NEWS

The October 2021 issue of the Research Office Newsletter, a regular publication of the APU Research Office, is now available online. Many APU graduates are actively working as researchers all over the world. In this issue we focus on the current APU faculty members who are also graduates from APU, and interviewed three of them. The following is an excerpt from said newsletter.

Professor Kazem Vafadari
College of Asia Pacific Studies

2008 PhD in Asia Pacific Studies

Current Research Grant Project Title:
Rural Development and Community Resilience
Through Agriculture Heritage Tourism
Field(s) of Specialization: Tourism, Agricultural Heritage

What made you decide to become a researcher? How did studying at APU contribute to your current career as a researcher?
I strongly believe that useful research benefits both the researcher and society. It brings insights to researcher and increases the quality of life of the community. I don’t think someone needs to be a professional researcher to conduct research, but everybody should benefit from the power of research to create knowledge. The need for knowledge is endless and we need to continue researching to better understand and solve problems. My study results at APU and my post‐doctoral research proposals were accepted by United Nations University, and I was invited to continue my research on Japanese Satoyama landscapes and rural development through tourism. I joined the Japan Satoyama‐Satoumi Sub‐global Assessment (JSSA) team and had the chance to contribute to Japan’s first Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) site in the Noto peninsula of Ishikawa prefecture. I joined APU again as faculty in 2011 and brought my research results and experience to Oita by conducting research on the agriculture heritage of the Kunisaki peninsula and the Usa City area. I used the results of my study at APU to contribute to Oita prefecture and Japan and would like to share these with the world through my current research grants from the government of Japan.

Do you have any advice for aspiring researchers?
Research methodology and research ethics are more useful than anything else when deciding on a research topic. If you believe your research is useful and that it will benefit people, you should continue working on it, even if it might be difficult to get results or get published. It is also important to focus your efforts on specific fields and become expert in a few areas rather than conducting many different kinds of research. We should try to implement new research methods and explore new possibilities to overcome new challenges.

In addition to Professor Kazem Vafadari, the October issue of the Research Office Newsletter includes interviews with two of our alumni, Associate Professor Pajaree Ackaradejruangsri of the College of International Management and Associate Professor Jung Jonghee of the Center for Language Education, as well as information about the Asia Pacific Conference 2021.

Read the rest of the October 2021 Issue here
Previous issues of the Research Office Newsletter are catalogued here