SPIA and University of Tokyo Strengthen Ties Through Academic Workshop

Jun 14 2022
By Brittany N. Murray
Topics International Development National Security, Intelligence, Defense

The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs’ Center for International Security Studies recently co-hosted a workshop with the University of Tokyo Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI) in Tokyo.

“Hanging Together? The United States and Japan in a Transforming East Asia and World Order,” was held at the Ito International Research Center at the University of Tokyo on June 2-4, 2022. The workshop was part of an ongoing collaboration between G. John Ikenberry, the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs, and IFI Visiting Professor Kiichi Fujiwara.

The SPIA Center for International Security Studies recently co-hosted a workshop with the University of Tokyo Institute for Future Initiatives in Tokyo. Five current graduate students and three recent Ph.D. graduates presented a piece of their research. (Photo courtesy of John Ikenberry)
The SPIA Center for International Security Studies recently co-hosted a workshop with the University of Tokyo Institute for Future Initiatives in Tokyo. Five current graduate students and three recent Ph.D. graduates presented a piece of their research. (Photo courtesy of John Ikenberry)

Five current graduate students and three recent Ph.D. graduates presented a piece of their research to nearly a dozen Japanese scholars who provided comments and feedback. Among those who attended and presented their research were SPIA’s Lynn Lee, Ayumi Teraoka, and Merlin Boone, as well as Rikio Inouye and Heather Penatzer in Princeton’s Department of Politics. Several of these graduate students used the workshop to explore dissertation research opportunities and as a jumping-off point for summer fieldwork.

“This was an opportunity for our current grad students to meet and exchange ideas with recent Princeton Ph.D. students who are now making their way in the field,” Ikenberry said. “We also had a panel where scholars from both Princeton and the University of Tokyo shared ideas about emerging areas of international relations and East Asia research.”

Members of the Princeton delegation were Adam P. Liff, associate professor of East Asian international relations at Indiana University's Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies; Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; and Ja Ian Chong, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Singapore National University.

Ikenberry said the workshop was a “huge success” and is hopeful that it will become an annual event.

“I think this week’s event is a start to developing a partnership between SPIA and the University of Tokyo,” he said. “There is real enthusiasm on both the Princeton and Japanese side to continue building ties.”

Next year’s event is tentatively scheduled for early June, the weekend following Princeton’s Commencement.