Spontaneous collaborations
in complex fields of research
Graduate School of Media and Governance
Doctoral program Second year
CHEDDADI, M. Aqil
After six years of study at the National School of Rabat in Morocco, I earned a State Architecture Diploma. While a typical architecture school might take a geographical or social science approach to architectural design projects, what interested me was broadening my field of knowledge to include environmental studies and sustainability, so I felt a graduate degree at Keio SFC in Japan would help me to 'rediscover' what I'd learned in Morocco through a new lens.
One of the really unique aspects of the Graduate School of Media and Governance is that its approach to learning and research capitalizes on multidisciplinary fields of study. For me, carrying out research in an architecture laboratory like the Ikeda Lab, and having the chance to collaborate with researchers from other laboratories and fields of study in a spontaneous way, was essential to understanding a field as complex and all-embracing as urbanism.
What's more, the emphasis SFC puts on using new technologies to solve socio-economic and scientific issues through project-based learning, made me shift my research approach on issues relating to slums in Morocco to a more comprehensive problem-solving methodology. It involves the study of ancient urban developments in Morocco and North Africa, then leveraging it to model future urban designs through scientific interpretation and algorithmic simulations.
SFC gives you the opportunity to learn how to ask the right questions - about the world and yourself - and that is the first step towards embracing your uniqueness and that of everyone else.
As a teaching assistant starting the second year of my master's, I also realized that I was eager to become a researcher as well as a lecturer. This would open up greater research opportunities because I could not only teach students but also learn from them, and that's a reflection of the philosophy of Keio University's founder, Yukichi Fukuzawa, of "Learning while Teaching, Teaching while Learning" (Hangaku-hankyo).
Pursuing postgraduate studies is a major step, but it's one that involves you more in research and gives you a deeper understanding of - and better means of questioning - nature and society. SFC gives you the opportunity to learn how to ask the right questions - about the world and yourself - and that is the first step towards embracing your uniqueness and that of everyone else.
