On 23 June the Japan Science & Technology Agency announced that the proposal of the OCU Center of Education and Research for Disaster Management (CERD) for the establishment of a network of regional disaster management classes through a tie-up of public university disaster management centers was selected for its 2015 Science Communication program to solve problems by building networks.

The support program aims to bring institutes in a region together within a science communication network, so the joint knowledge of all stakeholders can be used to find solutions for social problems and answer the needs of society. Only 2 projects were selected out of 36 applications (from among 16 applications by universities and institutes of higher education only this 1 project was selected), so we are very proud that our proposal has been valued by the selection committee of external experts.