NEWS

On December 4 and 5 of 2021, the Ritsumeikan Center for Asia Pacific Studies (RCAPS) hosted the 19th Asia Pacific Conference (also referred to as the AP Conference). This time, only the keynote speech and a portion of sessions were attended both in person and online in a hybrid format, whereas the rest of the sessions were held online only.

The AP Conference has been held every year since 2003 and is one of the largest conferences held in English in Japan, with a focus on humanities and social sciences. The sessions present a wide range of themes, allowing researchers, speakers, listeners, and students to gain new insights.

This year’s 62 panel sessions featured 207 presenters from about 50 educational and research institutes from about 20 countries and regions. The conference’s theme, Diversity and Inclusion, attracted an audience of 637 individuals.

On December 4, Professor Izumi Ohno of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) visited the campus to present her keynote speech, “Building Forward Better: What COVID-19 means for the future of international development cooperation,” which discussed the impact of COVID-19 on different countries and regions, their localized responses, and how knowledge sharing can help the world move forward in the face of crisis.

You can view the keynote speech here.