Experiment Team

The JT-60SA experiment team, stablished in 2022, is one unified Experiment Implementation Structure for the JT-60SA experiment including both Joint Exploitation Programme and the Host Domestic Programme. JT-60SA Experiment Team implements JT-60SA experiment, organizes the related analyses, modeling and simulation and can propose enhancements. The Experiment Team is composed of Experiment Leaders, Topical Group Leaders and participating researchers.

Experiment Leaders

  • The Experiment Leaders have the task to develop the Annual Experiment Programme and submit it to the Project Managers (PMs) for review and to the Project Leader (PL) for approval. The PL then submits the Annual Experiment Programme and the Annual Experiment Report to the PC and BA-SC for approval.
  • The Experiment Leaders act jointly in assessing, prioritizing, and allocating machine time to experimental proposals (within this joint Programme, one of the two JA Experiment Leaders is responsible to coordinate the experimental proposals of the Host Domestic Programme)
  • The Experiment Leaders direct and supervise the Experiment Team in the implementation of the Annual Experiment Programme approved by the PL. They also coordinate and validate the publications related to the Experimental Team activity.
  • The Experiment Leaders receive, assess and make proposals for machine enhancement from the experiment team and submit them to PMs. They also contribute to the evaluation of the machine enhancement proposals from the PMs, in view of executing the Experiment Programme.

From 2021, three experiment leaders, two from Japan and one from Europe, were selected.

Maiko Yoshida

Maiko Yoshida was appointed as JT-60SA Experiment Leader in 2021. From 2008 she is permanent staff researcher at QST (JAEA) where she has conducted physics experiments on the momentum transport, real-time plasma control, and confinement improvement with magnetic shear and rotation shear in JT-60U and other tokamaks. In 2010, she was appointed as the JT-60SA Research Plan Coordinator, and the Transport and Confinement Responsible Officer. From 2021, she is in the chair of the ITPA Transport and Confinement Topical Group, and the leader of the Advanced Plasma Experiment Group at QST.

Akihiko Isayama

Akihiko Isayama was appointed JT-60SA Experiment Leader in April 2026. In JT-60U, he worked on the control of neoclassical tearing modes, the sustainment of high-beta plasmas, and the development of electron cyclotron emission diagnostics. He subsequently contributed to the development of the electron cyclotron heating system for JT-60SA. He also contributed to the development of in-vessel components for JT-60SA as Group Leader. He served as Commissioning Leader for the Integrated Commissioning of JT-60SA during the Op-1 phase.
He is a Member of the “MHD, Disruptions and Control” Topical Group of the International Tokamak Physics and Engineering Activity. From 2018 to 2020, he served as Co-Chair, and later as Chair from 2021 to 2023.
Commenting on his appointment, he said, “Although I have been away from plasma experiments for some time, I am committed to doing my utmost for the upcoming operational phases. I look forward to new results from JT-60SA.”

Yevgen Kazakov

Yevgen Kazakov is a senior researcher at the Laboratory for Plasma Physics at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, Belgium. From 2016 to 2023, he led a research team at the JET tokamak, contributing to record-breaking fusion experiments and publishing several high-impact papers in Nature Portfolio journals. He is a recipient of the 2018 Landau-Spitzer Award from the APS for pioneering work on plasma heating and energetic ion generation. As a member of the ITPA-EP group and ITER Scientist Fellow, Yevgen has contributed to various fast-ion physics activities in support of ITER. In addition to his research, he served on the EUROfusion Science and Technology Advisory Committee (STAC), supporting the implementation of Europe’s fusion energy roadmap.

Topical group leaders

A Topical Group Leader has the role to assist the Experiment Leaders in the scientific discussion of experiment proposals and coordinate the execution of the experiments assigned to the Topical Group. The Topical Leader also summarizes the results and reports to the Experiment Leaders.

From 2026, the topical group leaders are:

Operation Regime Development 

Takuma Wakatsuki (QST, Japan)

MHD Stability and Control

Gianluca Pucella (ENEA, Italy)

Transport and Confinement

Luca Garzotti (UKAEA, UK)

High Energy Particle Behavior

Andreas Bierwage (QST, Japan)

Pedestal and Edge Physics

Nobuyuki Aiba (QST, Japan)

Divertor, Scrape Off Layer and Plasma-Material Interaction

Tomohide Nakano (QST, Japan)