The National Institute for Minamata Disease, a body of the Ministry of the Environment, is a research institution operated with national government funds that engages in research and other undertakings and is an entity located in Minamata, where Minamata disease occurred. As such, we are obliged to voluntarily ensure that our operations and activities should be checked through appropriate external evaluation and to make far-reaching contributions both in and outside of Japan, as well as on a regional basis, in line with our founding objective. For that reason, we perform a research evaluation each fiscal year with the aim of assessing the appropriateness and effectiveness of our research so as to bring greater efficiency and robustness to the survey and research activities of the National Institute for Minamata Disease.