PCRC News
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.
March 21, 2025
JSPS Core-to-Core Program on Antarctic Governance adopted!
“Re-arranging resilient Antarctic governance to reflect the Earth’s interests through natural-social sciences interdisciplinary research” has been adopted as the 2025 Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Core-to-Core Program - Advanced Research Networks - with Kobe PCRC as its Core Institution and University of Tasmania (UTAS), Australia and Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) as Collaborating Overseas Core Institutions. The funding of ca. 14 million JPY per year for five years from April 2025 to March 2031 is expected. This program aims to establish a world-wide and world-class network of interdisciplinary research institutions and scholars to effectively address the Antarctic governance challenges. The Progam also aims to make policy recommendations on Antarctic governance for the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) to be held in Hiroshima, Japan in 2026 and in Korea in 2027 and beyond. The result announcement from JSPS (only in Japanese language; added March 28).
March 18, 2025
Dr. Osamu Inagaki will attend and make a presentation at ASSW 2025！
Dr. Osamu Inagaki, researcher of Polar Cooperation Research Centre, will attend Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) 2025 to be held at University of Colorado Boulder from 20-28 March 2025. Dr. Inagaki will make a presentation titled “Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement (CAOFA) as a Tool for Arctic Research Cooperation” at the open session “Tools for Arctic Research Cooperation and Diplomacy: Prospects for the 5th International Polar Year,” arguing that CAOFA now functions not just as a fisheries agreement, but also as an important agreement for enhancing Arctic research cooperation. This will be a concluding research result of ArCS II International Law 2020-2025. Dr. Inagaki will also attend meetings relating to the 4th International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP IV) as he is a member of its Research Priority Team 4 (Arctic Research Cooperation and Diplomacy).
Last updated April 1, 2025