Career Paths at Crossroads

The Japan-CGIAR Fellowship Program brings young Japanese scientists into overseas working relationships with “fine minds and warm hearts”

Among the many impact pathways by which the Future Harvest Centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) improve people’s lives are those that wend their way across the career paths of young scientists. Even a short stay at a Center can have a profound impact on the focus of these professionals’ research — and also on their outlook on life and work.

A report on the most recent cycle of the Japan-CGIAR Fellowship Program suggests that it had precisely those effects on the young scientists whose individual stories make up the document.

Hosted by seven Centers, the 11 research fellows worked on a wide range of topics — from molecular biology and participatory plant breeding, to agro-ecosystem health and policy analysis — and they dealt with diverse agricultural products in highly varied circumstances. As intended, all of them gained new knowledge and learned about novel techniques, such as outcome mapping, infrared spectroscopy and the molecular analysis of plant genetic diversity. It is one thing to “learn theory from textbooks,” as Motofumi Suzuki wrote, but quite another to “perform all the procedures with your own hands.”

Less expected, perhaps, was the effect of the experience on the research fellows’ plans. Virtually all of them came away highly motivated to continue their studies with an international focus. Hiromi Hosono, for example, saw her work on policy in practice as only the “first step for my future research” on small-scale dairy production.

Working side-by-side with teams of Center scientists, the young researchers gleaned other benefits as well. Some formed a broader vision of complex agricultural systems, while others derived specific insights and skills that will shape the direction of their work and performance. All learned something about the value of contacts, networking and sharing information. On a personal level, the Japanese research fellows broadened their understanding of cultures not their own. They also got a close glimpse, as Takashi Kimiya explained, of both the harsh on-the-ground realities of rural poverty and the hospitality and optimism of farmers in developing countries.

Just as importantly, they formed friendships that will most likely enrich their lives and work for many years to come. Suzuki, for example, will never forget the emotional farewell he received from laboratory colleagues, who kept him entertained every weekend and made him feel right at home in Colombia — or, as they put it, en tu casa. Most of the credit for this unofficial but vital part of the program goes to national research assistants in the Centers, who took it upon themselves to ensure that the research fellows encountered, not only fine minds, but also, in Maki Eguchi's words, “warm hearts.”

Japan ’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reports that the next cycle of the program is set to begin this June.