I am Takeshi Nagayasu, and I was appointed to the post of president on October 1, 2023. Ever since Nagasaki University established the Center for Gender Equality in 2009 it has striven to promote and establish programs to support a balance between work and research, and child-raising. In the year 2015 the Center’s name was changed to the Center for Diversity and Inclusion upon its adoption as an Initiative for the Implementation of the Diversity Research Environment (Distinctive Features Type). This Initiative is part of the Science and Technology Human Resource Development Support Project, funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Furthermore, in 2018 the Center was adopted as an Initiative for the Implementation of the Diversity Research Environment (Advanced Type), and has pushed ahead with its efforts. Under the banner of “realizing a diverse environment in which everyone who studies or works at Nagasaki University can fully demonstrate their individual capabilities,” as well as initiatives already successfully implemented, we have pursued the improvement of female researchers’ international research abilities, the reassessment of ways of working, and the reform of faculty and personnel’s awareness. As a result of these efforts, the proportion of female faculty at Nagasaki University is top among all Japan’s national universities.

In order that all of our faculty and personnel can work at Nagasaki University with peace of mind, we have prepared a support system enabling flexible responses to diversified lifestyles. The initiatives in which the local community is involved in the placing of “Nursing Care Concierges,” assistance in the balancing of work (research) and nursing care, and the fostering of supporters to aid caregivers has drawn the attention of businesses and universities outside of Nagasaki University. Furthermore, in order to bolster our responses to child-rearing, on April 1, 2017 the Nagasaki University Bunkyo Omoyai Nursery School was opened as the first corporate-sponsored nursery school in Japan to be established by a national university corporation. During the day all those who work or study at the University keep a kind eye on the nursery school infants strolling through the campus.

There is also a large number of female researchers equipped with high research abilities working at the University. In addition to all sorts of research support systems we have established an “Overseas Dispatch Support System” to further promote international activities, and the “Nagasaki University Women Researchers Awards ,” which is presented in recognition of outstanding research results. As the frontrunner in diversity promotion at national universities we will carry on developing systems that enable as many as possible female researchers to be active from an early stage and on a continuous basis.

Nagasaki University cites the realization of becoming a university that contributes to “planetary healthcare” toward the resolution of complex and diversifying issues we face on a global scale. Needless to say, what lies at the bedrock of this are diversity, equity and inclusion. In order to achieve a workplace and research environment in which all those who study or work at Nagasaki University can vibrantly exercise their individuality and skills, and furthermore for the sake of a future where Nagasaki and the whole of Japanese society shines, we will steadily continue to press ahead hand-in-hand with the Center for Diversity and Inclusion.

I hope that we can rely on everyone for their ongoing appreciation of and cooperation with the Center’s projects.