Dear Colleagues,

The RIKEN Centre for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical
Sciences (iTHEMS; ithems.riken.jp), located near Tokyo, Japan, is
currently accepting applications for the 2027 Special Postdoctoral
Researcher (SPDR) programme. These are highly competitive 3 year
positions, with an expected start date between April 1st, 2027 and March
31st, 2028.

SPDRs are fully independent researchers and are expected to design and
lead their own research projects. In addition to a monthly salary of
550,000 JPY and other benefits, each SPDR receives a research budget of
1,000,000 JPY per year, with further funds available (see site for
details). SPDRs are also eligible to apply for their own internal and
external, domestic and international grants and other funding opportunities.

Complete details about RIKEN's SPDR programme can be found here:
https://www.riken.jp/en/careers/programs/spdr/career2027/

Within RIKEN, iTHEMS promotes interdisciplinary collaborations among
theoretical and computational scientists from diverse fields including
mathematics, physics, biology, computer science, etc. Interactions are
encouraged through daily activities such as journal clubs, seminar
series, study/working groups, workshops, and international research
collaborations. Any iTHEMS researcher can propose new collaborative
activities around any topic of common interest.

SPDR candidates interested in being hosted in iTHEMS should contact
their potential host prior to submitting their application. Of most
relevance to this mailing lists are the iTHEMS laboratories of:

Catherine Beauchemin (biophysics/math biology/infectious diseases)
https://ithems.riken.jp/en/members/catherine-beauchemin
cbeau@riken.jp

Leo Speidel (mathematical genomics)
https://ithems.riken.jp/en/members/leo-speidel
leo.speidel@riken.jp

Yohsuke Murase (mathematical social science/game theory)
https://ithems.riken.jp/en/members/yohsuke-murase
yohsuke.murase@riken.jp

Your proposed research does not necessarily need to align with that of
your host, but you should identify strong potential for collaborations
with members of the host laboratory. You are encouraged to directly
contact iTHEMS members whose research is close to your own, to establish
a direct connection and explore possible collaborations. This will
strengthen your application. Consider, for example, Gen Kurosawa
(circadian rhythms), Kyosuke Adachi (biophysics/active matter), Eiryo
Kawakami (medical mathematics/AI), Jos? Said Guti?rrez-Ortega
(evolutionary biology/ecology), Isaac Planas Sitja (social insect
modelling) or other iTHEMS researcher.

A full list of iTHEMS researchers can be found here:

https://ithems.riken.jp/en/members

A full list of RIKEN researchers able to host SPDRs within and beyond
iTHEMS can be found here:

https://www.riken.jp/medialibrary/riken/careers/programs/spdr/career2027/host_lab.pdf

Deadline for registering basic information
2026, April 2,  Thursday, 5 p.m. (JST)

Deadline for revising/uploading documents & letters of reference
2026, April 9, Thursday, 5 p.m. (JST)

Catherine Beauchemin

Deputy Director, iTHEMS, RIKEN, Saitama, Japan
https://ithems.riken.jp/en/members/catherine-beauchemin

Professor, Physics, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada
https://www.torontomu.ca/physics/our-people/catherine-beauchemin/

thomas.hitchcock@riken.jp

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