Kenji Itao is an Assistant Professor (PI) at the Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University, where he leads his own laboratory. Born in 1996, he received a Ph.D. in Arts and Sciences from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the University of Tokyo, in 2024. He received the President’s Award of the University of Tokyo in 2021, the JSPS Ikushi Prize in 2024, and the MEXT Young Scientists’ Award in 2026.
He specializes in statistical physics, complex systems theory, and evolutionary anthropology, and studies the mechanisms through which human social structures evolve. In particular, he asks why similar cultural patterns and social structures repeatedly appear across societies separated by time and region, and approaches phenomena described in anthropology and history from a theoretical perspective.
He argues that recurrent patterns in human history reflect underlying mechanisms that generate culture wherever humans form societies, and he seeks to build "Universal Anthropology" that explains these shared structures through mathematical modeling.
Creative Interdisciplinary Research Division, Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University
Elucidating the Generative Principles of Social Institutions through Evolutionary Dynamical-Systems Game Theory: Toward Universal Anthropology
Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, NIHU / PI: Dr. Ryosuke Nakadai
Interconnections and Co-Creation of Humans, Culture, and Nature through Ritual and Positive and Negative Relational Values
RIKEN Center for Brain Science / PI: Dr. Wataru Toyokawa
A Constructive Description of Social Structure through Multilevel Evolutionary Theory
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany / PI: Dr. Heidi Colleran
Demonstrating spontaneous organization of social structures using evolutionary simulation.
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Universality in the Emergence of Family System and Social Structure
World-leading Innovative Graduate Study Program of Advanced Basic Science, The University of Tokyo
Establishing Universal Principles of Human Behavior and Social Systems through Multilevel Interactions
The University of Tokyo / Ph.D. in Arts and Sciences / Supervisor: Prof. Koji Hukushima
In the doctoral program at the University of Tokyo, I studied the emergence of human social structure through statistical physics, complex systems theory, and cultural evolution at Koji Hukushima's laboratory.
The University of Tokyo / M.A. in Arts and Sciences / Supervisor: Prof. Kunihiko Kaneko
In the master’s program at the University of Tokyo, I worked on theoretical studies of social structure using multilevel evolutionary models at Kunihiko Kaneko's laboratory.
The University of Tokyo / B.A. in Arts and Sciences / Supervisor: Prof. Kunihiko Kaneko
Received a B.A. in Arts and Sciences from the University of Tokyo.