We’re pleased to announce that the 6th GRIPS Student Conference will be held on 5 September 2017. This year’s theme is “Public Policy and the 2030 Agenda: The Way Forward“.

 

 

The full list of speakers, presentation titles and schedule is now available for download.

 

Conference Program (tentative)

09:00~09:30	Morning registration
09:30~10:20	Keynote Speech I “The 2030 Agenda: Formation and Challenges” Dr. Akihiko Tanaka, President, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)
10:20~10:40	Break
10:40~12:00	Concurrent Morning Session Presentations by various student scholars in Japan and abroad on their research in international relations, development, macroecoeconomics, globalisation, environment, and social & public policy.
12:00~13:30	Lunch break & afternoon registration
13:30~14:20	Keynote Speech II “Taking an Integrated Approach to SDGs in Asia” Dr. Eric Zusman, Senior Policy Researcher, Sustainability Governance Centre, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)
14:20~15:40	Concurrent Afternoon Session Presentations by various student scholars in Japan and abroad on their research in international relations, development, macroecoeconomics, globalisation, environment, and social & public policy.
15:40~16:00	Break
16:00~16:30	Wrap-up Session
16:30~17:30	Presenting certificates & networking reception

 

About the keynote speakers

Akihiko Tanaka is President of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS). Before assuming the present post, he was President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) from April 2012 till September 2015. He spent much of his career at the University of Tokyo, as a Professor of International Politics at the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies and at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, as Vice President (2011-2012), Executive Vice President (2009-2011), and Director of the Division of International Affairs (2008-2010).

Dr. Tanaka obtained his B.A. in International Relations at the University of Tokyo in 1977 and his Ph.D. in Political Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981. His specialties include theories of international politics, contemporary international relations in East Asia, and Japan’s foreign policy. He has numerous books and articles in Japanese and English and he received the Medal with Purple Ribbon for his academic achievements in 2012.

 

 

Eric Zusman is a senior policy researcher/area leader at the Institute for Global Environmental Studies in Hayama, Japan. Dr. Zusman holds a bachelors degree in Mandarin Chinese from Rutgers University, a dual Masters Degree in public policy and Asian studies from the University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles. For much of the past decade he has worked on environmental issues in Asia. This has included publishing articles and book chapters on water scarcity, air pollution regulation, environmental law and state capacity in greater China. It has also included working with China’s Yellow River Conservancy Commission and the Chinese Research Academy on Environmental Science. He also held research assistantships with the Woodrow Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum as well as Taiwan’s Academia Sinica. In his current position, he is looking at the co-benefits of climate policies in developing Asia. He recently published an edited volume on co-benefits in Asia’s transport sector entitled Low Carbon Transport in Asia: Strategies for Optimizing Co-benefits.

 

 

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Conference Objectives & Background

The conference brings together a diverse group of students, researchers, and professionals from various disciplines and backgrounds to share ideas and research findings on the political, social, and economic challenges facing the world today and to discuss how these challenges can be addressed. We have three goals: to promote a scholarly exchange of ideas, to set new research directions, and to encourage rigorous inter-disciplinary research and collaboration.

 

The hope for a better world paved the way for the adoption of the millennium development goals (MDGs) in 2000 under which much progress has been made. The MDGs were set to expire in 2015 and to further the universal goals of ending poverty, achieving peace and stability, and protecting our planet, the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015. 

 

In spite of the impressive progress recorded over the past decades at the aggregate levels, the MDGs and the SDGs have not been without formidable challenges.  Economic growth remains fragile for the most part of the developing world. Across many countries, elite consensus about the benefits of globalisation is being questioned by a new populism as global inequality widens. Terrorism, rising nationalism and instability point to a period of new security challenges. What is more, the marauding effects of climate change amidst US’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement coupled with its incipient UN-scepticism portend far-reaching implications for the 2030 Agenda. The foregoing darts new policy challenges to policy makers. Where do we go from here?

 

This sets the stage for a fascinating conference, which will centre on the theme of Public Policy and the 2030 Agenda: The Way Forward. The conference will cover a wide range of topics, from international relations, security and development to domestic policy and economics.

 

The conference is open to all GRIPS and non-GRIPS students, researchers, and professionals, and it provides an excellent opportunity for young as well as established researchers to share expertise in important policy areas, contribute to existing scholarship, and expand their network of colleagues and collaborators.

 

Date / Time: Tuesday, 5 September, 2017, 09:30~17:30 Venue: National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), 1ABC (access) Language: English (no translation will be provided)