Since 2007, Sumitomo Life has been working on the ``Childcare Project to Strengthen the Future,'' which aims to create a better environment for raising children. The project includes an award for child-rearing support activities given to individuals and organizations working to create a child-rearing environment in the community, and an award for support for female researchers who strive to balance child-rearing with research activities in the humanities and social sciences. Based on these two pillars, we support healthy child-rearing and the creation of a dream-filled future.

　``Support for female researchers'' is provided by the ``Sumisei Female Researcher Encouragement Award'' for one year to help female researchers who find it difficult to continue their research due to childcare to maintain and continue their research and living environments. A grant of up to 1 million yen will be provided for two years. A distinctive feature of this project is that it targets female researchers in the humanities and social sciences, for whom social support is still insufficient.

　This year, the 17th year of the award, there were 114 applications, and the following 10 female researchers were awarded the Smithei Female Researcher Encouragement Award.

<17th "Childcare Project to Strengthen the Future" Sumisei Female Researcher Encouragement Award>
Midori Ogawa, Specially Appointed Assistant Professor, Department of Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba
Tomoko Ogita, doctoral student, Department of Language and Culture, Graduate School of Humanities, Osaka University
Emi Sakai, Specially Appointed Assistant Professor, Center for Future Creation and Succession, Tokyo University of the Arts
Rieko Sato, Doctoral Program, Department of Language and Information Science, Multicultural Coexistence and Integrated Human Studies Program, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Mitsui Takamura (Inoue), 5-year doctoral course, Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University
Saitama University Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences Research Supporter Mr. Haiyi Chen
Mr. Hino Nakamura, Part-time Lecturer, Faculty of Education, Tokyo Gakugei University
Yuki Miyota, Specially Appointed Researcher, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Kazumi Murakumo, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Research Fellow (DC2), Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba
Nozomi Yamawaki, Full-time Lecturer, Department of Criminal Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of the Human Environment

　One of the award recipients, Mitsu Takamura, is researching children's life courses in Tanzania while raising two children, ages 5 years and 7 months. Upon receiving the award, she said, ``Ever since I became pregnant with my first son, my research hasn't been progressing as I had hoped, which has been really frustrating, and there have been many times when I've thought, ``Maybe I should quit research.'' The children I have been following since they were elementary school students are now around XNUMX years old. Some of them are now parents. By taking the children myself, I am able to interact with them, their girlfriends, and their families. I hope that I will be able to have deeper interactions and hear different stories, which will add depth to my research.I also hope that this experience will help me do fieldwork while raising children. I will strive to be a role model for female researchers and push forward with my research."

　Masami Ohinata, president of Keisen University, who served on the selection committee, said, ``We select the Sumisei Female Researcher Encouragement Award based on research attitude, research content, and degree of hardship in life, but this year, more than ever, we An outstanding trend was observed in research attitudes.Although there has been talk of promoting the active participation of women in recent years, the difficulty of continuing research in the humanities and social sciences remains the same.However, we cannot use this as an excuse. There were many researchers who had the vitality to overcome this problem.The background to women gaining strength in society was a change in their awareness of not abandoning their way of life and career due to marriage and child rearing. Moreover, in a situation where it is not easy to stick to this goal, we hope to shine a bright ray of light on the female researchers who are trying to survive in a flexible and strong manner without giving up on the path they believe in. "I wanted to see it," he commented.

reference:[Sumitomo Life Insurance Company] Announcement of the results of the 17th “Childcare Project to Strengthen the Future”