CV
Bio
Tomoko Takahashi is a Tenured Lecturer at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo. She is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (Program on US-Japan Relations), Harvard University with Overseas Research Fellowship of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (2025.9-2027.9).
In the field of International Relations, she studies international institutions from the perspective of states, with an emphasis on East and Southeast Asia. Her projects are on the dynamics of norm-initiating behavior in the context of power politics, state autonomy, coalition politics and international bureaucrats. Methodologically, she uses statistical analysis, multilinguistic archival research and interviews.
She received her Ph.D. (2023), M.A. (2018), LL.B. (2016) at the University of Tokyo, and another M.A. (with Honors, 2020) at the University of Chicago, and was a Visiting Student at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva, 2017), a Visiting Researcher at WZB Berlin Social Science Center (Global Governance Unit, September-October 2023), and an Assistant Professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS), Kyoto University (until March 2026).
Academic Appointments
Current
Tenured Lecturer, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia
University of Tokyo, JAPAN, 2026 (April~)
Visiting Scholar, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (Program on US-Japan Relations),
Harvard University, USA, 2025 (September~)
with Overseas Research Fellowship of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (2025.9-2027.9)
Past
Assistant Professor, Center for Southeast Asian Studies,
Kyoto University, JAPAN, 2023 (October)~2026 (March)
Visiting Researcher, Global Governance Unit,
WZB Berlin Social Science Center, GERMANY, 2023 (September~October)
Postdoctoral Researcher, Center for Southeast Asian Studies,
Kyoto University, JAPAN, 2023 (April~September)
Education
Ph.D., Advanced Social and International Studies,
University of Tokyo, JAPAN, 2023
Dissertation: “Power Gap-Driven Draft Resolutions: Sponsorship Behavior of China as a Major Power in the United Nations General Assembly” [in English]
M.A. (with Honors Distinction), International Relations,
University of Chicago, IL, UNITED STATES, 2020
Thesis: “Inconspicuousness in International Institutions: Analyses of the United Nations General Assembly Roll Call Votes” [in English]
M.A., Advanced Social and International Studies,
University of Tokyo, JAPAN, 2018
Thesis: “China and the Multilateral Environmental Regime: Reflections on Theories of International Organizations and Regimes” [in English]
LL.B., Public Law Course,
University of Tokyo, JAPAN, 2016
Other:
Visiting Student,
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, SWITZERLAND, 2017