Division of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Kyoto University

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Tha Zin Htet Tin (PhD student, 3rd year, Research Center for Earthquake Prediction, Disaster Prevention Research Institute)

Date of Interview: June, 2021

Before Coming to Kyoto University
I visited Kyoto University (Uji Campus) for the first time in 2014 to attend a conference organized at the Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI). I stayed for two weeks at the Obaku International House and had the opportunity to learn about some subjects concerning my research. I was very happy and enjoyed campus life at Kyoto University. After that, I got a chance to enter Kyoto University for my PhD study, by applying for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) scholarship program in 2019.
Since 2011 a new collaborative Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) network was constructed jointly by a Singapore-based research group, Myanmar governmental departments and Myanmar Earthquake Committee to delineate crustal deformation in Myanmar. For my PhD, I decided to study the crustal deformation in Myanmar using these new survey network data and through collaborative research with professors from Japan, Singapore, and Myanmar.

Life at Kyoto University

-What did you enjoy most during your time at Kyoto University?
I am studying in the Division of Earth and Planetary Sciences, at Uji campus, Kyoto University. Uji campus is located in a quiet place, about 30 min by train from the Kyoto railway station. I feel comfortable to study in Uji campus because I prefer to stay in a quiet place, and I would like to mainly focus on my research. There are many cherries blossoms in the campus in spring, and we can see different colors during a bloom season between March and April.
I enjoy field trips for deploying GNSS stations and doing surveys all over Japan. Sometimes, our research group needs to do work on GNSS stations’ maintenance. Therefore, we went to some rural places and gained some experiences living not only in the city, but also in rural areas in Japan. I could also enjoy some local traditional food. Every year, our Geodesy group held the training for all students from different universities around Japan. I joined the training in 2019 when we went to the Miyakejima volcano island for a survey campaign to collect GNSS data. That makes a great chance to meet professors, new friends from other universities and explore rural areas.



Photos for the GNSS survey campaign field trip at Miyakejima volcano island in September 2019

-What were the biggest challenges you met?
The biggest challenge I met in Japan was the language barrier. It will be helpful if I can understand Japanese language better during the discussions. I would get extra knowledge from questions and comments between professors and other students when they talk about their research. The language barrier does not affect me when doing my own research, because I can perform my research tasks very well without the Japanese language. The most important things for research are ideas and concepts, and the student needs to be hard working.

-What did you work on to overcome the challenges?
I studied and worked as hard as I can on my research starting from the first year of my PhD. I changed the focus of my study from geology to geodesy for my PhD. Although geology and geodesy are related fields of study with respect to the emphasis on geology and tectonics, the data analysis and methods used are totally different. Therefore, I had to learn many things at the same time for my study. Sometimes, I feel stressful and depressed about my study, but my professors and lab members are very helpful to me, and I can overcome all challenges on my study here.

-How smooth was your experience adjusting to life in Kyoto?
I am happy and enjoy my study life in Kyoto University a lot. I was lucky that I arrived at a lab where people are warm and kind to me. I did not face too much trouble in my daily life here, because all my lab members are helpful not only to my study but also to my personal life. I also met other foreign friends from different countries, with whom I can share or discuss my feelings and emotions concerning my study life. Sometimes, I travel to some sightseeing places with other foreign students to have some fun and relax when we have time.

Life during COVID-19

-What were the beneficial/challenging aspects of life during COVID-19?
The pandemic of corona virus occurred before the start of my second year of PhD study. The university changed to all online system for activities, including all classes and seminars. Although that did not affect my study, I lost all the chances to go abroad for seminars and to go on field work training in Japan. Fortunately, I was able to work very well on my research during COVID-19, because our lab had a wide space, which allowed us to continue studying during the pandemic period. I could go to the lab for data analysis and discuss my research with my professors. I also wrote my first paper during the pandemic period.

Research at Kyoto University
There are many professors and researchers with different research focus at DPRI, Kyoto University. My research mainly focuses on crustal deformation, geodesy and earthquake disasters. Therefore, we have to gather students from different research group of related fields when we gave presentations for the progress of our research, e.g., seismology and geodesy. By doing so, we can learn from different fields of study and discuss various points of view for our search. After I gave presentations, I got many comments from different point of views and had discussions with other professors and students. That was very useful for the progress of my research. Eventually, I achieved good research results after learning from several discussions and comments during the seminars.

-What do you hope to do after graduating from Kyoto University?
I hope to do more research and learn new things after graduating from Kyoto University, and I would like to share my knowledge to people from Myanmar. If possible, I prefer to do my postdoc research in Japan or other foreign countries. I would like to conduct collaborative research work for Myanmar with researchers from other countries, because there are many things that we need to explore and research for Myanmar region.

Message for Future International Students
The study life of PhD is an important part of my life, and I will remember all the things that I felt and all kinds of emotions I experienced during my study, happiness, sadness, stresses, achievements, loneliness, friendship, etc. It had been an amazing experience, that even though we came from different places around the world, we were able to meet each other at the same place and time. I enjoy my study life in Kyoto University, because I feel that everyone here are warm and united for conducting research. That’s why we could accomplish lots of good research in Kyoto University. And I can feel the ancient city atmosphere in Kyoto City. I hope to do more research and have more collaboration here in the future!

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