Lost in Uppsala (not in direction, hopefully not in research)

Hej! This is Budz again.

I've spent the last two weeks getting lost at Uppsala University, not literally lost (thanks, Google Maps!) but lost in its incredible history and atmosphere. I want to express my huge thanks to the Musha Shugyo Program of the School of Engineering, UTokyo, for this incredible opportunity, and of course, to Prof. Giuliano Di Baldassarre for his hospitality and guidance.

 

 Two seasons within two weeks? Feb 25 vs. Mar 5

My short stay in Uppsala provided a vital external lens for my PhD research. The feedback from Prof. Di Baldassarre and LUVS has been instrumental in refining my direction. Moving forward, we have identified two key research gaps to tackle: (1) challenging the homogeneity assumption in current socio-hydrologic models by integrating survey data to capture the diverse flood impacts and recovery patterns, (2) conducting sensitivity analysis on various economic loss models within flood risk monetary estimation. I'm still in awe of how most researchers I met here share a genuine curiosity for connecting scientific findings to the community, whether through socio-economic improvement or policy recommendations.

While my primary mission was gaining feedback on my research, I've been using my breaks to get lost with the history of this country. Founded in 1477, Uppsala is the oldest university in Scandinavia, the home of legends like Anders Celsius and Carl Linnaeus. I'm amazed by how they have preserved the past, from the ancient architecture to the vast library collections. I visited the Uppsala Domkyrka, the largest cathedral in Scandinavia, and the Botaniska trädgården , where it was impressive to see tropical plants thriving even in the Swedish climate!

Since Stockholm is only a 40-minute train ride away, I even managed to sneak in on a sunny Sunday exploring Gamla Stan and the Vasa Museum.

Everything here feels brand new to me, and I've tried my best to capture every moment. Since I can't upload everything (as much as I'd like to 😂 HAHA), I've put together a one-minute reel of my Uppsala and Stockholm solo adventures. Please be kind just tried it today✌️LOL

I hope you enjoy it, and I promise to share more in my next blog! Perhaps about the Fika culture and the conference that coincidentally took place in Uppsala during my stay!

HyDEPP-SATREPS Colloquium 2026

Kumusta? This is Budz again!

Last February, I joined Kawasaki Sensei at the SEARCA Headquarters in the Philippines for the HyDEPP-SATREPS Colloquium 2026. The event, a collaboration between the University of Tokyo and the University of the Philippines Los Baños, focused on presenting various research related to its theme: “When Water Strikes: Building Climate-Resilient Communities Through Hybrid Water Disaster Risk Assessment Technologies.”

During the plenary sessions, Kawasaki Sensei shared insights from the lab's localized assessment initiatives to better understand the relationship between flooding and poverty in Southeast Asian countries. I also had the chance to share a chapter of my PhD research on the development of flood resilience curves and was honored (and lucky) to be named one of the best presenters among the student participants.

Supported by JICA and JST, the colloquium emphasized turning scientific data into actionable, sustainable policy. I'm grateful for this opportunity to share our work and contribute to this initiative!

Field survey from my perspective Part 2 ~Accra~

Hi this is Risako, M1 in Kawasaki Lab. This is part 2 of my trip blog!

Day 5

Drive to Accra. It was actually the 1st of January, and the prof. Kawasaki and my friend Eyad went to see the sunrise from Gulf of Guinea!! I missed it bc I was sooo sleepy ;;) Maybe next time :)

At night we had a new year feast at a nice Japanese restaurant. And we got special new year present from the hotel!

Day 6

First survey day in Accra. We had another meeting with enumerators for Accra. There were less questions asked than in Keta so I was a bit worried.

Day 7 

Survey day! The field was more crowded than in Keta and less breeze so I made sure that everyone including myself was hydrated and had some rest in the middle. 

This time, we had a bit more flexible system to support enumerators. We, university staffs, split up and followed different enumerators so that we can support every one of them as soon as possible. That's significant growth, even in such a short period. 

Day 8

Sunday was off! I slept like mud X0 

We had an excellent dinner in an Italian restaurant Tomato.

Day 9

Second survey day! I don't remember much, but we were walking all over the area wandering in houses structured like a maze. 

Day 10

Last survey day!! I felt I was getting a little tired and couldn't be active till the end of the day. I was very thankful that other staff members worked a lot when I couldn't.

For dinner, we celebrated the success of the field survey in a restaurant with live music! We danced to Ghanaian traditional songs:)

Trip finished! I really appreciate everyone who supported this survey, namely, JST and JICA for funding, JICA officer Takano san for the arrangement, Ghanaian profs and students for the arrangement and support, my fellow enumerators for working hard under the harsh weather and being patient with the long questionnaire, prof. Kawasaki for giving all kinds of advice and support, and finally Eyad for being my best teammate. Yet, the research has not finished; we are expecting another survey in May, so let's keep up!!

Field survey from my perspective Part 1 ~Keta~

Hi, this is Risako again! we had an opportunity to visit Ghana again to conduct household survey. This is my first time doing this kind of survey in anywhere in the world so I was very much excited.

Day 1 

Arriving at airport. So relieved that we did not get our luggage lost this time. I was so worried about this actually.

One step out of a car, I felt like I had head attack because the temperature was around 30 degrees celsius whereas in Japan it was around 10 at that time. 

Day 2

I had a nice breakfast with the most stunning weather and nature around!

breakfast

We had meeting with enumerators and explained our research, questionnaire, schedule purposes and so on. They kindly asked many questions and suggested improvements which helped us a lot to make the questionnaire more fit to the field.

Then we went to the field that is damaged by coastal disasters and had trial runs.

Day 3

This was the hottest day for this trip. Sun was very strong but the sea breeze helped a bit.

I was with each enumerator seeing how they are doing with questionnaire if there is any problem or not. Turned out that the questions were too many to reach the sample size we aimed. Therefore, we had a long meeting and made a big revision for the questionnaire.

Day 4

This is the last survey day in Keta. I was able to talk and come with almost all the enumerators!

Thank you so much for your support.