Policy Inconsistency between Science and Technology Promotion and Graduate Education Regarding Developing Researchers with Science Communication Skills in Japan

Abstract

Japan, like other countries, recognizes the need to shift the focus of the public communication of science and technology from science literacy via one-way communication to the public engagement of science and technology via dialogue. During the shift of perspectives, Japanese science policy tried to encourage science communication (SC) by cultivating the professional science communicator and communication capacity of scientists. This study aims to analyze the structural issues of developing science communication, particularly focusing on the gap between science policy and graduate education (GE) policy concerning the human resource development of scientists. The analyses found a lack of science communication development in graduate education policies, despite the emphasis on this in government science and technology (ST) policies. Simultaneously, it showed that there are few training courses for science communication and job recruiting for academic institutions. Discussions for systematic implementation of SC training in the GE system are expected to bridge higher education and ST policies.

Keywords:

• Science communication training
• researcher development
• graduate education policy
• science and technology policy

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Three universities were allocated 500 million yen over a five-year period (April 2005 to March 2010); the University of Tokyo established the “Science interpreter Training Program” (http://science-interpreter.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/) for a sub major about communication and STS program for graduate students in the natural science course; Waseda University made a graduate school for science journalism “Master of Arts program for Journalism Education in Science and Technology (MAJESTy)” (http://www.waseda-j.jp/majesty/) (currently named the Graduate School of Journalism); Hokkaido University established the “Communication in Science and Technology Education and Research Program (CoSTEP)” (https://costep.open-ed.hokudai.ac.jp/costep/) which was mainly for Hokkaido University’s students, staff, and faculty but open to every citizen. These programs are still running after the end of founding by JST and MEXT. The three program websites were visited on 18 June 2020.

² Deficit model thinking is the belief that public skepticism toward modern science and technology is caused by a lack of adequate knowledge about science and technology and that this skepticism can be overcome by providing sufficient information to the public.

³ The ST Basic Plans are available at: http://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/kihonkeikaku/index4.html (in Japanese), http://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/english/basic/index.html (in English).

⁴ The Council for Science and Technology Policy, chaired by the prime minister, was established in 2001 and changed its name to the Council for Science, Technology, and Innovation in 2014.

⁵ The first white paper was published in 1958 by the JST, which was established in 1956. The second and third white papers were published in 1962 and 1964, respectively. Since then, a white paper has been published every year. The full text of all volumes of white papers on ST are publicly available on MEXT’s website. (http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/hakusho/html/kagaku.htm, Japanese only). (http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/hakusho/html/kagaku_e.htm, English since 1998). Unless otherwise stated, all websites referred to in this paper were visited on 7 June 2019.

⁶ Abbreviation for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

⁷ The Basic Act on Education was completely revised on 15 December 2006 for the first time since its implementation in 1947. A new article on universities, which was not included previously, was added to the revised act. As a result, it was clarified that “Universities, as the core of scholarship activities, shall cultivate advanced knowledge and specialized skills, inquire deeply into the truth and create new knowledge, while contributing to the development of society by broadly disseminating the results of their activities” (Article 7).

⁸ All basic plans for the promotion of education are available at: http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/keikaku/index.htm (in Japanese), http://www.mext.go.jp/en/policy/education/lawandplan/index.htm (in English).

⁹ These GEPP guidelines are available at: http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/koutou/daigakuin/index.htm (1st and 2nd in Japanese); http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/houdou/28/03/1369696.htm (3rd in Japanese).

¹⁰ In Japan, the fiscal year starts on April 1 and ends on March 31. Hereinafter, fiscal year is referred to as FY.

¹¹ JREC-IN Portal was launched in October 2001 to support the career development of early-career scientists against the background of the burgeoning number of postdoctoral fellows as a result of measures based on the 1st ST Basic Plan (Kabeya et al. 2015). Because JREC-IN Portal has been upgraded four times, in 2005, 2007, 2011, and 2014, careful handling is required concerning the completeness and consistency of its recorded data (Kawashima, Yamashita, and Kawai 2016). The JREC-IN Portal URL is https://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekTop?ln=1 (in English).

¹² Miura and Sato (2007) compared the full-time job posting cards (n = 2598) of researchers (excluding support staff) on the JREC-IN from February 2003 to January 2004 with the job posting information (n = 2603) on the official websites of universities and public research institutions with more than 20 adoptions per year of Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research funded by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science/MEXT. As a result, only five cases of job posting information were obtained only from the official website of each institution and not from JREC-IN Portal.

¹³ In order to further strengthen PUST activities, this “Promotion of Science and Technology Understanding Department” was subsequently reorganized to the “Promotion of Science and Technology Understanding Division” in 2000.

¹⁴ It set a goal of doubling the number of graduate students by 2000, resulting in the number of graduate students increasing from 98,650 in 1991 to over 200,000 in 2000.

¹⁵ Ishihara-Shineha (2017) revealed by quantitative text analysis that the university has replaced the company as the core institution of ST research described in the white papers on ST since 1995.

¹⁶ The FY2015 survey was conducted via e-mail for all universities that have a graduate school in Japan (a total of 619 universities, 100% response rate) from 16 October 2015 to 15 January 2016. The FY2017 survey was conducted in the same way for all universities that have a graduate school in Japan (a total of 623 universities, 95.2% response rate) from 28 December 2017 to 5 March 2018.

¹⁷ Operating expense grants to national university corporations have declined gradually from a total of 1241 billion yen in 2004 to 1094 billion yen in 2015, and have remained largely unchanged since 2017 (The Japan Association of National Universities 2020).

¹⁸ Similar centers have already been established in the United Kingdom and Australia, among several others. One of the SMCJ’s activities is helping journalists by collecting and sending out expert comments on scientific topics that are of public interest within hours of the news happening. Others include providing training programs for both journalists and scientists.

¹⁹ See the official SMCJ website. http://smc-japan.org/ (accessed 18 June 2020).

²⁰ National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan) employs staff with a maximum term of five years and cultivates their science communication skills on-the-job training. During FY2009 to FY2017, Miraikan produced 117 science communicators and 32% of its graduates gained employment with research institutes such as universities (Miraikan 2018). While Miraikan is an important venue for science communication education outside of schools, it is not likely to be able to produce a sufficient number of professional communicators throughout Japan.

²¹ It is a nonprofit organization founded in 2001 to offer targeted training and coaching to help researchers understand and effectively interact with policymakers and the media.

²² With regard to the segregation between HE and ST/STI policy studies, Japan seems to be no exception. For example, Huisman and Seeber (2019) pointed out that a clear separation of the academic societies and the scholarly outlets between predominantly focusing on HE and those on research/science (policies).

²³ e.g. Academic societies focusing on educational themes such as the Japanese Association of Higher Education Research.

²⁴ e.g. Academic societies such as the Japanese Society for Science and Technology Studies, and Japan Society for Research Policy and Innovation Management.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Seiko Ishihara-Shineha

Seiko Ishihara-Shineha received her PhD in Biostudies from Kyoto University in 2009. Currently, she is an associate professor of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Jissen Women’s University, where she joined in 2020. Her current research focus is on practice and policy analysis of transferable skills training for researchers.