National Institutes of Natural Sciences

The National Institutes of Natural Sciences consists of the five research institutes of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, the National Institute for Fusion Science, the National Institute for Basic Biology, the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, and the Institute for Molecular Science and by consensus of the research community as an inter-university research institute, strives to enhance the roles and functions of each research institute and energetically presses ahead with cutting edge research in one's respective specialized fields. Additionally, in order to strengthen collaboration of different fields and to develop a new research horizon with an eye toward the further clarification of natural sciences, the five research institutes established the Center for Novel Science Initiatives at NINS as one of the merits of being a corporation. As a result of this, the Astrobiology Center was installed last year to create a new field of research directed toward the origin and evolution of life in the universe. Various goals including those that set numerical targets are raised in the third mid-term plan of NINS that begins with this year. Within these goals, we have the promotion of collaborative research between different fields in greater detail and the development of new fields as major goals.