Biographies for plenary and panel sessions

 

Hiroko Akiyama
Hiroko Akiyama, a social psychologist, is professor at the Institute of Gerontology, the University of Tokyo. Dr. Akiyama has conducted a number of cross-national surveys and is widely recognized as an expert on issues of global aging. One of the surveys is ‘Longitudinal Survey of the Life of Japanese Elderly ’which has been following approximately 6000 people every 3 years since 1987. Recently she initiated a social experiment project that aims to redesign two (urban and rural) communities to meet the needs of the highly aged society. She formed an interdisciplinary gerontology program at the University of Tokyo in 2006.

 

Hiroto Arakawa
Mr. Hiroto Arakawa was appointed as Senior Special Advisor of JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) in October 2008 following distinguished careers at the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF). During Mr. Arakawa’s time at these organizations, he worked in a variety of departments charged with handling ODA loan operations, planning and strategy, and research activities.
As Director General of JBIC’s Development Assistance Strategy Department from 2003 to 2005, he supervised overall operational strategy for the organization’s ODA portfolio. Later, he initiated various joint research projects with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, first as Executive Director responsible for development partner collaboration at JBIC from 2005 to 2007, then as Executive Director of the JBIC Institute (JBICI) from 2007 to 2008.

 

Stephen Connors
Mr. Stephen Connors is director of the Analysis Group for Regional Energy Alternatives (AGREA) at MIT’s Laboratory for Energy and the Environment. AGREA’s primary research focus is in strategic planning in energy and the environment, with an emphasis on the transformation of regional energy infrastructures (e.g. “energy pathways”) to simultaneously address energy security, climate change, and other energy challenges. Mr. Connors also coordinates several international energy initiatives involving MIT. These include the AGS “Near-Term Pathways to a Sustainable Energy Future” integrated research, education and outreach program, and the Sustainable Energy Systems Focus Area of the MIT-Portugal Program involving four Portuguese technical universities developing “regional sustainability” tools for local and regional governments and business, including the “Green Islands Project” looking at energy alternatives for the Azores islands. Mr. Connors is currently a member of the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Wind Program Peer Review Panel, and a board member of The U.S. Offshore Wind Collaborative.

 

Peter Edwards
Peter Edwards is professor of plant ecology at ETH Zurich. He obtained his PhD degree from Cambridge University for a thesis entitled ‘Nutrient cycling in a New Guinea montane rain forest’. From 1973-1993 he lectured at Southampton University in England. During this period he developed his interest in multidisciplinary research, and was a director of the GeoData Institute, a contract agency undertaking environmental research. He has published over 200 scientific papers and several books. His research focuses on large-scale processes in terrestrial ecosystems, including interactions between large herbivores and vegetation, the ecology of river flood-plains, biodiversity in agricultural landscapes and patterns of plant invasions.

 

Ralph Eichler
Ralph A. Eichler, born 1947, studied Physics at ETH Zurich. He did his PhD-thesis at the SIN (Swiss Institute for Nuclear Research). After research positions in USA and Germany he was elected associate professor in 1983 and since 1993 he is full professor for Experimental Physics at the Institute of Particle Physics of ETH Zurich.
1995 - 1997 he additionally chaired an international collaboration of 400 researchers at DESY, Hamburg. In 1998, Ralph Eichler was elected Deputy Director and in July 2002 Director of the Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen.
Since September 1, 2007 he is President at ETH Zurich.

Junichi Hamada
Dr. Junichi Hamada became the 29th President of the University of Tokyo on April 1, 2009, after serving in a number of leadership positions, including Dean of the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies and Dean of the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies in 2000-2002, and Managing Director and Executive Vice President of the University of Tokyo in 2005-2009. Dr. Hamada specializes in information law and policy,and received his BA, MA and Ph.D. all from the University of Tokyo in the field of law.

 

Keisuke Hanaki
Keisuke Hanaki, professor in the Department of Urban Engineering and in the Integrated System for Sustainability Science (IR3S), is the director of the AGS Energy Flagship Program at the University of Tokyo. He has been involved in the Tokyo Half Project and then the Low Carbon Society 2050 project from their beginnings. Prof. Hanaki researches, teaches and publishes on management of urban environmental systems, especially on urban material flow, greenhouse gas emission reduction, and life cycle analysis. Prof. Hanaki is also a board member of the Todai Global Center of Excellence for Sustainable Urban Regeneration. He is former president of the Japan Society on Water Environment, and an executive board member of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers.

 

George Hara
After graduating from Keio University (LL.B)in 1975, he became archaeologist in Central America. Then he came to the USA as UN Fellow and completed MS from School of Engineering, Stanford University to start his fiberoptic venture in Silicon Valley in 1981. Today, being Group Chairman of DEFTA Partners headquartered in San Francisco, George Hara has created more than 20 public companies from scratch to world class in the US, UK and Israel. In public sector, he also serves as the Chairman of the Board for the Alliance Forum Foundation, Advisor to Ministry of Finance (Japan), Advisor to the President (Republic of Zambia), and WAFUNIF Ambassador (UN). He has served Prime Ministers Special Commissioner on Government Tax Panel (Japan) and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Mr. Hara also created a new concept of "Public Interest Capitalism" which was described in his book "New Capitalism" (PHP, April 2009).

 

Yasuko Kameyama
Yasuko Kameyama has been working for the NIES since 1992. Her background is international relations, and her major works have been on international negotiation on climate change. She participated in most of international negotiations related to UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol between 1995 and 2001 as a member of Japanese delegation. In 1999-2000, she stayed at Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland, U.S., as a visiting researcher.
Her recent publications include; Kameyama (2007) “Process Matters: Building a Future Climate Regime with Multi-Processes”, Climate Policy, 7(5) 429-443, and Kameyama, Y., A. P. Sari, M. H. Soejachmoen and N. Kanie eds. (2008) Climate Change in Asia: Perspectives on the Future Climate Regime, Tokyo: UNU Press.

 

Hiroshi Komiyama
Hiroshi Komiyama became Chairman of the Institute of Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc. and President Emeritus at the University of Tokyo in April 2009, after completing four-year presidency at the University of Tokyo.
Dr. Komiyama received his Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees all from the University of Tokyo in chemical engineering respectively in 1967, 1969, and 1972. From 1973 to 1974, he was a post doctoral fellow at the University of California at Davis. Dr. Komiyama specializes in chemical engineering, advanced material engineering, and global environment engineering. His research work and papers have received awards three times from the Society of Chemical Engineers of Japan.

 

Inga Malmqvist
Inga Malmqvist is Associate Professor and senior lecturer in the Department of Architecture of Chalmers University of Technology. Her interests lie in the usability and flexibility of architecture, and how the built environment can adapt to the demographic situation and rapid changes in use today, including multi-function buildings, facilities management, and space management. Key components are housing and care, usability, flexibility, changeability, and attention to briefings and early stages of construction.

 

Per-Arne Malmqvist
Per-Arne Malmqvist is a professor at Chalmers University of Technology working in the area of of sustainable urban water management. He is the director of the MISTRA-funded programme Sustainable Urban Water Management (www.urbanwater.org) and the managing director for CIT Urban Water Management AB. He is also the scientific director of the Stockholm Water Prize.

 

David H. Marks
Professor David H. Marks is the Morton 42 and Claire Goulder Family Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Systems. He is a member and founder of the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment. He serves as a member of the MIT Abu Dhabi Program (MASDAR) on graduate research and education, is Director of the MIT Portugal Sustainable Energy Systems Program, and the MIT Cyprus Program helping to establish research and educational programs in Cyprus.
He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering (l969) from The Johns Hopkins University. As Head of the MIT Department of Civil Engineering
(1985-1992) he oversaw the evolution of it to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He is a founding member of the MIT Engineering Systems Divisiont. He has published more than 100 articles, chapters, and books.

 

Greg Morrison
Greg Morrison is professor in water systems engineering at Chalmers University of Technology. His published research interests include constructed wetland systems for the treatment of stormwater, metals in urban runoff and ecosystem service values for water attributes. He is also head of Water Environment Technology which is a leading water research group, with European and National projects in collaboration with the water industry. Greg is coordinator for Chalmers-AGS and has been in that position since the entry of Chalmers into the AGS in 2001.

 

Gerhard Schmitt
Gerhard Schmitt holds the chair of Information Architecture at the ETH Zurich. His research at the ETH since 1988 focuses on the development of intelligent design support systems and the architectural design of the information territory. From 1998 to 2008 Prof. Schmitt was Vice President for Planning and Logistics of the ETH Zurich. He was instrumental in developing the second ETH campus as a Science City - where science, business, and the general public meet - and where an innovative dynamic geothermal heat storage system and advanced low energy buildings reduce CO2 emissions. With the ETH World programme he initiated in 2000, the capacity of the ETH in communications, use of internet systems, and virtual interaction internationally was greatly boosted. He now holds the position of ETH Senior Vice President for International Institutional Relations, and leads the launch of the Future Cities Laboratory and the Singapore ETH Centre.

 

Malte Schneider
Malte Schneider works as senior researcher and post-doctorate at Prof. Hoffman’s Chair for Sustainability and Technology at the Department of Management, Technology, and Economics of ETH Zurich. In addition, he is currently lead author for the chapter on transnational corporations, climate change and development of UNCTAD's 2010 World Investment Report. Prior to that, he has also consulted the UNFCCC secretariat in the context of the 2008 technical paper regarding the update on investment and financial flows to address climate change. In his research, Malte takes a corporate perspective and investigates the effects of climate policy mechanisms such as the EU ETS and the CDM on firms' strategies to derive policy recommendations in a bottom-up manner. His research work on firms' engagement in the Clean Development Mechanism has been published in journals such as Climate Policy and Energy Policy.

 

Minjun Shi
Professor of Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Deputy-director of Center on Fictitious Economy and Data Science CAS and Head of division of Low-carbon Economy, FEDS.
Research field: Economics of Resource and Regional Development, Environmental policy
Professional Experiences:
March 1996, graduated from the University of Tsukuba and got Ph.D.
April 1996, Assistant Professor, University of Tsukuba, Japan
February 1999, Associate Professor, University of Tsukuba, Japan
April 2005, Professor and Executive Deputy Dean, College of Resource and Environment, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
July 2006, Professor, School of Management, GUCAS

 

Sawako Shirahase
Sawako Shirahase is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, the University of Tokyo. Her research interests include ageing and socio-economic inequality, family change and the social security system, and the comparative study of welfare states. Her most recent book is Nihon no Fubyodo wo Kangaeru: Shoshi Korei Shakai no Kokusai Hikaku (Thinking about Inequality in Japan: A Comparative Study of Ageing Societies), published by the University of Tokyo Press in 2009. She claims in her recent article (2009) in Global Asia claims that the profound social changes Japan is undergoing and it is time for all of us to build a social consensus for our civil society corresponding to new realities.

 

Akimasa Sumi
Akimasa Sumi graduated and earned M. of Sc. and D. of Sci. from the University of Tokyo. In 1973, he joined the Japan Meteorological Agency, where his research focused on numerical weather prediction. He was also a Research Associate at the Department of Meteorology, University of Hawaii, Associate Professor at the Department of Geophysics, and the Director of CCSR, the University of Tokyo. He assumed his current position in 2005. His specialty is meteorology and climate dynamics. He is a lead author of chapter 8, IPCC WG1.

 

Juliana Sutanto
Juliana Sutanto is Assistant Professor in Management Information Systems in the Department of Management, Technology, and Economics of ETH Zurich. Her research group is interested in investigating how to successfully implement and realize the potential business values of networked communication and interaction systems, including mobile commerce systems, e-governance systems, social networks, and online communities. In a study of senior citizen’s use of e-government services in Singapore, she found that the senior citizens’ perception of the usefulness of the service is determined by their perception of self-actualization. Juliana Sutanto obtained her doctoral degree in information systems from the National University of Singapore in 2008. She is a member of the Association for Information Systems (AIS), and an ad-hoc reviewer for a range of journals and conferences.