2020 Faculty Courses Liberal arts and basic science courses Career development courses
Social Contributions through Research C
- Academic unit or major
- Career development courses
- Instructor(s)
- Tomoko Murakami / Hiroaki Yamanaka / Jun-Ichi Takada / Hirofumi Akagi
- Class Format
- Lecture (Zoom)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - Intensive (Zoom)
- Class
- C
- Course Code
- LAC.M537
- Number of credits
- 100
- Course offered
- 2020
- Offered quarter
- 3Q
- Syllabus updated
- Jul 10, 2025
- Language
- Japanese
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
As part of the process of transferring the research results of scientists and engineers to society, one duty of Tokyo Tech is to provide national and public body council members and professional society members engaged in raising the awareness of the public through writing and journalism. However, there are a number of points of concern for these activities. Based on the examples of instructors with experience as a council member, students discuss problems such as research and social contributions, and fairness and conflicts of interest.
Through this course, students learn that the role and responsibility of universities is not just education and research, but also raising the awareness of the public.
Course description and aims
Each instructor will introduce examples from the experience as a council member in the fields of energy, disaster prevention, information and communications, science policy, and an international technical sopciety. Students will gain an understanding of the issues related to the relationship between science and society for relevant fields. Next, students will discuss with each other fairness and conflicts of interest from the perspective of researchers, based on the insights they gained. Through this course, students will develop their own opinions about the social contributions of science and technology.
Keywords
Dissemination of research results to society, Social contribution and enlightenment, Relationship between science ／technology and society, Science studies, Science ethics
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
Each instructor will post case-study materials to OCWi by more than 10 days before each class, which include the issue specific to each topic. The individual students are required for preparation on the basis of the materials in advance about the challenges in the relevant art, and for submission of a report by the one day before the class of the day through OCWi.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | October 13（Tuseday) 3-4 period Zoom [Akagi] science and technology and social contributions in the field of an international technical society (in Japanese). | Doing a case study based on an example and writing a preliminary report. |
| Class 2 | October 20（Tuesday) 1-4 period Zoom [Takada] information science and technology and social contributions in the field of communications (in Japanese). | Doing a case study based on an example and writing a preliminary report. |
| Class 3 | November 10（Tuseday) 1-4 period Zoom [Yamanaka] science and technology and social contributions in the field of disaster reduction (in Japanese). | Doing a case study based on an example and writing a preliminary report. |
| Class 4 | November 24（Tuesday) 1-4 period Zoom [Murakami] science and technology and social contribution in the energy sector (in Japanese). | Doing a case study based on an example and writing a preliminary report. |
Study advice (preparation and review)
Textbook(s)
None.
Reference books, course materials, etc.
None.
Evaluation methods and criteria
Reports submitted (60%) and class contributions (40%).
Related courses
- Other career courses
Prerequisites
None