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.

Tshilidzi Marwala (Chair)
Rector of the United Nations University; Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations

Prof. Tshilidzi Marwala is the Rector of the United Nations University and UN Under-Secretary-General since March 2023. Previously, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg (2018–2023), he also served in the roles of Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Internationalization and Executive Dean of Engineering. Earlier, he was a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, worked at South African Breweries, and was a postdoctoral researcher at Imperial College London. Holding a PhD from Cambridge, an MSc from the University of Pretoria, and a BSc magna cum laude from Case Western Reserve University, he also trained at Harvard and Columbia Business Schools. A multidisciplinary scholar with five patents, he has advanced AI research across engineering, economics, politics, and medicine, advised UN bodies such as UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO, and WIPO, and served on the UN Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, TWAS, and African science academies, and author of over 25 books and 250 articles. Recognized with honors including South Africa’s Order of Mapungubwe, the Science-for-Society Gold Medal, and “IT Personality of the Year 2021,” he was named among the “100 Most Influential Africans of 2024” by NewAfrican Magazine.

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 a tenured Associate Professor of International Relations at Hiroshima University. Her research interests in peace and conflict include topics on post-conflict peacebuilding, the relationship between peace and sustainability, and international relations in the Anthropocene. She is the author of International Peacebuilding and Local Involvement: A Liberal Renaissance? (Routledge, 2019) and published her work in leading International Relations and Peace Studies journals. She is Associate Editor of the Review of International Studies, founding Associate Editor of Peace and Sustainability, Assistant Editor of Peacebuilding, and a member of the Planet Politics Institute. 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.

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 working with NERPS.