SDGs Collaborative Research Unit

Established : Dec. 18, 2017

Overview

It is no exaggeration to say that the quest for sustainable development is the biggest problem faced by the modern world. Economic development without considering the environment has led to various hazards such as global warming; moreover, despite growth in the world economy, economic disparities have increased, and extreme poverty, threatening survival itself, is now even more widespread in many developing countries. The United Nations has advocated sustainable development goals (SDGs), with the objective of promoting a response to this harsh situation.

The University of Tokyo has already strongly advocated research on SDGs via the Future Society Initiative, and the Policy Alternatives Research Institute (PARI) has suggested this previously as a research topic, but no research area has been established for this purpose. The aim of the SDGs Collaborative Research Unit proposed here would be to become a hub and to focus research on SDGs at the University of Tokyo, with the collaboration of the Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science (IR3S) of the University of Tokyo.

Research

Examples of activities conducted would include: (1) research on selection to achieve sustainability in the global environment; (2) clarification of the associations between changes in the global environment on the one hand and national and international governmental conflicts on the other, in collaboration with the Security Studies Unit; and (3) research related to the possibility of economic development linked to sustainability, in collaboration with the Risks in the Global Economy: Analysis and Policy Research Unit, which are scheduled to be the principal topics. It is hoped that research on SDGs will be performed in collaboration with other research areas of this institute, the research organizations of the University of Tokyo, starting with the IR3S, and with Japanese and overseas research organizations.

Project

The nexus of international politics in climate change and water resource, from the perspective of security studies and SDGs

Director

Kiichi Fujiwara (Director and Professor, Policy Alternatives Research Institute / Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics)

Members

Yee Kuang Heng (Professor, Graduate School of Public Policy)
Aiko Nishikida (Associate Professor, Dr. Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)
Chiharu Takenaka (Professor, College of Law and Politics, Department of Politics, Rikkyo University)
Takeshi Wada (Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences)
Taikan Oki (Professor, Policy Alternatives Research Institute / Professor, Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science / Senior Vice-Rector, United Nations University, Japan / Assistant Secretary-General, United Nations)
Kensuke Fukushi (Professor, Policy Alternatives Research Institute / Professor, Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science)
Yuya Kajikawa (Professor, Policy Alternatives Research Institute / Professor, Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science / Professor, School of Environment and Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology / Visiting Professor, Strategic Innovation Office, Nagoya University)
Yukari Takamura (Professor, Policy Alternatives Research Institute / Professor, Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science)
Alexandros Gasparatos (Associate Professor, Policy Alternatives Research Institute / Associate Professor, Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science)
Yasunori Kikuchi (Associate Professor, Policy Alternatives Research Institute / Associate Professor, Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science)
Kazuyo Hanai (Assistant Professor, Policy Alternatives Research Institute)
Hiroko Yamano (Assistant Professor, Policy Alternatives Research Institute)
Nazia Hussain (Project Assistant Professor, Policy Alternatives Research Institute)