PCRC News
May 13, 2025 
Romain Chuffart, Nansen Professor from Akureyri, gave seminar on Arctic ice geoengineering
Dr. Romain Chuffart, Nasen Profesor from University of Akureyri gave a stimulating talk on Arctic ice geoengineering on May 13, attended by many GSICS International Law students, at 29th PCRC/GSICS International Law Seminar. Romain was a PCRC fellow for 5 months from 2018, right after he finished his LLM at Akureyri Polar Law Master’s Program, researching and collaborating with Director Shibata on Arctic international law. He then went to Durham University in the United Kingdom to pursue his doctoral degree, and was nominated as the prestigious Nansen Professor in 2024 for 3 year-term.
May 12, 2025 
Director Shibata visiting UTAS/IMAS under the new JSPS Core-to-Core Program
From April 29 to May 8, Director Shibata, as his first overseas mission under the new JSPS Core-to-Core Program on Antarctic Governance Research (2025-30), visited the University of Tasmania and its Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (UTAS/IMAS), one of the Program’s overseas collaborating institutions. Director Shibata met with Adjunct Professor Anthony Press, the Coordinator for UTAS/IMAS under the JSPS Program, and other participating researchers to consult on the program’s implementation, and gave research presentations and lectures. Director Shibata was accompanied by Associate Professor Maiko Raita from Osaka University and LL.M. candidate Ms Fumika Iwama at Kobe University GSICS, who have implemented their early-career initiatives under the Program (detailed reports will be available under the dedicated JSPS Program webpage around mid-June).
April 1, 2025
PCRC Homepage renewal is undergoing: until mid-June 2025
Over the last 10 years starting from 2015, PCRC has been implementing the Japanese flagship Arctic research projects, ArCS and ArCS II, which has come to an end on March 31, 2025. Replacing them is the newly funded JSPS Core-to-Core Program on Antarctic Governance, and PCRC will literally be the CORE of world-wide research network on Antarctic governance, in collaboration with University of Tasmania (UTAS) and Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI). PCRC will continue to engage with the Arctic issues within the framework of another JSPS project on International Polar Law (up to March 2029). At this juncture, the PCRC homepage will undergo a renewal, expected until mid-June 2025. PCRC will be reborn, and please don’t miss it in June!
April 1, 2025
PCRC as its interim secretariat opened the official homepage of Polar Law Symposium
Director Shibata of PCRC has been instrumental in supporting, planning and operationalizing the Polar Law Symposium (PLS) and its Yearbook of Polar Law (YPL) since he joined the Co-Editor-in-Chief in 2021, with Prof. Alfredsson at Stefasson Arctic Institute, Prof. Koivurova at University of Rovaniemi, and Senior Lecturer Hodgson-Johnston at University of Tasmania. Kobe PCRC has been designated as its interim secretariat in 2024 (with the financial support of JSPS project on International Polar Law) and, today, launched the first official homepage of Polar Law Symposium and The Yearbook of Polar Law. This homepage provides an easy-to-access, one-stop platform for all the basic information of the Symposium and the Yearbook. The host institution for the yearly symposium is still responsible for the dedicated webpage for that particular conference. Today, Polar Law Community Mailing List contains over 450 registrants, and the number is growing every year. Watch out for the exciting Polar Law scholarship in coming years!
March 31, 2025
Director Shibata appointed as KOPRI Policy Advisory Group, 2025-26
Director Shibata has been appointed as a member of KOPRI Policy Advisory Group for the period of two years starting from January 2025. According to the letter of appointment, the Group members are expected to (1) Identify and analyze emerging polar related issues in the process of horizon scanning; and (2) Contribute to key events organized by KOPRI. Kobe PCRC and KOPRI has been developing a research collaboration through jointly organizing from 2023 Antarctic governance workshops and ATCM side event seminar on Antarctic governance in 2024 at Kochi, India. This collaboration will continue as KOPRI/Kobe PCRC third Antarctic governance workshop is already planned, this time in Incheon, Korea, on September 15, 2025. KOPRI is also one of the two Overseas Collaborating Core Institutions of the JSPS Core-to-Core Program on Antarctic Governance, 2025-2030.
Last updated April 1, 2025