“Boulder” is a new web medium administered and publicized by the Policy Alternatives Research Institute (PARI), the University of Tokyo, for the purpose of introducing the Global Leader Program for Social Design and Management (GSDM) and related academic contents in an attractive manner.

The name “Boulder” comes from the word in Geology, which refers to a large stone with a diameter of more than 256 mm that has been rounded by wind and rain. It is also the word of origin for “bouldering”—a type of free climbing.

Bouldering, which requires ascending a steep wall while holding on to stones, corresponds to the image of training of global leaders with cross-disciplinary knowledge in order to bring about resolution of issues. To move from one foothold to the next, people must pick out a rock at an appropriate position and create their own route. We have used this appellation to express the image of a person’s growth into a qualified global leader, who finally reaches the top of the wall through various thoughts and explorations.

Through the medium of “Boulder”, we are hoping to offer specialized knowledge present in GSDM and PARI as “handhold stones” for the reorganization of thinking, needed for academic collaboration that goes beyond framework of regulations and special terminologies that are only comprehensible in specific fields of study.