On March 15, Deputy Director and Professor from Okayama University the Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences (RIIS) Jian-Ren Shen was selected as the 2021 recipient of the Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists Award at the JSPP Awards Ceremony, which took place online on the second day of the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists.

The JSPP Award is awarded to a member of the JSPP who has made outstanding contributions to the field of plant science, and only one recipient is selected each year. Professor Shen received the award for his researches on “elucidation of the mechanism of photosynthetic water-splitting reaction”. Upon receiving the award, Professor Shen commented, “I would like to thank everyone who has collaborated with me in this research for this prestigious award. I will continue to strive towards even greater research results.”

Following the award ceremony, Professor Shen gave a lecture wherein he introduced his research results thus far, explained how light energy decomposes water to produce hydrogen ions and molecular oxygen, and elaborated on his plans for future research. 　

In 2011, Professor Shen gained worldwide recognition for mapping the structure of a protein essential to photosynthesis, which shed light on the previously inscrutable mechanism of photosynthesis. His research was selected by Science Magazine as one of ten “Breakthroughs of the Year” in 2011, which selects ten major advances in scientific researches each year.