The Graduate Student Research Board (GSRB)  is an university affiliated organization that aims at promoting research management abilities of young academics through intellectual exchanges with other young academics who are actively pursuing their research projects in the domestic and international scenes.  The GSRB is modelled on the editorial board common at many Law Schools in the United States. Our research board was established on November 2005, and is being funded by the Japanese government’s (and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences) educational program, "Initiatives for Attractive Education in Graduate School" Project. The members of this board have been selected competitively among the graduate students specializing in law or politics at the School of Law and are planning the following major activities.
1. We will select, support, and promote intellectually stimulating and attractive research projects proposed by members of our research board as well as fellow graduate students that will be screened by our unique selection process.
2.  After a project is selected, we will host workshops, study groups or symposium, which will be organized and conducted by the members of the GSRB.  We will particularly put an emphasis on inviting fellow graduate students pursuing their academic endeavors in domestic and/or foreign universities.  We plan to host regular study groups which we hope will facilitate a network for intellectual exchanges among graduate students inside and outside Japan.
3. We will publish GSRB newsletters, journals and booklets, following advices from the “Supporting Board” which is a supervising committee composed by professors and specialists who have wide range of experiences in international joint research or editing of academic journals.
4. We will hold joint research projects with private companies, administrative agencies and the media, and develop ways that will enable us graduate students to contribute to society.
5. We have our own independent board office outside of the university campus and we the members are responsible for the technical operation, management, and day-today operation of the office.
6. In order to become more effective in our duties and to better serve our research board, we will organize and visit law schools in the U.S. who already have experiences in such kind of activities, as well as actively participate in the international conference. We will serve as ambassadors/representatives of our university and bring back what we have learned and incorporate that to our activities here at home.  The board member will select the participants and choose what conference will best suit our members.  This selection process will be conducted to insure fairness, transparency, and quality.
7. Through the above activities, we can offer a better research environment for our fellow graduate students, which we hope will result in accomplishments by our fellow colleagues.

 

We are trying to create a more creative academic research environment at our university through intellectual exchanges in the form of workshop, symposium, and the network. It is crucial to have opportunities to discuss with other academics and graduate students who share the same awareness or sensitivities in their related field of study. Some of these potential colleagues may be affiliated to other universities in Japan or to research institution in foreign countries, which makes it difficult to build any solid relationships. At best, we may get in contact or communicate once a year at one of the annual academic conferences in Japan. However, we strongly believe that this project will make it possible to invite young academics and graduate students and even distinguished professors in various fields of research, by using the funds for the  “initiative” program.

We are also in charge of technical and administrative management. Take for example planning workshops:  we are responsible of selecting a theme, sending out invitations, reserving tickets and hotels for guest speakers, reserving venue, taking up duties such as chairperson and/or commentator.  We also plan to announce calls for papers and articles for our journal and booklet, which we will be responsible to select and referee the papers of applicants, and negotiate with a publisher regarding the final product. We feel that the whole project and all the duties that accompany it are very attractive   and challenging because to the best of our knowledge, this kind of attempt is one of the first in Japan, where graduate students themselves propose, promote, support, conduct, and perform duties that have been handed to us as our responsibilities as members of this research board.  We believe that this experience will serve as a motivating factor for other young academics who wish to start a new project.

The duties and activities of the GSRB are not only significant for the School of Law at the Hokkaido University, but can have remarkable and significant effects in Japanese education of law and politics in general.

All members of the GSRB promise to serve on this board with intellectual integrity and a big heart that will not surrender to any obstacles and challenges that may be in our way.  Our ultimate goal is that our achievements will contribute to better the society that we live in.  "Res firma mitescere nescit."