On March 10, 2026, the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with National Institute of Applied Research (NIAR) of Taiwan to strengthen collaboration in the field of earthquake engineering.

Under this memorandum, the Hyogo Earthquake Engineering Research Center (E-Defense) at NIED and the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE) at NIAR will serve as the implementing bodies to promote collaborative activities, including joint research in earthquake engineering and regular joint workshops.

In addition, a workshop was held in conjunction with the signing ceremony, bringing together the three institutions currently engaged in joint research: E-Defense, NCREE, and the Seismic Engineering and Disaster Prevention Research Center (SESTEC) at Pusan National University in South Korea. During this workshop, discussions focused on further strengthening the cooperative framework among the three institutions and exploring future collaboration opportunities in earthquake engineering research.