Education and Research Results
Event Record
［Event］ Sophia University’s Doctoral students presented at the Future Doctoral Festival 2025.
On September 4, 2025, our SPRING student presented at the “Future Doctoral Festival 2025” (Hosted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; Co-hosted by the Japan Science and Technology Agency) held at Hitotsubashi University’s Hitotsubashi Hall.
The development and career support of doctoral students is one of our university’s key missions. Numerous representatives from industry, government, and other sectors attended the event, reaffirming the importance of industry-government-academia collaboration in supporting doctoral students’ career development and fostering student exchange.
We will actively utilize the insights gained from this event to enhance our doctoral education and career support programs. Furthermore, we will vigorously advance initiatives to strengthen corporate partnerships and raise societal recognition of doctoral talent.
＜Voices of SPRING Students from Sophia University Who Participated in the Poster Session＞
Graduate School of Applied Religious Studies
Doctoral Program, third-year student
Saki Kishine
At the PhD Festival, I was greatly inspired by short presentations from doctoral students and panel discussions on diverse career paths for PhD holders, exposing me to perspectives across disciplines and positions. While pursuing a doctoral degree involves financial concerns and anxieties about the future, learning that many graduate students face the same challenges was reassuring yet also made me acutely aware of the seriousness of the situation. It also made me keenly conscious of the question of how to contribute my research skills back to society.
Furthermore, discovering that diverse career paths exist beyond university teaching—and that humanities PhDs are particularly valued by society—provided significant hope. During the poster session, cross-disciplinary exchanges emerged. Discussing approaches to humanities doctoral studies—whether to pursue research depth or prioritize social engagement—with professors from other universities, and sharing the difficulty of this choice, was immensely encouraging. This experience provided a valuable opportunity to reassess the positioning of my own research and further heightened my motivation for the future.