Professor Philip Thomas of the University of Bristol has been awarded a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) International Fellowship.
The JSPS provides fellowship programmes for overseas researchers who have an excellent record of research achievements to conduct collaborative research, discussions, and opinion exchanges with researchers in Japan. The programmes are intended to help advance the overseas researchers' research activities while promoting science and internationalisation in Japan.
Professor Thomas is a Professor of Risk Management in the Faculty of Engineering. He previously held a Chair in Engineering Development at City University, London. He has published over 100 articles on control, instrumentation, nuclear decommissioning, risk assessment and economics.
His work in risk analysis and management, and particularly the J Value project, have attracted both strong research and mass media interest; his findings have been covered by the national and international press.
The results from the J-Value project support research conducted at Fukushima Medical University (FMU) and at Hiroshima University, which has demonstrated that relocation deprived the inhabitants of nursing homes in Fukushima Prefecture of months or years of expected life. Therefore, Professor Thomas will work with Professor Masaharu Tsubokura and Dr Michio Murakami at FMU as well as Professor Hiroshi Yasuda of Hiroshima University on applying this research to Japanese society and improving public health policy.
It is also expected that a Japanese researcher will undertake a period of research at the University of Bristol, in the Safety Systems Research Centre.
Upon receiving this award, Professor Thomas said: "I am delighted to receive this prestigious award from Japan. It will allow me to travel there to work with colleagues at Fukushima Medical University and the University of Hiroshima on the best way of mitigating the effects of the Fukushima Daiichi accident from this point onwards."
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) is Japan’s leading funding agency and is largely funded through annual subsidies from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Established in 1932, JSPS promotes the advancement of academic research in all disciplines from social sciences and humanities to natural sciences and engineering.
Additionally, JSPS administers a number of bilateral and multilateral programmes for scientific cooperation and exchange under memorandums of understanding concluded with its various counterpart foreign academic institutions around the world.