We describe a survey of nearby core-collapse supernova (SN) explosion sites using integral field spec- troscopy (IFS) techniques, which is an extension of the work described in Kuncarayakti et al. (2013). The project aims to constrain SN progenitor properties based on the study of the immediate environment of the SN. The stellar populations present at the SN explosion sites are studied by means of integral field spectroscopy, which enables the acquisition of both spatial and spectral information of the object simultaneously. The spectrum of the SN parent stellar population gives an estimate of its age and metal- licity. With this information, the initial mass and metallicity of the once coeval SN progenitor star are derived. While the survey is mostly done in optical, the additional utilization of near-infrared integral field spectroscopy assisted with adaptive optics (AO) enables us to examine the explosion sites in high spatial detail, down to a few parsecs. This work is being carried out using multiple 2-8 m class telescopes equipped with integral field spectrographs in Chile and Hawaii.

AKARI's all-sky survey resolves the far-infrared emission in many thousands of nearby galaxies, providing essential local benchmarks against which the evolution of high-redshift populations can be measured. This review presents some recent results in the resolved galaxy populations, covering some well-known nearby targets, as well as samples from major legacy surveys such as the Herschel Reference Survey and the JCMT Nearby Galaxies Survey. This review also discusses the prospects for higher redshifts surveys, including strong gravitational lens clusters and the AKARI NEP field.