Dr. Miwa Hirono

Dr. Miwa Hirono is a Professor of International Relations at the College of Global Liberal Arts and the Graduate School of International Relations at Ritsumeikan University, and Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University (ANU). She holds a PhD in International Relations from ANU. Dr. Hirono's current research examines China's global affairs, with particular attention to China's engagement in the Global South. Her work explores how China's expanding international role intersects with humanitarian, security, and development challenges in fragile settings. She is currently leading a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)-funded research project on Chinese investment and its impact on human development in the Global South. She is also developing "Global China Studies" in Japan—a field integrating theories with Global South perspectives on China. She is the author of several influential publications, including 'Globalising Chinese Actors and Internalising the Belt and Road: Implications for Global and Domestic Governance' (ANU Press, 2025), and edited the special section 'China's Evolving Approaches to the Principle of Non-Intervention' in The China Quarterly (2019) and the special issue 'Local Knowledge as the Basis of Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance in Disasters' (2023). She is also the author of 'China's Evolving Approach to Peacekeeping' (Routledge, 2012). Dr. Hirono has held teaching and research positions at a number of leading institutions worldwide. In addition to her role at Ritsumeikan University, she has taught at the Australian National University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Nottingham. Her distinguished fellowships include a Research Councils UK (RCUK) research fellowship at the University of Nottingham (2008–2015), a Fulbright Fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School (2018–2019), and a visiting research fellowship at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (2003–2004).