Today, we live in a society that is culturally, socio-economically, and technologically more advanced than ever. In such a complex society, we are exposed to various risks such as natural disasters, unexpected accidents, infectious diseases, food contamination, cyberterrorism, among others. In order to avoid and deter such risks and maintain a sense of safety, we need to formulate the right systems and measures and implement them at the right time and in the right way. In order to cope with natural disasters, accidents, and other hazards derived from human socio-economic activities, we need to establish a new type of safety research from an interdisciplinary perspective and nurture researchers and leaders with a broader viewpoint, so that they can contribute to the creation of a safe and secure society in a practical way.

　Kansai University opened the Graduate School of Societal Safety Sciences (GSS) Master Course at its MUSE Campus in Takatsuki city, Osaka pref., in April, 2010. The aim of the establishment is to accumulate “safety knowledge and wisdom” and systematize them into a new realm of studies. We are committed to fostering researchers and experts who are equipped with advanced knowledge and skills that enable them to make and implement proposals and measures for disaster risk reduction, to develop technologies to facilitate a consensus-building process during emergencies, and to simulate emergency and design resilient systems and such. In the past several decades, some methods have been developed through research done in the field of prevention and mitigation of natural disasters, and these methods serve as the main pillar of the education at the GSS. However, to deal with other safety-related issues like man-made disasters, food safety, health risks, environmental hazards, and the like, we need to go further and put these issues into perspective from the viewpoints of corporate ethics, CSR, management, law, labor policies, and maybe even the meaning of life and the joys of working. In other words, nowadays, things cannot be solved with the limited scope of one specific discipline. This is why we set up the GSS to tackle such problems head-on through an interdisciplinary and multi-faceted approach; going beyond the borders of any established discipline – law, political science, economics and management, social studies, psychology, science, information technology, engineering, social medicine, etc. By doing so, priority is given to the realization of a “safe and secure society” and the commitment to elevate our research to an even higher level.