More than 20 years, the Japan Society for International Development (JASID) Kansai Branch has been aiming at promoting research activities on international development and cooperation by conducting a series of study sessions on different cutting-edge topics through an interdisciplinary approach. For each study session, we have invited first-hand researchers and practitioners on development studies as guest speakers.

Especially in the past few years, we have conducted active discussions on issues related to human security, human capital development, and risk management, including social risk in international development. This fiscal year’s primary objective of the Kansai Branch is to provide study sessions and discussions on current “hot” development topics, including those related to current/post-COVID-19.

We expect that these study sessions will encourage young researchers to enhance their knowledge and skills to present their research findings in international/domestic academic conferences and submit their papers to academic research journals.

We also expect young researchers to promote their academic networking with guest speakers and regular JASID members to enhance their interest in development studies.