US-Japan Workshop on Needs, Priorities and Partnerships to Advance Human-Centered Data for Resilience

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Despite significant technological advances in modeling and simulating natural hazard impacts on society, disaster resilience is, at its heart, a matter of human resilience. Thus, while engineers and social scientists have each made important strides in their respective fields, reducing the impacts of disasters on communities will ultimately require that researchers begin working across disciplines, not only within nations but across nations. Noting in particular the considerable investments made by the US and Japan to study and ultimately mitigate the impact of disasters in their respective countries, an important first step in fostering such cross-disciplinary and cross-national collaborations in disaster research can be achieved by bringing together the research communities cultivated by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and US National Science Foundation (NSF). In response, the US-Japan Workshop on Needs, Priorities and Partnerships to Advance Human-Centered Data for Resilience will virtually convene these communities over multiple days with the primary goal of identifying opportunities where US-Japan collaborations can uniquely advance a more human-centered approach to research on disaster resilience. A series of one-page briefings will be developed based on workshop learnings (published in English and Japanese) to offer a concise roadmap for possible future joint JST and NSF research opportunities. Ultimately, this roadmap and the interactions between participants will drive new lines of research and collaboration intended to reduce the risk of future disasters in both the US and Japan.This interdisciplinary workshop is intentionally designed to incubate future US-Japanese collaborations by exploring important questions such as: (1) How can the human dimensions of disaster impacts be more accurately captured and represented in the analysis, modeling and simulation of disasters?, (2) What type of data and supporting research infrastructure would be necessary to enable novel, transdisciplinary approaches to answering these and other human-centered disaster questions?, and (3) In what ways can US-Japan collaborations advance these questions in new and important ways? The online activities strategically blend asynchronous and synchronous convening mechanisms to navigate time zone differences, accommodating different communication/problem solving styles and levels of language proficiency by providing multiple mechanisms to engage during real-time discussions. The hybrid model further uses Position Papers, submitted in advance, to pre-populate workshop discussions and offer those who come forward with bold ideas a larger platform for sharing their ideas through plenary-style Lightning Talks and Rapid Panels. The workshop’s live sessions will use interactive Miro boards in breakout room discussions to systematically establish the important link between compelling research questions/opportunities and underlying research infrastructure/data needs, subsequently mapping strengths, assets and opportunities for novel US-Japanese partnerships in response to these needs. The hybrid approach of preparatory asynchronous activities and well-structured synchronous activities increases the likelihood of discovering concrete recommendations for future collaborative efforts between the two countries.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.