Kaori Hayashi is Professor of Media and Journalism Studies at the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, the University of Tokyo. She is Executive Vice President of the University of Tokyo in charge of global as well as diversity & inclusion affairs. She has served as the founding director of the B’AI Global Forum, which was set up within the Institute for AI and Beyond at the University of Tokyo. She is a contributor and columnist for a variety of media including Asahi Shimbun, one of the largest national dailies in Japan. She was a visiting scholar at Goldsmiths in 2017, hosted by the Abe Fellowship at the Social Science Research Council. Her most recent English publications include “The Silent Public in a Liberal State: Challenges for Japan’s Journalism in the Age of the Internet” in The Crisis of Liberal Internationalism. Japan and the World Order. Edited by Yoichi Funabashi and G. John Ikenberry. Brookings Institution Press, 2020, 325-358;　“Gendered power relations in the digital age: An analysis of Japanese women’s media choice and use within a global context” in Feminist Media Studies, 2021. McNeill, David and Kaori Hayashi　”Fringe Benefits: Weekly Magazines and Access Journalism in Japan.” The Routledge Companion to News and Journalism. Second Edition, 2022, 442-450.

Alain Schuhl is the deputy CEO for science of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). He graduated from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris and was a professor at the University of Grenoble-Alpes. Following his thesis in physics, his research focused on spintronics, first with the Thales group then as an academic in Nancy and Grenoble where he directed the Spintec laboratory from 2007 to 2010. He became a senior member of the Institut Universitaire de France in 2010 and directed the Néel Institute in Grenoble from 2011 to 2014 and the CNRS Physics from 2015 to 2018, before being appointed as deputy CEO for science. The CNRS has been a pioneer on issues of professional equality and parity, multiplying initiatives for almost 25 years. In particular, it was a recipient of the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Award for Gender Equality Champions in 2023.

Mariko Ogawa, Ph.D., is a Project Associate Professor, Center for Coproduction of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity, the University of Tokyo. She is Deputy Head of Office for Gender Equity. She is specializing in sociology and law, gender studies.

Her research interests include gender equity policy, domestic violence, women’s shelter, women’s leadership in higher education, disaster transmission from a gender and diversity perspective, professionalism of women’s counseling and support officers in the public sector. Her publication, “Domestic Violence to Minkan Shelter” (Domestic Violence and Women’s Shelters, 2015, Seori Shobo), received the Raicho Hiratsuka Prize from Japan Women’s University. Her recent English co-authors publication, Japan’s Triple Disaster Pursuing Justice after the Great East Japan Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima Nuclear Accident(2023,Routledge); Japanese Women in Leadership(2021,Palgrave Macmillan) ; Gender and Structural Violence(2019, Rawat Publishers).

Elisabeth Kohler is a senior science policy officer and the director of the Gender Equality Unit at the French national Centre for Scientific Research since 2018. She coordinated and participated in several European and international projects dealing with promoting gender equality in international scientific cooperation or with integrating the gender dimension in research content. In 2024, CNRS received the European gender equality champion award.

Eri Kasagi is Professor at the University of Tokyo since 2021 as well as research fellow at French CNRS since 2015, and specialized in social security law in Japan. Her work often includes comparative law analyses with France, as well as with other countries such as Canada and European countries. Her latest publications include ; E. Kasagi=S. Dake=T. Natano=K. Watanabe, Social Security law (Syakai-hoshō hō), Yuhikaku, 2018 (in Japanese), E. Kasagi (ed.), Solidarity Across Generations – Comparative Law Perspectives, Springer, 2020, E.Kasagi,  «Surmonter la division et l’exclusion du marché du travail au Japon; l’intervention du droit et ses limites » in; F.Géa=B. Palli(ed.), L’avenir du droit du travail – Perspectives internationale et comparé, Bruylant, 2023, pp. 647-666.

Florence Ranson is an experienced event moderator for clients ranging from European Institutions and Agencies to national/international structures and private organisations, with 30 years experience in European affairs & communications.

Akiko TAKEO is a seismologist who got a Ph.D. degree from the School of Science, UTokyo, in 2014. She is now an assistant professor at the Earthquake Research Institute, UTokyo, investigating the dynamics of plate tectonics, volcanoes, and slow earthquakes through field observations. She also formed “UTokyo Women & Diversity Exchange network” in 2021.

Takeo et al., “S-wave modelling of the Showa-Shinzan lava dome in Usu Volcano, Northern Japan, from seismic observations”, Geophysical Journal International, 2022.

Takeo et al., “In Situ Characterization of the Lithosphere-Asthenosphere System beneath NW Pacific Ocean Via Broadband Dispersion Survey With Two OBS Arrays”, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 2018.

Célia Bouchet is a sociologist whose research uses mixed methods (primarily statistical analysis and biographical interviews) to investigate the formats and mechanisms of social inequalities, particularly those related to disability and gender. In 2022, she completed a PhD in Sociology at Sciences Po’s Centre for Research on Social Inequalities (CRIS) and the Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Evaluation of Public Policies (LIEPP), under the supervision of Anne Revillard and Philippe Coulangeon. Her thesis explored the social positions allocated to various subpopulations with disabilities in France, compared to able-bodied people. Her subsequent work has examined gender inequalities in pay and career advancement among researchers and research support staff (Mission pour la place des femmes at CNRS), perceptions of economic inequality (Université Paris 8), and employment trajectories after childbirth by disability and gender (Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers).

Fumiko is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Japan. Her research focuses on the international comparison of immigrant education and the social integration of migrant students. Specifically, she examines the role that teachers play in supporting these students. With a deep commitment to both research and practical solutions, Fumiko has led several action research projects in collaboration with schools and non-profit organizations, aiming to address real-world challenges in immigrant education.

In addition to her work in this field, she is passionate about promoting diversity and inclusion in higher education. Through her academic contributions and partnerships, Fumiko seeks to foster a more inclusive and supportive environment for all students, staff, and faculty members, regardless of their background.

Related Publications:

Takahashi, Fumiko (2020). Japaneseness in Immigrant Education: Toward Culturally Responsive Teaching in Japan, Educational Studies in Japan: International Yearbook, No. 14, 15-27.

Takehiko Kariya, Fumiko Takahashi and Yujin Woo. “A (The?) Japanese Version of ‘Diversity’ & ‘Inclusion’”,Symposium: Designing a Japanese University for the Globalizing Century, International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto Japan. 22 August 2023.

Céline Bellard is a researcher in Ecology at CNRS, studying biodiversity loss, particularly in island ecosystems due to biological invasions, habitat loss, or climate change.

Dr. Yoko Yamabe-Mitarai obtained her Doctorate in Engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1994. She subsequently conducted postdoctoral research as a JSPS Fellow at the University of Manchester, UK, from August 1994 to March 1995. In 1995, she joined the National Institute for Metals, which later became the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS). From 2016 to March 2020, she served as Deputy Director of the Research Center for Structural Materials at NIMS. In April 2020, she was appointed Professor at the Advanced Metallic Materials, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo. Her research focuses on high-temperature structural metallic materials, including titanium alloys, high-temperature shape memory alloys, high-entropy alloys, and other ultra-high-temperature materials. She is particularly interested in controlling microstructures through various processes, such as rolling, forging, and additive manufacturing, to enhance mechanical properties. Her contributions have significantly advanced the understanding of these materials’ properties and behavior. She has two sons; one is independent and works in a company, and one is a university student.

Delphine Débarre studied physics at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris and obtained a PhD in 2006 from Ecole Polytechnique (France) on nonlinear microscopy for biological imaging. After two years as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Oxford (UK) focussing on adaptive optics for microscopy, she joined the Laboratory for Optics and Biosciences at Ecole Polytechnique in 2008 as a CNRS associate researcher where she worked on wavefront shaping for nonlinear microscopy. In 2012, she joined the Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Physics in Grenoble (France) and refocussed her research interests around the physics of cell adhesion using model systems and a combination of experimental and theoretical approaches. In 2024, she was appointed CNRS research director. She serves as a member of the scientific board of the CNRS Physics Institute, and of the “Physics and Life” section of the French Physical Society.