The 11th Kyoto University-Inamori Foundation Joint Kyoto Prize Symposium (KUIP) took place 8 February at the JP Tower Hall & Conference in Tokyo. The symposium’s 305 attendees included high school students, researchers, and other members of the public.

This latest installment of the symposia series, which was inaugurated in 2014, was themed “Exploring the Deep Truths of Earthquakes”, and featured presentations by three researchers from Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo: NISHIMURA Takuya, professor and vice-director, Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University; KATO Aitaro, professor, Earthquake Research Institute, the University of Tokyo; and YAMADA Masumi, associate professor, DPRI, Kyoto University.

The presentations introduced a wide range of topics, beginning with basic knowledge about earthquakes, followed by an analysis of earthquakes using the latest measurement technologies, an explanation of “slow earthquakes” — a phenomenon in which faults at plate boundaries move slowly — and an introduction to the history and development of earthquake early warnings.

The speakers also participated in a panel discussion, facilitated by DPRI Professor NAKAKITA Eiichi, who also serves as the University’s deputy executive director for the Uji Campus and remote facilities. The session commenced with questions from the audience, and each researcher provided a unique perspective on the topics raised. The session concluded with a discussion on the challenges of earthquake prediction and how to prepare for future earthquakes.

Audience feedback included the following comments: “It was a great opportunity to hear about not only Japan’s efforts to prepare for earthquakes, but also to learn about the realities of earthquake prediction in a straightforward way,” and “It was a valuable experience to hear lectures directly from cutting-edge researchers. I was impressed by the lecturers’ ability to make difficult subjects easy to understand.”