The United Nations University (UNU) is pleased to announce that Dr Shinobu Yume Yamaguchi has been appointed as the next Director of the UNU Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS). Dr Yamaguchi joins the Institute today and will assume full leadership on 1 November 2019.
Dr Yamaguchi succeeds Dr Kazuhiko Takemoto, to whom UNU is grateful for leading UNU-IAS since its inception in 2014 and for having focused the Institute’s work on important sustainability issues both in Japan and globally. Dr Yamaguchi comes to UNU from Tokyo Institute of Technology, where she was a Professor in the Global Scientific Information and Computing Center.
“It’s a pleasure to welcome Dr Yamaguchi to the UNU family and to our Headquarters location here in Tokyo”, said UNU Rector David M. Malone. “Her strong background in academia, combined with her impressive substantive knowledge in international development, education, and public policy will benefit the work of both UNU-IAS and the broader UNU system.”
UNU-IAS, based in Tokyo, is one of 14 UNU institutes located in 12 countries around the world. The mission of UNU-IAS is to advance efforts towards a more sustainable future, through policy-oriented research and capacity development focused on sustainability and its social, economic, and environmental dimensions. The Institute is active in three thematic areas: sustainable societies, natural capital and biodiversity, and global change and resilience.
At Tokyo Institute of Technology, Dr Yamaguchi served as an Associate Professor (2002‒2006) and then full Professor (from 2006). In 2005‒2007, she concurrently served as Advisor to the President. Her fields of specialisation includes international development and cooperation, educational development, and ICT, reform and policy of education, science and technology policy, and the application of technology in World Heritage Site preservation.
Before joining Tokyo Institute of Technology, Dr Yamaguchi was a Lecturer at Aoyama Gakuin University (Tokyo). Prior to that, she worked for five years with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), first at the Paris headquarters, and then in the Beijing Office. While with UNESCO, she was involved primarily in the development of education systems in China, Indonesia, Mongolia, and Pakistan.
Dr Yamaguchi is an Associate Member of the Science Council of Japan, and an active member of the Comparative and International Education Society, the Japan Society for International Development, Educational Research Association, and the World Council of Comparative Education Societies. She also has served on numerous committees focused on international activities and comparative educational studies, including those organised by the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
Dr Yamaguchi holds a PhD in Economics of Education from Columbia University (New York). She has authored or co-authored more than 200 publications and conference/seminar presentations.
– – – – –
Media contact
Hillary McBride, UNU Head of Communications, Tokyo
mcbride@unu.edu
+81 80 4202 7599
