(1) Research on Nagasaki' s regional and geographical characteristics

    (remote islands, slopes, and depopulation)

    Nagasaki is aging more rapidly than other prefectures in Japan, a tendency which is especially prominent in the remote islands and in depopulated areas.

    There is, therefore, a great need to enhance medical and welfare support equipments with those that have actively incorporated the developments in information and telecommunication technology.

    Also, in order to give attention to the patients' quality of life (QOL) and to provide them with less stressful examination and diagnosis, it is indispensable to make efforts in developing a noninvasive sensing technology for living subjects.

    The Faculty of Engineering and the School of Medicine are exchanging information and working together to develop a "Noninvasive sensing technology for QOL medical diagnosis" as one industry-academia-government collaboration project.

    Nagasaki University is trying to create new cooperative studies with this as its core research, to invigorate local industries and establish a base for advanced diagnostic technology.

    The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences offers a "Department of remote islands and isolated communities medicine" , specially designed for the research development on healthcare and welfare in those areas.

    Based in Goto City, the "Island Medical Research Institute" conducts basic research (an educational system to train medical experts for remote islands and isolated areas, an IT-based regional medical information system, and an epidemiologic survey on health and illness in remote islands and rural areas) to develop health care and welfare that meet the needs of the local people.

(2) Establishment of "New Nagasaki Study" and

    providing the information on the Internet

    Large amounts of historic materials still remain in Nagasaki. It is Nagasaki University' s responsibility to find, organize, and research these materials. At the same time, these can be used as the University' s important selling point. The University owns a number of valuable data on Nagasaki in its libraries; the "Documents on History of Foreign Negotiations or TaigaiKoshoshiShiryo" and "Pre-Modern Nagasaki Related Documents" of the Muto Collection in the Economics Branch Library, "Documents on History of Modern Medicine" in the Medical Library, and "Collection of Old Japanese Photographs in the Bakumatsu-Meiji Period" and "Fishes of Southern and Western Japan (Glover Atlas)" in the Main Library.

    Many faculty members have studied Nagasaki and published their findings. The University needs to put these priceless materials and research achievements together and build a "New Nagasaki Study".

    The Main Library has been highly praised locally and internationally for sharing image database of "Collection of Old Japanese Photographs in the Bakumatsu-Meiji Period" on the Internet. The cutting-edge image processing technology has also been in practical use through the development of an ultra-high-resolution image database. The University has further enhanced these technologies and launched the construction of the most advanced "Nagasaki Study Digital Archives" where it will publish digitized versions of its own valuable materials and newly founded data from the study of Nagasaki.

(3) Project responding to educational crisis

    (Center for Total Human Education and Child Welfare)

    This project was organized across different faculties, and established in response to concerns of communities on the educational problems that Nagasaki is facing. It is characterized by the following features.

• (Objective: Assistance to problems faced by local communities)
  Shaken by a series of juvenile delinquencies that occurred in Nagasaki, teachers felt their role to be involved in supporting local communities over problems they face and gathered together voluntarily to form this Center. The Center engages and gives its assistance on diverse issues including the raising of a child and the educational environment associated to it.
• (Organization: in a cross-faculty/comprehensive manner)
  The Center is involved in a variety of research areas and maintains a flexible policy of increasing and decreasing its activities according to communities' demands. The Center also enables networking between Nagasaki University, its base, and other organizations.
• (Activities: Clinical・Interdisciplinary)
  The University' s outstanding research resulting from past projects will be combined for surveys and support measures. When support measures take place in a model area, the University will discuss them with the Board of Education in an interdisciplinary and clinical manner.