Kumamoto University
Graduate School of Social and Cultural Sciences

Doctoral Course - Human and Social Sciences
- Degrees Obtained (Doctor of Literature, Doctor of Law, Doctor of Public Policy, Doctor of Philosophy)
- Enrollment Capacity/6

Following up on the Master's Course in public policy, legal studies, or modern social human studies, this major is designed to advance academic research and produce researchers in the fields of law, politics, economics, business administration, communication information sciences, comparative culture and social theory, ethics, sociology, cultural anthropology, folklore, geography, linguistics, philosophy, psychology, or any other field combining the aforementioned subjects.

The Human & Social Sciences major is for those whose goal is to pursue advanced studies based on the latest academic standards in the fields of public policy, legal studies, negotiation and conflict resolution, advanced ethics, field research, and psychology/cognitive philosophy, or those who wish to become advanced professionals capable of activity locally or internationally using a mixture of academic and practical knowledge.

Public Policy Studies

The Public Policy Studies field provides education and research opportunities intended to produce professionals or political researchers who will be qualified to function at an international level and will be capable of assessing accurately our times and the policy issues we face, and also capable of responding to these issues with a "glocal" perspective and a highly developed theoretical understanding.

The Legal Studies field, through comparative examination of foreign law, consideration of legal policy theories, and analysis of judicial precedents, provides study and research opportunities with the intent of constructing legal theory capable of responding to the diverse issues that confront contemporary society.

This field focuses on studies and research regarding theories and skills in the area of conflict resolution through negotiation and consensus building by carrying out analysis of past problem cases, negotiation processes and disputes from the perspectives of theories in communication, practical values, negotiation, conflict resolution, and organization management.

This field integrates fundamental theories with the analysis of present conditions and enables study of various ethical issues concerning life, environment, information, and human relations that have arisen due to rapid changes in the modern society and technology.

This field focuses on multidimensional research of the state of the modern society domestically or internationally based on established field research methodologies in sociology, regional sociology, cultural anthropology, linguistics, or geography.

Advances in technology and an increasingly complicated social system have given rise to a multitude of human issues. This field focuses on these issues using logical and empirical methods from philosophical and psychological standpoints.