KURAHI SCHOLARS · COMING SOON
Build agents.
Advance research.
Publish discoveries.
Kurahi Scholars is a planned academic research and developer programme from KODA SōKEN: a free academic licence for qualifying non-commercial research with Kurahi, the governed runtime for persistent AI agents. Use it, test it, challenge it.
01 — PUBLICATION CHARTER
Your research is yours. So are your conclusions.
Publish anythingYou may publish any result, including negative and inconclusive ones. There is no pre-approval and no veto.
You own your outputsYour data, code, papers, findings and benchmarks remain yours.
Courtesy, not permissionA courtesy notice before publication is welcome but optional.
One narrow exceptionExploit details of a security vulnerability that can be exploited wait up to 30 days so it can be fixed. Everything else can be published immediately.
We welcome research that challenges our assumptions, not only research that confirms them.
02 — TWO RESEARCH TRACKS
Use Kurahi in your research, or make Kurahi the subject of it.
Research with KurahiUse Kurahi as infrastructure for your research: persistent agents, policy-governed tool use, human approvals and signed evidence of every run.
Research on KurahiStudy the runtime itself: continuity across restarts and model changes, governance mechanisms and evaluation methods.
03 — WHAT YOU GET, FREE
Research access, verifiable evidence and support, with every item's status stated.
Academic licenceFree for non-commercial research and teaching, renewed while you remain eligible.
At programme launch
At programme launch
Verifiable evidenceEvery agent run can produce a signed, hash-chained evidence bundle that your reviewers can verify offline, without our servers.
Available today
Available today
Continuity test suiteThe runtime continuity conformance suite, open to proposals for new tests.
Available today
Available today
Evaluation scorecardsDeterministic, signed scorecards for workflow evaluation, comparable across labs.
When released
When released
Open benchmark task setA public task set with a negative-results track; contributions credited with your consent.
When released
When released
Discipline tracksOnboarding for researchers outside computer science: a field-specific guide, a worked case and a protocol template, starting with nutrition and health.
At programme launch
At programme launch
Ethics and data-protection starter kitTemplates to help with research ethics review and data protection (APPI, LGPD, GDPR).
At programme launch
At programme launch
LanguagesProgramme pages in 10 languages; technical documentation in English and Japanese; human support in English and Japanese.
At programme launch
At programme launch
04 — HOW IT WORKS
From pre-registration to publication.
1. Pre-registerTell us who you are and what you would like to research. It takes two minutes.
2. VerifyWhen the programme opens, we verify eligibility by institutional email. Our target is a decision within 5 working days for individual scholars.
3. OnboardA research profile with least-privilege policies, human approvals and evidence export, ready for your first experiment.
4. ResearchUse Kurahi in your work, or study Kurahi itself.
5. PublishUnder the publication charter above.
6. RenewRenew while you remain eligible.
Three participation tracks
ScholarIndividual students, PhD candidates, postdocs and faculty.
Research LabA university research group, with multi-user access and group onboarding.
Research FellowSelected original research projects, with mentorship and, where budget allows, capped compute support.
05 — PLANNED FOR THE FOUNDING COHORT
What we plan to add. Planned, not promised.
Every item below is planned and subject to the programme launch and budget. Founding Scholars will help us decide the order. When you pre-register, you can say you would like to be considered for the founding cohort; interest does not mean automatic selection.
Compute supportMilestone-based compute on Japan-hosted model providers, with no hard expiry cliff: unused allocation can roll over on request.
Planned
Planned
Sovereign hostingA hosting option in Japan or Brazil for research that requires it.
Planned
Planned
Ambassador and Fellow ladderA path from student ambassador to Research Fellow.
Planned
Planned
AwardsSmall awards for replication studies and for the best negative result.
Planned
Planned
Travel and internshipsConference-travel support and internships.
Planned
Planned
PartnershipsRegional compute and research-network partnerships.
Planned
Planned
06 — WHO IT IS FOR
Who can joinStudents in degree programmes, PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, faculty and non-profit research institutes.
Not only computer scienceHealth, nutrition, engineering, social sciences, education and other fields. You do not need to code to start.
07 — QUESTIONS
Is it really free?Yes, for the licence. Third-party AI models and compute are separate costs, unless covered by a grant.
Can I publish criticism of Kurahi?Yes. Unlike many industry programmes, there is no pre-approval and no veto.
Who owns my results?You do.
Can I use it commercially?No. The academic licence is for non-commercial research and teaching. Ask us about a commercial licence.
Can students apply?Yes.
Which countries?Japan and Brazil first, then worldwide, subject to export-control screening.
Do I need to code?No. The discipline tracks start without coding.
When does it open?The programme is being prepared. Pre-register to hear first. Pre-registration is not acceptance, and the programme, its terms and its contents may change before it opens.
08 — PRE-REGISTER
Be among the first to hear when the programme opens.
Pre-registration takes two minutes on the Kurahi site. Questions: scholars@kodasoken.com