◆ We held a symposium at the Disaster Prevention Promotion Center
Release Date:
On Saturday, December 12, 2020, the Disaster Prevention Promotion Center at Kochi University held its first online symposium titled “Disaster Prevention and the SDGs: What Does Disaster Prevention Contribute to Sustainable Development?”
With the goal of revitalizing the region, Kochi University is engaged in activities focused on "sustainable regional development." At the symposium, the university presented case studies illustrating the relationship between its disaster prevention initiatives and the SDGs, and explored the future direction of these efforts.
Following opening remarks by President Sakurai and an explanation of the event’s purpose by Director Sasahara of the Disaster Prevention Promotion Center, the first session featured presentations by four faculty members on Kochi University’s SDG-focused disaster prevention initiatives: “Challenges Facing Evacuation Shelters During Infectious Disease Outbreaks” (Professor Kengo Nishiyama)“Seismic Retrofit of Wooden Houses and Development of Wooden Buildings (Lecturer Masahiro Noguchi),” “The Global Environment After Global Warming: Predictions Based on Past Climate Change (Lecturer Sei Hasegawa),” and “Initiatives Aimed at the Sustainable Use of Skipjack Tuna (Associate Professor Takeshi Yoshiyoshi).”
In the second session, Mr. Hiroki Yamada, Research Officer at the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), delivered a keynote speech on “The Relationship Between the SDGs and Science, Technology, and Innovation,” followed by a keynote speech by Lecturer Hideki Kaji, University Block Coordinator (UBC) at Kochi University, on “Case Studies of University-Community Collaboration and Activities Based on the SDG Targets.” This was followed by a panel discussion featuring all the speakers.
Kochi University’s disaster prevention research spans a wide range of spatial scales, from local community-level issues to global challenges. During the discussion, each researcher outlined the spatial scale of their work, and the importance of conducting activities with a sense of temporal scale was discussed. Following the discussion, Center Director Sasahara commented, “As the Disaster Prevention Promotion Center, we intend to continue our activities with a focus on perspectives across different spatial and temporal scales, while prioritizing collaboration.”
The event concluded with closing remarks from the Foundation’s Director (in charge of Research, Evaluation, and Medical Affairs), who emphasized that both disaster prevention and the SDGs require a combination of scientific and technological expertise and humanity.
This symposium was held as part of the activities of the Subcommittee on Regional Industry-Academia-Government-Community Collaboration under the Cabinet Office’s Public-Private Partnership Platform for Regional Revitalization and the SDGs (Secretariat: Japan Science and Technology Agency), as well as part of the National University Festival 2020.
