Home Programs Courses Faculty Research FAQ Apply

Work in the gaps
between disciplines.

Apply Now Explore Programs
About SDS

An antidisciplinary graduate school

SDS is designed for the most consequential work of the next decade. The first English-only graduate program at Chiba Tech, the academic arm of the Henkaku Center, and a community committed to intervening at the level of paradigms rather than within them.

“The worlds of Design and Science are inextricably linked. Science is informed by Design, design is a science. The interactions between the two are powerful, subtle, often unrecognized.”
— Journal of Design and Science
Programs

Master's & PhD

Master of Engineering

2 years Duration
30 credits 21 required + 9 elective

Project-based learning combining independent research with collaborative studios. Thesis options include evidence-based product or scientific research.

Learn More

Doctoral Program

3 years Duration
17 credits 15 required + 2 elective

Advanced research with impact-point milestones. Dissertation committee includes external examiners to ensure cross-disciplinary rigor.

Learn More
Courses

Featured

Henkaku Village — The computational sandbox environment for APS I, within which students learn about agentic systems

Antidisciplinary Project Studio (APS)

Through scaffolded projects completed in close collaboration with AI, students progress from problem-solving to student-initiated problem-posing. The course meets twice a week across thirteen weeks, progressing through four mini-projects before culminating in a self-directed final project.

Principles of Awareness

Adapted from one of the most popular courses at the MIT Media Lab. What is awareness? Is it a default state or is it cultivated? Can it improve performance and wellbeing? Students explore these questions in an experiential learning environment — practice, lectures, and discussions with invited speakers. The practice ranges from meditation to hacking.

View all 28 courses →
Faculty

Meet the faculty

English-speaking and international, with dual appointments at SDS and the Henkaku Center for Radical Transformation.

Mizuki Oka

Mizuki Oka

Engineer of Artificial Life
Catharina Maracke

Catharina Maracke

Legal Scholar of Digital Governance
Daum Kim

Daum Kim

Designer of Digital Culture
Hiroki Kojima

Hiroki Kojima

Scientist of Life & Information
Ira Winder

Ira Winder

Engineer of Emergence & Complexity
Joseph Austerweil

Joseph Austerweil

Scientist of Cognition & Machine Learning
Sputniko! (Hiromi Ozaki)

Sputniko! (Hiromi Ozaki)

Designer of Speculative Futures
See all Faculty & Staff →
Student Voices

From the first cohort

Students from Japan, the United States, Bhutan, and India. Backgrounds spanning engineering, art, business, computer science, policy, and design.

“I stopped treating AI as something that gives me answers and started treating it as a partner I work through my intent with.”
— First-Cohort SDS Student
“The danger isn’t that the code looks suspicious; it’s that it looks too clean to question.”
— Kinley Dorji
“Using AI doesn’t mean leaving it to AI. I learned that with my body, not just my head.”
— Kotaro Iwata
“The human’s last role in AI collaboration is to design the objective itself.”
— First-Cohort SDS Student
“The greatest gain from this collaboration was that my perspective on how information flows through the real world was itself updated.”
— First-Cohort SDS Student
Student Life

Tokyo & Chiba

SDS sits on the Tsudanuma campus of Chiba Tech, about ninety minutes by train outside Tokyo. Students are expected to be in Japan during the academic year. For doctoral students and pre-arranged Master's students, a hybrid arrangement can be discussed by agreement of the faculty.

100%
English-medium
1:3
Designed faculty-to-student ratio
28
Courses
2
Programs — Master's & PhD

Join the next cohort

Pre-applications for Spring 2027 open June 1, 2026.

How to Apply