Human Mobility and Innovation: Crises and Opportunities

26 October 2025, Sunday, 10:00am-5:00pm

125 Commemorative Hall, Building 8, Toyo University (Hakusan Campus)

Prior registration is needed:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf845CFRXIBy1vbwQwwLRtd2Ybrycv756Mnpw7miYBfnLFaaw/viewform?pli=1    

 

The significance that migratory processes have on innovation has been problematized mostly by scholars on development and economics (Breschi, et.al., 2016). Focusing on highly-skilled migrants, these individuals are believed to contribute to innovations in their host countries by bringing in the needed skills and expertise to their workplaces. Likewise, migrant-sending countries are able to benefit from their diasporic populations through both economic and social remittances (Levitt, 1998), as well as through return migration where returnees are able to impart the skills gained through migration, to their origin countries.

 

This symposium aims to encourage us to think further about the relationship between (human) mobility and migration in a more critical lens, addressing not only opportunities that have been gained through migration, but also the increasing crises faced by contemporary societies. The Center for Global Innovation Studies through its three research tracks on human mobility/migration, geopolitics, and education, hosts this symposium that would open up further discussions that could offer analyses and solutions to pressing issues. 

 

Keynote speaker: Maruja Asis (Senior Researcher and Former Director, Scalabrini Migration Center, Philippines)

 

Session 1: Human Mobility in the Context of Crises

Fumiko Noguchi (Research Fellow, JICA Ogata Research Institute)

-        "Tuvalu Climate [Im]mobility and Empowerment"

Anar Koli (Associate Professor, Soka University)

-        "Rethinking Identity and Migration in the Context of Climate Change: Addressing Japan's Immigration Challenges in Light of Environmental Displacement and Demographic Decline"

Lisette Robles (Independent Researcher/Visiting Fellow, JICA Ogata Research Institute)

-        "Climate Change, Migration, and Human Security: Rethinking Disaster Displacement"

Discussant: Akira Ichikawa (Professor, Toyo University)

 

Session 2: Border Politics and Human Mobility

Akira Ichikawa (Professor, Toyo University)

-        "Another Refugee Crisis Facing Poland: Considerations on Refugees Crossing the Belarus Border"

Amane Yamazaki (Associate Professor, Toyo University)

-        "China's Immigration Policy and the Liberal International Order: Gradual Changes in Its Cautious Approach to Immigrants"

Discussant: Toru Oga (Associate Professor, Kyushu University)

 

Session 3: University Transformation and International Student Mobility

Yu Futagoishi (Lecturer, Toyo University)

-        "Pathways of International Students in Japan: Admission Routes and Post-graduation Destinations Based on JASSO Statistics"

Wenjun Liu (Professor, Toyo University)

-        "The Career Consciousness and Orientation of International Students：Illustrated by a Case Study"

Thomas Brotherhood (Senior Lecturer, Kyoto University)

-        "University Internationalisation and the Co-education of Local and International Students"

Discussant: Mikiko Nishimura (Professor, International Christian University)