1:55 PM - 2:15 PM
[U14-01] Toward a revision of the future vision of Earth and Planetary Science
★Invited Papers
Keywords:future vision, Dream Roadmap, Future Academic Advancement Initiative, Medium- and Long-term Strategies for Science
While academic research is based on researchers' free ideas, cooperation among researchers is indispensable for major issues that cannot be solved by individual researchers alone. Since efforts for such large research projects play a leading role in each field, a roadmap, which summarizes the future vision of each field and the path to reach it, agreed upon and shared widely among the research community in advance, is one of the important focal points for planning, proposing, and promoting such large research projects.
The Science Council of Japan (SCJ) has continued to compile large research project proposals in each field, presenting the latest major research initiatives every about six years, from 2010 to 2020 as the Master Plans and from 2020 onward as a Future Academic Advancement Initiative. In compiling these plans, the review and feedback for each project proposal have been conducted with an emphasis on consistency with the roadmap for the field, as well as understanding and support from the field community and also academic and social significance and feasibility.
In the field of earth and planetary sciences, the Committee on Earth and Planetary Sciences of SCJ and the Japan Geoscience Union (JpGU) have been working together to compile large research project proposals and a Dream Roadmap for our field, which is a prerequisite for the proposed projects. The current Dream Roadmap was published in 2020 as a report of SCJ and was utilized in the establishment of the contents related to the field of Earth and planetary sciences in the Future Academic Advancement Initiative 2023.
However, several years have passed since the publication of this Dream Roadmap, and the time is approaching when its revision should be made in light of academic progress during this period and new trends in society and technology closely related to our field. On the other hand, referring to past revision cycles, it is expected that in about two to three years, public solicitation and evaluation of “medium- to long-term scientific research strategies” (equivalent to individual large research project plans) for a major revision of the Future Academic Advancement Initiative will begin. In preparation for this, it is necessary to revise and share the latest version of the Dream Roadmap, which will serve as the basement for the new proposals of large research projects.
Therefore, the SCJ Committee on Earth and Planetary Sciences and JpGU have decided to start revising the Dream Roadmap for Earth and Planetary Sciences. First, a joint union session will be held at the JpGU 2025 meeting to discuss the direction of the revision of the Dream Roadmap. At this session, organizers will share the history of and lessons learned from the roadmap and major research plans and the five science sections of JpGU bring together their recommendations for updating the Dream Roadmap, revising the Future Academic Advancement Initiative, and expanding inter-, trans-disciplinary perspectives. After follow-up meetings, we will prepare a revised draft of the Dream Roadmap and share it widely by the end of this fiscal year and establish its final revised draft reflecting wide opinions by the end of the next fiscal year.
As for the Future Academic Advancement Initiative, a follow-up and additional call for proposals for a minor revision of the 2023 version are expected to be made soon. As the details are known, we will share the information widely and then hold a forum to confirm the progress of the Dream Roadmap by understanding the current status of each proposal of the “Medium- and Long-term Strategies for Science” in our field.
We hope that many Earth and planetary science researchers will be interested in and actively contribute to this series of activities that clarify the future vision of Earth and planetary science through bottom-up processes.
The Science Council of Japan (SCJ) has continued to compile large research project proposals in each field, presenting the latest major research initiatives every about six years, from 2010 to 2020 as the Master Plans and from 2020 onward as a Future Academic Advancement Initiative. In compiling these plans, the review and feedback for each project proposal have been conducted with an emphasis on consistency with the roadmap for the field, as well as understanding and support from the field community and also academic and social significance and feasibility.
In the field of earth and planetary sciences, the Committee on Earth and Planetary Sciences of SCJ and the Japan Geoscience Union (JpGU) have been working together to compile large research project proposals and a Dream Roadmap for our field, which is a prerequisite for the proposed projects. The current Dream Roadmap was published in 2020 as a report of SCJ and was utilized in the establishment of the contents related to the field of Earth and planetary sciences in the Future Academic Advancement Initiative 2023.
However, several years have passed since the publication of this Dream Roadmap, and the time is approaching when its revision should be made in light of academic progress during this period and new trends in society and technology closely related to our field. On the other hand, referring to past revision cycles, it is expected that in about two to three years, public solicitation and evaluation of “medium- to long-term scientific research strategies” (equivalent to individual large research project plans) for a major revision of the Future Academic Advancement Initiative will begin. In preparation for this, it is necessary to revise and share the latest version of the Dream Roadmap, which will serve as the basement for the new proposals of large research projects.
Therefore, the SCJ Committee on Earth and Planetary Sciences and JpGU have decided to start revising the Dream Roadmap for Earth and Planetary Sciences. First, a joint union session will be held at the JpGU 2025 meeting to discuss the direction of the revision of the Dream Roadmap. At this session, organizers will share the history of and lessons learned from the roadmap and major research plans and the five science sections of JpGU bring together their recommendations for updating the Dream Roadmap, revising the Future Academic Advancement Initiative, and expanding inter-, trans-disciplinary perspectives. After follow-up meetings, we will prepare a revised draft of the Dream Roadmap and share it widely by the end of this fiscal year and establish its final revised draft reflecting wide opinions by the end of the next fiscal year.
As for the Future Academic Advancement Initiative, a follow-up and additional call for proposals for a minor revision of the 2023 version are expected to be made soon. As the details are known, we will share the information widely and then hold a forum to confirm the progress of the Dream Roadmap by understanding the current status of each proposal of the “Medium- and Long-term Strategies for Science” in our field.
We hope that many Earth and planetary science researchers will be interested in and actively contribute to this series of activities that clarify the future vision of Earth and planetary science through bottom-up processes.