Professor

Satoshi Ikeuchi is Professor of the Division of Religion and Global Security at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) of the University of Tokyo. He is the founding head of the RCAST Open Laboratory for Emergence Strategies (ROLES).

For the year 2022-2023, he is Senior Visiting Scholar in Residence at the Moshe Dayan Center (MDC) for Middle Eastern and African Studies of Tel Aviv University.

He is a scholar on Islamic political thought and the Middle East politics. As a leading public intellectual in Japan, he has been vigorously publishing on the Middle East and Islamic affairs.

His first publication based on his doctoral studies, Gendai Arabu-no Shakai Shiso: Shumatsuron-to Isramu-shugi (Contemporary Arab Social Thought: Eschatology and Islamism), was published in 2002 and earned Osaragi Jiro Prize for Critical Works. He also earned Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities in 2009 for his book Islamu Sekai-no Ronjikata (Methods of Discussing Islam).

His book on the Islamic State Isulamu Koku no Shogeki (The Impact of the Islamic State) published in January 2015 was a nation-wide best seller in Japan and awarded Mainichi Publishing Cultural Prize. His recent publication includes Saikusu Piko Kyotei: Hyakunen no Jubaku (Sykes-Picot Agreement: One Hundred Years of Obsession) in 2016 and Shiiaha to Sunniha (Shite and Sunnite) in 2018 both published from Shinchosha. He is the recipient of the 12th Nakasone Yasuhiro Prize in 2016 for his academic works and social engagements.

His collection of literary essays and book reviews Shomotsu not Unmei (The Fate of Books) published in 2006 and earned Mainichi Book Review Award for the year.

He was a visiting professor at the Alexandria University 2007-2008, Japan Scholar chair visiting scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 2009 and Visiting Fellow at the Clare Hall, University of Cambridge in 2010. 

He specializes in Middle East politics and Arab-Islamic Thought, particularly on global Jihadism and its implications for international security.

Professor, Faculty of Political Science & Economics, Seigakuin University
Visiting Fellow, RCAST, University of Tokyo

Project Researcher

Amane TANAKA is a Project Researcher at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), the University of Tokyo.

His research interests include Contemporary Chinese Politics and China-Central Asia relations. He is a co-editor of Changing Politics and Social Groups in China: The Challenges of Transition (2013, in Japanese) and Chinese Muslims Area Studies (2012, in Japanese). In addition, he has published articles on China-Central Asia relations through the lens of the security-development nexus, China’s state-building processes under the CCP rule, and regional autonomy in Xinjiang in the 1950s.

Project Researcher

Working Group 2 on Middle Eastern and Islamic Alternatives (Coordinator)

Israel Week @ UTokyo Komaba Research Campus

Working Group 5 on Indo-Pacific Transport Security (Coordinator)

Sub-Working Group 2 on Tabletop Exercises (Coordinator)

Professional Experience  
2024 - : Project Researcher, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo  
2024 - : Part-Time Lecturer, School of Global Studies, Tama University  
2020 - 2023: Part-Time Lecturer, School of Global Studies, Tama University  
2018 - 2020: Other, School of Global Studies, Tama University  

Visiting Senior Research Fellow
Associate Professor, Center for the Study of Co* Design, Osaka University

Dr. Toshiya Tsujita is Associate Professor,  Center for the Study of Co* Design, Osaka University, concurrently a Visiting Senior Fellow at RCAST. 

He was a Project Research Associate/Adjunct Assistant Professor at the RCAST of the University of Tokyo from 2021-2022, working for ROLES, particularly on projects regarding Israel and the international security in the Middle East. 

Senior Associate Professor, Temple University Japan Campus

Energy Analyst; Representative Manager, Friday Forum 

Associate Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo

Visiting Researcher, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo/President, Toyo Eiwa University

Chief Researcher, JIME Center, The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan

Chief Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization

Research Fellow, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization

Research Fellow, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization

Co-operative Research Fellow

Associate Member of ROLES
Associated Researcher of RCAST, University of Tokyo

Working Group 2 on Middle Eastern and Islamic Alternatives

Working Group 5 on Indo-Pacific Transport Security (Assistant Coordinator)

Sub-Working Group 2 on Tabletop Exercises (Assistant Coordinator)

Twitter: @toyodadesuyo

Former Senior Researcher, JIME Center, The Institute of Energy
Economics, Japan (IEEJ)

President/Senior Fellow, Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies

Visiting Research Fellow of RCAST

Associate Member of ROLES
Associated Researcher of RCAST, The University of Tokyo
Visiting Fellow, The Strategy, Statecraft, and Technology (Changing Character of War) Centre (SST-CCW), The University of Oxford

Areas of Expertise:

Conflict Resolution, Countering Violent Extremism, Peacebuilding, Frontline Negotiations, Strategic Dialogue

 

Dr. Yosuke Nagai is the Executive Director of Accept International, and Founder of the Global Taskforce for Youth Combatants. Since 2011, he has dedicated himself to implementing deradicalization, reintegration, and rehabilitation programs for disengaged combatants of non-state armed groups worldwide, and also actively fostered dialogue and reconciliation in some countries. Dr. Nagai holds a PhD in Social Science from Waseda University and a Master’s degree in Conflict Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science, has served as a visiting fellow at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, currently serves as a visiting fellow at the University of Oxford, and is a member of a Youth Advisory Board, an Expert Group Meeting, and a Technical Working Group within various UN agencies.

 

Publication 

Nagai, Yosuke (2025) “Unique Potential of Youth Associated with Non-State Armed Groups (YANSAG): Case in Indonesia and the Philippines”, Peacebuilding in Southeast Asia, Springer, Forthcoming 

 

Harper, Erica & Nagai, Yosuke (2024) “Unpacking the Climate Migration Extremism Nexus Mapping the Coping Strategies of Kenyan Pastoralists,” Research Brief, 4, pp.1-16.

 

Nagai, Yosuke & Harper, Erica (2023) “Youths Associated with Non-State Armed Groups: A New Perspective to Youths in Armed conflicts with Non-State Armed Groups,” Academy Briefing, Vol 23, pp.1-25. 

 

Nagai, Yosuke (2023) My life towards armed conflicts and terrorism: the ambitious challenge from Japan to overcoming the chain of hatred in the world, Shogakan, Tokyo, Japan.

 

Nagai, Yosuke & Maeda, Kanu (2021) “PRACTICE-BASED EVIDENCE AND BEYOND: A CASE OF VIOLENT EXTREMIST OFFENDER CORRECTION IN A CONFLICT ZONE,” Advancing Corrections Journal, #11, pp.170-180.

 

Nagai, Yosuke (2021) “Reintegration of Al-Shabaab’s Defectors in Somalia: An Examination of Conditions for Successful Reintegration,” Peace and Conflict Studies, Volume 27, Number 3, pp.1-34.

 

Nagai, Yosuke (2021) “Re-Thinking the Role of Civil Society in the Problematic Ongoing Process of Post-Conflict Reconstruction,” Peace Studies Journal, Volume 14, Issue 1, pp.65-77.

 

Nagai, Yosuke (2020) “A Critical Analysis of ‘Security-Development’ Nexus: United Nations, Peacekeeping Operations, and Peacebuilding Framework,” NUST Journal of International Peace & Stability, 3 (1), pp.1-12.

 

Nagai, Yosuke (2017) I’m 13 years old and my mission is suicide bombing, Godo Press, Tokyo, Japan

 

Nagai, Yosuke (2016) We are talking with Somalia gangs about dream, Eiji Press, Tokyo, Japan.

 

Associate Member of ROLES
Associated Researcher of RCAST, The University of Tokyo
Visiting Researcher, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, The University of Tokyo

Areas of Expertise:

International Politics

Islamic Political Thought

Economic Security

 

Prior to join UTokyo III-GSII, Koki Shigenoi held several research position include Al Jazeera Centre for Studies (2018-19), College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (2018-19), Intelligence and Analysis Services at Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (2019-20), Asia-Pacific Department at Konrad Adenauer Foundation (2020-21), National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) (2022-23), Graduate School of Public Policy at The University of Tokyo (UTokyo GraSPP) (2023-24).

  

·        Japan's Role for Southeast Asia Amidst the Great Power Competition: and its Implication to the EU-Japan Partnership. Hanoi: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, 2022.

·         “Evaluating the effect of military intervention on rebel governance in terms of disaggregated human security.” (with Wakako Maekawa) Small Wars & Insurgencies 33/6 (2022): 1059-1084.

·         “Strangeness and Strangers: An Annotated Translation and Introduction to Shāṭibī’s Iʿtiṣām.” [in Japanese] (with Nozomi Tajima) Journal of Global Studies 11 (2020): 339-372.

·         “Strangeness and Strangers: A Translation and Introduction of a Hadīth Commentary on ‘Blessed Are the Strangers’ from Ibn Qayyim's Madārij al-Sālikīn.” [in Japanese] Journal of Global Studies 10 (2019): 191-225.

·         “Strangeness and Strangers: Translation and Bibliographical Introduction on the Hadith Commentary Essay from “Majmūʿah al-Fatāwā” on “Blessed Are the Strangers” by Ibn Taymīyah.” [in Japanese] Journal of Global Studies 8 (2017): 177-204.

 

·         “The New Geopolitics of the Middle East (Part 3 & 4) : Shifts in Regional Dynamics 2001-2023.” [in Japanese] Foresight. February 16, 2025.

·         “The New Geopolitics of the Middle East (Part 1 & 2) : Syrian Revolution and Geopolitical Setback for Russia and Iran.” [in Japanese] Foresight. December 28, 2024.

·         “Small Yard, High Fence.” The Berlin Pulse 2023/2024. pp. 16-17.

·         “Economic Zeitenwende? Lessons from Japan’s Economic Security Policy.” 49 security.  December 2022.

·         “Japan’s Chinese lesson: diversifying only production is not enough.” (with Aya Adachi) Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS). November 2022.

·         “Beyond Indo-Pacific, Toward Great Power Competition: German Indo-Pacific Engagement Under the New Government.” (with Kikyo Taguchi) Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. March 2022.

·         “The Geo-economics of US-China Relations: What Does it Mean for ASEAN?” (with David Merkle) Diplomatic Briefing 4. February 2022. pp. 24-28.