Film Director Introduces "Hero's Journey" Storytelling for Research Communication

The Online Content Research and Development Project (OCRD) of the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) at the Institute of Science Tokyo held a two-part workshop in March 2026 titled "Research Storytelling Workshop."

The workshops were designed for graduate students and explored how narrative techniques commonly used in film can be applied to research presentations. The Japanese-language session was held online on March 16, followed by an in-person English-language session on March 23 at the Ookayama Campus.

The program was organized as part of the OCRD's efforts to support teaching assistant (TA) professional development and strengthen communication in education and research.

The workshop was led by Hiroki Ohsawa, a lecturer at Kinjo Gakuin University and a film and commercial director. In addition to his professional experience in film production in both Hollywood and Tokyo, Ohsawa is currently a doctoral student at the Graduate School of Information Sciences at Tohoku University, where he studies visual comprehension and eye-tracking.

Drawing on both filmmaking practice and academic research, Ohsawa introduced participants to ways of structuring research presentations using narrative frameworks.

The workshop was facilitated by Professor Jeffrey S. Cross, Professor Yukihiko Yamashita, and Specially Appointed Expert Satoshi Kadomatsu of the OCRD.

March 16: Workshop in Japanese (Online)

The Japanese workshop was held online on March 16. Participants prepared eight slides in advance, each corresponding to a step in Dan Harmon's "Story Circle," a narrative framework consisting of eight stages: You (background), Need (research objective), Go (research gap), Search (methods), Find (results), Take (limitations or challenges), Return (next steps), and Change (significance of the research).

Participants used this structure to organize their research into a narrative.

The workshop also prompted discussion about communicating research to wider audiences. Participants recognized the importance of presenting not only the academic interest of their work but also its social relevance and value when addressing non-specialist audiences.

Feedback from the post-workshop survey indicated that participants found the approach engaging and different from conventional presentation methods. Many commented that the framework encouraged them to reconsider how their research could be communicated more clearly to others.

Several participants also noted that the concept of "Take," which highlights the costs or challenges involved in research, provided a useful way to reflect on the research process and its broader context.

March 23: Workshop in English (Ookayama Campus)

The English workshop was held in person on March 23 at the Ookayama Campus and lasted approximately three hours. The session was organized in three parts.

In the first part, Professor Cross introduced the role of storytelling in science communication and presented examples of universities overseas—including Rutgers University, Princeton University, MIT, and Cornell University—where storytelling techniques are used to support research communication.

Ohsawa then explained the narrative framework of the "Hero's Journey," drawing on Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces and Dan Harmon's Story Circle. Examples and educational videos illustrated the common narrative structures found in many stories.

In the second part, participants applied the framework to their own experiences leading to enrollment at Science Tokyo. They organized their stories according to the eight steps and shared them with other participants. These discussions included experiences such as deciding to study in Japan, adapting to a new cultural environment, and managing the challenges of studying abroad.

In the final part, participants applied the same framework to their own research topics. Ohsawa demonstrated the approach using his own research on visual comprehension and eye-tracking, presenting both a conventional academic version and a more personal narrative version of the same research topic. Participants discussed how different approaches can affect audience engagement and explored ways to balance technical explanation with storytelling elements.

Participants then presented their own research using the Hero's Journey framework and exchanged feedback with one another.

During the discussion, some participants reflected on personal challenges related to their research, including maintaining work–life balance and managing pressure during doctoral study. Ohsawa noted that such constraints can play a role similar to narrative tension in film, helping to highlight the challenges and motivations behind a research project.

One participant commented that thinking about research as a story helped them recognize that the difficulties they face are part of an ongoing process toward discovery.

In the post-workshop survey, all respondents indicated they were either "very satisfied" or "satisfied" with the workshop overall. Participants commented that the session was "very interactive" and that they valued hearing perspectives from students with different backgrounds. Several noted that the hands-on format allowed them to immediately apply what they had learned. One participant also expressed interest in further discussion on when and how to incorporate personal storytelling in more formal settings such as academic conferences.

Conclusion

Across both the Japanese and English sessions, participants responded positively to using narrative structure in research presentations. Frameworks such as the Hero's Journey proved to be a useful starting point for organizing the flow of a research story and developing a structure that resonates with an audience.

The workshops also gave participants a firsthand sense that weaving personal motivations and experiences into a research narrative—beyond technical content alone—can help make presentations resonate with audiences from different disciplinary backgrounds.