After a rigorous screening process, the following three teams were selected for the Science Castle Research Fund Astellas Award 2025, which is jointly sponsored by Astellas Pharma Inc. and LIVANES Inc.

This year, we invited research proposals from junior and senior high school students across Japan under the theme of "All kinds of research that considers health from the perspective of the relationship between people and society.

The review was conducted through document and interview screening, and three themes were selected based on a multifaceted evaluation of the originality, social relevance, and feasibility of the research.

<Adopted theme

Junior and senior high school students working on ■research

Yuto DeguchiSingularity High School	Rikusho EgawaHiroo Gakuen High School	Mari SuzukiKosei Gakuen High School

Upcoming support and activities

In addition to subsidizing the research expenses, Astellas employees and LIVANES staff will accompany the three selected teams as advisors.
In particular, from Astellas, eight employees with diverse expertise from various departments, including researchers from the Tsukuba Research Center, participate as advisors.

Advisors provide ongoing support on how and what to do with the research through monthly online mentoring. This is a valuable opportunity for junior and senior researchers to receive direct feedback from leading corporate researchers.

In December 2025, a presentation of research results is scheduled to be held at the Astellas Tsukuba Research Center (Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture), providing an opportunity to present results in front of researchers.

Astellas' thoughts on this initiative

Creating friends across generations to discuss "What is health?

Astellas Pharma Inc. is promoting the creation of innovative medicines and the development of healthcare solutions to improve access to and outcomes from medical care under the VISION "Staying at the forefront of changing healthcare and transforming scientific advances into 'value' for patients". We place importance not only on delivering medicines, but also on attending to the lives and concerns of individual patients in the background, and we place importance on sharing our perspective on what "health" means with society as a whole.

With the desire to realize a society in which all people can "live healthy lives in their own way," we have continued this research grant program since FY2024 to consider "health" together with junior and senior high school student researchers who are deepening their own ideas through their own research activities.

Through working on research themes born from the questions and insights of middle and high school students themselves, we will realize a world in which "health" is considered as a personal matter.

Inquiries about this matter

Liverness Corporation Yoshikawa, Nishimura [email protected]