Please read this page carefully before contacting us. Most questions we receive are answered below.
Welcome
We welcome motivated students from any country whose interests align closely with these topics. Please look at our Research and Publications pages before writing to us, and make sure you can explain which of our research you want to build on and why.
Lab meetings and supervision are conducted in English and Japanese. No Japanese language ability is required to join the lab. That said, we strongly recommend that you study Japanese before and after arriving: it makes day-to-day life far easier, and it significantly expands your opportunities including friends, internships, part-time work, collaborations, and careers in Japan after graduation.
How graduate study works in a Japanese lab
In Japan, students are affiliated with a single lab for the entire degree, and research (experiments, seminars, reading groups) makes up roughly half of the program alongside coursework in the Master’s course and all of the Doctoral program. Choosing a lab whose topic and working style suit you matters a great deal, so we encourage you to ask us questions before applying.
Ways to join the lab
Undergraduate (CISE)
- Information Systems Science and Engineering (ISSE) Course — CISE’s English-medium undergraduate course. All classes are held in English, admission is in April only, and an English test score is required for every admission method. ISSE students join a lab in their [3rd/4th] year for their graduation research.
- Japanese-medium courses — the other CISE courses are taught in Japanese and require Japanese proficiency.
Undergraduate admissions are handled entirely by the university’s International Admissions Office, not by individual labs. Please apply through the International Admissions website and mention your interest in our lab when the time comes for lab assignment.
Master’s and Doctoral (GSISE)
GSISE offers several admission routes. The ones most relevant to international applicants are:
| Route | Who it is for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| International Student Admissions | Applicants living outside Japan who cannot travel to Japan for an exam | Held roughly twice a year (for April and September enrollment). Requires prior approval of your research plan by your prospective supervisor. |
| Regular Admissions | Applicants who can take the written/oral exam in Japan (including international students already in Japan) | Past exam questions for the Master’s program are published on the GSISE site. |
| MEXT Embassy Recommendation | Scholarship applicants who apply through the Japanese embassy or consulate in their home country | Contact us after passing the embassy’s primary screening, with your screening result, research plan, and CV. If we agree to supervise you, we will support your request for a letter of acceptance, and you then enter GSISE through the admission route specified by the university. |
| MEXT University Recommendation | Scholarship applicants to the English-based program only | Not currently available in our department. Availability is decided by the university, not by the lab — see the note below. |
| JICA ABE Initiative | Scholarship candidates from African countries (English-based program) | Apply through JICA’s process. |
| Overseas Partner Institution Admissions | Students at Ritsumeikan partner universities (Master’s) | Contact your home university’s international office. |
Current application periods and the official guidelines are posted on the GSISE Application Information page. Dates change every year, so always check the latest version.
A note on the MEXT University Recommendation: this route is not currently offered for our department. Whether it is offered in a given year is decided by the university and is entirely outside the lab’s control. Please check the GSISE application page yourself before contacting us. If the page says it is not available, it is not available please do not email us to ask whether an exception can be made, as we have no way to grant one.
Research students (非正規生 / kenkyusei), interns, visiting researchers
We accept research students (kenkyusei), subject to lab capacity. This is a non-degree status that lets you conduct research in the lab under supervision. Because it takes time for a new member to settle in and contribute, we prefer applicants who either:
- plan to stay for six months or longer, or
- intend to use the research-student period to prepare for and take the GSISE entrance exam for the Master’s or Doctoral program.
Requests for stays shorter than six months with no plan to apply to GSISE will generally not be accepted. Research students pay their own fees and living costs; the funding notes below apply equally to you. Please contact us with the same materials listed under “Before you contact us”, and state your intended period of stay and whether you plan to apply for a degree program afterwards.
Postdoctoral researchers
We are currently recruiting postdoctoral researchers who hold their own fellowship (e.g. JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship, a fellowship from your home country, or similar) or who are self-funded. We do not have lab-funded postdoc positions at present. If you are interested, please send your CV, a short research statement explaining how your work connects to ours, and details of your funding source or the fellowship you intend to apply for. We are happy to support fellowship applications for strong candidates.
Funding: please read this section
Ritsumeikan is a private university, and graduate programs in Japan are tuition-based. Students are expected to cover tuition and living costs themselves unless they secure a scholarship. Our lab does not offer fully funded PhD positions.
Common funding sources for our students:
- MEXT Scholarship (Embassy Recommendation) — applied for through the Japanese embassy in your country. If you are on this track, please contact us after you have passed the embassy’s primary screening.
- MEXT Scholarship (University Recommendation) — not currently offered for our department. Check the GSISE application page for the current status before contacting us; we cannot answer questions about its availability.
- Ritsumeikan University scholarships and tuition reductions for international students (see the university’s scholarship pages).
- JSPS DC fellowships (doctoral students already enrolled), JASSO, and scholarships from your home government or private foundations.
- Part-time research/teaching assistant (RA/TA) work within the lab. This depends entirely on funding availability in a given year and cannot be guaranteed. Treat it as an occasional supplement at best and please do not plan your finances around receiving a salary from the lab.
Please indicate in your first email how you plan to fund your studies.
Before you contact us: what to prepare
The GSISE application process requires you to obtain your prospective supervisor’s approval of your research plan before you apply. Concretely:
- Contact us well before the application period opens (ideally 3–6 months in advance).
- Send us a completed Research Plan (Form ISE), downloadable from the GSISE application page, together with the documents below.
- If we agree to supervise you, we will return the signed/sealed Research Plan, which you then submit with your online application on Ritsu-Mate.
We cannot sign a research plan for an applicant we have not corresponded with, and we cannot respond to applications submitted without prior contact.
Please include in your first email:
- A short introduction: your name, nationality, current institution and degree, expected graduation date
- Which program you are applying for (Master’s / Doctoral) and target enrollment (April / September, year)
- Which admission route you intend to use (see table above)
- Your funding plan
- Your CV
- Academic transcripts (unofficial copies are fine at this stage)
- The Research Plan (Form ISE), or at minimum a 1–2 page research proposal explaining how your interests connect to our lab’s work
- Links to any publications, code, or projects
- [For doctoral applicants: a summary of your master’s thesis]
Use a specific subject line, e.g. “Prospective Master’s applicant (April 2027) — [your topic]”. Generic emails that do not mention our research will not receive a reply.
We try to answer serious inquiries within two weeks. If you have not heard back after that, feel free to send a polite reminder.
Contact: Brendan Flanagan — Contact form
Life at OIC
Osaka Ibaraki Campus is in Ibaraki City, between Osaka and Kyoto, and a quick ride from Osaka Station by train. The campus was recently build and offers a leading environment in which to study and research. Lab members have access to the lab space, computing resources such as servers with GPUs, workstations and cloud compute where required.
Useful university resources:
- Ritsumeikan Graduate School information for international students
- Support for international students (visa, housing, insurance)
- Do not travel to Japan until you have received your official admission letter and Certificate of Eligibility for your student visa.
FAQ
Can I join without a scholarship? Yes, if you can demonstrate that you can cover tuition and living costs. See the Funding section.
Do I need to speak Japanese? No. Research and supervision in our lab do not require Japanese, and the GSISE English-based program can be completed in English. We do strongly recommend learning it, though — everyday life (housing, banking, city hall, healthcare) is much smoother with basic Japanese, and it opens up far more career and internship options in Japan.
Can I join as a research student (kenkyusei) first? Yes, subject to lab capacity, if you plan to stay six months or more or intend to take the GSISE entrance exam. See the “Research students” section above.
Is the MEXT University Recommendation available? Not at present in our department. Please check the GSISE application page for the current year’s status; this is set by the university and we cannot change it or provide further information.
I applied for MEXT (Embassy) and passed the primary screening. What now? Email us with your screening result, your research plan, and your CV, and we will discuss whether we can issue a letter of acceptance.
Do I need to take the entrance exam in Japan? Not if you apply via International Student Admissions, which is designed for applicants outside Japan. Interviews may be conducted online. Applicants in Japan use Regular Admissions.
Admission procedures are set by the university and may change; the official GSISE and CISE websites take precedence over anything written here.