Message from Director
I was appointed Director of the Risk Analysis Research Center in April 2023. The Center was established in April 2005 with the aim of developing cross-disciplinary methodologies for risk assessment and management and building a new quantitative risk science. For over 18 years now, the Center has promoted research projects related to risk science, utilizing statistical analysis and modeling methods in which the Institute of Statistical Mathematics excels.
While our Center has been addressing various risks in fields such as society and economy, our lives are still threatened by numerous risks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global economic instability triggered by the war in Ukraine, and other threats. Additionally, the large-scale and complexity of recent data have rendered traditional risk analysis methods insufficient, necessitating the establishment of new methodologies.
To address this challenge, the Risk Analysis Research Center is currently pursuing seven research projects. Three of these projects are closely linked to applications, environment, earthquakes, and resource management. Other four of the projects are more theoretical or “pure” in nature; Two of them aimed at developing general mathematical and computational methods for risk analysis, and one is devoted to studying theory and applications of spatiotemporal data analysis. We also have a project that carries out research activities related to data collection and linkage.
Over its history, the Risk Analysis Research Center has built up a strong track record of achievements in risk analysis, producing numerous research findings, publishing articles in leading Japanese and international journals, conducting joint research with industry-government-academia collaborations, and developing data infrastructure. The Center has also been active in organizing research workshops and seminars. Furthermore, although we are not a training institute per se, many of the specially appointed scholars that we employ go on to take up influential positions in top-level universities, academic institutions, and prestigious companies.
The Center is also focused on the Network of Excellence (NOE) on Risk Sciences, a network of organizations and academic societies in various fields associated with risk science. This NOE promotes a wide range of research and serves as a hub for facilitating research exchanges. In addition, we have signed exchange agreements with universities and research institutions both domestically and internationally, fostering various academic collaborations such as joint research and co-hosting symposiums.
In the spirit of inter-university research, the Risk Analysis Research Center has always been open to people from across the realms of industry, government, and academia—a feature that has always energized our activities. In the same spirit, we are as committed as ever to the goal of producing fruitful and valuable research outcomes. We welcome your continued guidance and support in our work.
