On January 6, 2016, a ceremony was held to mark the appointment of Shinshu University’s first ever Rising Star Researchers. This is a system for designating particularly outstanding young researchers from among the university's researchers in the research clusters as "Rising Star (RS) Researchers" has been newly instituted. The objective is to cultivate up-and-coming RS researchers to become Super Star (SS) Researchers, and to strategically promote talent innovation to create new academic areas and cultivate core technologies by promoting cross-breeding of ideas among keen RS researchers.

A total of three researchers were chosen on this occasion: Associate Professor Kim Ick Soo of the Institute for Fiber Engineering (creation of nanofibers), Senior Assistant Professor Yuji Shiba of the Institute for Biomedical Sciences (regenerative medicine), and Associate Professor Shizue Masuki of the Institute for Biomedical Sciences (exercise physiology). They were chosen after having successfully passed a series of stages. To begin with, they had to meet two or more items from nine strict preliminary qualifications, such as number of citations of papers, number of research funds acquired, and history of awards. This was followed by a primary screening of submitted documents by external experts, and then by a secondary screening in which candidates gave presentations in front of an academic committee.

RS researchers are provided with a research environment to enable advanced dedicated research, such as special support for basic research costs and ensuring research time, etc. In addition, priority support is provided in terms of preferential treatment in personnel aspects, reflecting evaluation of their results, etc.

Commemorative photo