It has been repeatedly said that the integration of humanities and sciences is important. But it is not an easy process. Although “integration” has been argued for many years, it has been stalling. The reason may be simple. Diverse academic areas of knowledge, especially in humanities and sciences, have distinct reasons for their own existence. Thus, they may have become separated. What remains if you subtract “your hand raises” from “you raise your hand?” What remains if you subtract “process information” from “think?” As long as you think something may likely remain, integration may not be possible or necessary.

“Integration” is not easy, but it seems possible to “think together,” and it would be more interesting to do so. The Review Team for Humanities and Social Sciences would like to welcome the “thinking together” proposal. Both those with a humanities background and with a science background have important contributions to make in research, respectively. I would like to expect them to attempt to “think together” while respecting respective specificity. Premising that your ideas and wording differ, try to be patient without emphasizing one side over the other, and interesting outcomes may emerge.

Although the words “humanities and sciences” are used easily, both “humanities” and “sciences” are diverse. Humanities and social sciences vastly differ, as do their contents. The diversity of “sciences” can be seen from the number of panels of FOREST. It may be time to stop using the words “humanities and sciences” which have coarse resolution. The Review Team for Humanities and Social Sciences would like to give advice on research proposals containing various combinations of knowledge, from the perspective of whether the engagement is based on the concept of “thinking together” while best utilizing the characteristics and strengths of respective knowledge, rather than from the perspective of integration.

I believe that the soul of “FOREST” lies in the free and open exchange of diverse knowledge. By all means, conduct interesting research.