Japanese universities ‘cautiously commit’ to defence research

Japanese universities appear to be becoming more interested in doing military research as financial pressures and geopolitical instability soften a decades-old anti-war stance, but experts have warned there is a risk that research integrity will be compromised. 

The Japanese Ministry of Defense’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA) said that this year it had received a record 291 applications from universities and other educational institutions for its defence-related research funding programme, which provides financial backing for academic research related to military technologies and defence equipment.

A total of 12.9 billion yen (£61 million) will be allocated this fiscal year and application numbers were more than double last year’s total of 123.

Among the 19 universities that secured funding are 11 selected for the first time, including Nagoya University and Osaka University.

There were 560 applications for the agency’s security technology research promotion programme, up from last year’s 340 and the highest number since it launched in 2015.

For decades, links between university research and Japan’s military have been limited. In 1950, Japan’s post-war constitution renounced war and the right to retain military forces, and the Science Council of Japan committed never to conduct research for the purposes of war.

In 2017, the Science Council reaffirmed these historic vows opposing military research. The council criticised a former initiative of the ATLA, underscoring the need for “careful judgment regarding the source of research funding” and emphasising the importance of academic freedom.

Observers in the sector said the uplift in military research funding was indicative of several different factors.

Futao Huang, professor at the Research Institute for Higher Education at Hiroshima University, said that increased participation in the programme did not equate to “broad academic acceptance of military research” but instead showed that sector funding pressures “could make defence grants increasingly attractive”.

He described the funding as “welcome” but added that “the purpose and conditions matter”.

“A defence spending push could benefit particular fields while doing less to address the broader funding pressures facing universities or support basic research.

“The important questions are who sets the research agenda, whether findings can be published openly, and whether researchers can freely decide to participate,” he said.

Akiyoshi Yonezawa, professor and vice director of the International Strategy Office at Tohoku University, said that Japan’s research community was responding to military-related issues “with a cautious but realistic approach”.

According to Yonezawa, the Science Council of Japan has “begun to soften its stance” on military research over the past five years, allowing dual-use research that “could benefit a wide range of non-military applications on the condition that it is difficult to distinguish between military and non-military applications in practice”.

“The government has also clarified its expectations regarding the commitment of universities and academic researchers to dual-use research,” Yonezawa added. “The seventh National Basic Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation...explicitly promotes dual-use research.”

Major universities are therefore “cautiously starting to commit to dual-use research” while emphasising the “non-military portion”, the vice director explained.

Although Yonezawa partially shared Huang’s view that limited funding has played a role in universities’ endorsement of the programme, he did not feel “this commitment is solely motivated by financial opportunities”.

In his view, it “reflects the general attitudes of Japanese society, including university academics, towards the importance of research security and integrity within a national framework, in the context of increasing geopolitical instability”.

rosalind.skillen@timeshighereducation.com