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With aspiration to contribute to reconstruction of the areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, Waseda University has established “Waseda University Center for Research on Reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake” (Administered by Prof. Yoshiaki Fukazawa, Senior Executive Director for Research Promotion). This mid-/long-term research project will make full use of the academic resources in the University as an intellectual community, encompassing the three research projects and seven research themes listed below.

Research that will contribute to the society is one of the most important roles of Waseda University. It is our mission to pursue research that will contribute to reconstruction of the areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, and to minimization of the potential damages which may be induced by other disasters in future. From April 4 to 13, the University called for research proposals from faculties and researchers in Waseda. After the screening, seven research themes were selected for three research projects in the fields of “Medicine and Health Care”, “Infrastructure Restoration and Disaster Management Systems”, and “Urban Planning and Social Design”. These projects constitute Waseda University Center for Research on Reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake, with research grant from the University for three years (up to 20 million yen per year). The fund includes donations from Waseda Supporters’ Club, an organization for financial supporters of Waseda University.

In addition to these three research projects, Waseda University has selected 14 short-term research projects. The duration of these projects is one year and all of them will receive research grant up to 500,000 yen for each project.

Project Leader: Prof. Shigetaka Asano, Faculty of Science and Engineering Research Theme: Research on the needs for scientific/social support and administration toward the prevention of health damage caused by earthquakes

Project Leader: Prof. Tomoya Shibayama, Faculty of Science and Engineering Research Theme: Disaster Analysis and Proposal for Rehabilitation Process for Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami

Project Member: Prof. Kazuo Kamura, Faculty of Science and Engineering Research Theme: Environmental diagnosis and proposal of countermeasure technology for restoration and reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake

Project Member: Prof. Shunji Matsuoka, Faculty of International Research and Education Research Theme: Compound Mega Crisis, Nuclear Disaster and Risk Governance

Project Leader: Prof. Takeshi Nakagawa, Faculty of Science and Engineering Research Theme: General Study on Housing and Urban Planning for Renaissance in Harmony with Respect for Nature, Learning from Cultural Heritage

Project Member: Prof. Michitaro Urakawa, Faculty of Law Research Theme: Waseda University Legal Aid Project for Eastern Japan Earthquake Disaster Relief

Project Member: Prof. Osamu Soda, Faculty of Social Sciences Research Theme: Rebuilding a new global social system resilient to large-scale disasters

For more datailes, please click here (Japanese only).