Institution: The IAFOR Research Centre (IRC)
Country: Japan
Institutional contact: Professor Haruko Satoh
Website: www.osipp.osaka-u.ac.jp/iaforresearchcentre/
The IAFOR Research Centre (IRC) is a politically independent international interdisciplinary think tank based at Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), at Japan’s Osaka University, that conducts and facilitates international and interdisciplinary research projects. The main focus is to encourage mutual international and intercultural understanding and cooperation in line with IAFOR’s mission of encouraging interdisciplinary discussion, facilitating heightened intercultural awareness, promoting international exchange, and generating and sharing new knowledge.
The IRC helps to nurture and capacity build by encouraging students to take part in international conferences and research projects, in line with the Osaka University’s Global 30 commitments from Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).
The vision of the centre is to become a globally recognised center of international and interdisciplinary research excellence, that attracts the best and the brightest scholars from around the world, and helps to fulfil and consolidate the great potential of OSIPP to become Asia’s leading graduate school for international public policy studies.
The work of the IAFOR Research Centre is overseen by Professor Toshiya Hoshino in the university, with Professor Satoh as the official liaison. The representative of IAFOR is Dr Joseph Haldane.