Toshiya Ueki is the Executive Vice President for General Affairs, Financial Affairs and International Relations of Tohoku University and is also a Professor at the Faculty and Graduate School of Law. Prof. Ueki served as the Dean of the Faculty and Graduate School of Law (2004-2006) and from 2006 he has been an Executive Vice President of Tohoku University.
He has authored or co-authored articles on international law and written many books on the subject. He has been recognized for his exceptional work in the fields of transnational /international law and for his studies on the theory of international law related to international organizations. For his outstanding academic achievements, he was awarded the 27th Adachi Mineichiro Memorial Award in 1994. From 1988 to 1990 he was a Visiting Fellow at the Research Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge, UK, and from 1996 to 1997 he was a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard-Yenching Institute at Harvard University, USA. Prof. Ueki is a member of a number of distinguished academic societies in Japan including the Japanese Society of International Law and the International Law Association, and from May 2020 he serves as the President of the Japanese Association of World Law.
As EVP of Tohoku University, Prof. Ueki strives to develop Tohoku University’s international　relationships, academic affairs, and its global network through active participation in international academic consortia and other cooperative activities.

Dr Christopher Tremewan was elected as APRU’s 4th Secretary General and took up the role from June 2011.
Before heading the APRU International Secretariat, he was the Vice-President/ Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) of the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social anthropology from the University of Auckland, a master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in political science (on Southeast Asian politics) from the University of Canterbury.
He was elected a senior associate member of St. Antony’s College, Oxford University, in September 1991 from where he published the book The Political Economy of Social Control in Singapore (Macmillan and St Martin’s Press, 1994, reprinted 1996). He was a visiting fellow at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 2003 and a visiting professor at Peking University in 2007 – 2008.
In 1995 he became the founding director of the New Zealand Asia Institute, which he led until 1999. Previously, he held positions as a senior consultant, executive secretary, and research director for international development organizations based in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo.
A specialist on social regulation in Southeast Asia, his research has recently focused on the internationalisation of higher education.

Talk Title:Medical and public health resilience

Shinichi Egawa M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.S. Dr Egawa has served as Professor, Division of International Cooperation for Disaster Medicine, IRIDeS, Tohoku University, since 2012, after experiencing 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake during his career as Associate Professor of Surgery, Tohoku University. He has contributed to domestic and international disaster medicine through his research and other activities. He has 205 English publications, and provided 89 international lectures. He was a Visiting Research Fellow at University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, and Staff Scientist at National Cancer Center Research Institute. He obtained his MD and PhD at Tohoku
University.
He was the 2017 Publons Top Reviewer for Tohoku University, won the 2016 Best Poster Award 13th Asia Pacific Conference for Disaster Medicine, recognized as one of the 2010 Best Doctors in Japan, won the 2009 Educational Award at Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine.
Finally, he is a member of the following organizations: World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine, Japanese Association for Disaster Medicine, Society of Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Japanese Society of Public Health, American College of Surgeons, International Association for Pancreatology: Japan Surgical Society, and Japan Pancreas Society.

Talk Title:People and Disaster: Approaches from cultural and social sciences

Sébastien P. Boret is an anthropologist and associate professor at the International Research Institute of Disaster Science at Tohoku University in Japan. He also hold a post at the Graduate School of Environmental Science and the Center for East Asian Studies (CNEAS). He holds a PhD in Anthropology from Oxford Brookes University and an MPhil from the University of Oxford. His research areas include disaster, death, grief, public health, disaster and the environment in Japan, Indonesia, and France. Sébastien is the author of “Japanese Tree Burial: Ecology, Kinship and the Culture of Death”; and editor of “Death in the Early Twenty-first Century: Authority, Innovation and Mortuary Rites.”
His current research (2019-22) investigates the management of mass death and public health in post-disaster communities. He examines the policy and practices of burials and funerals during the 3.11 Disaster in Japan, the 2004 Tsunami in Aceh, and the 2003 Heatwave in Europe. His aim is to find ways of handling the dead and their victims that improve social welfare, public health and the overall recovery of disaster communities. This research is supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and in collaboration with the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France and Syiah Kuala University in Indonesia. For more information: https://researchmap.jp/7000012579?lang=en

Talk Title: Urban Disaster Risk Reduction: Japan as a disaster-prone country and learning from past disasters

Dr. Osamu Murao is a professor at the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS) at Tohoku University, and the founder of the International Strategy for Disaster Mitigation Laboratory (ISDM). Together with collaborating organizations from many countries and with broad areas of specializations, the IRIDeS conducts world-leading research on natural disaster science and disaster mitigation. In order to be in charge of ISDM in Regional and Urban Reconstruction Research Division, Dr. Murao was transferred to IRIDeS from Faculty of Engineering, Information and Systems at the University of Tsukuba in April 2013. His current researches focus on post-disaster recovery process and urban design, and the relationship between physical environment (architecture and urban design) and disaster. To date, with research grants by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, and other organizations, he has investigated the post-disaster recovery process for damaged areas in Taiwan, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Peru, Philippines, and World Trade Center in New York, as well as the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Dr. Fumihiko Imamura is the director of the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University, Japan and prof. of Tsunami Engineering. After serving as an assistant professor at the Graduate School of Engineering, he was Assoc. Prof. at Disaster Control Research Center in 2014. He specializes in tsunami engineering and natural disaster science, and has been conducting numerous studies/researches on the development of tsunami warning systems and disaster mitigation measures in the Pacific, aiming to reduce tsunami damage. Representative of TIME Tsunami Numerical Technology Transfer International Project TIME. Members of the Central Disaster Prevention Council Special Investigation Committee, the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake Reconstruction Initiative Conference Review Committee, etc. Representative Director of the Promotion Organization of the 3.11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Major awards include NHK Broadcasting Culture Award (2014), Commendation by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Science and Technology Promotion Division, 2015), Prime Minister Commendation for Disaster Management Merit (2016)

Christina Schönleber, Senior Director (Policy & Programs) at the Association of Pacific Rim Universities has extensive expertise in translating research to impact. She holds responsibilities for developing and growing APRU’s strategic policy impact to address pressing regional challenges through the Association’s key program areas working closely with leading scientists and policy makers in the Asia Pacific.
Christina joined APRU from the innovation and enterprise leadership of the Royal College of Art and the University of Kent. As Head of Knowledge Exchange at the RCA in London she set up and implementing the Colleges strategic capabilities in applying latest knowledge and expertise to solve societal, environmental an economic issues. She led the development and submission of the RCA’s first major Innovate UK application gaining funding for multi stakeholder/ multi year collaboration on driverless vehicles and set up new strategic partnerships with major international corporations such as Huawei and Tata Consultancy Services.
At the University of Kent, Christina led the University’s strategic enterprise development in key areas of science and social science. In this role, she set up the Universities first student start up and enterprise schemes, forged new cross disciplinary research collaborations with key partners in the security and information sectors and developed lasting strategic partnerships with Government and industry. Following this she worked as a business development consultant in Hong Kong, developing Sino-German business links.

Talk Title: Towards the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction

Dr. Takako Izumi is an associate professor at the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University, Japan since 2013. She also serves as Program Director of the Multi Hazards Program under the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), which comprises 55 universities and academic institutes in the Pacific Rim. Her research interests include international and regional frameworks/strategies for disaster risk reduction (DRR), international humanitarian assistance, and DRR initiatives at the local and community levels.
Prior to joining academia, she has more than 15-year experience as a practitioner in humanitarian assistance, disaster response, recovery, risk reduction as well as various development issues with an international NGO and UN agencies such as UN Habitat, UN Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), UN Office for the Recovery Coordinator for Aceh and Nias (UNORC), and UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (Current UNDRR).
She has been appointed as a member of the UNDRR’s Asia-Pacific Science Technology and Academia Advisory Group (ASTAAG) since May 2015. She holds Ph.D. in Global Environmental Study from Kyoto University, Japan.

Talk Title: Emerging trends and the role of CSOs/NGOs in disaster risk reduction

Mr. Takeshi Komino is the General Secretary of CWS Japan, and Co-chairperson of Japan Platform. Also serves as Secretary General and a member of Executive Committee for Asian Disaster Reduction and Response Network (ADRRN), joint secretariat of Japan CSO Coalition for DRR (JCC-DRR), and the chairperson of Japan Quality and Accountability Network (JQAN). He graduated from Doshisha University, and holds Development Studies M.A. from Brandeis
University.

Talk Title: Japanese experience and assistance in flood risk management

Dr Mikio Ishiwatari is Senior Advisor on Disaster Management and Water Resources Management at Japan International Cooperation Agency, and Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo. He has been engaged in projects and research works of disaster risk reduction (DRR), climate change adaptation, and water. He led the formulation of the Japanese assistance policies of climate change adaptation and community-based disaster management.
He worked at the World Bank as Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist, and produced the “Learning from Megadisaster: Lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake”. He worked at various positions at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, Japan for 17 years. He formulated and supervised national projects of flood risk management and highways in Iwami District as Director of Hamada River and Road Office, and was responsible for research and technology development as Senior Deputy Director for River Technology and Information. He worked as Urban Development Specialist at the Asian
Development Bank.
He was a member of “Committee on Building Resilience to Natural Disasters” of the Japan Science Society; and experienced members of “Advisory Council of Development Assistance in Climate Change Adaptation” of Ministry of Land Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan, “Steering Committee of Water and Climate Change of Asia-Pacific Water Forum”, and other committees of government organizations. He holds a Ph.D. in international studies and MSc in Urban Engineering from the University of Tokyo.

Talk Title: Forecasting and Nowcasting Earthquakes and Tsunamis: Anticipating great natural disasters using machine learning

John Rundle is a Distinguished Professor of Physics and Earth & Planetary Science, University of California, Davis, an Executive Director Emeritus of the APEC Cooperation for Earthquake Simulations (ACES), and a Visiting Professor at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan
John was a Member (1990 – 1997) and Chair (1994-1996) of the scientific Advisory Council to the Southern California Earthquake Center. He is currently an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society (2005), the American Geophysical Union (2008), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2017). Recently, he was a co-winner of the NASA Software of the Year Award (2012).
John received his B.S.E from Princeton University (Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi), and M.S. (1973) and Ph.D. (1976) from the University of California at Los Angeles. In addition to natural hazards and earthquakes, he also has professional interests in forecasting, validation of forecasts, and quantitative finance. He teaches courses in Risk and Natural Disasters; Complex Systems; and Econophysics and Quantitative Finance at the University of California, Davis.

Talk Title: Reenacting a National Legislation for Buildings: Another look at multi-hazards resilience in a new normal

Dr. Benito M. Pacheco is Professor at the Institute of Civil Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman in Quezon City, Philippines. He is also Academician member of the National Academy of Science and Technology (Philippines). Among his recent engagements through the University are national projects to review and replace the Philippine legislation that regulates building design and construction throughout the country, and to update a national framework of prioritization of multi-hazards retrofit of school buildings.

Talk Title: Global impacts of disasters and climate change and recent Advances in Disaster Risk Reduction Science and Policy

Dr. Riyanti Djalante has over ten years of scientific research and international professional experiences, in the field of development, governance, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, resilience and vulnerability. Her international work experiences encompass: Indonesia, South East Asia, Australia, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands.
Dr Djalante is the Academic Programme Officer at United Nations University -Institute for the Advanced Study for Sustainability (UNU-IAS), coordinating Research and Policy Development stream on Global Change and Resilience between 2017-2020. Dr Djalante supports policy relevant actions for the Sustainable Development Goals, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. She has worked closely with UNDRR, UNESCAP, UNEP and UN-HABITAT. Her current appointments include a member of the Scientific Committee of the IRDR, fellow of the Earth System Governance Network, Social Science Fellow of the International Council for Science. She is the editor of the Journal of Sustainability Science and Progress in Disaster Science Journal. Previously, she worked as a Research Associate at the UNU Institute of Environment and Human Security in Germany.
Dr Djalante, in addition, worked for the local government in Indonesia cumulatively for ten years, involved in development planning and implementations. She consulted for internationally-funded projects on issues related to governance, DRR and CCA in Indonesia/South East Asia.
She is contactable to [email protected] and her profile is https://unu.edu/experts/riyanti-djalante.html#profile