The newly appointed head of the Riken research institute has pledged to restore its reputation as a global leader in the field.

Hiroshi Matsumoto, a 72-year-old space plasma physicist who received a state Medal with Purple Ribbon in 2007, made the vow on Wednesday as he succeeded 76-year-old Ryoji Noyori as president of the state-backed institution. Noyori departed on Tuesday.

¡°Riken has been a top-caliber international research institution . . . able to produce internationally competitive scientific achievements. And it¡¯s my mission to build up Riken to become such an institute once more,¡± Matsumoto told a news conference in Tokyo.

Matsumoto has held a range of prominent administrative positions. He was the president of Kyoto University for six years until last September, and headed the Japan Association of National Universities from June 2013 to September 2014. He has also served on the Cabinet¡¯s commission for national space policies since 2012.

Riken¡¯s reputation was damaged by revelations of fabrication in research published in the leading global science journal Nature which was subsequently retracted.

The work, on stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency (STAP) cells, saw lead author Haruko Obokata blamed for falsification. She denied the accusation, but left the institution in December.

¡°Obokata lacked the basic literacy needed in a scientist,¡± Matsumoto said.

¡°But it¡¯s not only a matter of an individual researcher,¡± he added, suggesting he would try to address the bigger picture.

He referred to an action plan which Riken has already adopted, based on the findings of a third-party team.

¡°I am willing to follow the measures contained within it,¡± he said of the plan.

Matsumoto¡¯s predecessor, Noyori, a former 2001 Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, had been president since October 2003. He stepped down in middle of his third term, which would otherwise have continued until March 2018.

Noyori resigned because of his age, Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura said on March 24, underscoring that his resignation had no direct link with the scandal.

Riken has admitted the scandal has hurt its reputation. However, in March it said it would not investigate what happened in the Obokata case any further.

One unresolved question is how embryonic stem cells, which a third-party investigation found were present, may have become inserted into Obokata¡¯s lab work.

Riken has also opted not to file a criminal complaint against Obokata for alleged theft of cell samples.