About Us

　Sukehiro Hasegawa is the President of the Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan. He was the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Timor-Leste (2004-2006). He spent 37 years with the UN and served as UN Resident Coordinator in the South Pacific (1985-86), Rwanda (1995-96), and Timor-Leste (2002-2006). Deputy Executive Coordinator of the UN Volunteers in Geneva (1987-93), Manager of the UNV Electoral Officers in Cambodia (1993), and Director of Policy and Planning, UNOSOM II (1994). Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia and the Pacific at UNDP New York (1096-99). Currently President, Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan (GPAJ), Director, ACUNS Tokyo Liaison Office, Director of the Kyoto Peacebuilding Center, and Executive Director for Academic Exchange, UN Association of Japan. BA from the University of Michigan, MA from the ICU in Tokyo, and Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, USA.

　Dr. Ai Kihara-Hunt is Associate Professor, Graduate Program on Human Security, and Deputy Director, Research Center for Sustainable Peace, at the University of Tokyo. Previously she served for the UN Police Doctrinal Development Group, UN DPKO; UN OHCHR in Geneva and Nepal; UNHCR in Sri Lanka; Essex University’s Human Rights Centre; and UNTAET human rights office among other positions.

　Professor Heung-Soon Park is a senior vice president of the UNA-ROK, and a professor emeritus and graduate school dean of SunMoon University, Korea. He has served as the president of several academic associations in Korea, including the Korean Academic Council on the United Nations System. a member of the UNESCO-Korean Commission, and a policy advisor to the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Professor Park is a founding member of the East Asian UN networks, a trilateral 1.5 track among China, Japan, and Korea, such as the UN Forum (scholars and researchers), the Conference of the UN Associations(UNAs), and the Youth Forum (college students).

　Zhang Guihong is Professor and Director of the Center for UN Studies at Fudan University. He is a member of the Executive Board of the United Nations Association of China. He is also Vice President and Secretary General of the Shanghai UN Research Association. He received his Bachelor’s and Ph.D. in international relations from Fudan University. Participant of “International Visitor Leadership Program” (2003) of the U.S. Department of State and a visiting scholar at the Henry L. Stimson Center, Washington D.C., USA (2002-2003). ASIA Fellow at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (SIS/JNU) and the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi, India (2004-2005).

　Yasuhiro Ueki is a Graduate School of Global Studies professor at Sophia University in Tokyo. He is a former public information officer and spokesman for the United Nations. He also worked at the UN mission in East Timor and for UNMOVIC in Iraq. Professor Ueki has an undergraduate degree from Sophia University and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in New York.

　Professor and Vice Dean, Jindal Global Law School, Executive Director of the Centre for the Study of United Nations, O.P. Jindal Global University, India. Prof. Vesselin Popovski served as a Bulgarian diplomat in Sofia, New York, and London and was a Senior Legal Expert for the EU project ‘Legal Protection of Individual Rights in Russia’. He spent ten years as the Senior Academic Officer at the United Nations University in Tokyo and has authored and edited over 20 books in the last 20 years.

　Dr. Herman Salton is currently Associate Professor of International Relations at the International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, Japan, and specializing in international organizations, global ethics, international law, and the United Nations. He was educated at the Universities of Trento (Italy), Auckland (New Zealand), Wales (UK), and Oxford (UK), and holds two doctoral degrees, one in international law and the other in international relations. He was a visiting scholar at Sciences-Po Paris and TUJ Tokyo; an officer at the Icelandic Human Rights Centre in Reykjavik, Iceland; and briefly an Associate in the Under-Secretary-General’s Office at UN Headquarters in New York, USA. He has served as a Senior Adviser to the Center for Advanced Studies in South Asia (CASS) in Kathmandu, Nepal, and as Treasurer of the International Studies Association’s Asia-Pacific Section (ISA-AP). He is fluent in English, Italian, French and Spanish.

　Mr. Keiichi TANABE is Associate Professor, Department of International Studies, Tokai University. Previously, he served as Civil Affairs Officer of the United Nations Mission In South Sudan (UNMISS) from 2013 to 2014, Development Coordination Officer of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) from 2010 to 2013, Donor Relations Officer of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) at Rome HQ from 2006 to 2007, Head of sub-office of WFP in Myanmar from 2005-2006, Emergency Operation Coordinator & Reporting Officer for Indian Ocean Tsunami affected area of WFP in Myanmar from 2004 to 2005. He obtained M.A from School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University.

　Arbenita Sopaj is an External Relations Officer at Global Peacebuilding Association Japan (GPAJ) and Kyoto Peacebuilding Centre (KPC). She is a lecturer and coordinator of the International Relations Office at Dardania College and a researcher at the Research Institute for Indo-Pacific Affairs (RIIPA). She received a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies (GSICS), Kobe University, in March 2023. She obtained a dual BA and MA in International Relations and American Studies from College ISPE and Dardania College, Kosovo, in 2017.

　Born in 2002. After graduating from a boarding school in Switzerland, Mr. Ikegami entered International Christian University and majored in peace studies with a minor in philosophy of religion. His specialty is reconciliation studies. He was Chairman of the executive committee of the 3rd East Asia Reconciliation International Film Festival. Assistant to the Executive Director and Assistant Director of Administration in Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan. He served as the leader of the Japanese delegation at the 11th Japan-China-Korea Youth Forum sponsored by the United Nations Associations of Japan, China, and the Republic of Korea. He is also a World Federation Youth Forum student representative.