Inauguration of Three Research Centers for Human Security

In April 2010, a new research institute, the Institute for Advanced Global Studies (IAGS), was established at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Of its five constituent bodies, three were newly created, namely, the Research Center for Sustainable Peace, the Research Center for Sustainable Development and the Center for African Studies. Exploring the issues which are closely related with human security, these three centers are expected to provide solid research backgrounds for the HSP as an educational program.

• Research Center for Sustainable Peace (RCSP) (Director : Ai Kihara-Hunt) http://cdr.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/RCSP/
  Sustainable Peace is an endeavor at realizing stable and peaceful societies where freedom of each individual is respected to its maximum over the current and future generations without reliance on fear and repression. In pursuing this endeavor, the Center gains a boost from the new paradigm of human security. The Research Center for Sustainable Peace supports and promotes relevant research activities, such as: historical and theoretical examination of concepts of peace; various discourse analyses; field studies and action research at actual as well as potential conflict sites around the world. The center also conducts critical analysis of ideas and policies for attaining sustainable peace.
• Research Center for Sustainable Development (RCSD) (Director : Yuichi Sekiya)
  Sustainable Development is an endeavor at improving, without degradation in the natural environment, the quality of life for all human beings over the current and future generations. As such, it constitutes one of the main conceptual pillars of the new paradigm of human security. This Center supports and promotes relevant research activities for sustainable development, such as: historical, theoretical and critical analysis of different ideas and policies of development; field studies; action research at sites of various development activities around the world.
• Center for African Studies (RCAS) (Director : Mitsugi Endo)
  50 years after “the Year of Africa”, Africa is now undergoing a massive transition in the contemporary world. This Center, relying on research methods afforded by the humanities as well as social sciences, explores this rapidly changing continent from multiple perspectives. Benefiting from the new paradigm of human security, the Center supports and promotes various research activities focusing on Africa, such as: theoretical and empirical researches on social, political and economic changes on the continent; the analyses of state formation/collapse processes and the accompanying violent conflicts which many African societies have gone through in these decades.

Research Projects

The Program is also actively engaged in various research projects financed by outside organizations through the participation of its faculty members.

• Open Research Projects (A), The LIXIL Ushioda East Asian Humanities Initiative, Humanities Center, UTokyo
  “Analysis of Prevention of Crimes in United Nations Peace Operations from Legal and Social Perspectives” (2019/20, Leader : Ai Kihara-Hunt)
• Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) (No. 18H03621), funded by the JSPS
  “Governance for Sustainable Peace and Development : Interdisciplinary Study Based on Network Science and Data Science” (FY2018-2021, Leader : Takuto Sakamoto)
• Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) (No. 16H02003), funded by the JSPS
  “Network Governance for Access to Justice in East Asia” (FY2016-2020, Leader : Yasunobu Sato)