RIKEN President Noyori, in the third of his five initiatives, proposes that RIKEN strive toward becoming an institution "that motivates researchers". As one element in this initiative, RIKEN has stepped up its efforts over recent years to diversify its workforce through initiatives aimed at increasing the ratio of female and non-Japanese scientists, as well as young researchers, among its staff. The current makeup of personnel at RIKEN is outlined below, along with a summary of programs and systems enacted with the aim of diversifying this personnel.

Gender

Gender equality is an area in which RIKEN has worked hard to excel. With 17% female researchers, RIKEN is above the national average of 14%. This figure is moreover set to rise in coming years thanks to programs devoted to attracting women to scientific research.

One of the steps RIKEN has taken in this area is to establish, in June of 2006, a Committee for Gender Equality, to promote the expansion of gender equality. The committee takes part in a variety of discussions and investigations, and makes recommendations on gender issues. In April of 2008, campus panels were established at Tsukuba, Harima, Yokohama, and Kobe Institutes in order to promote gender equality across all of RIKEN.

RIKEN has also implemented various support measures which serve to foster gender equality. Personal Support Coordinators, for example, offer support for a variety of situations, and are always available to meet with employees and offer solutions to allow them to continue their work smoothly. Measures are in place that also allow RIKEN to hire temporary staff to cover for women researchers who are pregnant or taking care of children, making it possible for these researchers to take short-term leave.

Another area where RIKEN is well ahead of other institutions is in its strong support for childcare and nursing care support, offered to both men and women and to both researchers and administrative staff. A variety of measures are in place which allow female employees to take pre- and post-childbirth leave, shorten their working hours after childbirth, work at home, and shift their working hours. Male employees are also granted paid leave and other work exemptions when their spouse gives birth.

Country of origin

Once an exclusively Japanese institution, the proportion of non-Japanese researchers at RIKEN has risen sharply in recent years. As of March 31, 2009, RIKEN has a total of 453 researchers from overseas countries. Among these foreign researchers, the largest group of researchers come from Asian countries (255 or 56.2%), including 23.0% (104) from China, 11.5% (52) from South Korea, and 21.9% (99) from other asian countries. Of the other foreign researchers, the largest block are from European countries (143 or 31.6%), followed by 8.2% (37) from North America (Canada/U.S.), 1.9% from Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), 1.3% (6) from Central and South America, and 0.6% (3) from Africa. (Figures cover all foreign researchers stationed at RIKEN for a period of at least three months in fiscal 2008.)

The rise in proportion of foreign research staff is a direct result of programs and hiring policies oriented specifically at attracting high-quality scientists from outside of Japan. Three programs stand out as particularly important in this regard. The International Program Associate (IPA) program offers non-Japanese doctoral students attending Japanese or overseas graduate schools the opportunity to pursue research at RIKEN toward obtaining a Ph.D. under the co-supervision of their home institution and RIKEN, with funding privided for housing and living expenses. At the posdoctoral level, the Foreign Postdoctoral Researcher (FPR) program funds foreign researchers to come to Japan and work within an existing RIKEN laboratory, supported by a competetive monthly salary. For promising young scientists with the goal of designing and executing their own independent research project, RIKEN offers the Initiative Research Unit (IRU) program, a highly-competitive support grant to set up a laboratory and hire personnel, including competitive remuneration for the Unit Leader. (For more details on these programs see the Join RIKEN page of this website.)

These programs offer significant opportunities to explore new research areas, and have attracted increasing interest from overseas researchers. In contributing to the overall diversity of personnel, the further development of these programs and initiatives promises to bring RIKEN closer to its goal of motivating and encouraging its researchers in their scientific endeavors.