Introduction

Our Visiting Program aims to bring outstanding experts from all disciplines to Okinawa, to intensify collaborations, contribute to OIST's interdisciplinary atmosphere and research output, as well as provide general-audience lectures, courses for students, and outreach activity. The different branches of the program are outlined below and described on their respective pages (also see this overview).

One of the guiding principles of OIST is to "be the destination of choice to work, learn, and collaborate, linking science to education and leading to innovation and entrepreneurship". The program draws inspiration from internationally recognized visiting institutes while leveraging OIST’s distinctive structure as a fully interdisciplinary, non‑departmental research university. Visitors are free to interact across scientific boundaries, collaborate with OIST research units, and take advantage of OIST’s internal research infrastructure and high‑trust funding environment.

These webpages provide information about the Visiting Programs, and associated events, including lectures intended for a general audience. More information can be found on the Events page or by subscribing to this iCal calendar.

List of Visitors

Visitors currently on campus, as well as incoming and past visitors

Currently Open Calls

Domestic Visitors in FY2025
Calls for Visiting Scholars in FY2027 and Thematic Programs in FY2028 are expected to open in July 2026

blackboard full of mathematical formulae

Visiting Scholars

Individual long-term visits by independent researchers

More information

Thematic Programs

Group of researchers

More information

Domestic Visitors

Flexible visits by scholars working in Japan

More information

Information for Visitors

Featured Events

16 Apr 2026

Lecture

TSVP Talk: "Bond Activation and Homogeneous Catalysis Beyond Classical Reactivity Patterns" by Robert Langer

17 Apr 2026

Lecture

The Provost Lecture Series 23

22 Apr 2026

Lecture

TSVP Talk: "Playing With Magnets, Geometry and Bacteria." by Andrés Concha

13 May - 03 Jun 2026

Lecture

Mini Course: Biophysical Principles of Regulation in Bacteria

Outcomes

See this page for statistics on the visiting program, publications, and other outcomes.

Professors Matthias Rillig and Henning Sprekeler, who met through the OIST Visiting Program, recently co-authored “ From bench to big boss: mitigating the widening gap between PI and lab” in Nature Careers. Although both are based in Berlin, due to their different research interests they might not have met without the Program. Read the full story of how their time at OIST led to unexpected collaboration here (accessible only on OIST campus).

Prof Matthias Rillig and Henning Sprekeler co-authored an article in Nature Careers

On September 4, TSVP Visiting Scholar Miguel Bastos Araújo has been announced as the winner of the Marsh Award for Climate Change Research by the British Ecological Society.
The prize was awarded for his outstanding contribution to climate change research.

Miguel Marsh Award by British Ecological Society

A news article on how "Octopus sleep is surprisingly similar to humans" was published in the journal "nature" in June 2023. It results from a collaboration between Visiting Scholar Leenoy Meshulam and OIST's Professor Sam Reiter and his group. Leenoy visited OIST in 2022/2023 through the Theoretical Sciences Visiting Program (TSVP). More information in the video embedded below and this news article.

View video page

General-audience lectures

An archive of all TSVP and EVSP Talks is embedded below as Youtube playlist. These talks are intended for general audiences, with topics spanning from Blackholes, via Mathematics and Neuroscience, to Quantum Information.

View video page

Podcasts about the Visiting Program

In this podcast, DJ Nick Luscombe, OIST Podcaster in Residence, checks out OIST's Visiting Program (TSVP). He talks to Dr. Jonas Fischer, Academic Coordinator, and Prof. Simone Pigolotti to learn more about the program. He also interviews the guest researchers visiting OIST as part of the program and asks them about their experiences at OIST. Listen to the episode to find out why visitors "just don't know any better sabbatical program in the world" (Shinichi Nakagawa) and OIST's "big diversity of world-class researchers" (Malgorzata Lagisz).

In the second episode Nick talks to Dr. Samuel Ross, OIST researcher who is scientific coordinator for the Thematic Program on "The Future of Response Diversity and Ecosystem Stability" in March 2024 and Dr. Harini Desiraju from the University of Sydney, who was one of the coordinators of the first Thematic Program "Exact Asymptotics: From Fluid Dynamics to Quantum Geometry", which took place from August 1 to October 28, 2023. Last but not least, he interviews Prof. Nic Shannon of the Theory of Quantum Matter unit, who is one of the founders of the Visiting Program at OIST.

In the third podcast episode listeners can experience a day in the life of visiting researchers on the OIST campus together with DJ Nick Luscombe. In the TSVP office area, we will meet the people who are running the program and hear from visitors about their research. Experience what it is like to be a part of the Visiting Program.

Graphic of Japanese Podcast called Ken en no Naka

Recent visitor Ayaka Kato talked about her experience at OIST in an episode of "Ken-en no naka" (研エンの仲), her Japanese podcast on science and related topics. Check out the episode from September 4, 2024 to hear about her experiences: Spotify, Apple podcasts, Pocket Casts.