THEIST One Team Unites All

One Team Unites All

THEIST, or The Healthy bEing Interdisciplinary Studies Team, was formed to (i) promote scientific and intellectual communications among researchers and teachers affiliated with the Graduate School of Letters, and (ii) promote interdisciplinary research and education at an international level.

The central research theme, which was chosen for a book publication proposal is: what are the factors that constitute a healthy being – from a wide variety of interdisciplinary perspectives.

The term “healthy being” is basically used to refer to the well-being of a positive state that goes beyond freedom from disease or deprivation, but it also refers to the wholeness and well-being, of happiness and contentment, of equity and justice. Such a state maybe indicated not only within the body and mind of an individual, but also a family, a society or extended to the condition of our planet as a whole. Thus the research interests of THEIST cover a wide range of topics, such as the biomedical, philosophical, psychological, cultural, social, and environmental factors that affect a healthy being.

Why THEIST?

Interdisciplinary research is an approach that combines two or three academic disciplines in such a way that their insights can be integrated together in pursuit of a common goal. Such an approach is typically used to deal with the problems that are too complex or vast (e.g. the studies of the mind, the global warming problem, etc) to be handled through knowledge and tools of a single discipline.

At the Graduate School of Letters, the division of Human Sciences is composed of four departments, Psychology, Behavioral Sciences, Sociology, and Regional Sciences. Each of them is dealing with a research field that is too complex to be handled through any single perspective. But unfortunately, the four departments remain largely in isolation from each other. The ultimate aim of THEIST is to integrate their complex studies into a research enterprise with a common goal.

THEIST Conducting Style

THEIST meetings will take place once or twice in a month (to be fixed). A THEIST speaker will begin by giving a presentation about a topic related to the book publication in English. The presentation should last no more than 45 minutes, and it is strongly encouraged that the presentation should be given using layman terms so that it will be easier for different areas of researchers to understand and participate in the discussion. The presentation will be followed by a 45 minutes discussion (which maybe followed by a further discussion at a cafe or restaurant).

THEIST History

THEIST was founded at Kobe College in June, 2007. Thanks to the supports from many students, staffs and faculty members, THEIST had eleven successful meetings, and it has united more than twenty faculty members from four departments.

Past THEIST Lectures at Hokkaido University:

1st THEIST Lecture