The first Melbourne dinner of the 2009 Asialink Leaders Program will focus on Japan. This event will delve into key parts of Japanese history in order to understand contemporary political and economic issues facing Japan.
Speakers:
Dr. Malcolm Cook is Program Director, East Asia at the Lowy Institute for International Policy. He completed a PhD in International Relations from the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University. Malcolm also holds a Masters degree in International Relations from the International University of Japan and an honours degree from McGill University in Canada, his country of birth.
Before moving to Australia in 2000, Malcolm lived and worked in the Philippines, South Korea and Japan and spent much time in Singapore and Malaysia. Before joining the Institute in November 2003, Malcolm ran his own consulting practice on East Asian political and economic policy reform and risk analysis.
Malcolm’s research interests include: Political economy of North East and South East Asia; East Asian regionalism; and the impact of party and electoral systems on policy reform efforts.
Damien Spry, University of Sydney, Youth Culture and Mobile Media Policy in Japan and Australia.
Damien’s work examines youth mobile media use in Australia and Japan, with a particular focus on policy implications. In 2007, he presented at international conferences in Tokyo and Sydney. He has been invited as a visiting researcher to Chou University (Tokyo) for 2008, and has given presentations on Japanese pop culture and youth media policy at industry and academic conferences in Munich, Los Angeles and Tokyo.
His work focuses on the sociology of childhood in an era when increasingly ubiquitous information communications technology (ICT) is blurring boundaries between home and school, public and private, and child and adult. He suggests that current policy settings and social norms will be under pressure by these significant shifts, and that the experiences and ideas of young mobile users are an important part of the necessary public debate about mobile ICT use.
This is a private event. Entry by invitation only.