Overview of the research
Professor Kaoru Takara has been interested in physically-based stochastic hydrological analysis, using state-space modeling of river basins with advanced technologies such as the Kalman filter, rain radar, satellite remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS) and computer intensive statistics. Modeling and forecasting of heavy rainfalls, floods and landslides are key to prevent and reduce the disaster risks in river basins. His current interests include: probable maximum precipitation (PMP), probable maximum flood (PMF), frequency analysis of meteorological and hydrological extremes with parametric and non-parametric methods, downscaling of global climate model (GCM) outputs for applications at basin scale. He has been contributing to international cooperation research activities through UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (IHP), Asia Pacific Association of hydrology and Water Resources (APHW), International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), International Water Resources Association (IWRA), and International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), as well as Associate Editor of the International Journal of Flood Risk Management. In the Graduate School of Engineering (as a professor during 1998.11-2018.03), Kyoto University, he has produced 48 doctors including international students: Brazil (2), China (5), Croatia (2), India (2), Indonesia (4), Japan (13), R. Korea (3), Lao PDR (1), Malaysia (4), Nepal (4), The Philippines (1), Taiwan (2), Tanzania (1), and Vietnam (4). Professor Takara has been appointed as the Dean of Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability (GSAIS, so-called SHISHU-KAN) since April 2017; he also moved to SHISHU-KAN as a professor. He also established a UNESCO Chair on Water, Energy and Disaster Management (WENDI), which is the first UNESCO Chair for Kyoto University.