Steps to finding your own style of Informatics UTokyo D&I Actions and Messages
― UTokyo D&I Campaign 2022 ―
The University of Tokyo has launched a campaign aimed at promoting diversity and inclusion on campus, and making the university a place where people from diverse backgrounds can thrive. The initiative, called UTokyo D&I Campaign 2022, started in March 2022. Here, we introduce plans and actions related to D&I initiatives from members of the UTokyo community, including deans and directors of various UTokyo organizations.
Actions and Messages
Steps to finding your own style of Informatics
Reiji SUDA, Dean, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology
It’s okay to betray expectations. Expectations are often based on another case. The person in that case is different from you, and the environment and time are different. Also, comparing yourself with others often can make you unhappy. Rather, work on a thing that shakes your curiosity and develop your strengths and potential.
You don’t have to fix weaknesses. Your strengths will compensate many weaknesses. Sometimes strengths can overstep and need softening weaknesses. A team becomes effective only when diverse people with different strengths and weaknesses come together.
We hope more women participate in Informatics. Misconceptions and prejudices about Informatics can be partial reasons of the status quo. As a young discipline, Informatics has infinite possibilities unknown to us. You can pursue your own style of Informatics, which is different from the existing ones. The future is created by such people, I think, who are not misled by expectations of others, and who use their own weaknesses to their advantage.
