On November 19, 2023, the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) announced that College of Science and Engineering Associate Professor Tomoko Hasegawa had won the Brilliant Female Researchers Award (Jun Ashida Award), and she was present for the award ceremony held at the Telecom Center Building (Odaiba, Tokyo) on the same day.

In Japan, the percentage of female researchers is low, as is the participation of women in research and development. In response, JST established the Brilliant Female Researchers Award (Jun Ashida Award) in 2019 to recognize female researchers who are conducting excellent research and other activities that contribute to a sustainable society and future and to recognize institutions that promote the activities of female researchers.

At the award ceremony, Selection Committee Chair Keiko Torii announced and commented on the winners, who were then presented with award certificates and medals from JST. Afterwards, a talk entitled "This is the that future awaits us—The everyday life of a female researcher" was held with Dr. Kaoru Ota (Professor, Muroran Institute of Technology), the winner of the JST President's Award, and two high school students enrolled in Super Science High Schools (SSH).

Reason for the Award

Associate Professor Hasegawa has achieved remarkable results with her original simulation models and creative analyses of the impact of climate change on policy making and food issues in the agriculture and land use sectors around the world. In particular, she has gained worldwide recognition for her research pointing out the possible negative impact of future reductions in greenhouse gas emissions on food consumption and the potential risk of hunger. Furthermore, having served as the lead author of Working Group III’s contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), she is also a leading researcher in her field who is active in the global arena. Aside from her research, she contributes to development of talented individuals in her lab who aim to become international leaders.

Comment from Associate Professor Hasegawa

I am deeply honored to have won this amazing award. I am extremely grateful for the supervisors who have guided me, the colleagues who I am conducting joint research with, the other members in my research lab, and the staff who provide support for my research.

Profile

Tomoko Hasegawa, Associate Professor, College of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University
Areas of expertise: Environmental systems engineering, environmental engineering
March 2011: Earned her Doctor of Engineering from the Graduate School of Engineering at Kyoto University
2011-: Served as a Research Fellow for the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, followed by a stint as a Program Specified Researcher at NIES.
2016-: Guest Researcher, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (Austria)
April 2019-present: Associate Professor, College of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University
2019-2023: Lead author, Working Group III, IPCC Sixth Assessment Report

Overview of Achievements

Associate Professor Hasegawa specializes in the evaluation of climate change countermeasures and the development of simulation models to elucidate the interactions between climate change mitigation measures and food security, and to solve both problems simultaneously. She played a central role in the preparation of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report as the lead author for Working Group III. Her work has been gaining attention both in Japan and abroad. In 2022, she was selected as a Highly Cited Researcher (top 1% of authors) by Clarivate Analytics for the fourth year in a row, and she received the Young Scientists’ Prize of the Commendations for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Science and Technology Field).

Issues that Associate Professor Hasegawa wants to solve and her research to that end

The simultaneous achievement of global goals related to biodiversity and climate change is an important challenge for the international community, but it also poses difficulties in that countermeasures for both of these issues compete for land. Therefore, focusing on land use, Associate Professor Hasegawa aims to elucidate the interaction between biodiversity conservation measures and climate change mitigation measures and propose simultaneous solutions to both problems. In terms of methodology, she uses simulation models from multiple disciplines in conjunction with each other. By dealing with natural scientific phenomena and socioeconomic events in an integrated manner, she is working to present a vision of the future that is consistent with both society and the environment, namely, one that simultaneously addresses biodiversity loss and climate change while meeting the food and energy needs of the world's 10 billion people.