Mika Shimizu is Associate Professor in Kyoto University from 2015, and was Assistant Professor in Kyoto University, Disaster Prevention Research Institute through 2013-2015. She has been a visiting researcher in East-West Center in the United States since 2008. Previously she served as a policy researcher at the Nomura Research Institute, America and as a special assistant at the Japanese Embassy in Washington DC. She holds an MA from American University and a Ph.D. in International Public Policy from Osaka University (2006). She also gives lectures at Sophia University and Keio University, and has been extensively involved in policy research projects related to global issues, natural disaster, and resilience and governance. Her recent publications include “ Resilience in Disaster Management and Public Policy: A Case Study of the Tohoku Disaster ,“ in Risks, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy (Wiley Blackwell, pp.40-59, 2012), “Think Tanks and Policy Analysis: Meeting the Challenges of Think Tanks in Japan” in Policy Analysis in Japan (The Policy Press, 2015), and Collaborative Knowledge Creation Based Resilience (Kyoto University Press, 2015, Japanese).
Award Information
Disasters are now increasing in frequency and number of casualties in Asia. However the frequency and casualties of disasters does not necessarily tell us the magnitude of disasters we are facing. The above changes when combined with accelerated globalization has changed the nature of disaster risk management by making it more complex, uncertain, and difficult to address at the national and global levels, which tend to be disregarded in major policy streams. The complexity and uncertainty is related partly to intricately linked global risks which are emerging, such as climate change, energy supply shortage, food supply imbalance, infectious disease, water resource shortage, and infrastructure disruptions. Weighing the changing nature of disaster risk management leads to the conclusion that a global risk management approach which provides consistent risk management processes for all kinds of hazards by synthesizing information and knowledge and coordinating policy actions is essential. Given current limited progresses at the national,regional and international levels in disaster risk management, the U.S. and Japan, as leaders in Asia, are required to grasp the challenge ahead with clear focus and innovative policies. This requires designing renewed institutions, which are relevant to providing a structuring in which stakeholders can connect for each new engagement requiring disaster risk management directed toward finding and implementing strategies and solutions. The purpose of the research project is to fill the existing gaps in knowledge in terms of institutions for managing emerging global risks in Asia and to design specific institutional models for addressing the challenge in Asia with the U.S. and Japan policy initiative. Specifically, the project targets the research questions: 1) what are the key factors, from an institutional perspective, in a global risk management approach and what kinds of economic and social Asian contexts need to be taken into consideration? : 2) what is the current state of institutions for disaster risk management in Asia, and specifically what is the current state of the U.S. and Japan efforts for disaster risk management that may be applied to a global risk management approach?: 3) how far off or in line with a global risk management approach are current institutions in Asia and the efforts by the U.S. and Japan? 4) what will be institutional factors for closing gaps between the current status and a global risks management approach?: 5) what will be institutional models for a global risk management approach, and what and how can the U.S. and Japan participate in initiating and implementing the models? Especially from a policy point of view, given the nature of this challenge and our limited resources, addressing individual risk reactively and on a case-by-case basis is not appropriate. Each emerging global risk has common features imbedded as a result of accelerated globalization, and therefore it is necessary to manage emerging global risks proactively by facilitating a global risk management approach and coordinating policies. The project will contribute to enabling the policy approach for the common security in Asia.