Project Assistant Professor/Project Research Associate

His areas of specializations are Asian Politics and International Relations, Strategy and Defense, Transport Security

Working Group 4 on the Emerging Issues in Security Studies
Working Group 5 on Indo-Pacific Transport Security (Chair)

Sub-Working Group 1 on Satellite Imagery Analysis Project

Sub-Working Group 2 on Tabletop Exercises (Chair)

Ryo HINATA-YAMAGUCHI is a Project Assistant Professor at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo; Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Indo-Pacific Security Initiative; and Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Pacific Forum. Ryo has presented, published, and consulted on a variety of topics relating to defense and security, and transport governance in the Indo-Pacific. Ryo previously served as a Non-Commissioned Officer in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (reserve) and also held positions at the Pusan National University, Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang, FM Bird Entertainment Agency, International Crisis Group Seoul Office, Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Embassy of Japan in Australia, and the Japan Foundation Sydney Language Centre. Ryo received his PhD from the University of New South Wales, MA in Strategic and Defense Studies and BA in Security Analysis from the Australian National University and was also a Korea Foundation Language Training Fellow.

Twitter: @tigerrhy
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tigerrhy/
Blog (Japanese): https://note.com/tigerrhy/

Senior Program Coordinator

Dr. Bich Tran is a postdoctoral fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. 

In addition to being an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC, she has been a visiting fellow at the East West Center, International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS-Asia), and ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute among others.

Dr. Tran obtained her PhD in Political Science from the University of Antwerp in Belgium. She has published on various platforms, including Asia Pacific Issues, Asian Perspective, Asian Politics & Policy, The Diplomat, East Asia Forum, and Fulcrum. Dr. Tran is the author of “Vietnam's Strategic Adjustments and US Policy” (Survival 64, no. 6, 77–90). A full list of her publications can be found on ResearchGate.

Research interests: Vietnam’s grand strategy, Vietnam-China relations, Vietnam-US relations, ASEAN, maritime security 

Dr. Kristi Govella is Director of the Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs and an Assistant Professor of Asian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She specializes in the intersection of economics and security in international relations, with a particular focus on the Indo-Pacific region and Japan. Dr. Govella’s research has examined topics such as economic statecraft, trade, investment, multinational firms, alliances, regional institutional architecture, and the governance of the global commons. In addition to her publications in journals and edited books, she is the co-editor of two books: Linking Trade and Security: Evolving Institutions and Strategies in Asia, Europe, and the United States (2013) and Responding to a Resurgent Russia: Russian Policy and Responses from the European Union and the United States (2012). She serves as an Adjunct Fellow at the East-West Center and Pacific Forum and as Editor of the journal Asia Policy. 

Dr. Govella was previously Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of the Asia Program at The German Marshall Fund of the United States, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University, and an Associate Professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. She has also been a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Tokyo and Waseda University. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Research interests: economic statecraft, economic security, economic coercion, trade, investment, firms, alliances, regional institutional architecture, maritime security, cyberspace, outer space, non-traditional security

Eunjung Lim is an Associate Professor at Division of International Studies, Kongju National University (KNU). She served as Vice President for International Affairs, Dean of Institute of Korean Education and Culture, and Dean of Institute of International Language Education at the same university.

Her areas of specialization include international cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, comparative and global governance, and energy, nuclear, and climate change policies of East Asian countries. Since 2018, she has served as a board member of Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control (KINAC), and currently serves as a member of Policy Advisory Committee for Ministry of Unification. She is also the chair of Japan Studies Committee of The Korean Association of International Studies.

Before joining the KNU faculty, Dr. Lim served as an Assistant Professor at College of International Studies, Ritsumeikan University, in Kyoto, Japan. She also taught at several universities in the United States and Korea, including Johns Hopkins University, Yonsei University, and Korea University. She has been a researcher and a visiting fellow at academic institutes including the Center for Contemporary Korean Studies at Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies at the University of Tokyo, the Institute of Japanese Studies at Seoul National University, the Institute of Japan Studies at Kookmin University, and the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan.

She earned a B.A. from the University of Tokyo, an M.I.A. from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Research interests: international cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, comparative and global governance, energy security, resource security, nuclear policies, fuel cycle policies, climate change policies