RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences Data Science and Design Special Team
Team Director: Masayuki Ihara (Ph.D.)
Research Summary
The Data Science and Design Team conducts research on healthcare based on cognitive aspects such as psychology, acceptance, motivation, and self-disclosure, with a focus on individuality in person-centered care. By collecting and analyzing personal narratives—life stories—from caregiving settings, we contribute to the advancement of participatory and personalized predictive medicine. Our research also explores the prevention of physical and social frailty, as well as the application of emerging technologies such as generative AI. Through the design of innovative care services and a living lab approach that emphasizes co-creation with practitioners, we strive to bring our research into real-world practice.
Main Research Fields
- Complex Systems
Related Research Fields
- Informatics
- Humanities & Social Sciences
- Social Sciences
- Design
- Cognitive Science
- Occupational therapy
Keywords
- Person-centered design
- Narrative
- Rehabilitation
- Dementia
- Co-creative service design
Selected Publications
Papers with an asterisk(*) are based on research conducted outside of RIKEN.
- 1.
Ihara, M., Tokunaga, H., Nakashima, T., Goto, H., Umezaki, Y., Minato, T., Nakamura, Y., and Saruwatari, S.:
"Narrative Utilization Ecosystem for Person-Centered Care"
Proc. of Intelligent Human Systems Integration: Integrating People and Intelligent Systems (IHSI2025), vol.160, pp.1-11 (2025). - 2.
Ihara, M., Tokunaga, H., Nakashima, T., Goto, H., Umezaki, Y., Minato, T., Nakamura, Y., and Saruwatari, S.:
"Towards Narrative-Based Technology to Assist People With Dementia When Outing"
Proc. of Human Systems Engineering and Design: Future Trends and Applications (IHSED2024), vol.158, pp.43-52 (2024). - 3.
Ihara, M., Tokunaga, H., Murakami, H., Saruwatari, S., Koga, A., Yukihira, T., Hisano, S., Takeshita, K., Maeda, R., and Motoe, M.:
"Human values assessment toward AI-based patient state prediction"
Proc. of Human Interaction & Emerging Technologies: Artificial Intelligence & Future Applications (IHIET-AI 2024), vol.120, pp.1-9 (2024). - 4.
Yukihira, T., Tokunaga, H., Ihara, M., Murakami, H., Koga, A., Maeda, R., Saruwatari, S., Takeshita, K., Hisano, S., and Motoe, M.:
"Toward an online rehabilitation exercise service based on personal independent living goals and risk management"
Proc. of Human Systems Engineering and Design: Future Trends and Applications (IHSED2023), vol.112, pp.187-194 (2023). - 5.
Ihara, M., Tokunaga, H., Nakashima, T., Saruwatari, S., Goto, H., Koga, A., Umezaki, Y., and Motoe, M.:
"Facilitating Empathy for Care Recipients -Analyzing Care Behaviors Towards Person-Centered Care-"
Design, User Experience, and Usability. HCII 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol.14034, pp.344-360, Springer (Proc of HCI International 2023).
Lab Members
Principal investigator
- Masayuki Ihara
- Team Director
Core members
- Hiroko Tokunaga
- Research Scientist
- Shinya Hisano
- Senior Visiting Scientist
- Akihiko Koga
- Visiting Scientist
- Takashi Yukihira
- Visiting Scientist
- Tomomi Nakashima
- Visiting Scientist
- Hiroki Goto
- Visiting Scientist
- Yuuki Umezaki
- Visiting Scientist
- Shimpei Saruwatari
- Visiting Scientist
- Ryoichi Maeda
- Visiting Scientist
- Masashige Motoe
- Visiting Scientist
- Yoko Egawa
- Visiting Scientist
- Maiko Shibata
- Assistant
Contact Information
W506, West Research Building
1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa,
230-0045, Japan
Tel: +81-(0)50-3502-5924
Email: masayuki.ihara [at] riken.jp