On Friday, March 25, 2022, Professor Philip Sugai, the Director of the newly launched Value Research Center at Doshisha University, and Senior Research Fellow in the IRC was interviewed by Dr Joseph Haldane, Founder, Chairman & CEO of IAFOR, and Administrative Director of the IAFOR Research Centre (IRC).

They discussed the publication of the latest white paper, "A Value Model for Responsible Business", and the new value measurement model that Professor Sugai and his research team have developed by integrating more than 25 of the world's top ESG and Sustainability Reporting frameworks, integrating impact measurements from the ISSB, TCFD, IFC, UNDP, Planetary Boundaries, and the Science Based Targets Initiative.

Professor Sugai fielded questions from Dr Haldane and the audience on how this framework was implementable for all sizes of companies, and indeed could be used at early and even business planning stages for startups. They both talked of the concept of “value washing”, and of how the value model addresses and ensures that it cannot be used to this end. They also discussed how the work of Professor Sugai had been influenced by his experience of businesses in Japan, which has inspired a lot of the thinking behind the model, including the Sanpo yoshi, the principle of “three way good”, that is a historical and cultural principle of business success through responsibility.

The webinar was presented in association with the ESG-Integration Research and Education Center (ESG-IREC) at Osaka University, Japan.

In the video above, Professor Philip Sugai, Director of the Value Research Center at Doshisha University, and Senior Research Fellow in the IAFOR Research Center (IRC), and Dr Joseph Haldane, Founder, Chairman & CEO of IAFOR, and Administrative Director of the IRC, discuss the publication of the latest white paper, "A Value Model for Responsible Business" The new value measurement model that Professor Sugai and his research team have developed integrates more than 25 of the world's top ESG and Sustainability Reporting frameworks, including impact measurements from the ISSB, TCFD, IFC, UNDP, Planetary Boundaries, and the Science Based Targets Initiative.

The webinar was presented in association with the ESG-Integration Research and Education Center (ESG-IREC) at Osaka University, Japan.

17 March (Thursday) 2022 | 16:00-18:00 (JST) on Zoom
Register HERE

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, after the COVID-19 pandemic, is becoming one of the most consequential international crises for global governance. It has again brought to sharp relief the divide between the “West” and the rest and shaken confidence in the ruled-based order of the post-1945 international system. For East Asia, the main arena of China-US rivalry and realpolitik, could this be a moment to contemplate different modes of alignment among the smaller and middle size states that champions normative foreign policy, non-traditional security and participatory democracy? Join the roundtable discussion among panellists from Manila, Osaka, Seoul and Singapore!

This event is organised as part of the IRC-OSIPP’s project on “Peace and Human Security in Asia: Toward a Meaningful Japan-Korea Partnership” supported by the Korea Foundation. It is also part of the OSIPP course, “Global Governance II”.

IThe IAFOR Research Centre (IRC) at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) is pleased to announce the publication of Public Health in Asia during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Global Health Governance, Migrant Labour, and International Health Crisis (Amsterdam University Press, 2022), the result of a joint project with the Leiden Asia Centre and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) Regional Economic Programme Asia (SOPAS).

he project was spearheaded by IRC fellow Anoma van der Veere, with contributions from specialists in the region, including OSIPP professors and researchers, to assess the region’s varied responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the absence of a clear leadership from the World Health Organisation (WHO). It is available online for free as an Open Access publication. We hope this publication provides important insights to how Asia coped with the pandemic.

IAFOR is excited to announce a Pre-event Symposium at the 10th ASEAN Career Fair with Japan, in collaboration with Singapore Management University (SMU), The IAFOR Research Centre (IRC), and the ESG-Integration Research and Education Centre (ESG-IREC) at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University.

​​As with each year, this symposium aims at providing information to ASEAN university career officers and young academics to find out more about Japanese companies, their diverse employment practises and career paths, with the opportunity to connect directly to company HR managers who are participating in the career fair the next day. It is also an opportunity for Japanese companies to establish meaningful ties with ASEAN universities.

The 10th ASEAN Career Fair Pre-event Symposium will be live-streamed via Zoom and on the IAFOR Facebook page.

To participate in this symposium, please sign up below.

Friday, February 11, 2022

All times are in Japan time (UTC+9)
Find the time in your location

17:30–18:20
About the ASEAN Career Fair with Japan
Haruko Satoh, IAFOR Research Centre, OSIPP, Japan
Taro Ozaki, Energize, Japan

18:30–20:30
Symposium: ESG, Sustainability and Human Resource Development for the Future

Opening Remarks
Toshiya Hoshino, ESG-Integration Research and Education Centre, OSIPP, Japan

Presentation
Shantanu Bhattacharya, Lee Kong Chian Professor of Operations Management, Singapore Management University, Singapore
Philip Sugai, Value Research Center, Doshisha University

Panel Discussion
Shantanu Bhattacharya, Lee Kong Chian Professor of Operations Management, Singapore Management University, Singapore
Kentaro Kiso, President, Barclays Securities Japan Limited
Daisuke Tsuchiya, Brunswick Group, United Kingdom & Guest Professor, OSIPP, Japan
Masao Asai, CAPRA Investment Management, United Kingdom & Guest Professor, OSIPP, Japan
Haruko Satoh (Moderator), IAFOR Research Centre, OSIPP, Japan

Haruko Satoh
Co-Director, IAFOR Research Centre
Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University

The IAFOR Research Centre (IRC) at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) took part as co-organisers in the successful joint annual conference between the Korean International Studies Association (KISA) and the Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA) on 26-27 November 2021. The conference was hosted by the Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha Womens University and held online with the International Academic Forum providing the operational support. This was the second time that the IRC joined forces with the KISA and APISA, as part of the IRC’s international research project supported by the Korea Foundation, “Peace and Securiy in Asia: Toward a Meaningful Japan-Korea Partnership.”

What marked this year’s conference were the quality of keynotes that dovetailed around the forward-looking theme of “operationalizing the East Asian Community.” The first keynote speech was delivered on the 26th, by Dr Lam Peng Er of the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore. Addressing the conference a few days before the opening ceremony of the ground-breaking Korea Center at his institute, he took the audience through a journey of history about the idea of the East Asian community, tracing its oft-forgotten origins, and the twists and turns that it took in the changing geopolitical landscape and drivers since the 1980s. While he began by characterising the EAC like chasing a ghost, he argued that the trianglular cooperation between ASEAN, Japan and South Korea is an important core to any successful attempt to catch this ghost and transform it to reality.

The second keynote session on the 27th was blessed with a high-profile pair of former foreign ministers from Japan and South Korea, His Excellency Kono Taro and Dr Kang Kyun-wha, who had forged a trusting friendship while the two served their respective governments around the same time. Kang gave a heartfelt introduction to Kono’s keynote speech, which was rich in informative “behind the scenes” anecdotes (including how their shared hope to improve Japan-South Korea relations were dashed by an unexpected turn of events in 2018—namely the Korea Supreme Court ruling on forced labourers during Japanese colonial rule and subsequent trade sanctions that Japan imposed on South Korea) as well as insightful views about the Japanese foreign and security policy choices in this difficult times. Both went beyond their call to take part in the 30 minute Q & A session that could have last longer. Their friendship and vision represented a silver lining to the current state of affairs in the troubled bilateral relationship.

The combined effect of the two keynotes has been to set an optimistic tone and sense of purpose for enhancing international cooperation among the smaller states (compared to the US and China) in the region, particularly between Japan, South Korea and ASEAN member states, particularly in the areas and issues that fall into the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. The IRC’s APISA roundtable on enhancing Japan-Korea cooperation in non-traditional security issues took up this line of inquiry, where the participants explored areas where Japan and Korea could work more with their Southeast Asian counterparts. The IRC is grateful to Dr Brendan Howe, Dean of GSIS, Ewha Womens University and the President of APISA for letting us do this roundtable, which was effectively the first engaging discussion for the Korea Foundation project. The summary of this roundtable will be available in a forthcoming short report on OpenAsia.

See below for Videos from the event:

• Keynote Session LAM Peng Er
• Keynote Session: KONO Taro
• Roundtable Session

The dust from the shock of US withdrawal from Afghanistan has yet to settle but its ramifications are far-reaching. In Asia, the main theatre of US-China rivalry, questions about America’s role and mode of engagement in the region abound in the wake of Afghanistan. President Biden signaled the end of US involvement in “nation building of others”, but does this mean the “true end of Pax Americana”? This special roundtable discusses issues that have bearing on Northeast and Southeast Asia’s complex security environment, where both the traditional geopolitical security issues cross paths with the humanitarian-development-peace nexus policies.

Participation in this webinar is free of charge, but pre-registration is required.

This event is organised as part of the IRC-OSIPP’s project on “Peace and Human Security in Asia: Toward a Meaningful Japan-Korea Partnership” supported by the Korea Foundation. It is also part of the OSIPP course, “Global Governance II”.

Professor Haruko Satoh, Co-Director of the IAFOR Research Centre will speak at the Times Higher Education Asia Universities Summit 2021. Haruko Satoh will speak on a panel titled: "Can an international outlook in higher education help to reduce geopolitical tensions? What are the limits to closer global ties?"

In a session moderated by Joyce Lau, Editor (Asia) of the THE, Professor Satoh will be joined by Safwan Masri, Executive Vice-president of Global Centers and Global and Global Development at Columbia University.

Dr Carmina Untalan, IAFOR Research Centre, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University, Japan

As part of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre’s (IRC) collaborative project on Korea and Japan in the Evolving China-US Relations, the Korea Foundation sponsored a Special Roundtable during the AAS-in-Asia 2020 Conference. Entitled “Japan and Korea in the US-China Relations: A Reappraisal of the Post-War Order”, the panel featured scholars from East Asian institutions, Haruko Satoh from Osaka University, Brendan Howe from Ehwa Womans University, Jaewoo Choo from Kyung Hee University, June Park from the National Research Foundation of Korea, Xianfeng Yang from Yonsei University, Kei Koga and Mingjiang Li, both from Nanyang Technological University.

Following the President of the Research Institute for Peace and Security, Masashi Nishihara’s keynote presentation on East Asia geopolitics, “Rebuilding a Resilient Liberal Democratic Order”, panel Chair Haruko Satoh opened the roundtable with a characterisation of the rapidly changing East Asian international relations environment and the question of how South Korea-Japan bilateral relations could influence US-China great power politics and regional security. Brendan Howe began the discussion with Non-Traditional Security (NTS) as a promising arena for South Korea-Japan bilateral relations to flourish. He pointed out that with the inadequacy of state-centric, traditional security models and the failure of great power leadership to address current transnational challenges such as COVID-19, NTS cooperation between South Korea and Japan could not only address both countries’ national interests but may also be a regional strategic necessity. Jaewoo Choo concurred. However, with the persistent antagonistic relations between South Korea and Japan, he pointed out that the politicisation and securitisation of NTS impede the progress of South Korea-Japan bilateral relations. As shown in the case of territorial disputes in South China Sea, states are wont to turn non-traditional security concerns into traditional ones, therefore addressing issues such as water security with retaliatory measures based on sanctions and military deployment. A way to recalibrate such perspective is to see great power leadership in the regional context, where the US plays a less significant role. According to Choo, by looking at Japan as regional power and South Korea as a middle power, we may see a better prospect of the two working together towards a more stable region.

Departing from the notion that South Korea and Japan share common interests and conditions in East Asian geopolitics, Xianfeng Yang invited the audience to closely examine the geostrategic divergence between the two countries, which have a significant impact on the balance of their relations. Two issues of divergence warranting further scrutiny centre on North Korea and Pan-Korean nationalism: denuclearisation and unification, where, according to Yang, Japan plays a peripheral role. Compared to Japan, South Korea’s domestic and alliance politics makes it more complicated to deal with China and the US. For Kei Koga, one of the biggest challenges to forging a strong South Korea-Japan bilateral relationship is the absence of institutionalisation of previous efforts. Yet, the emerging trends of multilateralism in East Asia offer a model for the two countries to follow. India in particular, presents a possible alternative of serving as a hub for South Korea and Japan to collaborate on shared regional commitments in functional areas such as infrastructure development.

June Park brought the discussion back how great power rivalry between US and China could stir South Korea and Japan relations, specifically in the domain of technology. The existing technological disputes between US and China, most notably regarding Huawei, and changes the COVID-19 pandemic brought made it very difficult to predict the geopolitical implications of tech wars. However, Park reminded us that it is important to understand the drive for tech-related conflict between South Korea and Japan is mainly about US and China. Focusing more on China and COVID-19, Mingjiang Li probed into the contribution of Xi Jinping’s “Health Silk Road” diplomacy to China’s soft power. Amidst China’s existing efforts towards public health cooperation in East and Central Asia, the COVID-19 pandemic made the Health Silk Road a part of China’s Emergency Diplomacy in both the West and Asia, where perceptions diverged. What it revealed is that Health Diplomacy did not have a significant impact on China’s soft power. Rather, it confirmed the pattern where China’s diplomacy tended to garner unfavourable perception in the West, compared to the positive reception from developing countries in East Asia.

The roundtable successfully concluded with a brief discussion of alternatives for an enhanced South Korea-Japan dialogue. Among the key points raised during the discussion are the promising areas for cooperation between Japan and South Korea despite existing antagonistic relations, the hurdles to these opportunities and ways to mitigate these hurdles. Indeed, persistent ontological tensions surrounding wartime issues and negative perceptions are difficult to solve. Yet, with the changing global and East Asian geopolitical landscape, strategic necessity and shared commitment to the stability of the region might eventually prevail in carving the future of South Korea-Japan relations.

Dr Jewellord Nem Singh, from Leiden University, spoke at OSIPP for the 12th IRC Special Talk.

In his Special Talk, Jewellord Nem Singh looked at the impact of large-scale mining of natural resources on politics and governance, from global, national to local, in resource-intensive economies of Latin America and Southeast Asia. He posited the question: What are the challenges of economic development through natural resource-extraction and its serious socio-ecological consequences for democratic political efforts to reflect local voices of dissent and protest?

This talk compared cases of where tension between national strategy focusing on natural resource extraction and the local community-rooted, public opposition to large-scale mining arises and how it profoundly informs and shapes national political discourse.

Ambassador Toshiya Hoshino, Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations, and Co-Director of the IAFOR Research Centre, delivered a Special Talk for the OSIPP Policy Forum, Osaka School of International Public Policy.

Dr Hoshino spoke extensively about human security, his specialist area, and how it aligns with U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Dr Hoshino was joined by Dr Francisco A. Magno, Director of the Jesse M. Robredo Institute of Governance at De La Salle University, Philippines, who kindly acted as discussant. The talk concluded with a long and lively Q&A with OSIPP students.

Dr Toshiya Hoshino is presently Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations in New York. Previous to his role at the UN, he was on the faculty at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (Osaka University), serving as Dean from 2011 to 2014, before being appointed Vice-President (International) of the University from 2014 to 2016. He still serves as Co­Director of the IAFOR Research Centre at Osaka School of International Public Policy. In the past, he has served as a Minister-Counselor in charge of political affairs at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations (UN). At the UN, he was a principal advisor to the Chair of the UN Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) when Japan assumed its chairmanship. A graduate of Sophia University, he received his MA from the University of Tokyo and his Doctorate (PhD) from Osaka University. His previous positions have included: Senior Research Fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA); Guest Scholar at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University; Fellow at Stanford Japan Center, Stanford University; and Visiting Fellow, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University. He is a specialist in UN peace and security policies (conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding), human security and humanitarian issues, security in the Asia-Pacific region and Japan-US relations.

Dr Florian Schneider, Senior Lecturer in the Politics of Modern China, Leiden University, delivered the 11th OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre Special Talk at Osaka School of International Public Policy.

Report of the event from Anoma van der Veere, Researcher (Society & Culture)

When thinking about nationalism, we tend to think about flag waving and reciting the national anthem while fighting for our country. On Thursday 9 May, Dr Florian Schneider in his talk at OSIPP, actually showed that nationalism comes in many more forms.

Dr Schneider, head of the LeidenAsiaCentre at Leiden University and author of the must-read book Digital Nationalism in China, argues that we often practice nationalism in almost unnoticeably small moments while browsing the internet. This can be even just while reading a news article online, or engaging with someone in a discussion on social media.

The internet is a large repository for information that can function in many ways according to how we ourselves use it. Giving the example of how Google "predicts" what we search while we are typing, Dr Schneider explained how digital mechanisms function to make it easier for us to navigate the internet. This way of consuming new information is the same in China, where internet users are confronted with vast amounts of information through search tools, micro-blogging platforms, and messaging software. In fact, a quick comparison of search results of the same keywords in China and Hong Kong already shows how vast the gap can be between the information provided across both physical and digital borders.

In his research, Dr Schneider uses multiple theoretical and methodological tools to support his arguments. In a follow-up workshop later in the day, students were acquainted with how Dr Schneider builds his argument by exploring the roots of a method called discourse analysis. By providing a case-study comparison of how political actors in the United States and in China approach the internet as a concept, students were able to learn how to spot differences in meanings that actors might wish to convey. This took place in conjunction with some good tips on how to confront a writer’s block using digital media.

As the second session concluded, it became clear that Dr Schneider had offered scaffolding for students to start exploring new options for scheduling, thesis planning, and building a good argument in one’s own work.

In summary, students not only learned how to comprehend a complex topic like digital nationalism in China, but also how to explore and bring their own voice while writing on the topic.

The OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre (IRC) at OSIPP, Osaka University, Japan, welcomed six young academics visiting OSIPP as the Year 1 Cohort (January-March 2019) of the U.S. – Japan – Southeast Asia Partnership in a Dynamic Asia Fellowship which is run with the East-West Center, in Washington DC and supported by The Japan Foundation, and the U.S. Embassy Tokyo.

The event was marked by the OSIPP-IRC 2019 Special Talk and Roundtable – the first for 2019 – with a special lecture by Dr Satu Limaye, Director, East-West Center in Washington, DC. The lecture was titled New Avenues for Cooperation and Collaboration in the Indo-Pacific.

Dr Satu Limaye posed the question whether the United States has a free and open Indo-Pacific Strategy or is it a case new wine or a new bottle? He went on to offer an erudite discussion of the evolution of the concept “Pacific” from the perspective of the United States. According to Dr Limaye, while shared interests and values with Asian allies continue to influence American foreign policy posture towards the region, both the increasing concern about China and the U.S.-Japan alliance’s shift from rule-based order to a bilateral one highlight the changes to the current “America’s Pacific Century”.

With the present Indo-Pacific strategy, the United States sees China a strategic competitor, and India as a counter to China. Moreover, the United States now appears to give a more favorable view to Southeast Asian institutions, such as APEC and ASEAN, than its Western counterparts, NATO and the EU. Despite these ups and downs, the US-Japan Alliance remains a major enabling factor for U.S. presence in the region. The lecture ended with OSIPP students and EW-IRC fellows raising insightful comments and questions about the level of commitment from the United States, its role in “history issues”, and policy implications to domestic and regional affairs in East Asia.

The IAFOR Research Centre (IRC) at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), with the East-West Center in Washington, D.C., is pleased to announce the “US-Southeast Asia-Japan Partnership in a Dynamic Asia”. It will begin in January 2019 in Osaka, and will continue in Washington, D.C. through February and March.

This program is a very much welcome development for the IRC. It is the first residency fellowship the research center will be running at OSIPP, and the first partnership with the East-West Center in Washington, D.C. It also breaks a new ground for IAFOR in being part of an activity receiving support from the Japan Foundation.

The trilateral program aims to nurture a fresh pool of experts on policy issues concerning U.S.-Japan relations and Southeast Asia. For this first year, six fellows have been selected – two from Japan, two from the United States, and one each from Malaysia and the Philippines. These young scholars and policy practitioners will form a core group focused on a common theme: How should the U.S., Japan, and Southeast Asia cooperate on trade, investment, and economic integration in Southeast Asia?

In residency, the fellows are expected to conduct their own research while taking part in activities aimed at fostering dynamic interaction among young professionals and graduate students from the United States, Japan and Southeast Asian countries, as well as engage professionally with the foreign policy communities of the United States and Japan. The fellows will have the opportunity to participate in policy briefings, visit relevant institutions and sites, and disseminate their research in seminars, conferences and publications.

During the residency at Osaka, fellows will be affiliated with OSIPP, Osaka University, as visiting fellows. Workshops will be held in Hiroshima, at the Hiroshima Peace Institute, and in Tokyo, at the Center for Rule-making Strategies at Tama University, Waseda University, The Japan Institute for International Affairs (JIIA), and The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The fellowship is supported by the Japan Foundation and the U.S. Embassy in Japan.

Writing in the news pages of The Japan Times, Kazuaki Nagata reports on the one-day Symposium at The IAFOR Global Innovation & Value Summit 2018 (GIVS) which took place in Tokyo, Friday, October 5, 2018. Speaking at the event were H.E. Dr Toshiya Hoshino, Professor Haruko Satoh and Dr Joseph Haldane, all Co-Directors of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre.

The event saw an unparallelled line up of business leaders, industry experts, notable Japanese entrepreneurs and leading figures from government and education. The conference considered questions of innovation and value, and there was a special focus on innovation ecosystems in the global, regional and local ecosystem of Japan.

Writing in the news pages of The Japan Times, Kazuaki Nagata reports how collaboration and cooperation were recognised as key points for innovation by many of the plenary speakers. In particular, cross-industry collaboration, and cooperation between large corporations and startups was widely recognised as a spur for innovation.

Find out more

See the IAFOR blog for more on the report and the event.
Read the IAFOR GIVS Summit Report from The Japan Times.

As a way to take part in this global endeavour to renovate the current international system and create new values, the IRC is proud to announce the Innovation and Value Initiative that will start as a three nodes project in the following areas: International economy, international politics and international social innovation.

Dr Salvador Santino Fulo Regilme Jr. delivered the 8th OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre Special Talk at Osaka School of International Public Policy.

Report of the event from Carmina Yu Untalan, a PhD student at OSIPP.

How can we understand the relationship between the rise of illiberalpopulism and the perceived decline of United States' hegemony? In his lecture entitled, “One Great Nation under Trump? Global Human Rights in Distress Amidst American Decline”, Santino Regilme of Leiden University, offered a fresh, normative perspective about the crisis of American power in the 21st century. What we might call as “Trumpism” represents the culmination of the US-led neoliberal world order that perpetuates domestic and global structural inequality. Underlying the American penchant for promoting a democracy across the globe is a shallow notion of human rights that maintains hierarchy based on racial and class differentiation, and ignores material justice as an integral aspect of human rights.

The lecture inspired a stimulating discussion about human security, dissipation of ideological differences between the left and right and the rise of China as an alternative. Despite the current grim conditions, Professor Regilme ended his lecture with an invitation to see the crisis of the neoliberalism as an opportunity to envision a political utopia where wealth redistribution goes hand-in-hand with the promotion of individual and civil rights.

Dr Yukinori Komine delivered the 7th OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre Special Talk at Osaka School of International Public Policy.

Report of the event from César Rodrigues, a PhD student at OSIPP.

Professor Yukinori Komine’s lecture, titled “Understanding the US-Japan Alliance: an overview of key concepts, events, and issues”, provided a comprehensive discussion of the US-Japan security alliance, and important aspects for understanding present and future challenges in view of ongoing Asian-Pacific geopolitical transformations. His presentation featured an analysis of the institutional and strategic underpinnings of the Alliance, including the foundations of Japanese constitutional pacifism, the permanence of anti-nuclear sentiments, and the evolution of US-Japan Security Treaty. In exploring potential scenarios and analyzing how the Alliance may be subject to transformative tensions, Professor Komine referred to the cases of Futenma airbase in Okinawa, the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands dispute, and Japan’s oft-called latent nuclear weapons capabilities. The lecture was followed by a lively debate with the audience, who raised important questions about the long-term credibility of US security commitments, the prospects for a stronger East Asian regional integration, as well as the limits of Japanese nonnuclear identity.

• The Rohingya Perspective: Multigenerational Statelessness
• Blockchain IDs for Stateless Peoples
• Legitimacy of the Rohingya Narrative and Other Challenges for the Future

There was an excellent turnout of students and professors for the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre special symposium on the Rohingya which took place on Thursday 28 June, at OSIPP, Osaka University.

Muhammad Noor, from Rohingya Vision/Rohingya Project, and Saqib Sheikh, from Rohingya Project, two major actors who are directly involved in the Rohingya peoples’ plea for recognition of their tragic situation, moved the audience when they spoke eloquently about the plight of the Rohingya people, their statelessness, their suffering, and their right to a dignified existence.

The event was live streamed on the Rohingya Vision Facebook page and had thousands of likes and shares, and reached an audience of over 100,000 people.

https://www.facebook.com/RohingyaVisionTV/

Dr Evangelia Chrysikou and Peter McLennan, both faculty at The Bartlett Real Estate Institute of University College London (UCL), visited Osaka University as part of a collaborative project that includes IAFOR through the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), and The Asian Conference on Aging & Gerontology (AGen), where they presented their work. The project aims to explore spatial policies for people throughout their lifespans in two countries: the UK and Japan, and won a Butterfield Award from The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, an organisation set up in 1985 to enhance mutual appreciation and understanding of British and Japanese culture, society and achievements.

Dr Evangelia Chrysikou is a Lecturer and a Program Leader MSc Healthcare Facilities at The Bartlett Real Estate Institute, at UCL, and a member of IAFOR’s International Academic Advisory Board. Mr Peter McLennan is a Senior Lecturer attached to the same institute. While at Osaka University they met with research collaborators including Tadasu Iida of the Division of Global Architecture, and Hiroshi Ishiguro, Director of the Department of Systems Innovation’s Intelligent Robotics Laboratory, both in Osaka University’s Graduate School of Engineering.

Ageing is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity and a hot topic on political, economic and academic agendas, but its spatial aspects remain largely unexplored – even in healthcare facilities, where people are at their most vulnerable.

In the UK, an ageing population threatens not just the sustainability of healthcare services, but also the cohesion of the British society. The complexity of the problem implies that the whole field of care provision needs to be addressed, including the provision of facilities and building stock.

So far, the emphasis has been on technology and smart developments to bridge the gap. However, literature from the related field of Dementia supports the view that the Human Resources and Built Environment sectors contribute as much to the care of dementia sufferers as medico-pharmacological interventions.

With particular reference to care settings, where people are in their most vulnerable state, the built environment could play a major role in alleviating their symptomatology and supporting staff and carers. However, the evidence base to support a fit-for-purpose environment for ageing is still limited.

Japan is a global leader in the discourse for ageing, partly because the ageing of its population is more pronounced than in the UK. The role of this project is to establish a learning path from Japan to UCL. This will include designing facilities for ageing, and will pave the way for cross-fertilisation and joint ventures between UCL and Osaka University – in particular, the departments within these institutions that research the physical environment of the healthcare provision.

Dr Evangelia Chrysikou, Professor Andrew Edkins, Peter McLennan
Division of Global Architecture, Course of Architectural Engineering, Osaka University:
Dr Tadasu Iida, Professor Takashi Yokota, and Koji Itami

UCL Global Engagement Office: Professor Shin-Ichi Ohnuma
The IAFOR Research Centre, The Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University: Dr Joseph Haldane, Professor Haruko Satoh, and Professor Toshiya Hoshino

IAFOR collaborated with the United Nations in the hosting of a special session at the Third Annual Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (STI Forum 2018) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on June 6, 2018.

Dr Joseph Haldane, Chairman and CEO of IAFOR, co-moderated the Official Meeting, a roundtable session on Innovators and Investors, and focussed on questions at the intersection of innovation and value, including “Impact investing”; investments made into companies, organisations, and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. The chair of the meeting was Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations, His Excellency Dr Toshiya Hoshino.

Dr Haldane said: “For IAFOR, impact investing is a particular area of interest in regards to the funding of research in higher education, and dovetails with the work we will be doing within the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, as part of our new Innovation and Value Initiative, and also with The IAFOR Global Innovation & Value Summit 2018 (GIVS2018) to be held in Tokyo later this year.” He added that “it is a great recognition of IAFOR to have been invited to collaborate, and we are honoured to have been asked to work with the United Nations at this important event, and look forward to working with the UN and other stakeholders in the support of Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (STI-SDG).”

Dr Haldane, who teaches on the postgraduate Global Governance course at OSIPP, and is an Expert Member of the World Economic Forum in this area, was also keen to raise the issue of governance and policy implications of the uses of blockchain technology. In his introduction to the panel, he suggested that the use of blockchain, given its verifiability and the transparency of transactions might have a positive effect on systems of governance. This might be especially important at a time when the rules-based international system, exemplified by institutions such as the United Nations, are being challenged.

The Fifth IAFOR Research Centre Special Talk took place June 17, 2018, at OSIPP, Osaka University. The speaker was Dr Takuma Melber from the University of Heidelberg, Germany.

In a seminar titled "Indigenous Forced Labourers in Japanese Occupied Malaya and Singapore", Dr Melber, an historian, talked about his research, and went into some detail about the action of Japanese wartime forces in Southeast Asia. The well-attended event concluded with lively question-and-answer session.

As a way to take part in this global endeavour to renovate the current international system and create new values, the IRC is proud to announce the Innovation and Value Initiative that will start as a three nodes project in the following areas: International economy, international politics and international social innovation.

IAFOR is to collaborate with researchers from UCL’s Bartlett Real Estate Institute and Osaka University in a project to research design for an ageing population. The research project “Design for Ageing: East meets West” aims to explore spatial policies for people throughout their lifespans in two countries: the UK and Japan.

“Design for Ageing: East meets West” has won a Butterfield Award from The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, an organisation set up in 1985 to enhance mutual appreciation and understanding of British and Japanese culture, society and achievements.

Ageing is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity and a hot topic on political, economic and academic agendas, but its spatial aspects remain largely unexplored – even in healthcare facilities, where people are at their most vulnerable.

In the UK, an ageing population threatens not just the sustainability of healthcare services, but also the cohesion of the British society. The complexity of the problem implies that the whole field of care provision needs to be addressed, including the provision of facilities and building stock.

So far, the emphasis has been on technology and smart developments to bridge the gap. However, literature from the related field of Dementia supports the view that the Human Resources and Built Environment sectors contribute as much to the care of dementia sufferers as medico-pharmacological interventions.

With particular reference to care settings, where people are in their most vulnerable state, the built environment could play a major role in alleviating their symptomatology and supporting staff and carers. However, the evidence base to support a fit-for-purpose environment for ageing is still limited.

Japan is a global leader in the discourse for ageing, partly because the ageing of its population is more pronounced than in the UK. The role of this project is to establish a learning path from Japan to UCL. This will include designing facilities for ageing, and will pave the way for cross-fertilisation and joint ventures between UCL and Osaka University – in particular, the departments within these institutions that research the physical environment of the healthcare provision.

A workshop will be held at UCL bringing together scientists from across UCL, the NHS and industry, with the participation of the Osaka University Partners. This will provide evidence on the contribution of psychosocially supportive design, and try to promote understanding of the built environment in relation to human physiology and perception for people over their lifespans.

The proposal is to increase general public awareness on social injustice, stigma and mental health. It sets out to combat Nimbyism and support the fairer allocation of resources and placement of health facilities. But its biggest aim is to put pressure stakeholders involved in NHS decision-making by demonstrating, through mapping and art exhibits, the outcome of the comparison.

The aim of this project is to bring together academics from both countries, with a focus on the built environment and how it has been used to support health and wellbeing in each context. It intends to explore these key themes and foster future exchange of knowledge, research and entrepreneurial collaborations. Its ultimate goal is the increased well-being of the ageing population, as well the younger generation that cares for them.

UCL collaboration with our counterparts in Osaka University is very important for both organisations. The team will attempt to establish a common language between partners, cultivating bridges between the UK and Japan. A complementary proposal to support and increase the leverage of this project will lead to an upcoming UCL Grant Challenges scheme, marking UCL–Osaka University activity towards bilateral collaboration.

The project also intends to increase the awareness of architectural students, in line with The Bartlett’s the broader objective to create a more evidence-oriented and socially responsible generation of young architects.

In terms of the development of the research team, co-operation with researchers using alternative methodologies and ways of addressing issues will provide new insights into individual work-streams.

• Japan field trip for UCL partners with visits to environments providing care
• Participation in the Asian Conference on Aging & Gerontology in Kobe, Japan, providing a great opportunity for the UK team to get an integrated understanding into context regarding ageing in these countries
• UK field trip with visits to environments providing care, such as Maggie’s Centres, dementia facilities, healthcare facilities, mental health facilities and presentations from both groups at the BREI.
• A workshop bringing together scientists from across UCL, the NHS and industry, with the participation of Osaka University Partners
• Joint publications of key findings in journals in the fields of healthcare architecture, psychiatry or medical humanities
• Joint research proposals on technology, healthcare, built environment and policy
• Production of a booklet, in English and Japanese, illustrating best practices and innovative perspectives, as well as areas to focus on arising from the visits and the workshop
• Updating the curriculum of the Healthcare Facilities MSc at the BREI, as well as the postgraduate and undergraduate programs of both universities, increasing the pedagogical impact
• Setting up an affiliation between OSAKA/UCL and possible student exchange focusing on interdisciplinary approaches to healthy ageing
• Presentation of the project to partners of EC Commitment on AHA

On May 29, 2018, The OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre played co-host to a Conference with the Southern African Centre for Collaboration on Peace and Security (SACCPS), the University of the Free State (UFS, South Africa), and the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University.

The Conference, held at Osaka University’s Main Library Hall, was titled “Security in Africa and the Outside World”. Attendees heard how Africa is faced with various interrelated challenges to peace and security, which impact upon (and are impacted by) the outside world.

This event featured a diverse group of speakers who offered their perspectives on a number of key security issues on the continent, as well as past and present interventions in responses to these issues, and finally, how African security is viewed by the outside world through the lens of the media.

The Third IAFOR Research Centre Special Talk took place May 17, 2018, at OSIPP, Osaka University. The speaker was Dr Philip Sugai, Professor of Marketing within Doshisha University’s Graduate School of Business, and Senior Fellow at the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre at OSIPP.

In a seminar titled “Innovation in Global Business: KitKat the Japanese Way”, Dr Sugai explored aspects of innovation as they are described globally, and how these definitions can be applied to innovative practices in Japan.

The Special Talk walked participants through a workshop where the innovative thinking that went in the development of a distinctive Japanese product was deconstructed. KitKat, Japan’s must popular confectionary product, was uniquely innovated for the Japanese market, and this product was used to determine if the practices used in its development in Japan might be translated into a “new” model for innovation globally.

The first IAFOR Silk Road Initiative roundtable of 2018 was held in Moscow on February 21 in partnership with Moscow State University.

The event was hosted by the Moscow State University Institute of Asian and African Studies, and opened by the Director of the Institute, renowned scholar of politics and international relations, Professor Igor I. Abylgaziev. A group of invited scholars from both universities in Moscow and abroad attended the event, and it was organised with the kind support of the President of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies, Professor Svetlana Ter Minasova, and Dr Elena Mishieva, Academic Secretary of the same faculty, and IAFOR Silk Road Initiative Project Coordinator in Moscow.

The roundtable was co-chaired by Professor Georges Depeyrot of the École Normale Supérieure (ENS), Paris, and Board member of the CNRS, and Dr Joseph Haldane, chairman of IAFOR, and took as its subject, "International Academic Cooperation in Uncertain Times". The topic was very timely, as this is a period of great global political uncertainty.

Professor Svetlana Ter Minasova delivered the opening address, which set the scene by underlining that most senior academics had effectively lived in two separate countries in succession, The Soviet Union, and then Russia. She described the Soviet times as the "Kingdom of Prohibitions", where everything was governed by what could not be done, and by what was prohibited, and there existed an insularity and isolationism, making relations with countries outside the communist sphere difficult.

With the fall of the USSR, the new Russia, became suddenly very popular, as different companies, NGOs and universities, sought to quickly build relations with the country, and money started to pour in as people sought to gain market position and influence. Although that created funding pools that had until that point been non-existent, it also ushered in an era of inflation, and meant university lecturer wages were not enough to live on, and obliged many to engage in supplementary private tuition, with academics being underpaid and overworked. This has led to the familiar problem of a brain drain, and economic migration, as Russian academics sought higher paid opportunities abroad. Although there have been market reforms introduced, the state educations system remains slow and highly bureaucratic. A presentation by Dr Lubov Kulik of the Faculty of Economics at Moscow State University spoke of the economics of education in a presentation that considered education as both a public good and a commodity.

Recently, Russia has found itself more distanced from the west, as a result of, and resulting in, a context of increased authoritarianism and nationalism, and this has often made international research collaborations more difficult, and has seen cuts in funding from such programs as Erasmus +. For its part, the Russian funding bodies have continued to prioritise STEM subjects over the liberal arts, following a policy that mirrors most other countries. In the non science areas of study, funding is more often directed towards internationally and internally sensitive issues that are often geared towards encouraging internal cohesion, nation building and so on, and in areas such as geopolitics, small and minor languages, and other religion; not surprising given that Russia is an once an old and a young country.

The intellectual life of the country is heavily weighted in Moscow and St Petersburg, although there are attempts to ensure that other parts of the country are well funded, and there are well respected state universities elsewhere in the country, such as Novosibirsk and Vladivostok, as well as satellite campuses in the former Soviet republics, where Russia maintains considerable economic, cultural and linguistic influence.

The country also enjoys relations with many of the countries it now borders, and although these are historically weighted both positively and negatively, reflect a continued strong regional and cultural influence, where there are also large minority ethnic Russian populations. China has enjoyed a continued intellectual relationship with Russia, and there are frequent exchanges of students and professors alike, and Russian enjoys continued popularity in China, while Chinese is becoming a more popular language option. Professor Tatiana Dobrosklonskaya of Moscow State University, and a Visiting Professor at Beijing International Studies University gave a presentation which looked at the relationship and an overview of educational and cultural exchange between the two countries.

Professor Ljiljana Markovic, Dean of the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade closed the symposium by speaking of the modernisation paradigms of education, and in a context of political instability, drawing attention to crises of identity, both individual and national. She underlined that we must seek ways to collaborate, to work together, and that this is both a philosophical and practical commitment.

In all, the symposium was a great success, and we look forward to future IAFOR Silk Road Initiative events.

On February 1, 2018, Dr Christopher K. Lamont, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, delivered the Second OSIPP/IAFOR Research Centre Special Talk to graduate students and professors at Osaka University. The talk was titled, "Post-ISIL Iraq: The Challenges of Reconciliation and the Politics of Memory".

According to Dr Lamont, In 2018, Iraq will be confronted by a myriad of challenges such as the physical reconstruction of devastated urban areas, rebuilding Iraq’s infrastructure, and the return of internally displaced persons. While these challenges will take years to address, dealing with what it means to be Iraqi is just as much an imperative as the physical reconstruction of Iraq itself, if Iraq is to emerge from decades of armed conflict as a viable state.

Dr Lamont's writings have appeared in the Journal of Democracy, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, Global Policy, and in numerous other peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. He is also the author of International Criminal Justice and the Politics of Compliance (Ashgate 2010) and is co-editing the forthcoming edited volume New Critical Spaces in Transitional Justice (Indiana University Press 2018) with Dr. Arnaud Kurz

Dr Lamont has conducted extensive fieldwork in the Middle East and North Africa, including in Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, and Iraq.

On January 26, 2018, Dr Victor Teo, Assistant Professor in the Department of Japanese Studies at the University of Hong Kong, delivered the First OSIPP/IAFOR Research Centre Special Talk to graduate students and professors at Osaka University. The talk was titled, "Enlarging the Japan-US Alliance: The India Factor".

After the talk, IRC Research Associates, Irina Novikova, César Rodrigues, Carmina Untalan and Dennis Boor, asked Dr Teo questions on the lecture topic (video below).

Dr Victor Teo received his BA (Hons) from the National University of Singapore. He subsequently trained as a lawyer, and was called to the Bar of England and Wales by Middle Temple, United Kingdom. He received his MSc and subsequently, PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

His primary research interest is in the international relations of the Asia-Pacific, as well as the politics and society of China, Japan and the Koreas.

Dr Teo started his career as an LSE Fellow. He has also had fellowships at Kyoto University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, and Harvard University. Dr Teo is also one of the founding directors of DPRK Observatory, an NGO with a primary focus on the study of North Korea Affairs.

Dr Joseph Haldane from the IAFOR Research Centre was a plenary speaker at Nevsehir University for the 1st Symposium of International Silk Road Academic Studies, where he delivered an opening address, along with the rector of the university, as well as a presentation entitled “A Perspective from the Furthest Ends of the Silk Road”. The conference, held September 21–23, 2017, was chaired by Professor Ljiljana Markovic of the University of Belgrade, Serbia.

The international event took place in Nevsehir, central Turkey, and attracted more than 300 delegates. The province has an ancient history and important role in the silk road story.

Learn more:

• IAFOR Silk Road Initiative
• 1st Symposium of International Silk Road Academic Studies
• Nevsehir University, Turkey

1st Symposium of International Silk Road Academic Studies