IAFOR President Ambassador Toshiya Hoshino to Step Down

His Excellency Professor Toshiya Hoshino, has stepped down from the role of President of IAFOR as he takes on a senior position at the United Nations in Geneva. He was confirmed as an Inspector of the Joint Inspection Unit of the UN system (JIU) by the UN General Assembly.

Ambassador Hoshino, who has served on the IAFOR Board of Directors since 2019, succeeded Professor Steve Cornwell, who passed in April of 2019. As President of IAFOR, Professor Hoshino was the senior academic officer of the organisation, and in this role, chaired the International Academic Advisory Board, as well as both the Academic Governing Board and its Executive Committee.

Dr Joseph Haldane, Chairman and CEO of IAFOR, said “While I am very sad that Ambassador Hoshino will be stepping down from his role with IAFOR, I understand that the UN position in Geneva as an Inspector at the JIU is a wonderful professional opportunity for him to continue to make an impact on the global stage. He has been an excellent collaborator and friend, and while we will miss him in Japan, we hope and expect him to be able to continue to participate in our events in Europe.”

Ambassador Hoshino is an internationally-recognized scholar and practitioner in the fields of International Public Policy, and has had a complementary academic, executive and diplomatic career, including his appointment as Japanese Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations in New York, from 2017-2020, where he was in charge of socio-economic and budgetary affairs. He had previously served as Minister-Counsellor from 2006-2008 at the same mission in charge of political affairs, and earlier in his career, was Special Assistant for Political Affairs at The Embassy of Japan, Washington, D.C., from 1988-1991.

Professor Hoshino is also stepping down from his role as Professor at Osaka University’s Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), although he will remain a Guest Professor. From 2017, he was the Executive Director of the IAFOR Research Centre at OSIPP, a position now assumed by Professor Virgil Hawkins.

Dr Joseph Haldane, Chairman and CEO of IAFOR, co-moderating a roundtable session on Innovators and Investors at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Dr Joseph Haldane and Ambassador Toshiya Hoshino co-moderate a roundtable session on Innovators and Investors at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Professor Hoshino’s research interests centre on policy and implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through global multi-stakeholder public/private partnerships, and he was the founding Director of the Environmental, Social, and Governance Integration Research and Education Centre (ESG-IREC).

Previous to his second secondment to the United Nations in 2017, Professor Hoshino held a number of senior administrative roles at Osaka University, including Vice-President (2014-2015) and then Executive Vice-President (2015-2016) for Global Engagement, having previously served as Dean of the Osaka School of International Public Policy from 2011-2014.

Before joining Osaka University in 1998, Ambassador Hoshino was a Senior Research Fellow at The Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) from 1991 to 1998, and continued his association with the Institute as an Adjunct Fellow from 1998 to 2006. Professor Hoshino was a visiting academic staff member of the following. From 1992 to 1993, Visiting Fellow at The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University; in 2000, Visiting Fellow at Wollongong University, Australia; from 2000-2002, Special Research Fellow at the Hiroshima Peace Institute, Hiroshima City University; from 2003 to 2006, Fellow at the Stanford Japan Centre, Stanford Institute for International Studies at Stanford University; from 2007 to 2008, Guest Scholar at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University; from 2009 to 2014, Visiting Professor, Inner Mongolia University, China; and from 2015 to 2017 and 2020 till present, Adjunct Professor, Kyung Hee University, Korea.

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