CV
Bio
Tomoko Takahashi is an Assistant Professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University. 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 was also a Visiting Researcher at WZB Berlin Social Science Center (Global Governance Unit, September-October 2023). 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).
Academic Appointments
Current
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)
Assistant Professor, Center for Southeast Asian Studies,
Kyoto University, JAPAN, 2023 (October~)
Past
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