Content／学習内容

• Global Issues, Human and the Environment

  • Global Issues
  • Interdisciplinarity
  • Anthropocene
  • Post-Anthropocene

  This lecture provides overview of the global issues and examines the link between human, the environment and global issues.

  Videos

  ／学習動画

  • 1-1_ University of Tsukuba and Global Issues

    Based on the history of the University of Tsukuba, where is located in the Tsukuba Science City, this part encourages students to consider the meaning of studying global issues at the University of Tsukuba.

  • 1-2_ What are Global Issues?

    This part cosiders the meaning of global issues referring to relevant concepts, and it assists students to understand the significance of interedisciplinary approach to analyse global issues.

  • 1-3_ Anthropocene and Post-Anthropocene

    Based on the concept and history of the anthropocene, this part assists students to understand theconcept of post-anthropocene which attempts to go beyond anthropocene.

  Lecturers

  ／講師

  • Hajime Akiyama

    Assistant Professor, Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba

• Sustainable Development, SDGs in the AI Era

  • SDGs
  • MDGs
  • AI
  • Information

  This lecture considers the significace and difficulty of realising sustainable development and meaning and limitations of SDGs in the AI Era.

  Videos

  ／学習動画

  • 2-1_ Sustainable Development

    Refering to the historical background, this part assists students to understand the concept of sustainable development.

  • 2-2_ MDGs to SDGs

    This part assists students to understand the features of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with comparison with Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).

  • 2-3_ SDGs and the AI Era

    This part covers SDGs’ significance and limitations referring to the features of the AI era.

  Lecturers

  ／講師

  • Hajime Akiyama

    Assistant Professor, Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba

• Sovereign State System and the United Nations

  • United Nations
  • United Nations Security Council
  • United Nations General Assembly
  • United Nations Secretariat

  With the overview of the soverign state system, students will understand the function of the United Nations.

  Videos

  ／学習動画

  • 3-1_ Sovereign State System

    This part assists students to understand the feature and history of the soverien state system referring to the reality.

  • 3-2_ Overview of the United Nations and the Security Council

    This part assists students to understand the overview of the United Nations and the role of the Security Council.

  • 3-3_ SDGs and the United Nations

    With the emphasis on the General Assembly and Secretariat, this part assists students to understand the relationship between the United Nations and SDGs.

  Lecturers

  ／講師

  • Hajime Akiyama

    Assistant Professor, Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba

• Critical Perspectives of Human Rights

  • Civil Rights
  • Social Rights
  • Religion
  • Secularity

  This lecture provides history and overview of human rights with critical perspective.

  Videos

  ／学習動画

  • 4-1_ Human Rights

    Students will understand different dimentions of human rights referring to different approaches to human rights.

  • 4-2_ History of Human Rights

    This part covers the history of human rights such as civil rights and social rights referring to the European history.

  • 4-3_ Critical Approach to Human Rights?

    This part assists students to critically examine human rights referring to different perspectives such as religion, secular society and international law.

  Lecturers

  ／講師

  • Hajime Akiyama

    Assistant Professor, Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba

• Edu-L1. What do I want to become? Interview with Dr Akiba

  • Education reform
  • School improvement
  • Gloval Issues
  • Bachelor’s Program

  Interview with the alumnus Prof/Dr Motoko Akiba, by Prof Masami Isoda, University of Tsukuba, Japan. Dr Akiba is a professor at Florida State University and the editor-in-chief of the American Education Research Journal. She addressed her career and her research methods in Education to students in relation to Bachelor’s Program in Global Issues (BPGI) as alumnus of the University of Tsukuba.

  Videos

  ／学習動画

  • Interview

    Background & Career Development
    Prof/Dr Akiba talks about her experiences from her childhood, upto the University of Tsukuba, and from the University of Tsukuba to her current position through her studies in the USA, and how she learnt, and what she learned.

    Overcoming Life Challenges
    Prof/Dr Akiba talks about what she wanted to be, what problems she was interested in and what she wanted to solve, from her childhood to her current position.

    Finding Problems in Educational Research
    Prof/Dr Akiba explains the research process in USA: 1. Problem Awareness, 2. Problem Identification and Research Questions, 3. literature Review, 4. Data Collection and Analysis, and 5. Findings and Recommendations.

  Lecturers

  ／講師

  • Motoko Akiba, Prof/PhD

    Editor-in-chief of the American Education Research Journal, College of Education, Florida State University, USA

  • Masami Isoda, Prof/PhD

    Director, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

• Edu-L2. What do I want to become? Interview with Dr Mizunoya

  • Education reform
  • School improvement
  • Gloval Issues
  • Bachelor’s Program

  Interview with the alumnus Dr Suguru Mizunoya, by Prof Masami Isoda, University of Tsukuba, Japan. Dr Mizunoya is a head of Technical Assistance of the International Institute of Educational Planning, UNESCO. He addressed his career and his research methods in Education to students in relation to Bachelor’s Program in Global Issues (BPGI) as alumnus of the University of Tsukuba.

  Videos

  ／学習動画

  • Interview

    Background & Career Development
    Dr Mizunoya talks about his experiences as a student at the University of Tsukuba, where his awareness of the problems he faced became the basis for his career development, which led him to study abroad and to a career in various overseas practices based on his learned methodology at Colombia University.

    Overcoming Life Challenges
    Dr Mizunoya talks about his faced problems, necessity of finding own core value which he would like to seek, and the importance of Social Emotional Skills.

    Finding Problems in Educational Research
    Dr Mizunoya explains the different educational circumstances in each country and the finding of the specification of reform issues for each country through the comparison of International Data from Educational Economics and Statistics perspectives.

  Lecturers

  ／講師

  • Suguru Mizunoya, PhD

    Director, Technical Cooperation Department, UNESCO International Institute of Education Planning, Paris

  • Masami Isoda, Prof/PhD

    Director, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

• Happiness, Well-being, Life Satisfaction, Quality of Life, Wellness: What Do These Mean When We Talk About Quality of Life?

  • Well-being
  • Life Satisfaction
  • Quality of Life
  • Wellness

  This course first introduces the concepts of happiness from historical and theoretical perspectives, emphasizing the importance of subjective viewpoints and cultural contexts. Next, it examines challenges in defining and measuring these concepts through Cummins’s gap model, and studies the structure of standardized instruments such as WHOQOL-100/BREF, their cross-cultural adaptation process.

  Videos

  ／学習動画

  • Happiness, Well-being, Life Satisfaction, Quality of Life, Wellness: What Do These Mean When We Talk About Quality of Life? (Module 01)

    Module 1 presents core questions such as happiness, well-being, and life satisfaction, explaining the context and purpose behind exploring “quality of life.”

  • Happiness, Well-being, Life Satisfaction, Quality of Life, Wellness: What Do These Mean When We Talk About Quality of Life? (Module 02)

    Module 2 discusses key concepts and assessment issues related to quality of life, outlining distinctions between definition and measurement, the importance of self-report, and an overview of standard tools and their challenges.

  • Happiness, Well-being, Life Satisfaction, Quality of Life, Wellness: What Do These Mean When We Talk About Quality of Life? (Module 03)

    Module 3 reflects on the preceding discussion, highlights overarching insights and perspectives for further exploration, and offers implications for what follows.

  Lecturers

  ／講師

  • Felipe Sandoval

    Assistant professor, Social Medicine, HIROSAKI UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL MEDICINE

• Imagine and create the future through making manga stories

  • Sci-Fi thinking
  • Manga story creation

  When considering solutions to global and regional issues, one approach is to imagine a desirable future and then work backwards from there.
  Furthermore, in today’s uncertain society, with its unpredictable future, it is important to imagine a future that takes into account all possibilities and prepare for it. When imagining and predicting such a future society, we must not forget what kind of life individuals will actually lead in that society. In this lecture, we will learn how to imagine and envision future societies and the individuals who live in them, using science fiction thinking and manga storytelling methods.

  Videos

  ／学習動画

  • Imagine and create the future through making manga stories Part 1

    Part 1 discusses the significance of imagining and creating the future, followed by an introduction to future forecasting methods with a social centric..

  • Imagine and create the future through making manga stories Part 2

    Part 2 introduces the human centric methods of creating the future – Design Thinking and Sci-Fi Thinking.

  • Imagine and create the future through making manga stories Part 3

    Part 3 introduces a method of making more realistic future stories, taking into account uncertainties, by combining Sci-Fi thinking with manga storytelling.

  Lecturers

  ／講師

  • MORIO, Takahiro

    Professor, Bureau of Global Initiatives/Bachlor’s Program in Global Issues, University of Tsukuba

Staff／スタッフ

• 
  Hajime Akiyama

  University of Tsukuba Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences

  Assistant Professor
  Career

  Hajime Akiyama is an Assistant Professor of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Tsukuba. He received Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts in Peace Studies and Doctor of Philosophy from International Christian University (ICU). He was appointed as a Research Fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, a Visiting Researcher at the University of Lausanne Lecturer of the College of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, before the current position since 2020. He is also working as a Visiting Partner Associate Professor at ICU and Part-time Lecturer at Rikkyo Niiza High School. His specialisation includes peace studies, constitutional law, international law and international organisations. He researched nationality and statelessness, post-COVID-19 studies and post-anthropocene, and he also serve as a Co-Representative of Stateless Network. His publications include “Post-COVID-19 Studies: Pandemic, Change and Continuity in Society, the Future (in Japanese)” (Akashi Shoten, 2022). He received the Award of Brilliance of the 29th Eisaku Sato Essay Contest. He was selected as the BEST FACULTY MEMBER of the University of Tsukuba in AY 2022 and AY 2024. He is a TRiSTAR Fellow; TRiSTAR is the Top Runners in Strategy of Transborder Advanced Researches (TRiSTAR) program conducted as the Strategic Professional Development Program for Young Researchers by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT). (As of July 2025)

• 
  Motoko Akiba, Prof/PhD

  Florida State University, USA College of Education

  Editor-in-chief of the American Education Research Journal
• 
  Masami Isoda, Prof/PhD

  University of Tsukuba, Japan CRICED

  Director
• 
  Suguru Mizunoya, PhD

  UNESCO International Institute of Education Planning, Paris Technical Cooperation Department

  Director
• 
  Felipe Sandoval

  HIROSAKI UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL MEDICINE Social Medicine

  Assistant professor
• 
  MORIO, Takahiro

  University of Tsukuba Bureau of Global Initiatives/Bachlor's Program in Global Issues

  Professor
  Career

  Professor, Bureau of Global Initiatives, University of Tsukuba. Starting from the molecular genetics of cellular slime molds, a boundary between unicellular and multicellular organisms, he/she has been itinerant in his/her research themes of industry-university collaboration and research evaluation, environmental science, higher education and innovation policy, and strategies for Japanese companies in Africa, and has wandered to Kyoto, Okazaki, Tsukuba, Houston, Tunisia and other major battlegrounds. He/She is currently conducting international comparative research on content industries such as manga and anime, and active learning using science fiction story-making and manga creation methods. He/She is one of the few faculty members who do not belong to any of the university’s research/teaching units, and lives in the boundary area. In addition to his/her three-dimensional form in the present world, he/she appears and disappears in a two-dimensional form in the metaverse.

Competency／コンピテンシー

Information／その他の情報

Contact／お問合せ先

Prof. Dr. MORIO, Takahiro morio.takahiro.fu@u.tsukuba.ac.jp
BPGI, University of Tsukuba, JAPAN
Hajime Akiyama, akiyama.hajime.gp@u.tsukuba.ac.jp
Felipe Sandoval
HIROSAKI UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL MEDICINE
mail:sandoval@hirosaki-u.ac.jp

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