On June 9 and 10, RIKEN, together with the University of Tokyo and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), hosted the sixth meeting of the Resource Review Board (RRB) for the Electron-Ion Collider project.

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) is a future accelerator project that is planned to be built at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in the US. The EIC will be a particle accelerator that will collide electrons with protons and nuclei to produce snapshots of those particles’ internal structure—like a CT scanner for atoms.

This was the first meeting of the RRB held in Japan. Earlier meetings were held in the US (2023), Italy and the US (2024), and the Czech Republic and the US, (2025), The meeting brought together approximately 60 participants, including representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), BNL, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab/JLab), and research institutions and funding agencies from various countries. Participants discussed the progress of the EIC project, the framework for international cooperation, and human and technical contributions from participating countries.

At the opening session, remarks were delivered by Mr. Takashi Fuchigami, Director-General of the Research Promotion Bureau at MEXT; Professor Hiroaki Aihara, Executive Director and Vice President of the University of Tokyo (UTokyo); and Professor Masashi Kawasaki, Executive Vice President of RIKEN. Director-General Fuchigami expressed expectations for the advancement of basic science, including the EIC, and for further international collaboration. Executive Director (UTokyo) Aihara and Executive Vice President Kawasaki introduced the current status and future prospects of Japan’s participation in the EIC.

Executive Vice President Kawasaki spoke about future prospects, including the EIC project, while also touching on the track record of past cooperation between RIKEN and BNL, as well as potential future collaboration related to the U.S. "Genesis Mission."

For more information, see the article on the SCHOOL OF SCIENCE THE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO website.