Research networks are at the heart of the Institute?s mission and research strategy. In addition to affiliations with the University of East Anglia, the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and the British Museum, there are institutional agreements for collaborative research with Ritsumeikan University, Kyushu University, the Niigata Prefectural Museum of History, the Fitzwilliam Museum, the International Centre for Albanian Archaeology and the Centre Européen d'Etudes Japonaises d'Alsace, and links with many other organisations. The Institute?s various projects draw on this international network, bringing scholars from around the world together to explore major research themes. These projects include initiatives such as Collecting Japan in Europe, the Projects in Japanese Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, and Japanese Literature in Art Colloquy.

The Institute is closely connected to UEA. The Vice-Chancellor acts as Chair of the Institute's Management Board and the Institute is in addition able to draw on the University?s academic and administrative expertise. Both the Director and the Assistant Director of the Institute have taught for the School of World Art Studies and Museology, and 2006 saw two PhDs completed in Japanese art history, both supervised by the Director of the Institute.

As the largest centre for Japanese studies in the UK, SOAS is an invaluable partner for the Sainsbury Institute. The relationship is formalised by a collaborative agreement and the participation of the Director and Principal of SOAS on the Institute?s Management Board. The Institute maintains its London offices in the Brunei Gallery, which provide study space for the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellows and the Handa Fellow. The Director and the Assistant Director teach for the Department of Art and Archaeology at SOAS and Dr John T. Carpenter, Lecturer in Japanese Art History at SOAS, acts as the Head of the London Office of the Sainsbury Institute.

Since its establishment, the Sainsbury Institute has fostered close connections with the British Museum, in particular the Japanese Section of the Department of Asia, an outstanding repository of Japanese artefacts and art. The Museum's Japanese holdings are unparalleled in extent, quality and scope by any other museum in Europe. In 2003 the Director of the Institute curated a major exhibition in the Museum?s Japanese Galleries, Kazari: Decoration and Display in Japan 17th-19th Centuries. As a result of a collaborative agreement, the Institute's Development and Projects Manager, Hiromi Uchida, has been seconded to the Japanese Section, working with the Head of the Japanese Section, Timothy Clark. The dual projects on which Ms Uchida has been working - supporting the work on the refurbishment of the Japanese Galleries and developing outreach programmes - were initially funded for one year by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and subsequently by a consortium of members of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the UK, under the auspices of the Embassy of Japan in London. The Director of the Institute was also seconded part time to the museum for five months, working with Timothy Clark on the new permanent exhibition Japan: From Prehistory to the Present, which opened in the newly refurbished Japanese Galleries in October 2006. The British Museum and the Institute will continue to collaborate on future exhibits and projects. The Director is guest curator for the upcoming exhibition, Crafting Beauty: Celebrating 50 Years of Japanese Arts and Crafts, which will be held in July-September 2007 in the Joseph E. Hotung Gallery. Other benefits from this relationship include the use of the Museum as a venue for Institute/Museum events, including the Toshiba Lectures in Japanese Arts, and the 'Displaying Korea and Japan' and 'mingei' workshops.