Jun Akabane joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as visiting scholar beginning spring 2025 through winter 2026. He currently serves as Professor at Chuo University in the Department of Economics. While at APARC, he will be conducting research analyzing business strategies in the era of economic security from the perspective of global value chains, environmental and human rights issues, with a particular focus on companies in the U.S. and Asia.

Professor Shinichi Kitaoka joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as Visiting Scholar, Japan Program Fellow for the spring quarter of 2025. He serves as Special Advisor to the President (former President) of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), as well as Emeritus Professor of the University of Tokyo and Rikkyo University. Previously, he was President of JICA. Dr. Kitaoka’s career also includes President of the International University of Japan (2012-2015), Professor of National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) (2012-), Professor of Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, the University of Tokyo (1997-2004, 2006-2012), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations (2004-2006), and Professor of College of Law and Politics, Rikkyo University (1985-1997).

Dr. Kitaoka’s specialty is modern Japanese politics and diplomacy. He obtained his B.A. (1971) and his Ph.D. (1976) both from the University of Tokyo.

Huiyi Lyu joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as a visiting student researcher for the winter quarter of 2025. She is currently a doctoral student in International Relations at Tsinghua University. While at APARC, she will be conducting research on U.S.-Asia relations, particularly the U.S.-China narrative competition in the information age, with the Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab (SNAPL).

Joong-Seop Kim joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as visiting scholar for the 2025 calendar year. He currently serves as Emeritus Professor in the Department of Sociology at Gyeongsang National University in Korea. While at APARC, he will conduct research on human rights and racism in East Asia.

He has written and edited numerous books and articles on social movements, human rights, and historical sociology. His notable publications include The Hyongpyong (Egalitarian) Movement in Retrospect: Commemorating the Centennial Anniversary of the Hyongpyongsa (2025); Hyongpyong Movement and the Era of Human Rights (co-ed., 2023); Localization of Human Rights: For the Implementation of Human Rights in Everyday Life (2016); Toward an Egalitarian Society: A Comparison between Korean Hyongpyongsa and Japanese Suiheisha (2015); The Korean Paekjong under Japanese Rule: The Quest for Equality and Human Rights (2003, in English); Hyongpyong Movement (2001, 2003 in Japanese); The Era of Social Movements: Historical Sociology of Local Community under Japanese Colonial Rule (2012); The Outlook for Human Rights in the Era of Globalization (co-ed., 2004; 2004 in Japanese); A Study of Hyongpyong Movement: Social History of Paekjong Under Japanese Rule (1994). (All works are in Korean unless otherwise indicated.)

After earning his BA and MA from Yonsei University in Korea, he completed his PhD at Hull University in the United Kingdom in 1989.

Peng Chen joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as visiting scholar for the 2025 calendar year. He currently serves as Associate Professor at Beijing Normal University's School of Sociology. While at APARC, Professor Chen will be conducting research on the organizational mechanisms of community governance in megacities.

Yingqiu Kuang joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as 2024-2025 Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellow on Contemporary Asia beginning January 2025. She is a political scientist specializing in the comparative and international political economy of China and East Asia. Her research interests lie at the intersection of technology, law, and global governance. Her book project, “A Mosaic of Mundane Innovations: Emerging Powers, Multinational Firms, and Global 5G Technology Rules,” examines the emergence of latecomer economies like China and South Korea as key agents in the global technology governance regime. Using a mixed research method and an original, novel dataset, the project aims to explain why East Asian firms appear more effective in 5G rule-making on transnational platforms than traditional technology giants, and how the diverse behavior of these firms are reshaping global institutions.

At APARC, Yingqiu will expand and revise her book manuscript. She will also continue to pursue her wider scholarly agenda, which concerns the economic engagements between China, East Asia, and the world. She is particularly interested in how technological unpredictability is changing the landscape of economic governance in the region and the world.

Yingqiu completed her PhD in Political Science at the University of British Columbia. She also holds a master’s degree in political science from UBC. She developed her interest in political science and international relations in East Asia while an undergraduate student at Peking University and Waseda University in China and Japan. As a policy and technology specialist, she has also worked with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, the National Energy Board of Canada and others on trade, investment, and clean energy issues.