Dr. Hiroshi Matsumoto was appointed president of Kyoto University in October 2008. Prior to this appointment he served ![Matsumoto.jpg](/en/ITU-T/academia/kaleidoscope/2013/Documents/MatsumotoH.jpg)
as the university’s executive vice-president for research and finance from 2005 to 2008.
He is a specialist in space radio science, space plasma physics and space solar power transmission. He completed his Ph.D. at Kyoto University in 1973. Prior to his role as vice-president, Dr. Matsumoto served as director of Kyoto University’s Radio Science Center for Space and Atmosphere from 2002 to 2004, and as director of the Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere from 2004 to 2005.
He has received many awards and honors including the Russian Federation of Cosmonautics Gagarin Medal, the Government of Japan’s Medal with Purple Ribbon and the URSI Gold Booker Medal.