Institute for Advanced Global Studies (IAGS)

Inaugurated on April 1, 2010, the Institute for Advanced Global Studies (IAGS) is a complex of centers originally comprising the Center for Pacific and American Studies (CPAS), Center for German and European Studies (DESK), Research Center for African Studies, Research Center for Sustainable Development (RCSD), and the Research Center for Sustainable Peace (RCSP). Since then, IAGS has expanded to also include the University of Tokyo Centre for Middle Eastern Studies (UTCMES), Center for Korean Studies (CKS), Research Division on the Mediterranean Areas, Center for South Asian Studies (TINDAS), and the Latin American & Iberian Network for Academic Collaboration (LAINAC).

IAGS was created in response to the strong interest in globalization that rapidly emerged following the end of the Cold War, a trend evident in all fields of human endeavor encompassing but not limited to the environment, economy, politics, culture, and science. While the research carried out by each of the IAGS centers is regionally focused, together they cover a broad area of the world to address challenges to all humanity. These challenges require flexible and dynamic collaboration between academia and practitioners in the field. In this regard, IAGS serves to bridge the two seemingly disparate fields, acting to enhance the quality of regionally based academic research while at the same time exploring implications of the research within a global context.