[Ambitious Graduate Students] Aiming to protect the global environment—Conducting research to realize sustainable long-term care services—
Narumi Kira (2nd-year, Doctoral Program in Advanced Architectural, Environmental and Civil Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Engineering)
It all started with a photo of the Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia. Wanting to visit such an amazing place one day, I began researching the area and came to understand the reality—that pollution in the region was already advancing. “If these problems are left unaddressed, the very landscape that makes the area special could be lost. What could I do to help protect our beautiful planet?” Seeking answers to this question, Narumi Kira (2nd-year, Doctoral Program in Advanced Architectural, Environmental and Civil Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Engineering) chose environmental studies when she entered university.
Eventually, as she pursued further study and advanced to graduate school, she realized something. Only focusing on warming was not enough to solve the problem of global warming; you also need to consider other social issues at the same time. Kira, who chose Ritsumeikan University to pursue her doctoral studies, is currently engaged in research that focuses on the intersection of the environment and long-term care.
A desire to protect beautiful landscapes
“At first, it wasn’t anything as grand as wanting to save the environment. I simply thought I would like to go see beautiful landscapes,” Kira told us, explaining the starting point that has led to her current work.
She had dreamed of experiencing for herself the breathtaking panorama of Bolivia’s Uyuni Salt Flats, a destination so magnificent it is often called the “Mirror of the Sky.” Yet it would take time before she could earn her own living and afford to travel to South America. As she began researching the region, she learned about the worsening local conditions, including the unchecked environmental damage caused by tourists leaving behind trash. She wondered what kind of studies could truly help preserve this mysterious landscape, and after much reflection, she decided to enroll in the Faculty of Environmental Science at Nagasaki University.
“Among myriad environmental issues, my interest in solving global warming deepened further during my time volunteering in the disaster-stricken areas of the 2018 Western Japan floods in my second year of university. Having family and friends living near the affected area, I felt anxious and wondered if there was something I could do, which led me to join the volunteer effort. Witnessing firsthand the suffering of innocent people affected by the disaster, I became strongly determined to help solve the climate change problem—one of the causes behind the increase in extreme weather events—so that no one would ever have to endure such suffering again."
Just as Kira was about to begin working on her graduation thesis, the world was rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this, she chose ‘Analysis of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Household Consumption-Derived Supply Chain Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Their Equity’ as her thesis topic. She then advanced to the master's program at Nagasaki University, where she wrote her master's thesis in English while working to grasp the constantly changing circumstances of the pandemic. This work was also published in Resources, Conservation and Recycling, one of the top journals in the field of environmental science.
“As I was thinking about moving on to a doctoral program to further my research, I learned that my academic advisor, Associate Professor Yosuke Shigetomi, would be transferring from Nagasaki University to Ritsumeikan University. Since around the fall of my first year in the master’s program, I was already thinking that I wanted to earn my PhD under Professor Shigetomi’s supervision someday, so I struggled with what step to take next. If I were to go on to Ritsumeikan University, it would mean relocating to Shiga, and I had concerns about the financial aspects. However, as I looked into it, I discovered that Ritsumeikan University has a robust support system for its graduate students. With that financial support providing a crucial push, I decided to enroll in the Graduate School of Science and Engineering at Ritsumeikan University, where I would be able to continue my research under the tutelage of Professor Shigetomi.”
To prevent global warming, everyone needs to stay healthy
To solve environmental problems, other social issues must be addressed at the same time. Among these various social issues, Kira decided to focus on aging.
“Previous studies have examined the environmental burden imposed by overall medical demand, and they have shown that long-term care demand accounts for a certain share of that burden. However, I couldn’t find any research that dug into the specific structure of those impacts, so I thought I’ll just have to do this myself. Fortunately, aging is an urgent issue in Japan, and there is a wealth of data available, which made me think that long-term care would be a worthwhile focus.”
In her doctoral studies, Kira decided to explore ways to sustainably maintain long-term care services in an aging Japan, from environmental, social, and economic perspectives. As she pursues this research, she plans to take the following three angles into consideration.
“First, I will quantitatively clarify the greenhouse gas emissions currently generated across the entire domestic supply chain associated with long-term care services, after which I will make future projections. Based on that, I will identify the measures that should be taken on both the supply side and the demand side of long-term care in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Next, I will examine the relationship between the costs of promoting preventive care, which is aimed at preventing people from reaching a state where long-term care is required, and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions. By doing this, I hope to identify strategies for preventive care that can deliver co-benefits. Furthermore, I will focus on the widespread use of care robots, which the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has been promoting to improve on-site productivity and reduce the burden on workers. I will quantitatively assess their impact on greenhouse gas emissions across the supply chain as well as their effects on the workforce.”
Kira is working to chart a course for formulating policies that simultaneously address the aging populations and solve environmental issues. Her approach is rooted in “Planetary Health,” a concept she encountered while at Nagasaki University, which seeks to improve both the environment for the both planet and the people who inhabit it.
“To communicate my ideas, the message I came up with is ‘Stay healthy to prevent global warming.’ I believe that if we and the people close to us can all stay healthy, it could potentially lead to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions across the entire country*.”
Fighting lonely battles in two fields: environmental studies and long-term care
Until now, the environmental impact of medical activities has attracted relatively little attention compared with industries such as energy or manufacturing. In recent years, however, researchers have started to analyze environmental impact with a focus on specific diseases or surgical methods.
“That being said, when it comes to the environmental impact of long-term care, which is my focus, there is virtually no prior research I can draw on, so I am proceeding largely by trial and error. I am at the stage now where I am presenting my work at as many academic conferences as possible, gathering feedback from researchers in different fields, and refining my ideas through discussion.”
Kira’s research also draws on data beyond that provided by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, which is most directly involved in long-term care. One such source is the National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure published by the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, which is conducted to comprehensively capture the actual situation of household consumption, income, assets, and liabilities. She has also contacted local governments directly to request data from them.
“I contacted 61 municipalities directly by phone or email to ask for data. Of those, 15 municipalities provided data, allowing me to collect information that I could use for my statistical analysis. What I learned only after making these requests was the reality facing local governments. Because policy evaluation for preventive care had not been anticipated, most municipalities had not been collecting relevant data in the first place.”
In addition to collecting data, Kira has run into another difficulty in conducting her research— namely, that her research topic spans both the environmental studies and long-term care fields.
“When I talk to researchers in the field of public health who specialize in long-term care studies, they ask me very fundamental questions, such as what it actually means to talk about the environmental impact of long-term care, and they also ask about methodology, including how I calculate the environmental impact of long-term care across the supply chain. On the other hand, researchers in environmental studies ask me how feasible preventive care is in reality, despite the importance I claim it has. I take all of these as real-world concerns from the people on the ground in these respective fields, and I treat them as valuable input for my work.”
A desire to solve social issues by translating research into policy proposals
Kira’s goal goes beyond simply completing a doctoral dissertation. Through her publications, she aims, from an environmental perspective, to demonstrate to stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of preventive care policies the measures that should be adopted for long-term care prevention, or in other words, to provide concrete policy recommendations. To this end, she also participates in academic conferences in the field of public health, where she introduces her research to other scholars and seeks their advice.
“Because this is a topic for which it is difficult to draw on existing studies, I place great importance on opportunities to present my work externally, and I make a conscious effort to engage in discussion with as many people as possible. At the same time, I always keep in mind my ultimate goal: to make policy recommendations that can be put to use in actual policies.”
For Kira, who completed her undergraduate and master’s studies at another university before coming to Ritsumeikan University for her doctoral program, the Ritsumeikan Advanced Research Academy (RARA) Student Fellowship, Ritsumeikan’s unique researcher development support program for doctoral students, has afforded her with a great deal of support.
“I’m deeply grateful for the way the program supports my research life in so many ways, starting with financial assistance. For example, the RARA Colloquia provide opportunities to connect with students and researchers from a many other graduate schools, and they also serve as venues where I can learn what it means to be an early-career researcher. The RARA Commons is also a valuable space where I can practice how to explain my research in an accessible way to people who are not familiar with the topic.”
By making full use of Ritsumeikan University’s support systems, Kira continues to work toward her goal of “contributing to solutions for human health and climate change.” We look forward to the policy recommendations that are sure to emerge from her research.
Beyond the Lab
