Research Promotion Projects of Eikei University of Hiroshima

We conduct the Research Promotion Project of Eikei University of Hiroshima to promote research activities, improve the quality of education at the University, and help solve social issues. Research results will be published in the form of articles or other publications within one year after the end of the research promotion project period.

Proposals Adopted in FY2024

Principal Investigator	Professor UESUGI Yuko
Research Theme	A Study of Comparative Literature on the Works of Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woof: Exploring Gender Issues Seen from the Viewpoints of the Two Writers Who Lived in Different Cultures
Amount Adopted	868,980 JPY
Research Outline	This study is a comparative literary and cultural analysis of the works of American poet Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) and British writer Virginia Woolf (1882–1941). By carefully examining their poetry and prose while considering the cultural distinctions between the U.S. and the U.K., this research aims to illuminate their perspectives on gender as mothers, wives, poets, and writers.   A key component of this study is creating a comprehensive database to archive the findings and insights derived from the analysis. Notably, while comparative literary studies between British and American authors exist, integrating such an approach with a gender-focused analysis remains largely unexplored. This study thus represents an innovative and pioneering contribution to the field, offering a fresh lens through which we can reconsider our own lives and identities in contemporary society.

Principal Investigator	Associate Professor YASUTOMI Atsushi
Research Theme	Studies of Armed Groups Persisting after Peace Accord: The Case of Post-Civil War Colombia
Amount Adopted	894,430 JPY
Research Outline	This study examines the organisational changes of some armed organisations persisting in Colombia after the civil war. The 2016 Peace Accord, which was concluded between the Colombian government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) – the largest Communist revolutionary guerrilla group – brought a half-a-century long civil war to an end. However, a number of armed groups, including organised criminal groups, dissident former guerrilla members, and a communist insurgency group, still remain active, thereby continuing to threaten the peace-building processes in post-civil war Colombia. This study aims to identify the external and intra-organisational factors affecting group cohesion and attitudes towards violence and peace, with a view to determining how such groups might be weakened or strengthened in the future, and how they might dissolve or expand.

　

　

Proposals Adopted in FY2023

Principal Investigator	Professor SAGEHASHI Masaki
Research Theme	Elucidation of the relationship between the number of microplastics including smaller ones and the status of domestic non-fecal wastewater treatment in the Kurose River.
Amount Adopted	893,291 JPY
Research Content	In this study, the concentration of microplastics (MPs) in the Kurose River, which flows through Hiroshima Prefecture, will be measured. The water samples will be collected within long peripod of time using an automatic water sampler, and a fluorescence microscope will be used to examine samples after fluorescent staining followed by image analysis to measure of MPs that are several micrometres in size, which cannot be measured using conventional methods that use plankton nets as a sampler. In addition, by analysing the relationship between the status of domestic wastewater treatment (population, type of treatment facility) and hydrology in the Kurose River watershed using statistical information, geographic information system (GIS), and the Kurose River basin hydrological model that has been developed, the relationship between the form of domestic wastewater treatment in the Kurose River watershed and the behavior of MPs in the river will be clarified.

　

Research Proposals for which the research project period has ended

Research proposals for which the research project period has ended can be found here in PDF.（in preparation）