The late Professor Osamu Hiroi, who passed away in April 2006, has consistently engaged in disaster research from the standpoint of social psychology and information behavior theory, while the University of Tokyo's Newspaper Research Institute, the Social Information Research Institute, and the Information Science Network were reorganized. He was also active in national councils and the mass media as an authority on disaster information research in our country. During his life, Professor Hiroi strongly emphasized the need for comprehensive disaster prevention research, and he had the idea of establishing a center within the University of Tokyo that would integrate the arts and sciences.
The Comprehensive Disaster Prevention Information Research Center carries out its research activities while inheriting its achievements based on the wishes of the deceased.
In addition, the Center will be equipped with the "Hiroi Library" which is a collection of the vast amounts of documents, materials, and data that the late Professor Hiroi has left behind, with the aim of making the best use of those materials.