Shinji Kaneko (Chair)
Director, NERPS / Professor, The IDEC Institute, Hiroshima University

Shinji Kaneko is the Executive Vice President for Global Initiatives and a Professor at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Science at Hiroshima University. He graduated from the School of Engineering at Kyushu University majoring in water engineering (Dr. of Engineering). Immediately after the completion of his doctoral program, he joined the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) in 1999 as a researcher and conducted research on urban climate policy in Asian megacities for three years. He also worked at the Global Change System for Analysis, Research and Training (START) as a Research Fellow for three years from 2005. In 2018, he was appointed as the Director of the Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability (NERPS) at Hiroshima University. He has conducted numerous policy research on natural resources, energy, and the environment in developing countries.

Ayyoob Sharifi (Co-Chair)
Professor, The IDEC Institute and Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University

Ayyoob Sharifi is Professor at the IDEC Institute, Hiroshima University. His research is mainly at the interface of urbanism and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Ayyoob actively contributes to global change research programs such as the Future Earth and has served as a lead author for the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Before joining Hiroshima University, he was the Executive Director of the Global Carbon Project (GCP)-a Future Earth core project. There, he was leading the urban flagship activity of the project that is focused on conducting cutting-edge research for supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation in cities. He holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering (Surveying), a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning, and a doctorate in Environmental Engineering. He has published extensively on issues related to urban environmental science and is interested in pursuing research at the interface of climate change and urban planning. The ultimate goal of his research is to provide further insights into how to develop sustainable, peaceful, just, and resilient urban communities.

Dahlia Simangan (Co-Chair)
Associate Professor, The IDEC Institute and Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University

Dahlia Simangan is an Associate Professor at Hiroshima University’s Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences where she teaches Global Governance, United Nations Peace Missions, and Peace, Conflict, and the Environment. She is a former Kanagawa University JSPS Postdoctoral Research Fellow (nominated by the United Nations University-Centre for Policy Research in Tokyo). She obtained her PhD in International, Political and Strategic Studies from the Australian National University in 2017, her MA in International Relations from the International University of Japan in 2010, and her BA in Sociology from the University of the Philippines, Diliman in 2006. Her research interest in peace and conflict studies includes topics on international peacebuilding, the peace-environment nexus, and the Anthropocene. She is the Assistant Editor of Peacebuilding and a member of the Planet Politics Institute.

Masatoshi Sato (Head of Secretariat)
Senior Assistant to the NERPS Director, Hiroshima University

Masatoshi Sato joined NERPS in February 2021 as Senior Assistant to the NERPS Director after retiring from the Japanese foreign service at the end of March 2020. His main duties include liaising between NERPS and higher education and other institutions NERPS works with.