ARC’s Director and Deputy Directors--Prof. Koichi Hosoi (College of Image Arts and Sciences), Prof. Akama and Keiji Yano (College of Letters), and Prof. Keiko Suzuki (Kinugasa Research Organization)--introduced the ARC and showcased its International Joint Usage/Research Center Program activities. The ceremony was joined by UC Berkeley representatives, including the Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, the Director of the Center for Japanese Studies, and the Director of the Center for East Asian Studies.

The delegation from Ritsumeikan also paid a courtesy call on Prof. Lisa Alvarez-Cohen, the Vice Chancellor of the UC Berkeley, to discuss the conclusion of the agreement and the future of research collaboration between the two universities. Ritsumeikan will energetically promote international joint research, aiming to become a “global research university” that can contribute to the society by giving the fruits of its research back to the general public.