01
- Kyoko Hida
- Professor, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Hokkaido University
Our current lives are built upon the efforts of those who came before us.
I don't take it for granted.
LILAS
Leaders for people with innovation,
Liberty and Ambitions.
A series of interviews with female researchers introducing leading female leaders who are at the forefront of their fields.LILASLilac means lilac in French, and is also known as the flower of Sapporo. Along with plant arrangements inspired by the interview content, we will be sharing this original interview series, conveying messages about the strength, flexibility, and diversity that plants possess.
- 01
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Our first interviewee is Kyoko Hida from the Graduate School of Dentistry. After graduating from dental school, she got married. After working as a clinician, she went on to graduate school and obtained her doctorate. She continued working as a clinician, taking maternity leave in between, but moved to the United States when her husband went abroad to study. She lived in America, raising children while conducting research as a postdoctoral researcher, and after returning to Japan, she has been pursuing a career as a researcher at Hokkaido University. Due to the time constraints of raising children, Ms. Hida has always been conscious since her time as an assistant professor that it is essential for each member of the research lab to be satisfied with their research in order to achieve results as a lab. She has built her own management style through trial and error regarding her own behavior and communication with members. We will introduce her way of thinking and some tips.
In the surrounding research labs, the professors stay until late at night.
I have an environment where I can help with experiments.
How can we get the members to move in the same direction?
They'll probably turn to me.
Running a research lab began during the child-rearing years. What were some of the things you kept in mind to advance your research within the limited time available?
Even as an assistant professor, it was a continuous process of trial and error. Because of childcare responsibilities, there was a time limit for when I had to leave work, and I couldn't dedicate all my time to research late into the night like I did as a student. Looking back, I may have felt it was a greater disadvantage than it actually was, but the reality is that other research labs had faculty members who could stay late to help students with their experiments. I was constantly thinking about how to get the members of my lab to accept that environment and work together towards the same goal.
Especially during my nine years as a specially appointed associate professor, I had to cover personnel costs, rent, research expenses, and other expenses myself, and my own employment was unstable with annual renewals. I constantly felt a sense of crisis that if I didn't produce results, it wouldn't lead to securing external funding, and the research lab would collapse. If the research lab collapsed, not only would my own employment and the continuation of the staff's research and graduate students' degree acquisition would be jeopardized, so I had no choice but to work as hard as I could.
There's a limit to how much I can achieve by working hard alone. It's essential to work as a team. It was during this time that I became even more convinced of the importance of the research lab members working together as one.
Even if the time spent in the lab is short, communication is close while in the lab.
What specific practices were you implementing?
I made sure to spend as much of my available time in the lab as possible communicating with other lab members. I put off tasks that I could do after returning home, such as reading literature or writing lab notebooks, and instead allocated my time to ensure close communication, even if it meant spending less time in the lab physically.
I made sure to adapt my communication style to each individual, adapting it depending on the members involved at the time, and always striving to show that I cared about them. For example, I would send feedback on data submitted during the day via email after returning home, while my child was taking a bath. I felt that this allowed me to advance the research by half a day compared to sending it the next day. As it was a research environment, there were times when I had to say harsh things during lab meetings, but I made sure to follow up afterward and ensure that we didn't dwell on our mistakes.
I also used to invite lab members to my home for BBQ parties, fostering interaction among families. During the child-rearing years, there are times when you have to take sudden time off due to your child's illness. When you know each other, if you say, "My child isn't feeling well...", you can offer genuine concern for one another. I strongly wanted my family and lab members to understand what I wanted to do and what I had to do, so I didn't draw a line between my private life and work, and actively created opportunities for interaction. I believe it's very important to interact outside of research and understand each other's perspectives and circumstances. Many labs hold evening drinking parties to deepen relationships, but I wasn't able to do that, so I arranged lunch during lab meetings, which were held once every few months when everyone was present, creating opportunities for us to eat together and talk informally. I think that by doing these things, I saw an increase in each person's motivation and a improvement in the cohesion of the lab, which in turn helped our research progress. I believed that what was important was each individual's sense of satisfaction, so I thought about how to create an environment and system where people could work together, and as a result, I put into practice creating opportunities for interaction by seizing various chances.
Even during difficult times, always keep the corners of your mouth turned up.
Were there any role models who were making such efforts?
At the time, I didn't have any role models close by who were in the same situation as me, but I received a lot of support and advice from my professor, who was my boss when I was an assistant professor. In particular, I still put into practice his words, "You have subordinates and graduate students, so even when things are tough, always keep the corners of your mouth turned up." Every day there are various anxieties, and I think about them on my way to the university in the morning, but when I arrive I try to enter the lab with a smile, or even if I have to force a smile. I think it's also important to develop the ability to self-produce and think about how you want to be.
Also, when I interacted with researchers of the same age at academic conferences and workshops, I realized that everyone was actually facing individual circumstances, such as balancing work with childcare or caregiving, while conducting their research, and that was also encouraging. I also heard stories of the struggles of renowned professors in the same field, and thinking, "Even such amazing professors have their struggles," made me feel like I could still keep going. I was also struggling as a research lab head in a situation where there were many male lab heads around me, so even if they didn't directly solve the problems I was facing, just having such people around was encouraging.
My experience as a minority in America led to a change in my perspective.
Have you ever been conscious of diversity while running your research lab?
My experience in America has been very significant. When my twins were one year old, I accompanied my husband on his studies in America, and there, as an Asian woman, I was definitely a minority. At the university where I worked as a researcher, there were other international students, so I didn't experience much discrimination, but in my daily life, I did experience what I considered to be discriminatory treatment when shopping or at the post office. It wasn't just me; there were also times when I felt that my children were being treated this way because they were Asian, and I had various experiences, including changing their daycare several times.
However, it's possible that the other person wasn't intentionally discriminating, but rather was simply unfriendly or just part of their personality. I don't know their true intentions, but I learned that from a minority perspective, you might think that the actions you received were simply because you are a minority. Since returning to Japan, I've become more conscious of whether my own actions might be perceived as discriminatory.
In America, there are many female researchers, and when I talked about the situation in Japan, I was told, "America was in a similar situation until recently. Japan will get better if you wait a generation." However, about 20 years have passed, and it seems that we don't even need to wait a generation.DEII think awareness of this is on the rise, and we're right at that point now.
During my time as a specially appointed associate professor, my position was only renewed annually, so there were many times when I had to keep my opinions about the organization or system to myself. However, now that I am a professor, I believe there are many things I can do. I want to do whatever I can to ensure that the next generation doesn't have to go through the same hardships we experienced, such as improving systems and gathering specific issues.
Our current lives are built upon the efforts of those who came before us.
I don't take it for granted.
Now that you're a professor, what is your vision?
In terms of research, one of our goals is to produce results that can be applied to clinical practice. We also aim to make new discoveries that will be included in textbooks.
I have been conducting research on blood vessels, but with the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a convergence with infectious disease research, and new areas of vascular research that I had not anticipated until recently have expanded. Also, it has been several years since we started collaborative research with the International Joint Institute for Zoonosis Control, and by integrating research that was previously conducted only within the dental school with research from other fields, we have discovered new possibilities in research. I think this has stimulated graduate students and had a positive impact on their awareness and motivation for research.
Having become involved in university administration, I felt a strong desire to contribute to improving the environment of society in order to create a better era.DEIAs I am participating in this committee, I want to speak out to bring about positive change not only at Hokkaido University but throughout the entire academic community. The reason I feel this way is largely due to what I heard in America: "Japan will get better if you wait one generation." In America, too, there were many pioneers who worked hard to create a society where women could thrive. I believe that the rights and lifestyles we enjoy today are built upon their efforts, and that's why I don't take them for granted and want to work hard myself.
Don't hesitate to seize any opportunity that comes your way.
Please give a message to researchers who are aiming for higher positions.
Regardless of gender, seize any opportunity that comes your way without hesitation. It's crucial to just try rather than give up due to doubt. When you see successful researchers, you might think you can't be like them or that you're incapable of doing so. However, no one is able to do everything perfectly from the start. Even the most accomplished researchers have gone through various failures and trials and errors to overcome them. As the saying goes, "position makes the man," so even if you think "I might not be able to do it," if an opportunity arises, I hope you'll be brave and move forward.
Rather than giving up on something you haven't experienced yet, I think it's better to try, even if it doesn't work out. This applies not only to research, but to everything; no one is perfect at parenting from the start. Parents grow through experience, just like how "when a child turns one, the parent also turns one." I want you to be aware that you are part of a cycle where the next generation grows up watching you move forward.
LILAS
Library
"It was a book my husband was reading, and I picked it up from the bookshelf at home when I was experimenting with management. I reread it from time to time during my time as an assistant professor and later a specially appointed associate professor, thinking about how to build trust with team members."
LILAS
Plant
I chose the magnolia, inspired by my studies in America, to represent the conflicts and difficulties that cannot be understood simply by tracing my career.
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White Magnolia (Hakumokuren)
Scientific name: Magnolia denudata Family and genus: Magnoliaceae, Magnolia
- Sapporo, America, like a tree that was always there when you looked up.
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Fritillaria
Scientific name: Fritillaria persica Family and genus: Liliaceae, Fritillaria
- The black lilies (Fritillaria camschatcensis) blooming on the Hokkaido University campus also belong to the lily family, genus Fritillaria. The interview and photoshoot took place in March, and the image of overcoming each challenge is superimposed on the flowers waiting to bloom under the snow.
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Andromeda (Pieris japonica)
Scientific name: Pieris japonica Family and genus: Ericaceae, Pieris
- The name comes from the fact that the poisonous components it contains cause horses to become intoxicated when they eat it. It is one of the seasonal words for spring.
LILASThis is part of the Hokkaido University 150th Anniversary Project. Hokkaido University will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2026.
