There are five prioritized research programs currently being supported by FSO. Three of them started early in 2007 and the other two started in July 2007. FSO invested human resources, funds and research space on these programs. Investment in human resources, namely, the adoption of Tenure Track System and the appointment of young researchers under this system. We hope that through these prioritized research programs, we can lay the foundation for new fields of research that present a distinctive feature of Kanazawa University in the future.

Decisions of the prioritized research program are made by FSO Committee. FSO Committee discusses and decides which research programs to be prioritized by selecting from the proposals for Global COE this year (2007). Documentary examinations and hearings of these proposals are conducted by FSO, and decisions on whether to adopt these proposals are based on the consideration of their potential to be the desired characteristic of Kanazawa University in the future – the world’s education and research center.

On receiving supports in various forms from the university, these prioritized programs are expected to contribute to the substantiality of education and research and to support the nurturing of young researchers. These programs also strive to be chosen for Global COE and to obtain various large-scale competitive grants. By achieving these objects, Kanazawa University hopes to establish itself as an education and research institute with features that are distinguishable from other universities.

Every year these prioritized research programs will present their annual plans, interim and final reports and each of them will be evaluated by their respective external evaluation committee and peer reviewers. Base on the feedback of their actual results and achievements, FSO Advisory Board which consists of external experts will determine whether to continue or discontinue these programs every two years.