Research Center for Social Transformation

Japanese

About the Research Center for Social Transformation

The Research Center for Social Transformation promotes initiatives that connect the research results to social implementation in order to solve problems at the global and local levels in line with the needs of local communities.
In diverse fields where the seeds of research possessed by Saitama University match the needs of local communities with regard to the issues they face, the Center will undertake research and development from basic to application and fuses and develops the research results, while aiming to create a virtuous cycle of innovation to produce new seeds of research. As the only national university in Saitama Prefecture, we will work with local communities on the resolution of issues we are facing and utilize the research results in society to contribute revitalization of local industry.

News

March 5, 2025

A special lecture Report: “Extreme Precipitation and Flooding under Climate Change in the Bagmati River, Kathmandu, Nepal”
February 3, 2025

Seminar Report: “Memories of the 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Accident: Lessons from 3.11”
December 12, 2024

Department of Resilient Society 【Seminar Report】Disaster Risk Prevention and Preparedness Workshop
December 11, 2024

Department of Resilient Society 【Seminar Report】101 Years Since the Great Kanto Earthquake: Reading Records of Women Who Took Action to Support Servivers
December 11, 2024

Department of Resilient Society 【Seminar Report 】Six Months After the Noto Peninsula Earthquake: The Current Situation in the Disaster Area – A Report from a Gender Perspective
January 13, 2023

Kickoff Symposium on the "Decarbonization Leading Area" held
January 1, 2023

Research Center for Social Transformation officially established

Greetings

Saitama University has three basic policies: to fulfill a universal role as a seat of knowledge, to strive to solve the challenges facing contemporary society, and to contribute to the global community. Based on these policies, the mid-term goals and mid-term plan for Saitama University’s 4th period (2022-2027) set out the target of undertaking research and development for the practical use of scientific theory and fundamental knowledge gained through research, producing innovation to bring about societal transformation in order to solve social issues on a local and global scale and contributing to the creation of a better society.
Along with this, one of the visions under the Saitama University Action Plan 2022-2027, which sets out the initiatives for strategic and priority implementation, is Vision 2: establishment of a base for co-creation to enhance research and solve societal issues. In line with this vision, we contribute to local development by actively working to resolve global issues and the issues faced by various stakeholders in local communities.
Given this mission, Saitama University established the Research Center for Social Transformation within the Research and Development Bureau in January 2023 and launched the Department of Decarbonization and the Department of Regional Co-creation. The Department of Decarbonization works to achieve carbon neutrality in the local area, while the Department of Regional Co-creation works to create a community where the elderly can lead active lives amidst aging of the population and a declining birthrate. Both departments promote the amalgamation and development of promising research at the University in line with the needs of the local community and are working on initiatives to put the results of that research into practical use in society.
In April 2024, we established the Department of Resilient Society to conduct research on disaster prevention in order to create a society capable of responding to disasters in cooperation with local governments and businesses through a digital transformation (DX, or extensive use of digital technologies). The Center will continue to contribute to the local community by responding to social issues and collaborating with the community to create innovation. We look forward to your support and cooperation.

April 1, 2025

Akihiko Ishii

Director,
Research Center for Social Transformation
Research and Development Bureau
Saitama University

Departments

Department of Decarbonization

Department of Decarbonization has two groups: the Decarbonization Leading Area Promotion Group and the Decarbonization Technology Research and Development Group. The Decarbonization Leading Area Promotion Group will undertake initiatives pertaining to the Saitama Public-Private-Academia Green Co-creation Model which was proposed by Saitama University, the Shibaura Institute of Technology, and TEPCO Power Grid, Inc. Saitama General Branch and selected as the model for one of the 26 nationwide Decarbonization Leading Areas (Saitama City) by the Ministry of the Environment in April 2022, while the Decarbonization Technology Research and Development Group will undertake innovative research related to decarbonization.

faculty list

Department of Regional Co-creation

Department of Regional Co-creation has two groups: the Regional Co-creation Research Base Promotion Group and the Research and Development Group. The Regional Co-creation Research Base Promotion Group will work alongside local government, universities, industry, and other parties on the building of a venue for co-creation with the local community under the vision of creating a place where everyone in a super-aging society can enjoy good health and a good quality of life, while the Research and Development Group will work under a strong alliance with industry on innovative research activities to address local issues with the goal of achieving this vision.

faculty list

Department of Resilient Society

The Department of Resilient Society is dedicated to addressing societal vulnerabilities to major disaster risks, such as increasingly frequent and severe rainfall disasters and earthquake disasters like the Great East Japan Earthquake, by reducing hazards through a combination of infrastructure enhancements/reinforcement and soft measures such as disaster risk communication.
With the mission of building a truly resilient society, the department aims to collaborate with local governments and businesses to achieve a society capable of disaster response through advanced utilization of digital transformation (DX) by integrating and advancing various fields of disaster prevention, including seismic engineering, river engineering, slope disaster prevention, transportation engineering, infrastructure maintenance, geographic information systems, predictive simulations, and considerations of gender and diversity perspectives.

faculty list