Professor Kyoko Kataoka Receives the 2026 JAQUA Academic Award
お知らせ
Professor Kyoko Kataoka of the Research Institute for Natural Hazards and Disaster Recovery, Niigata University, has received the 2026 Academic Award from the Japan Association for Quaternary Research (JAQUA).
The award recognizes her research entitled “Studies on widespread resedimentation of volcaniclastic materials, and their applications for geomorphology, paleohydrology, and disaster science.”
The JAQUA Academic Award is presented to members who have made outstanding scholarly contributions to Quaternary science, a field of research focusing on the most recent approximately 2.6 million years of Earth’s history. The award ceremony was held on August 21, 2026, during the 2026 Annual Meeting and 70th Anniversary Meeting of JAQUA at the Tsukuba Center of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).
Based on extensive fieldwork, Professor Kataoka has studied how volcaniclastic materials (volcanic sediments) are transported and deposited through river systems in areas far from their source volcanoes, as well as how their impacts can continue long after an eruption. She has also identified the factors controlling their processes and distribution, thereby establishing a new research framework known as “volcanic sedimentology.”
Furthermore, she has quantitatively reconstructed past outburst floods from caldera lakes and volcanically-dammed lakes in volcanic regions. Her research on lahars (volcanic mudflows) following the 2014 eruption of Mount Ontake demonstrated that, at seasonally snow-covered volcanoes, the characteristics of volcanic mudflows vary depending on the season in which they occur. This work introduced a new perspective on hazards by volcano and snow interactions.
These achievements were highly recognized for their significant contribution to the advancement of Quaternary science, leading to this award.
Comment from Professor Kataoka:
I am deeply honored to receive the JAQUA Academic Award. My research has focused on how volcanic sediments produced by eruptions are subsequently transported and deposited via hydrological processes, and how these processes affect landscapes, environments, and human activities, as well as how they can generate natural hazards. This award reflects the generous support of collaborators in Japan and overseas with whom I have conducted research over many years. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of them. I will continue my efforts to interpret past hazardous events preserved in the geological record, deepen our understanding of post-eruptive cascading hazards, and contribute to reducing the associated disaster risks.
I will continue my efforts to interpret the past hazardous phenomena preserved in geological records and to contribute to a better understanding of post-eruptive “cascading” hazards and their disaster risk reduction.
At the award ceremony
Professor Kataoka (left) with JAQUA President Prof. Kitamura (right)
Website of the Japan Association for Quaternary Research
The JAQUA newsletter containing the award citation (in Japanese)