May 27, 2022
Ms. Mayumi Oka, a Project Associate Professor at The Institute of Statistical Mathematics and an alumna of this graduate school's Course for Health Care Management, has been awarded the 2021 Kimura Prize by The Transdisciplinary Federation of Science and Technology (Trafst). The Kimura Prize recognizes particularly outstanding research presented at the Trafst Conference. This year, the prize was awarded for the paper "A Quantitative/Qualitative Mixed Approach to Understanding Changes in Daily Life Due to the Spread of COVID-19 and Contributing to Countermeasures" (co-authored by Mayumi Oka, Hiroe Tsubaki, and Keita Yamauchi), and was presented to Ms. Oka at the federation's regular general meeting on May 26.
Trafst is an academic organization comprising 34 academic societies and associations that aims to contribute to solving new social issues and creating social value through collaboration and integration across specialized academic fields. This award is also a great honor for our graduate school, which has long emphasized analytical methods and interdisciplinarity.
Ms. Oka has gained a wide readership for her book "Ikigokochi no Yoi Machi—Kono Jisatsuritsu no Hikusa ni wa Wake ga Aru" (A Town with a Comfort of Living: There Is a Reason for This Low Suicide Rate) (Kodansha), which is based on her dissertation research. In February of this year, she was also awarded the Sinfonica Statistical GIS Activity Promotion Award by the Statistical Information Institute for Consulting and Analysis (Sinfonica) for her work on "Development of Geographical Characteristic Indicators Using GIS, and Understanding and Exploring Factors of Regional Disparities in Physical and Mental Health."