Faculty of Liberal Arts, Department of Liberal Arts Professor
Research Interests
My work is informed by broad interests in agrarian and environmental change. I explore these themes through a multi-disciplinary perspective that enables me to understand the complexity and diversity of social-ecological interactions that shape human wellbeing and environmental integrity. I have conducted fieldwork in Southeast Asia and Japan. I have a background in politics, political economy, political ecology, agrarian studies, development studies, and global studies. I draw mostly on qualitative methods and relational analysis of society and environment. Since 2012, I have been on the faculty in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and the Graduate School of Global Studies at Sophia University.
I am currently engaged in three research projects that seek to advance theoretical and empirical understanding of the mutual constitution between society and ecology.
Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Materials and Life Sciences Professor
Research Interests
Natural products are the major source of therapeutic small molecules; not just for anti-bacterials and anti-fungals but also for anti-cancers where around half of existing drugs have this origin.
Dictyostelium is a social amoebae living in a soil, where is known as a battle field of chemical warfare. Dicty genome analysis revealed its massive potential of the production of small molecules, secondary metabolites.
My research question is “What do these chemical compounds do in the soil?” I’m interested in the chemical communication between Dicty and its environment.
Understanding the eco-chemical interactions in the soil is important not only for understanding the survival strategy of microbes but also for maintaining the health of soil environment.
Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Master's (Doctoral) Program in Global Environmental Studies Professor
Research Interests
Specialized in watershed environmental science and sustainability studies. Sustainability has three pillars: the environment, economy, and society, and water is a nexus connecting the three pillars. Better water quantity and quality management is an indispensable key for achieving SDGs. Following this way of thinking, I have been conducting sustainability studies through the lens of water and using knowledge fusion approaches.
Research undertakings include wetland health monitoring, assessment and prediction; urban flood risk analysis and reduction; innovative water resources management and water culture as well.
My motto is that environmental problems cannot be truly solved without crossing various boundaries from academic, business to national. The journey towards SDFs requires a shift from interdisciplinary to transdisciplinary.
Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Materials and Life Sciences Professor
Research Interests
Specializing in polymer chemistry and material chemistry, we are conducting research about organic-inorganic hybrid materials and functional polymers such as conducting polymers and biocompatible polymers for various applications.
In particular, we aim to apply them to the fields of light, energy, biotechnology, and the environment. Our motto is to design, synthesize, evaluate the resulting compounds, and conduct research with a firm image of the process to be applied.
Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Master's (Doctoral) Program in Global Environmental Studies Professor
Research Interests
My research field is environmental economics which employs economics analysis techniques to consider the causes of environmental problems and to explore effective countermeasures.
Especially, I have been working on the economic valuation of the environment. Economic valuation of the environment enables the estimation of the benefits of environmental protection and the costs of environmental destruction, therefore economic analysis such as cost-benefit analysis of environmental policies becomes possible.
Since solving environmental problems requires knowledge in various fields, I participate in interdisciplinary research projects composed of researchers from various fields and conduct joint research.
Center for Global Education and Discovery/ International Cooperation Studies (Graduate School of Global Studies) Professor
Research Interests
Mikiko Sugiura is a professor at the Center for Global Education and Discovery, and the Graduate School of Global Studies (International Cooperation).
Her research interests include institutional frameworks for sustainable water resources management, emphasizing river water use and social distribution systems. In particular, considering the changing environmental views and relation with nature, she focuses on identifying representative socio-ecological systems of water resources development and management, adapting to diverse physical (e.g., climate) and non-physical (e.g., culture) conditions in hot and humid Asian monsoon regions.
Within the overall framework of her research, "water rights systems" are one of the main themes. She is also passionate about related issues such as drought management, environmental water rights, and biodiversity conservation.
Faculty of Economics, Department of Management Professor
Research Interests
My research focuses on value co-creation marketing, in which value is created through relationships with consumers. In recent years, I have been working on purpose-driven marketing, in which companies form brands and build communities/markets by aiming to solve social issues.
I am also researching mechanisms to generate synergy between business and social contribution and shopping spaces that are easy for the elderly and disabled to shop in.