Greeting!

The origins of our laboratory date back more than 60 years. In 1964, the Wood Physics Laboratory was established at the Uji Campus of Kyoto University, with Professor Tadashi Yamada as its founding professor. The laboratory subsequently evolved into the Division of Material Property Control under Professor Misato Norimoto, and later into the Laboratory of Active Biobased Materials led by Professor Hiroyuki Yano. In 2024, the present professor, Shinsuke Ifuku succeeded this research lineage, which continues to the present day.

Over the years, institutional reorganization led to successive changes in the institute’s name, from the Wood Research Institute to the Wood Science Research Institute, and eventually to the Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere (RISH). RISH was established through the integration of the Wood Science Research Institute and the Radio Science Center for Space and Atmosphere, and celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2024.

The term “Sustainable Humanosphere” refers to the essential sphere that sustains human life. Guided by this concept, RISH seeks to realize a sustainable society by pioneering new interdisciplinary fields of research. Although the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were internationally adopted in 2015, RISH has been proactively promoting sustainability-oriented research since nearly a decade earlier.

At present, RISH is designated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan as a Joint Usage and Research Center for Sustainable Humanosphere Sciences, providing researchers worldwide with access to advanced research facilities and databases. Within this framework, our laboratory plays an active role by hosting the Bio-Nanomaterial Joint Research Hub, through which we promote collaborative research both domestically and internationally.