2017-2018 Visiting Faculty & Scholars
Visiting Professor in East Asian Studies
Harald Fuess has been Professor of History at Heidelberg University since 2009 and is one of the foremost experts on Japan in Europe. Professor Fuess currently examines the wide impact of Western industrial and mercantile capitalism on East Asian economies and cultures during the long nineteenth century. His case studies are connecting the global and the local through topics such as arms trade, treaty ports societies, consular jurisdiction, international epidemics, diplomatic disputes on trademarks, the role of the multilingual press, multinational business histories, and transcultural fusions of consumer cultures. He is also organizing a large collaborative research project with numerous colleagues in the United States, Europe and Japan. Activities include several international conferences on three continents reassessing the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Japanese modernization, and global history. Several books and special journal issues are in progress on this important topic.
Chunwen Hao is the Dean of the School of History and the Director of the History Institute at Capital Normal University. He is also the Chief Editor of Dunhuangxue guoji liangluo weiyuanhui tongxun 敦煌學國際聯絡委員會通訊 (Newsletter of International Liaison Committee for Dunhuang Studies) and Dunhuang Tulufan yanjiu 敦煌吐鲁番研究 (Studies on Dunhuang and Turfan). Dr. Hao’s work focuses on the Dunhuang Manuscripts, Dunhuang Buddhism, and Chinese medieval history (3rd Century BC to 13th Century; Han to Song Dynasty). He is the Principal Investigator of a Chinese government-sponsored key project (国家社科基金重大项目). Vol 1-12 of Yingcang Dunhuang shehuilishi wenxianshilu 英藏敦煌社会历史文献释录 (The Collections of The Social and Historic Documents from Dunhuang Manuscripts in British Library) have been published in 2015 as part of the project, and the rest of the collection (30 volumes in total) will be published in different stages.
Japan Foundation CGP Visiting Assistant Professor in East Asian Studies
Seiki Tanaka is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam, having joined the department in September 2015. Previously, he taught at Syracuse University and was a visiting scholar at Yale University and a Post-doctoral Research Associate at Princeton University. His research interests include the political economy of poverty and inequality, discrimination, redistribution, and conflicts.
Visiting Fellow in East Asian Studies
Esther Lam leads the Northeast Asia Team within the Asia-Pacific Section of the United Nations Human Rights Office. Prior to her current role, she acted as the Office’s Migration Advisor and then focal point on anti-corruption, governance and human rights issues. In 2011, she established the Office’s presence on social media and led its strategic outreach on Google+, Twitter, Facebook and Storify. A journalist and researcher before joining the United Nations in 2006, Esther Lam has published extensively on human rights, United Nations and World Trade Organization issues. Among her books are China and the WTO – a Long March Toward the Rule of Law, A Practical Guide to the WTO for Human Rights Advocates (as lead author), and SARS and the WHO: An Untold Story, and her analytical pieces appeared in the International Herald Tribune, Bloomberg BNA and South China Morning Post. She studied journalism and communications in Hong Kong and international law at University of Edinburgh (LLM) and Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva (PhD). She is fluent in English, Chinese (Mandarin & Cantonese), and have working knowledge of French.
Yale World Fellow
DU Yang is the co-founder and chief analyst of China Philanthropist Magazine and CiMedia Group, a pioneering joint venture and an influential media source for the philanthropy industry in China. His work focuses on building partnerships and networks with global philanthropists and China’s growing philanthropy sector. As a culture “ambassador” in the philanthropy industry, he has been involved in the process of launching a platform of China’s top philanthropists and an east-west cultural program. Du has a Bachelor’s degree from the Beijing Institute of Technology.
Bayartsetseg Jigmiddash is a lawyer with more than 15 years of professional experience in the field of rule of law and human rights. She has held senior government positions in the justice sector and has been at the forefront of Mongolia’s far-reaching reform initiatives. Currently, she is CEO and Founding Director of Veritas Consulting, an agency specializing in strategic development, management and government compliance. From 2012 to 2016, Jigmiddash served as Secretary of State of the Ministry of Justice of Mongolia, becoming the first woman appointed in this position. In this role, she oversaw the strategy, operations of the ministry and law enforcement agencies. Under her leadership, the legal policy on gender-based violence has been significantly improved, including criminalization of domestic violence. Prior to this top civil service post, she served as legal advisor to the president of Mongolia, and has been involved in the judicial reform as well as abolishment of death penalty in Mongolia. She has extensive civil society experience and pioneered an array of initiatives to promote human rights and access to justice. She also served as independent director of the state-owned commercial bank in Mongolia. She holds a masters in law (LLM) degree from Harvard Law School and graduated from the Law School of National University of Mongolia. She was a visiting scholar at Columbia Law School. She was selected as a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum.
Lin Kobayashi is an entrepreneur and educator who is passionate about bringing positive change to society. She founded and chairs the board of the International School of Asia, Karuizawa (ISAK), Japan’s first international boarding high school designed to nurture the next generation of transformational leaders. The establishment of ISAK is perceived to be one of the most successful social entrepreneurial projects in the recent years with strong support from both the public and private sectors. Following the successful opening of ISAK in 2014, Kobayashi worked with the Minister and Ministry of Education on decentralization of teacher training, hiring, and evaluation, while serving on the Council for the Implementation of Education Rebuilding in Japan. She is also a member of Educational Policy Strategy Council in Nagano Prefecture, serves on the Accenture Japan Inclusion and Diversity advisory board as well as on the board of Endeavor which promotes entrepreneurship in Japan. She was selected as a Young Global Leader in 2012 by the World Economic Forum, Change-Maker of the Year 2013 by Nikkei Business, Woman of the Year 2015 by Nikkei Woman, and Management of the Year 2016 by Zaikai. She started her career at Morgan Stanley, and holds a BA in economics from the University of Tokyo and an MA in education from Stanford University.