MESSAGE

Today's society has many risks that are difficult to predict, such as changing climate disasters, earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. Today, talent that can manage risks based on advanced expertise and drive development toward a sustainable future is in high demand. At the WISE Program for Sustainability in the Dynamic Earth, we understand well the aspects and problems of our planet and human life and aim to foster doctorate talent with expertise and practical skills. Diverse members from varied backgrounds such as humanities and the sciences learn from each other in collaborative education among the industry, government, and academia through trial and error. We look forward to meeting students who want to become professionals of knowledge with multifaceted skills and become top leaders in academia, industry, and international organizations.

Japan is the country of earthquakes, and many lives and properties have been destroyed by earthquakes. In recent years, abnormal climate caused by global warming has led to frequent natural disasters, such as torrential rains, floods, inundations, and landslides. Their scales are gradually increasing as well. Furthermore, the long-term use of social infrastructure weakens its strength. If such infrastructure is not appropriately maintained and managed, it could lead to major accidents. In order to protect lives and properties from such natural disasters and accidents while building and protecting our country, risks must be predicted with high accuracy by gathering knowledge accumulated through various domains of research. Appropriate measures must be taken based on such predictions. We invite applications to our program, which will help you to polish your investigative, practical, and international skills and become an expert.

Several years ago, many of you were brilliant high school students living in various parts of Japan. When you began studying at Tohoku University, you met talented peers from all over Japan along with professors who are slightly eccentric! They are conducting cutting-edge studies in each domain. I am confident that your world suddenly expanded. At the "WISE Program for Sustainability in the Dynamic Earth", the university functions beyond the framework of laboratories, cooperates beyond the walls between industry and public agencies, and provides in-depth experiences for students. I hope that you will find our program exciting, become trained through high-quality experiences, and expand your horizon. We look forward to seeing you.

In recent years, extraordinary natural disasters such as the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Kumamoto Earthquake, the Heavy Rainstorm in Western Japan, and the COVID-19 pandemic, etc. have caused significant damage to people's lives. These disasters not only cause human and physical losses, but also affect people's predictions and expectations, and change people's behavior. For example, disasters develop empathy and strengthen social bonds, while unexpected events may increase uncertainty among individuals. In addition, disasters can have a significant impact on people's economic conditions and form people's behaviors. Integrating knowledge from various disciplines provides a comprehensive understanding of these mechanisms, and the interdisciplinary approach of the SyDE program allows for a deeper understanding of the link between disasters and human behavior.

As there have been many natural disasters, such as floods, landslides and large-scale earthquakes, caused by abnormal weather both in Japan and overseas in recent years, swift action toward disaster prevention and mitigation is strongly demanded by society. As a construction consulting firm, we are involved in every step of planning, design, maintenance, and management of social structures, especially public works projects. We are working on developing plans to prevent and mitigate disasters, emergency measures to be taken during a disaster, and permanent measures for regional development and the environment. We are also working on developing X-GIS (eXtended GIS), which can support the development of communities and cities resilient to disasters, as a joint research project with Tohoku University. In this program, we would like to cultivate human resources that can contribute to building a nation resilient to disasters and to fostering regional development by cooperating with other partnering organizations and utilizing the expertise and experience we have accumulated through past projects.

How we treat uncertainty and hazard risks continues to challenge physical and social scientists, policymakers and communicators. This is a global issue. Why don't you learn more about disaster risks and disaster risk reduction in order to build safer communities with us? The programme will include 1) How increasing knowledge is changing our understanding of uncertainty, 2) How crises cascade from the natural domain into the social domain, 3) How to address unmeasurable uncertainties, 4) Can we forecast major disasters? 5) What is engineered preparedness? 6) What is social preparedness? You will gain an understanding of the limits to knowledge in disaster risks, disaster risk reduction strategies and how we can communicate these to the policymakers and the public.