Professors Ryo Akama and Satoshi Tanaka participated in and presented at the Sustainability Forum held at the University of Bologna

On March 2–3, 2026, the “Sustainability in a Global Perspective: Trilateral Forum” was held at the University of Bologna in Italy. The forum brought together scholars and researchers from Italy, the United States, and Japan to discuss sustainability from multiple perspectives through interdisciplinary research in fields such as environmental and engineering sciences, international affairs, global health, economics, urban planning, and cultural heritage. The University of Bologna, known as the oldest university in the world, is also highly regarded as one of the leading international centers for cultural heritage studies.

From Ritsumeikan University, Professor Ryo Akama and Professor Satoshi Tanaka, both of whom are RARA Fellows, participated in the forum. Due to flight cancellations caused by the situation in the Middle East, Prof. Tanaka delivered his invited lecture online.

Lecture topic: Understanding Tangible Cultural Heritage through 3D Digital Archives: Visualization-Based Analysis of High-Resolution Measurement Data

In the lecture, Prof. Tanaka introduced research on the digital archiving of cultural heritage using high-resolution 3D measurement data and presented visualization techniques for analyzing the shapes and structures of cultural heritage objects. The presentation was followed by active discussions on the significance of digital archives for cultural heritage in the era of big data and on future directions for research in this field.

Starting in the new academic year, the Art Research Center (ARC) of Ritsumeikan University, where Prof. Akama serves as Director and Prof. Tanaka serves as a member of the Steering Committee, will launch an international collaborative research project with the University of Bologna on digital archives for cultural heritage. Through this collaboration, both institutions aim to advance digital technologies that support the preservation and study of cultural heritage.

For more details about the forum, please visit:
https://eventi.unibo.it/sustainability-trilateral-forum