Research in Social Development:
Collaborations between the UKand Japan
Workshop Report: 3rd September 2019, Stoke on Trent, UKThe ESRC is working with the Japan Society for the Promotion ofScience to fund projects conducted collaboratively between
researchers from the UK and Japan. As such, the purpose of thisworkshop was to bring UK and Japanese researchers together toscope working partnerships with shared research interests. Thisworkshop was held the day before the British Psychological Society
Developmental and Cognitive Section Conference 2019 in Stoke onTrent, UK, as an official preconference event. In this report we sharethe details of the event, the feedback from ourattendees, and the plans for our next workshop. Wewould like to thank everyone who helped organise
the workshop as well as our fantastic speakers andattendees!

Research in Social Development: Snap Shot Talks
The workshop began with a series of snap shot talks to present opportunities to identify
collaborators who use a wide range of research techniques. These techniques were briefly
introduced and described, followed by Q&A.
Dr Shoji Itakura(Doshisha University,right) shared histechniques used insocial robotics.
Olly Robertson (Keele University, above left)
shared her expertise on using heart-ratechanges as a signal of emotional response. DrLizzy Sheppard (University of Nottingham,above right) described the uses of eye
movement recording in developmentalresearch.
Dr Yuichiro
Kikuno (ShimanaeUniversity, right)
described thenear-infrared
spectroscopy(NIRS) technique.

Dr Elian Fink (University of Cambridge, belowleft) explored the advantages of using Language
Environment Analysis (LENA) devices andsoftware. Dr Hajimu Hayashi (Kobe University,below right) shared how he conducts research
into social understanding using experimental
settings with actors.

Promoting Collaborations
Following the talks and Q&A, the attendees formed groups of researchers from the UK and Japan toplan a symposium, notionally for submission to the 2020 International Congress of Psychology (ICP)in Prague. In planning a symposium, attendees can then launch their collaboration, ultimately withthe aim of generating joint grant proposals. To further facilitate collaboration, one of the planned
symposia was recognised by the award of funds to cover the costs of one UK-based researchers tovisit their new collaborators in Japan.

Above: Professor Peter Mitchell makessuggestions for groups based on researchinterests.

Attendees introduced themselves and theirresearch area on a live feed display to help
identify collaborators with common interests.
Upon identifying potential collaborators, eachgroup separated to work together to generate
ideas for a symposium. Attendees presented arange of topics for their symposia, including
how children develop understanding of minds
according to ingroup or outgroup status,
combining research techniques to study social
understanding in autism, and how to address
issues in cross-cultural research.
Following their presentations, the award of aflight was given to the top-voted symposium bythe attendees. Dr Yvonne Skipper and hercollaborators were awarded the flight to Japanfor their symposium on children’s interactions
across childhood. Congratulations!

Above: Attendees register their interest in eachresearch group. Right: Dr Yvonne Skipper(University of Glasgow) is pictured (centre)with her UK- and Japan-based collaborators.
Below: Attendees enjoy dinner and live music.

Feedback and Future Plans
We were delighted that, according to feedback,
100% found the event useful and appropriate.
100% were also very satisfied with the qualityof the presentations.

Evening Reception
Following the workshop, we offered ourattendees a high quality authentic Japanesedinner and live Japanese music played on a
traditional instrument (Koto).

We are now planning our next event to takeplace at the Japan Society of Developmental
Psychology in March 2020. We hope to see you
there! If you have further questions, pleaseemail peter.mitchell@nottingham.ac.uk(European delegates) or tsuji.hiromi@osakashoin.ac.jp (Japanese delegates).