Rie S. Hori
The 2026 Champion(s) for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award is awarded to Rie S. Hori for pioneering and relentless efforts to promote a constructive, respectful and peaceful approach to diversity, equality and inclusivity at the global level.
Rie Hori has a rich history of leadership and influence in advancing gender equality across the geosciences on the international scale. She is internationally recognized for her service to the scientific community through a selfless, committed and positive approach to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). Her work was marked by thorough data analysis used to identify imbalances in the demographics of geosciences. In her leadership roles of academic institutions and societies, Hori has been instrumental in developing policies that promote diversity and equality goals, where none existed before.
She had the brilliant vision that an effective improvement of diversity must be supported by a change in the education of the younger generations. Hori’s achievements include developing networks for female high school students in choosing science related paths since 2012, and organizing EDI meetings for female Early Career Scientists since 1996. These networks for female high school students were designed to support the career of women and to promote the importance of work-life balance. She has become a role model for female geoscientists and younger generations all over the world.
Her impact on improving EDI for academic staff has been extraordinary, including organisation reform for EDI promotion, releasing a university promotion statement in 2021, establishing goals for percentage of the entire university faculty for parental leave, introducing promotion programs including mandatory implicit bias training for all faculty, giving EDI lectures to new academic staff and PhD candidates, and adding EDI classes to graduate school curricula. Since 2018, she has participated in convening an EDI session at each JpGU meeting co-convened with EGU and occasionally AGU. Hori has been a significant supporter of EDI activities at EGU, including her support as a speaker, co-convener, and chair of EDI sessions.
Her efforts are transforming the workplace climate in the geosciences and beyond by empowering researchers through training to address implicit bias, and organizing multiple events to raise awareness on gender inequalities. Hori’s work has been a point of reference through data analysis and was used to identify imbalances in the demographics of geosciences. She has been tremendous inspiration to many. Her diverse activities demonstrates that she is a champion across the geosciences for her international collaboration on EDI issues.