Research Fields and Areas | SATREPS (Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development)

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Research Fields and Areas

SATREPS projects typically share the following characteristics:

To envisage their outcomes being applied to the benefit of broader society as well as in the developing country
To cover topics in developing countries for which research and development to resolve an issue is particularly necessary, and for which capacity building of researchers is required
To contribute to the resolution of global issues and scientific and technological progress

* A project is not eligible if it consists merely of transfer of Japanese technology without entailing any joint research, or solely of surveys and other simple operations that do not make any contribution to the advancement of science and technology, or if it produces outcomes that can only be of benefit to one particular country.

1. Environment and Energy

❶Research contributing to the solution to global-scale environmental issues

（Research contributing to SDGs, such as averting the climate crisis, adaptations to the present impacts of global warming and those predicted in future, preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services, sustainable use of natural resources, pollution prevention and control, biomass-derived resources, and circular economies）

❷Research on the sustainable use of resources and energy with a view to achieving carbon neutrality

（Research contributing to SDGs concerning resources and energy, such as measures to restrict greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, energy conservation, decentralized societies, smart societies, and carbon pricing）
2. Bioresources

❸Research contributing to sustainable production and utilization of bioresources

（Contributing to SDGs - food security, health promotion, nutrition improvement, and sustainable agriculture, forestry, and fisheries）
3. Disaster Prevention and Mitigation

❹Research on disaster prevention and mitigation towards social sustainability

（Research contributing to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and SDGs, from advance measures such as analysis of disaster mechanisms, building national resilience, strengthening social infrastructure, and appropriate land use planning, to reconstruction and recovery after a disaster has occurred and adaptations to disasters caused by climate change）
4. Infectious Diseases Control^※

❺Research on measures to address infectious diseases control attuned to the needs of developing countries

※ SATREPS projects in the field of Infectious Diseases Control have been transferred toAMED - the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development. (The transfer took place on April 1, 2015. Projects that terminated before that date were not transferred.)

1. Environment and Energy

Research Area ①

Research contributing to the solution to global-scale environmental issues

※ From FY2008. Research area: "Research contributing to adaptation to or mitigation of climate change" was incorporated into Global-scale Environmental Issues in FY2010.

This research area aims to resolve environmental and energy issues occurring on a global scale triggered by deterioration of ecosystems and biodiversity, increased pollution, concentration of urban population, increased production and consumption activities, and climate change.

Underwater survey of Oceania coral reef biota
Monitoring crop growth using a drone with multispectral sensors at a progressive farm
Oil palm trunks left on the ground are thought to have a negative effect on the soil environment, encouraging the spread of soil-borne pathogens.
Marine plastic debris in Southeast Asia

Examples of eligible research projects

Chemical pollution, its risk reduction and remediation
Assessing the abundance of water resources and improving safe, sustainable water resource management, utilization, and treatment (including proposals to strengthen the capacity of water utilities and improve service quality)
Establishing a material-cycle society (including collection and reuse of waste and useful resources)
Conservation and restoration of ecosystems and biological diversity
Urban environmental conservation (including greening) for the purpose of smart city construction, mitigation of environmental degradation as a result of urbanization, and the construction and operation of pleasant cities
Reconstruction and restoration of environments damaged by large-scale disasters
Sustainable use of natural resources
Observation, prediction, impact assessment, and adaptation to climate change
Understand environmental and social changes associated with COVID-19

※ Even if the research themes fall under the above categories, research themes relating to systems and key technologies for the achievement of carbon neutrality and climate change mitigation (including energy saving, renewable energy, and new forms of energy) fall into Research Area ②. In addition, those that match the purpose of the disaster prevention field will be classified as Research Area ④.

Research Area ②

Research on the sustainable use of resources and energy with a view to achieving carbon neutrality

※ The research area known from FY2010 to FY2021 as "low-carbon societies" has been renamed "carbon neutrality" as of FY2022.

This research area consists of energy conservation, promotion of the utilization of renewable energies, and research and development of smart society; research outcomes can potentially be utilized to cut greenhouse gas emissions and realize a low carbon future.

Sorghum bred for improved fuel properties to develop fuel pellets and particle boards of low-environmental impact type, and to revegetate tropical grass wasteland.
Geothermal Power Plant in El Salvador where is expected to promote the use of geothermal energy through application of efficient and inexpensive thermoluminescence for geothermal exploration
Traffic congestion in the mega-city increases global warming, environment, and health risks.
Low-cost duckweed biomass production in conjunction with a low-carbon water treatment system for polluted water and wastewater by water purifying function of duckweed

Examples of eligible research projects

Rrenewable energy, such as sunlight and solar heat, wind power, ocean energy, geothermal energy, and biomass. Promoting the utilization of renewable energy.
The use of renewable energy through the generation and utilization of hydrogen, ammonia, methane (CH₄) and other substances as clean energy carriers
Energy conservation, such as highly efficient, clean energy use technology, the introduction of highly efficient machinery and energy recycling technology, energy systems technology that reduces CO₂ emissions, and innovative industrial processes
Utilizing digital technologies such as ICT, IoT, and AI to create sustainable, resourcerecycling cities and communities in forms such as smart cities, smart communities, smart agriculture, transport networks, and next-generation infrastructure
Sustainable use of natural resources such as fossil fuels and minerals, such as component technologies related to carbon capture, usage, and storage (CCUS); resource recycling; "urban mine" development; and resource collection systems.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from non-energy sources, such as CH₄, N₂O, and HFCs

2. Bioresources

Research Area ③

Research contributing to sustainable production and utilization of bioresources

※From FY2009

Bioresources provide us with foods, medicines, animal feeds, textiles, energy, and much more, but sustainable production is threatened recently by problems such as desertification, salinization of agricultural land, pests, unstable temperatures, and unreliable rainfall. This research area concentrates on collaborative research that can point the way to sustainable means of production and utilization.

Interviewing farmers in an arsenic-contaminated area
Development of new technological systems that control major diseases affecting cacao
Technology development will be conducted to breed Asian sea bass and banana shrimp as natives to Southeast Asia
Quinoa being cultivated in the harsh environment facing the Uyuni Salt Flat

Examples of eligible research projects

Sustainable production and utilization of bioresources (including resource management, breeding, cultivation, propagation and culturing technology for plant, animal, marine and microbial resources, production/distribution systems)
Evaluation and effective utilization of bioresources (including using biodiversity for discovery, identification, and production of valuable substances derived from biological resources but excluding human drug development)

Projects focusing on the following topics should be under the field of Environment and Energy.

Research contributing to the conservation and restoration of ecosystems and biodiversity (Environment and Energy, Research Area ①)
Research contributing to the utilization of biomass energy (Environment and Energy, Research Area ②)
Research activities that primarily address environment and energy issues (Environment and Energy, Research Areas ① and ②)

3. Disaster Prevention and Mitigation

Research Area ④

Research on disaster prevention and mitigation towards social sustainability

※ From FY2008

To realize safe, resilient and sustainable cities and society, this research area will engage in comprehensive and systematic research, within a global framework on prevention and mitigation of natural disasters as well as increasingly serious large-scale disasters caused by urbanization, leveraging the experience and knowledge accumulated in Japan.

Volcanic eruptions
Children taking part in a tsunami evacuation drill.
Installation of a ocean bottom observation equipment
Damage from the Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami in 2018

Examples of eligible research projects

Clarifying the mechanisms of disasters associated with natural phenomena such as earthquakes, tsunami, volcanic eruptions, storms, storm surges, inundation, drought, heat waves, and landslides, together with measures to mitigate such disasters and risks, as well as measures for restoration and reconstruction, and effectiveness of investment in disaster risk reduction.
Measures to mitigate the damage from major disasters that have become more serious with urbanization (fires, urban flooding due to torrential rain, damage to social infrastructure such as lifelines and transportation networks)
Building national resilience to create disaster-resistant, resilient communities, land use planning and urban design, and improvements to social infrastructure and its sustainable operation
Prevention and mitigation of regional and urban disasters through the prompt collection and effective utilization of disaster information (including the development of technologies to utilize disaster observation satellites, remote sensing, UAV, GIS, GNSS, ICT,IoT, AI, and other digital technologies)
Prevention of, mitigation of, and recovery from disasters that combines approaches across the natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences to help establish precise and practical disaster forecasting and enable effective recovery
Disaster countermeasures and improving overall social resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic

4. Infectious Diseases Control

Research Area ⑤

Research on measures to address infectious diseases control attuned to the needs of developing countries

※ SATREPS projects in the field of Infectious Diseases Control have been transferred to AMED - the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development. (The transfer took place on April 1, 2015. Projects that terminated before that date were not transferred.)

People and goods now cross national borders so frequently that the threats of HIV/AIDS, malaria, Dengue fever, tuberculosis, highly pathogenic influenza, Ebola hemorrhagic fever, COVID-19 and other emerging and reemerging infectious diseases are not confined to developing countries. Japan is keen to boost international cooperation regarding infectious diseases that have the potential to enter Japan, in order to accumulate knowledge in advance of any actual outbreak.

Examples of eligible research projects

Zoonosis such as avian influenza, rabies and others
Epidemiology, diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics for the detection and control of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, Ebola hemorrhagic fever, protozoa and parasites like malaria, Dengue fever, tuberculosis and bacteria resistant to antibiotics like carbapenem and colistin

※ The following research proposals are not eligible: those only involving technology transfer or knowledge provision from Japan but not involved in joint research; those only conducting surveys that will not contribute to the advancement of science and technology.

※ Joint research involving clinical trials etc.,^[1] conducted in the partner country, are not eligible for adoption under the SATREPS program.

※ With regard to joint research including medical procedures performed by Japanese nationals in partner countries, you are requested to consult with JICA before submitting your application.

[1]　Clinical trials etc. include not only company-sponsored or investigator-initiated trials but also clinical research etc. conducted by researchers using unapproved drugs etc.

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