On 12 March 2026, the Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI) and the Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability (GSAIS) signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Kansai Center relating to the dispatch of scholars to Mexico and Thailand below the “Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) (Science and Technology Research Cooperation)” program, marking the first initiative of its type in Japan.
As the signing ceremony started, Mr Masayuki Hirosawa, director-general of the JICA Kansai Center, emphasised the importance of this system, which dispatches Japanese early-career researchers to establishments in creating international locations for collaborative analysis. He famous that this system, newly established to coincide with JOCV’s sixtieth anniversary, goals not solely to reinforce the scientific and technological capacities of accomplice international locations but in addition to advance joint analysis initiatives. He additionally identified that it may promote “international brain circulation” by bringing experiences and outcomes gained in host international locations again to Japan.
Dr Yasuyuki Kono, Kyoto University’s government vice-president for worldwide technique, then delivered his personal remarks. Referring to the University’s long-standing custom of abroad fieldwork — underpinning its status as an “exploration university” — in addition to the buildup of worldwide joint analysis via its “On-site Laboratory” initiative launched in 2018, he welcomed the brand new framework as a possibility to additional develop international schooling and analysis actions.
Dr Takao Hirashima, director of the Division of Graduate Studies, adopted by emphasizing the significance of early-career researchers — notably “scientists of tomorrow” equivalent to doctoral college students and postdoctoral fellows — participating immediately in addressing societal challenges in abroad settings. He expressed sturdy expectations that this system would assist domesticate transferable abilities — competencies that transcend particular disciplines — thereby supporting extra various profession pathways for doctoral expertise.
Prior to the MoU signing, Ms Etsuko Masuko, deputy director of the JOCV secretariat, outlined a key function of this system — that analysis actions themselves represent volunteer service — and inspired contributors to have interaction native researchers in co-creation of worth and to construct sustained partnerships with creating international locations as a part of their analysis.
Following the signing, DPRI Director Tomoharu Hori described the background to the Mexico dispatch, highlighting three elements: a long-standing collaboration with the Mexican National Center for Prevention of Disasters (CENAPRED); a joint assertion signed by DPRI, CENAPRED, Mexico’s Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (via the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation [AMEXCID]), and the JICA Mexico Office; and the position of the International Research Laboratory for Earthquake and Tsunami Risk Cognition and Reduction (iLETs), an On-site Laboratory. The aim of the initiative, he defined, is to contribute to decreasing earthquake catastrophe dangers in Mexico by introducing computerized earthquake detection techniques, implementing applied sciences for their analysis in society, and creating efficient strategies of data dissemination.
GSAIS Dean Akira Murakami then supplied an outline of the Thailand dispatch, noting that it may function a type of “musha shugyo” (worldwide sensible coaching) or Project-Based Research (PBR) — core elements of the graduate college’s curriculum involving sensible expertise at worldwide and different organizations. He expressed hope that this system would foster collaboration with researchers on the Sustainable Environment Research Institute (SERI) of Chulalongkorn University, contributing to coverage discussions and enhancements aimed toward attaining meals manufacturing and agriculture in concord with biodiversity conservation, whereas additionally selling tutorial change and the event of early-career researchers.
The ceremony was additionally attended by Mr Shukei Oyanagi, a analysis scholar at DPRI’s Research Center for Earthquake Prediction, who’s scheduled to be dispatched to Mexico round August 2026 as this system’s first participant. He expressed his aspirations stating: “I hope to contribute to reducing earthquake disaster risks in Mexico by advancing my research through dialogue — taking into account local social infrastructure and culture — and by implementing its outcomes in society.”
The ceremony concluded with remarks from Dr Eiji Nawata, director of the Kyoto University ASEAN Center, who mirrored on a case from 10 years earlier by which a scholar needed to take a depart of absence to hitch JOCV. He shared that it was deeply shifting to see the “JOCV (Science and Technology Research Cooperation)” program realized as he had lengthy hoped for a system that might permit participation with out interrupting analysis actions.
Kyoto University will proceed to actively make the most of this program — by which contributors work with native researchers to resolve international challenges, broadening their analysis views within the course of — as a part of its ongoing efforts to foster the subsequent technology of world leaders.