About Us

Nagasaki University declares its commitment to contribute to the realization of “planetary health” worldwide. To achieve this, it will create and draw upon knowledge from various disciplines to solve the diverse and interconnected problems facing humanity and the Earth. It promotes research and education that contributes to three fields of study: global health, global risk, and global ecology. The Research Center for Global Risk (CGR) was established on June 1, 2024 to conduct cutting-edge research in the field of global risk.

The Center will integrate the wisdom of the humanities and social sciences while leveraging the history of Nagasaki, which experienced the atomic bombing, and the strengths of Nagasaki University, including its unique and ongoing efforts in peace education and nuclear weapons abolition research to date, as well as its outstanding achievements in tropical medicine and infectious diseases, to promote interdisciplinary research on the risks surrounding nuclear weapons, global environmental destruction, and pandemics, among other modern global issues.

In addition, the Center will create a space for interdisciplinary research through international collaboration and joint research between the humanities and sciences, and will make various proposals to the international community, as well as nurture the next generation of researchers, experts with policy-making abilities, and leaders in the international community.

The Center is an interdepartmental organization within the university, made up of faculty members with interests in global risk. Categorizing global risks into six areas, the Center operates as a new collaborative research space, with researchers, practitioners, and citizens working together to analyze and address the complex and multi-layered risks that characterize our world today.

From the director of CGR

Greetings from Akihiro Iwashita, Director of the newly established Research Center for Global Risk (CGR). In truth, I have not developed my career in academia in terms of “global risk.” Rather, my research has always focused on the sorts of conflicts that frequently occur in various forms around the world, and which are often linked with one another. I began my research working in the fields of history, international law, politics and international relations, and subsequently expanded my interests through political geography, anthropology, and studies of culture, representation and tourism. Across these fields, my engagement with border studies encouraged me to develop a multi-disciplinary approach able to capture both the local and global scales, one which prioritized people’s lives first. All of these factors drive my determination to push the newly-emerging research horizon of global risk studies, which is now reshaping Nagasaki University.

Look at the world today, and it is easy to see that humanity is facing a crisis, perhaps of its survival. At the same time, the wars, disasters, and poverty that are visible daily through both mass and social media, the images of people dying or struggling to survive which we see every day though both mass and social media, frequently engender an attitude of indifference, as they do not necessarily impact on our daily life. The surfeit of information in today's world makes it difficult for us to get a handle on the crises which threaten all of us.

CGR will prepare students and researchers to respond to the crises which now confront us, not just in Japan but also in the world. From a global perspective, CGR will promote comprehensive research on the detection, management, prescription, and prevention of risks in diverse arenas, from climate change to nuclear and biological weapons, infectious diseases, military conflicts, information intelligence, and social fragmentation.

Nagasaki University possesses a number of leading institutions. These include the Graduate School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences, the Graduate School of Economics, the Graduate School of Integrated Science and Technology, which among other topics focuses renewable energy, natural environment, and carbon neutrality, the Institute of Tropical Medicine, and the Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, which draws on Nagasaki’s experience and memory of the atomic bombing to create a “world without nuclear weapons.”

CGR will draw upon these resources of Nagasaki University in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences to build an international network of collaboration between the humanities and sciences. At the same time, we will collaborate with locals to learn how global risks affect the community and how these crises can and should be faced.

Our CGR studies risk by developing interdisciplinary networks which enable it to be analyzed. Nevertheless, while these networks will be global, ultimately it is people living in locales who bear the risk. We wish that CGR, here in Nagasaki, will always be there to aid and assist those living locally. We have only just begun, and we would like to ask for your guidance and encouragement as we set out on this vital journey.

Director of the Research Center for Global Risk

Dr. Akihiro Iwashita

Structure

Research Center for Global Risk consists of the following six units

〇Principles of Global Risk Studies

  • Compel Radomir

    Unit Leader Graduate School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences Associate Professor
    Research Area
    Comparative Politics
  • Gülbeyaz Abdurrahman

    Graduate School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences Associate Professor
    Research Area
    Human Sciences, Semiotics, Sociology
  • Kuniyuki Terada

    Graduate School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences Assistant Professor
    Research Area
    social theory, sociology of globalization
  • Taisuke Fujita

    Graduate School of Economics Associate Professor
    Research Area
    International Relations
  • Masayoshi Takahashi

    Graduate School of Integrated Science and Technology Associate Professor
    Research Area
    statistical science

〇Information and Technology

  • Noboru Takamura

    Unit Leader Atomic Bomb Disease Institute Professor
    Research Area
    Radiation Risk Sciences
  • Koki Tamura

    Graduate School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences Assistant Professor
    Research Area
    Ethics
  • Ichi Kanaya

    Graduate School of Integrated Science and Technology Professor
    Research Area
    Media art, Kansei informatics, Design science, Digital heritage, Cultural anthropology
  • Sumi Yokoyama

    Atomic Bomb Disease Institute Professor
    Research Area
    Radiation Biology and Protection
  • Naomi Hayashida

    Atomic Bomb Disease Institute Professor
    Research Area
    Medicine, Healthcare, Thyroid

〇Geopolitics and Economics

  • Masayo Shikimi

    Unit Leader Graduate School of Economics Professor
    Research Area
    Banking, Corporate Finance, Sustainable Finance
  • Kazunori Hayanagi

    Graduate School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences Professor
    Research Area
    Area Studies, Intercultural Studies
  • Alayna Ynacay-Nye

    Graduate School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences Assistant Professor
    Research Area
    Politcal Economy, Rural Sociology
  • Hiroyuki Kuwahata

    Graduate School of Economics Associate Professor
    Research Area
    Economics, International trade
  • Tomoko Kiyota

    Office for Global Relations Associate Professor
    Research Area
    International Security, India

〇Society and Infectious Diseases 

  • Wataru Iijima

    Unit Leader Institute of Tropical Medicine Professor
    Research Area
    Social History of Medicine
  • Yasuaki Sato

    Graduate School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences Associate Professor
    Research Area
    Anthropology, African Area Studies
  • Makoto Minami

    Graduate School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences Associate Professor
    Research Area
    SOCIOLOGY
  • Shigeta Minamimori

    Graduate School of Economics Associate Professor
    Research Area
    Japanese Economic History,History of Japanese Economic Thought

〇Environment

  • Kana Miwa

    Unit Leader Graduate School of Economics Professor
    Research Area
    Development Economics
  • Arinori Kawamura

    Graduate School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences Associate Professor
    Research Area
    Criminal Procedure Law, International Criminal Law
  • Seiko Goto

    Graduate School of Integrated Science and Technology Professor
    Research Area
    Landscape Architecture
  • Sunhee Suk

    Graduate School of Integrated Science and Technology Associate Professor
    Research Area
    Environmental economics
  • Lina Madaniyazi

    School of Tropical Medecine and Global Health Associate Professor
    Research Area
    Environmental Epidemiology, Health impact of climate change and air pollution

〇Nuclear and Biological

  • Fumiko Kasuga

    Unit Leader School of Tropical Medecine and Global Health Professor
    Research Area
    Sustainability science, Food safety
  • Michiru Nishida

    Graduate School of Global Humanities and Social Sciences Professor
    Research Area
    International Security, Nuclear deterrence and arms control, Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation
  • Kazuko Hikawa

    Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition Professor
    Research Area
    Nulcear Disarmament and Non-proliferation

〇Principal faculty member

  • Akihiro Iwashita

    Research Center for Global Risk Director
    Research Area
    International Relations, Boder studies
  • Yesbol Sartayev

    Research Center for Global Risk Assistant Professor
    Research Area
    Environmental Radiation and Epidemiology, Nuclear disaster and preparedness, Banking, and Corporate Finance
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