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Research Fellows & Associates

Katherine Alfredo

Abeer Al Saud

Glenda Tibe Bonifacio

Binaya Chalise

John Lee Candelaria

Mohamed Hachaichi

Kamrul Hossain

Dhanasree Jayaram

Saori Kashima

Anil Kumar

Sunil Kumar

Michael Magcamit

Serik Orazgaliyev

Vladimir Rouvinski

Jasman Tuyon

Tingjia Wang

Past NERPS Research Fellows and Associates

Ali Cheshmehzangi: 2022-2024
Bao-Jie He: 2022-2024
Darrel Flores: 2023-2025
Glenda Tibe Bonifacio: 2022-2024
Gaku Ito: 2022–2024
Johann Caro-Burnett: 2022-2024
John Lee Candelaria: 2023-2025
Joshua Fisher: 2022-2024
Leticia dos Muchangos: 2023-2025
Makoto Kakinaka: 2022-2024
Mohamed Hachaichi: 2023-2024
Prakash Bhattarai: 2023-2025
Rosakebia Mendoza: 2022–2024
Simon Bibri: 2022-2023
Srinjoy Bose: 2022-2024
Yvette Baninla: 2022-2024
Zaheer Allam: 2022-2024

2026 Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability
Katherine Alfredo
NERPS Research Fellow

Dr. Katherine Alfredo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of South Florida. She was a NERPS Cross-Appointed Faculty Fellow from 2023-2025. Dr. Alfredo’s research focuses on sustainable potable water provisions to include technical treatment, regulatory policy, and community uptake and trust both within the U.S. and internationally. While Dr. Alfredo has experience working in Ghana (U.S. Student Fulbright Fellow, ’08), her current international work is based in India where she investigates how and why rurally implemented drinking water treatment plants succeed or fail when their management is transferred to the community. This line of inquiry began during her Postdoctoral tenure as a Columbia University Earth Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at the Columbia Water Center and was enriched during her 2015 Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Scholarship. Prior to joining the faculty at USF, she was the Research Program Manager at DC Water focused on the difficulties large, urban utilities face in ensuring a constant supply of high quality, potable water. She earned advanced degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and holds a Professional Engineering license in the state of Virginia.

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Abeer Al Saud
NERPS Associate

Abeer was born in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; however, her interest in cultural diversity, sustainability and peacebuilding has led her to many different countries. She is recently researching petroculture & hyrdroculture sustainability, peace-sustainability-culture nexus and how peace transcends linearity. Abeer is currently working on establishing the “Desert University” which is a research station in the Empty Quarter, the world’s largest sand desert and is researching best practices in Antarctica. She is the author of peace/sustainability nexus book “More Than a Truce: How Nations Can Build Permanent Peace and a Sustainable Future.”

 

Previously Abeer has worked in multilateral organizations and funds such as the GCC, UN agencies, USAID, SIDA and JICA. In 2019, she spearheaded and was assigned to lead a peacebuilding unit where she successfully managed peacebuilding training workshops. She also successfully managed to promote inclusivity by including 40% female participation activating WPS UN Resolution 1325.

 

Abeer is actively engaged in a full spectrum of activities ranging from, non-profit, for-profit and responsible profit. She is the Chair of Saudi Arabia’s NPO, the Sustainable Development Association (talga) and the founder of a multidisciplinary sustainability and cultural studio, Dinar. On a personal level, She has a passion to preserving endangered species and a dream to create a gallery for that purpose. In her free time, Abeer is a multi-faceted artist, sailor, showjumper, and world explorer. Related websites: www.abeersaud.com and www.dinar.com.sa 

Glenda Tibe Bonifacio
NERPS Research Fellow

Glenda Tibe Bonifacio has been the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Lakehead University, Canada, since 2023, and a professor in Gender and Women’s Studies. As a former UNESCO Chair in Gender, Migration, and Post-disaster Communities in Asia-Pacific, Glenda established the Canada and Asia-Pacific (CAPIC) hub with researchers working on the social dimensions of climate change, development, and impact on vulnerable island communities. Glenda is the author of Pinay on the Prairies: Transnational Identities of Women in Canada and published several edited and co-edited books on gender, feminism, migration, religion, racism, and disasters. See www.glendabonifacio.com

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Binaya Chalise
NERPS Research Fellow

Dr Binaya Chalise is an early career researcher focused on Global Health and Interdisciplinary research. He holds a PhD from Hiroshima University, Japan and a Master of Public Health from La Trobe University, Australia. His research interests are in using quantitative causal inference and complexity science to assess the health effects of socioeconomic policies. Dr Chalise is a recipient of the Australia Award Scholarship in 2013 and the Japanese Government Monbukagakusho Scholarship in 2019. He brings experience on a broad range of public health issues, notably leading the Nepal Global Burden of Study 2017 that helped define health priorities and informed policy-making in Nepal. He is also engaged in nurturing the next generation of researchers and policymakers through teaching and mentoring. Click here for more.

John Lee Candelaria
NERPS Research Fellow

John Lee Candelaria is assistant professor of history at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University. His research is largely focused on the history, memory, and heritage of events of mass human suffering such as wars, disasters, and pandemics, with a focus on the Philippines and Southeast Asia. He is the author of War Memorialization and Nation-Building in Twentieth-Century Southeast Asia(Routledge 2025) and numerous articles in leading international publications such as Memory Studies, International Journal of Heritage Studies, and Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, among others. He has been involved in NERPS activities as a former student fellow (2020–2022) and research fellow (2023–2025). He also co-edits the NERPS academic blog, Trends in Peace and Sustainability.

Website: https://leecandelaria.carrd.co

Mohamed Hachaichi
NERPS Research Fellow

Mohamed Hachaichi is a researcher and lecturer in urban geography, geomatics and urban ecological transition at IUGA (Grenoble, France) and affiliated with the Pacte laboratory “Cities & Territories”. He holds a doctorate in circular urbain metabolisme and climate change from the Polytechnic School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and his work focuses on urban metabolism, ecological transitions, and spatial data analysis. Founder of Futurix Analytics and developer of the GeoSis Python package, he supports data-driven territorial strategies for researchers and local authorities. He teaches GIS, statistics, and cartography. His interdisciplinary approach bridges urban theory and practice to tackle today’s complex urban and ecological challenges.

Personal Website: https://mohamed-hachaichi.github.io/

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Kamrul Hossain
NERPS Research Fellow

Kamrul Hossain is an expert in international law. He is a Research Professor and the Director of the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law (NIEM) at the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland. Currently, he chairs the University of the Arctic’s Legal Research and Education and leads the Thematic Network on Arctic Law. His research mainly focuses on international environmental law, ocean governance, and human rights laws, especially as they relate to the Polar and the Arctic regions. Over the years, he has published extensively on nearly all aspects of Arctic governance, including climate change and environmental management, biodiversity, Arctic geopolitics and security, the law of the sea, and human rights, emphasizing legal, institutional, and policy perspectives. He has served as the Principal Investigator (PI) for approximately two dozen research grants at both the international and national levels, funded by organizations such as the Research Council of Finland, the Nordic research funding agency – NordForsk, the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM), the Finnish National Agency for Education, UArctic, the Sasakawa Foundation and the Council of the Baltic Sea States.

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Dhanasree Jayaram
NERPS Associate

Dr. Dhanasree Jayaram is an Assistant Professor, Department of Geopolitics and International Relations (DGIR), and Co-coordinator, Centre for Climate Studies, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Karnataka, India. She is also a Research Fellow, Earth System Governance; Member, Climate Security Expert Network; Research Fellow, Centre for Public Policy Research; Non-resident Fellow, Finnish Institute of International Affairs; and Member, Planet Politics Institute.

Dr. Jayaram holds a PhD in Geopolitics and International Relations from MAHE, for which she worked on the topic – “Military Dimensions of Environmental Security: An Indian Perspective.” She was a Research Fellow at Centre Marc Bloch (CMB) and Guest Researcher at Freie Universität Berlin – under the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s International Climate Protection Fellowship during March 2022- August 2023. During this period, she conducted research mainly on locating gender in climate diplomacy with a focus on India, Germany, and the European Union (EU). She also pursued a visiting fellowship (Erasmus Mundus – short-term PhD) at Leiden University, the Netherlands during 2014-15; and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, under the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship during 2018-19. As a part of her postdoctoral fellowship, she researched the climate diplomacy of emerging economies with a focus on the BASIC countries (Brazil, South Africa, India, China) during 2009-19.

Dr. Jayaram’s areas of research include environmental and climate security; climate diplomacy; regional environmental policy in South Asia and the Indo-Pacific; gender and climate governance; geopolitical and security implications of solar geoengineering; and environmental peacebuilding. She is the author of Breaking out of the Green House: Indian Leadership in Times of Environmental Change (2012) and Climate Diplomacy and Emerging Economies: India as a Case Study (2021). She has published articles in several peer-reviewed journals including International Politics, Nature Sustainability, Futures, Contemporary South Asia, Contemporary Southeast Asia, Carbon & Climate Review, and Earth System Governance. For more information, click here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhanasree-jayaram-1484549/.

Saori Kashima
NERPS Research Fellow

Dr Saori KASHIMA is the Director of the Center for the Planetary Health and Innovation Science (PHIS), and Associate Professor of the Environmental Health Sciences Laboratory, at Hiroshima University. She is an environmental epidemiologist and a Public Health Specialist certified by the Japanese Society of Public Health. She is also an associate member of the Science Council of Japan, where she is actively engaged in promoting planetary health. As a steering committee member of the Planetary Health Alliance Japan Hub, she is also involved in building an international, transdisciplinary network for advancing planetary health.

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Anil Kumar
NERPS Research Fellow

Dr. Anil Kumar is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Delhi Technological University (DTU), Delhi, where he also leads the Division–Clean Energy: Nodal Centre of Excellence in Energy Transition (NCEET). He serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Cities (ASME) and is an Honorary Board Member of Green Initiative DWC LLC, UAE.

Dr. Kumar earned his Ph.D. in Solar Energy from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 2007, followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Energy Technology Research Center, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand. His research focuses on clean and sustainable energy technologies, energy economics, and sustainable industrial processes such as natural rubber sheet drying. He has authored over 260 journal papers, 90 conference papers, and 13 books, and holds three granted patents. His work has been widely recognized, with more than 12,000 citations (Google Scholar) and inclusion in Stanford University’s “Top 2% Scientists” list since 2019.

An elected Fellow and Chartered Engineer of The Institution of Engineers (India), Dr. Kumar has supervised 20 Ph.D. and 45 master’s scholars. His contributions have earned him multiple national and international awards for research excellence.

http://www.dtu.ac.in/Web/Departments/Mechanical/faculty/dranilkumar.php

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Sunil Kumar
NERPS Research Fellow

Dr. Sunil Kumar Sansaniwal brings extensive experience in research and academia within the energy and environment sector. His work is centered on fostering a sustainable built environment, with expertise spanning sustainable cooling, energy efficiency, clean energy adoption, indoor environmental quality and policy advocacy. Dr. Sansaniwal earned his Ph.D. with a focus on enhancing indoor environmental quality through occupants’ adaptive actions in buildings. He is a qualified Mechanical Engineer and a Certified Energy Professional, further solidifying his technical expertise in the field. Throughout his career, Dr. Sansaniwal has received several awards and recognitions from prestigious organizations worldwide, underscoring his contributions to the field. His exceptional science communication skills have garnered affiliations with various international journals, where he has served in multiple capacities. He has authored numerous research articles, which have accumulated significant citations, reflecting the impact and reach of his work. Dr. Sansaniwal has played a pivotal role in several high-profile research projects aimed at net-zero energy transitions, sectoral energy efficiency, building energy demand reduction and sustainable cooling technologies. Currently, Dr. Sansaniwal is associated as a Consultant with NITI Aayog, Government of India. In this role, he continues to make significant contributions to the field of Energy, Green Transition and Climate Change, driving forward innovative solutions and promoting sustainable practices within the energy and environment sectors

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Michael Magcamit
NERPS Research Fellow

Dr Michael Magcamit is Lecturer in Global Politics and Leverhulme International Fellow (2024-2025) at the University of Manchester in the UK. His research sits at the intersections of Critical International Security, Peace & Conflict, IPE, and Populist Foreign Policy  with a specialist focus on Southeast and East Asia. He is the author of Ethnoreligious Otherings and Passionate Conflicts (Oxford University Press 2022) and Small Powers and Trading Security (Palgrave/Springer 2016 and 2018), as well as numerous articles published in leading IR journals such as the International Studies Quarterly, International Affairs, and International Politics among others. He is the founding convenor of The Sustainable Everyday Peacemaking Research and Impact Consortium comprised of peace and security scholars and experts at the Universities of Manchester, Hiroshima, Osaka and Tokyo.

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Serik Orazgaliyev
NERPS Research Fellow

Dr. Serik Orazgaliyev is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy, Nazarbayev University, and Co-Chair of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) in Kazakhstan. He holds a PhD in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge and an LLM in Public Law and Global Governance from King’s College London. He has held visiting appointments at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (National University of Singapore) and Justus Liebig University in Germany. His research focuses on sustainable development and policy innovations aimed at strengthening social cohesion. He currently serves as Associate Editor of the International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management.

Dr. Orazgaliyev’s work aims to make an impact both global and national levels. He is among the global scholars who endorsed the UN SDSN’s Recommendations for the Summit of the Future, featured in Chapter One of the 2024 Sustainable Development Report, and contributed to the Fossil Fuel Production Gap Report published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2023. In Kazakhstan, he led the SDG Barometer Survey Project, which provides a policy toolkit for analysing national development priorities and promoting inclusive approach to SDG alignment. He teaches across MPP, PhD, and executive education programs and has received the AUA Honorary Lecturer title and NU’s 2022 Teaching Award.

 

Website: https://sdsnkz.nu.edu.kz/serik_orazgaliyev

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/serik-orazgaliyev-44181677/

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Vladimir Rouvinski
NERPS Associate

Vladimir Rouvinski is Director of the Laboratory of Politics and International Relations (PoInt) and Professor in the Department of Political Studies at Icesi University in Cali, Colombia. He graduated from Irkutsk State University in Russia with a major in History, and holds both an MA and a PhD in International Development and Cooperation from Hiroshima University in Japan.

He has extensive international experience having served as a JSPS Fellow at Hiroshima University and Visiting Research Professor at Hokkaido University in Japan, a Kennan Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a Research Fellow at Florida International University, and a Research Fellow at the Georg Eckert Institute in Germany.

His research focuses on Asia’s and Russia’s relations with Latin America. Among his recent publications are Rethinking Post-Cold War Russian–Latin American Relations (co-authored, Routledge, 2022) https://www.routledge.com/Rethinking-Post-Cold-War-Russian-Latin-American-Relations/Rouvinski-Jeifets/p/book/9781032024400 and “China’s Soft Power in Latin America” (2024) https://dialogopolitico.org/special-edition-2024-keys-to-understanding-china/chinas-soft-power-in-latin-america.

He also serves as Co-Chair of the Asia and the Americas Section of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA).

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Jasman Tuyon
NERPS Research Fellow

Jasman Tuyon has acquired academic training in banking and finance (Diploma in Banking, BBA Hons. Finance, MBA, PhD in Behavioral Finance) and completed postdoctoral training at SolBridge International School of Business, South Korea, specializing in sustainable finance and entrepreneurial finance (from September 2022 to August 2024). He is a senior lecturer in finance at the Faculty of Business and Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sabah Branch, Malaysia and a visiting professor at SolBridge International School of Business, South Korea (from September 2024 to August 2025). His teaching interests cover corporate finance, investment, entrepreneurial finance, and sustainable finance. Prior to his academic career, he also acquired working experience in the banking and finance industry in Malaysia. He has served as a business credit analyst in business banking, mutual funds’ consultant for an investment firm and compliance officer for an investment management firm.

 

He has been an associate member of the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers since 2005. His research specializes in behavioral and sustainability theoretical perspectives in informing the financial practice and policy of corporate finance, investment, financial institutions, entrepreneurial finance and personal finance to impact positive change in emerging markets. In the research community service, he serves as an associate editor for four international journals and on an editorial board for six international journals. He actively supervises postgraduate research in the area of banking and finance. He is a NERPS Research Fellow (from January 2025 to December 2026).

 

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Tingjia Wang
NERPS Research Fellow

Tingjia Wang is Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hiroshima University. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Sydney. Her research interests include digital pedagogy, technology-enhanced English education, discourse analysis, multimodal discourse analysis, multimodal literacies in language education and climate change education. Her recent book Impact of Emergent Technologies on Writing Centers and Pedagogy reported 12 cases of the latest institutional responses towards the emerging use of GenAI in research writing and writing pedagogy in higher education. She used the qualitative approach known as Systemic Functional – Multimodal Discourse Analysis (SF-MDA) approach to examine a wide range of audio-visual discourses and to inform the development of curriculums, lesson plans, materials, and teachers’ metalanguage toolkits for a variety of subjects. She is a qualified teacher educator with two globally recognised teaching certificates: CELTA (by the University of Cambridge) and Higher Education Teaching Certificate (by Harvard University).

Link: https://iedp.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/teacher_en/joining-in-april-2025-wang-tingjia/