As a community of scientists, RIKEN takes facts and figures very seriously. This section provides details on the breakdown of our staff by gender and nationality, as well as figures on RIKEN's budget profile, income and expenditures. For further information on the activities of individual centers and labs, see also the Reports section.

Personnel

RIKEN is a large organization, with over 3,000 employees working at a number of campuses throughout Japan. Personnel at RIKEN are employed as either permanent or fixed-term research or administrative staff. Research staff outnumber administrative staff by a ratio of roughly 5 to 1. The gender balance of employees is roughly 60% male to 40% female.

Diversity is at the heart of RIKEN's research environment, and this is no better illustrated than in the strong numbers, by Japanese standards, of international and female staff who play a vital role in RIKEN's success today.

Looking at employees with a foreign nationality, as of April 1, 2025, there were 538 full-time employees. That number includes 482 research personnel. Since RIKEN employs 1,865 research personnel, this means 25.8% of its researchers are foreign nationals. For part-time employees, that number was 126. In addition, we currently host 815 visiting staff, students, and others who contribute to the creation of a network of brain circulation.

Budget

As a national research and development institute, RIKEN receives the bulk of its funding from the Japanese government. The largest proportion of RIKEN's income is derived from government grants that fund RIKEN's general operations and facility maintenance.

RIKEN also strives to generate income through competitive grants and from collaborations with industry or royalty income.