Author: Bahareh Kamranzad, University of Strathclyde

From 1 to 5 June 2026, I visited the University of Tokyo under a Royal Society International Exchanges grant, together with my PhD students from the University of Strathclyde: Jack Lewis, John McWhirter and Filoteea Moldovan. 

The visit was hosted by Professor Takuji Waseda and his research group at the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences. During the visit, we held a joint research seminar, providing an excellent platform for PhD students from both universities to present their work on Arctic research, exchange ideas and discuss opportunities for future collaboration. The seminar highlighted strong synergies across ocean, coastal and climate science, and it was particularly valuable to see early-career researchers engaging with each other’s work across different but closely connected areas of Arctic and marine research.

As part of the visit, I also delivered a seminar presenting two of my current research projects: one focused on Arctic wave extremes, and the other on the impact of marine heatwaves on sea ice for Arctic navigational safety.

We also visited the Wave-Ice Tank facility which is a specialised laboratory facility built by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) at the University of Tokyo’s Kashiwa Campus.

Overall, the visit strengthened existing research links between the University of Strathclyde, a member of UArctic and ScAN, and the University of Tokyo, while also creating new opportunities for collaboration, knowledge exchange and PhD student development in Arctic ocean and climate research.