COVID-19, climate change, AI and geopolitical tensions are but manifestations of a long list of complex global risks the world faces. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks 2020 report urges that “stakeholders must find ways to act quickly and with purpose within an unsettled global landscape”. This session brings together researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Tokyo to present ongoing projects on global risks and the ensuing implications for policy.

Moderator

Hideaki Shiroyama

Professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy and Graduate Schools for Law and Politics
The University of Tokyo

Hideaki SHIROYAMA is a Professor of Public Administration at the Policy Alternatives Research Institute (Ex-Director), the Graduate School of Public Policy (the former Dean), and the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, The University of Tokyo. His research focuses on international administration, science, technology and public policy, and public policy process. His publications include Transformation of Political Space and Policy Innovation 1 Political Theory of Policy Innovation (University of Tokyo Press, 2008), The Structure of International Aid Administration (University of Tokyo Press, 2007), Governance of Science and Technology (Toshindo, 2007), “The Harmonization of Automobile Environmental Standards between Japan, the United States and Europe” in Pacific Review vol. 20-3, “Administrative Reorganization and Public Sector Reform in Japan” in The Public Sector in Transition: East Asia and the European Union Compared (Nomos, 2007), “Technology Innovation and Diffusion for Environmental Protection,” in Energy Market Restructuring and the Environment (The University Press of America, 2002).

Speakers

Clarissa Rios Rojas

Research Associate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER)
The University of Cambridge

Clarissa works at CSER's project of Public Policy for Global Risk. She holds a bachelor in Biology and Genetics/Biotechnology from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Peru), a Master in Biomedicine and Neuroscience from Karolinska Institutet University (Sweden) and a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Queensland (Australia). Following this, she worked at OEFA (an agency from the Ministry of Environment in Peru), the Joint Research Center from the European Commission and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (Switzerland) providing science-based evidence and advice for policymaking in the areas of emerging technologies, gender equality and international security. Her work is also related to science diplomacy, reduction of Inequalities and education for the Sustainable Development Goals. Furthermore, she has been recognized as an Eisenhower Fellow, UN Women Champion for Change, a UNESCO delegate, an Emerging Leader at the Atlantic Dialogues, a Fellow at the Asian Forum for Global Governance/Raisina Dialogues, an advisor at Women Economic Forum and as a co-lead of the Science Advice working group at the Global Young Academy

Yee-Kuang Heng

Professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy
The University of Tokyo

Yee-Kuang HENG is Professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo. He graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) with a B.Sc. (First Class Honours) and subsequently PhD in International Relations funded by the UK Overseas Research Student Award Scheme. He previously held faculty positions lecturing at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland; the University of St Andrews in Scotland, United Kingdom; and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. Yee Kuang’s research interests lie at the intersection between risk, Security Studies and International Relations. Besides peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Security Dialogue, his most recent book is Managing Global Risks in the Urban Age: Singapore and the making of a Global City (Routledge, 2016). Currently, he is a member of research projects funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), working on national risk assessments of existential risks such as climate change and AI. He is also Expert Affiliate at the Lloyds Register Foundation Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk.