KOBAYASHI Tadashi is presently Professor Emeritus, Specially Appointed Professor of Center for the Study of Co*Design, Osaka University and Director General of Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society (RISTEX), JST. He served as vice president of Osaka University (2015-19). He was also a Director of Program for Education and Research on Science and Technology in Public Sphere (STiPS).

His research interests include philosophy of science, science, technology and society (STS) studies.

He also served as a member of organizers for Japanese first and second Consensus Conferences (1998/9), a member of organizers and a facilitator of the first Nation-wide Consensus Conference on GMOs (2000), the first President of Japanese Society for Science and Technology Studies (2001- 2003), a Director of “World Wide Views on Global Warming Project” in Japan (2009), and the Deputy Area Director of Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society (RISTEX), JST (2005-2013), and a principal fellow of RISTEX and an adviser of the Science Communication Centre JST (2014-18).

He is a junior member of the Science Council of Japan (2008-17) and a member of the Science Council of Japan since 2017 to 2023.