DiRECT invited Dr. Fatwa RAMDANI to be one of the guest speakers for IGPAS Gathering 2023.

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Dr. Fatwa RAMDANI (Earth Science/Indonesia)

Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, Program in Economic and Public Policy, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba
Brief history:
Dr. Ramdani specializes in geographical information analysis, remote sensing, and applied data science. His research applies spatial analysis and remotely sensed imageries as a proxy to observe various environmental and socio-economic variables. Before joining the University of Tsukuba, he taught at Brawijaya University, Indonesia, where he also acted as director of the Geoinformatics Research Group.
Hobbies: badminton, soccer, trekking/climbing

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Being raised in a small town, Dr. Fatwa Ramdani never imagined he could one day study in Japan. He reminisced his time waiting next to a telephone early in the morning just to hear his application results from Tohoku University. In more than a decade since then, he finds himself in the position of Assistant Professor at University of Tsukuba.

However, the journey was met with several difficulties. While he was a student at Tohoku University, the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake struck registering a 9.0 magnitude on the Richter Scale. It was the same year that he lost his first baby and it was followed by the passing of his mother in 2012. Yet, he persevered in face of immense challenges and graduated in 2014 after which he joined Brawijaya University in his home country of Indonesia. As the opportunity arose, he joined University of Tsukuba in 2022 and now lives with his family in Japan.
"I am thinking of staying in Japan for a long time. I have two children, the older one is in the second year of elementary school. Both the older and younger siblings are able to speak Japanese, despite being born in different locations - the older in Sendai and the younger in Indonesia.."

Raising international children in Japan can often pose challenges of their own. "The first six months after arriving in Japan were quite difficult. My son's homeroom teacher was very strict. Now he seems to enjoy school and is happy at 8 every morning. I received a great deal of assistance from both my Japanese colleague and the local support center", he says. "At home we speak a mix of Japanese, Indonesian and English and try to create a 'fun place'. I think the children are under a lot of pressure, so at home we spend time playing games", he adds.

Dr. Ramdani also highlighted the importance of learning new skills. "I like to learn new things, so I learned programming languages as part of that. With geology, I used R, Java-script, Python, etc. This doesn't cause any problems because I am supplementing my research with these new skills", he explains. He further stressed on the importance of writing good papers. "The key to getting a post is to publish papers. My success can be attributed to a combination of factors including my published papers, research accomplishments, and strong professional network. Communication is also important", he shares.

However, publishing papers isn't the only goal of academia. "Being in academia is not just about 'Publish or Perish'. It is also about making a difference and being at the service of humanity", he says.

Dr. Ramdani's story acted as an inspiration to many international students in the audience. Some of them were freshmen students who are looking to design their own career path. The morals of working hard and achieving one's dream are often told through tales and parables. Listening to the story of a person who really achieved it straight from the person himself however, is an unparalleled experience.