Stanford University

Trans-Pacific Sustainability Dialogue 2023: Energy Security

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The Trans-Pacific Sustainability Dialogue convenes social science researchers and scientists from Stanford University and across the Asia-Pacific region, alongside student leaders, policymakers, and practitioners, to accelerate progress on achieving the United Nations-adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Dialogue aims to generate new research and policy partnerships to expedite the implementation of the Agenda's underlying framework of 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

The Dialogue on Energy Security will be held in Seoul, South Korea, on September 12 to 14, 2023 Korea Standard Time, and is free and open to the public.

This year's main hosts and organizers are Stanford's Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) and the Ban Ki-moon Foundation For a Better Future. The co-hosts are the Korea Environment Institute (KEI), Korea Energy and Economics Institute (KEEI), Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI), K-water, and Ewha Womans University. The co-organizers include the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea (MOFA), Graduate School of International Studies at Yonsei University (GSIS), and Asian Development Bank (ADB).
 

Poster for the 2023 Trans-Pacific Sustainability Dialogue with speaker headshots and a logo of the Sustainable Development Goals.

This is an invitation-only dinner.

Lotte Hotel
30 Eulji-Ro, Jung-gu, Seoul

Hosted by the Ban Ki-moon Foundation For a Better Future

Master of Ceremonies: Hannah Jun, Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha Womans University

Welcoming Dinner

18:00–18:10
Welcoming of Guests

18:10–18:20
Welcome Remarks
Ban Ki-moon, The 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chairman of the Ban Ki-moon Foundation For a Better Future

18:20–18:35
Congratulatory Remarks
Park Jin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea 
Han Wha-jin, Minister of Environment, Republic of Korea
Cha In-pyo, Actor, Director, and Honorary Ambassador of the Trans-Pacific Sustainability Dialogue

18:35-18:40
Toast
Gombojav Zandanshatar, Chairman, State Great Hural of Mongolia
Kim Hwang Sik, Former Prime Minister, Republic of Korea

18:40–19:30
Dinner

19:30-19:35
Toast
Eun Mee Kim, President of Ewha Womans University, Professor at the Graduate School of International Studies, and Director of the Ewha Global Health Institute for Girls and Women, Ewha Womans University
Steven Chu, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics, of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, and of Energy Science and Engineering at Stanford University; former U.S. Secretary of Energy; and 1997 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physics

2023 TPSD poster

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Day 1: September 13, 8:30 a.m. - 6:15 p.m. KST | The Grand Ballroom, The Plaza Hotel, Seoul
Day 2: September 14, 8:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. KST | ECC Lee Sam Bong-Hall, Ewha Womans University

Conferences

Trans-Altai Sustainability Dialogue Conference Proceedings

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Opening remarks 
Zandanshatar,G Chairman of the State Great Hural of Mongolia 
Ban Ki-moon The 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chairman of the Ban Ki-moon Foundation for a Better Future 
Kim Young-joo Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea 
Gi-Wook Shin Professor of Sociology, Director of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea, Director of the Korean Studies Program, Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University 

Policy Papers
Eun Mee Kim Empowering women through higher education: Women in STEM in the digital transformation era 
Bulgantuya,Kh Women’s Leadership and Sustainable Development 
Undraa, A. Sustainable Development and Gender Equality: Role of Organizations 
Odontuya, S. Gender Equality in the Labor Market
Dorjkhand, T. Gender Equality and Sustainable Development 
Elaine Conkievich Women’s Empowerment and Leadership 
Mark Koenig Gender Equality in the Labor Market

Academic Articles
Gender Studies 
Christine Min Wotipka Persistent Gaps: Global and National Perspectives on Gender and Higher Education
Begz, N. Issues of Human Development and Maturity in Sustainable Development 
Ankhbayar, B. Christine Min Wotipka, Risa Ninomiya, Jieun Song. Development of Gender Equality Evaluation Index in Higher Education Institutions
Maznah Mohamad Gender-Based Violence and Human Rights
Gulmira Kudaiberdieva Quality and Gender Inclusive Education in the Kyrgyz Republic 
Ariunaa,Kh Factors Influencing Career Choices
Enkhtogtokh,A., Sanjaabadam,S., Bayarmaa,B. Sustainable Development and Education for Sustainable Development Policy Alignment and Implementation Study (a Case Study of Mongolia)

International Trends for Altai Regional Research 
Enkhbat,A Further Development of “Altai Studies”
Aynur Ibrahimova The Gender Problem in the Context of the Epic “Koroglu” 70 
İlhan Şahin Studies on the Altai People in the Historical Process: Past, Present and Future 73 
Abdrasul İsakov Native Americas (Na-Dene) are a Part of the Altai Civilization 
Kürşat Yildirim An Evaluation of Studies on Mongolian History in Türkiye

Student Papers 
Tsolmon,G., Namuun,U., Yesui,B. Applications of Artificial Intelligence Tools to Mongolian Higher Education Sector
Enkhtsetseg,T. Can Partnership Help English Teachers to Improve the Quality of EFL Curriculum? 
Marlaa,B., Mandukhai,B., Dulguun,N. Research on Accessible Infrastructure for People with Disabilities: a Case Study of Mongolia
Misheel,A., Binderya,B., Temulun,S., Emujin,A., Erdenechuluun,B. Studying Water Usage Pattern for Residents in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Vilina Engheepi. Deconstructing Water Scarcity in Water-Rich Himalayan Region: A case study of Sikkim, India
Tuulsaikhan,A. Contribution of “Ulaanbaatar Railway” to the Sustainable Development of Mongolia Supplied Community Participation 
Tuvshintugs,A., Gunbileg,B. Article 6.2 of the Constitution of Mongolia is the Basis for the Efficient Use of Natural Resources and the Development of Its Sustainable Management
Udval,O., Temuge,G. Umyete “Impartiality” Mongolian Red Cross Rotary Club

 

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New Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab to Tackle Emerging Challenges in Asia

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Noa Ronkin
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Stanford University's Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) is pleased to unveil the Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab (SNAPL), an interdisciplinary initiative committed to producing evidence-based, actionable policy research to facilitate structural reform and propel Asia toward a future defined by growth, maturity, and innovation. Based at APARC and led by sociologist Gi-Wook Shin, the William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, SNAPL seeks to tackle pressing social, cultural, economic, and political challenges facing Asian countries, including aging populations, escalating inequality, brain drain, environmental threats, and institutional deficiencies in areas like the rule of law and cultural intolerance.

"SNAPL represents a significant milestone in our commitment to building research networks that engage academics, policymakers, business leaders, and civil society organizations interested in regional and global perspectives on contemporary Asia," said Shin, who is also the director of APARC and the Korea Program within APARC. “Through an interdisciplinary, solution-oriented, and comparative lens, we aim to set a research and policy agenda to help Asian nations create their unique roadmaps to becoming and remaining innovation-driven economics at the center of 21st-century dynamism and growth. At the same time, we believe that research on Asia could uncover important implications and lessons for the United States and European countries as they grapple with their own social, cultural, economic, and political challenges.”

Combining theoretical and field studies, SNAPL researchers will initially examine issues such as the prospects for reform of educational institutions, immigration policy, and cultural attitudes in Asia; paths to combating recent democratic declines; and U.S.-Asia relations. In addition to Shin, the lab director and principal investigator, the SNAPL inaugural research team includes Research Scholar Xinru Ma, Postdoctoral Fellows Gidong Kim and Junki Nakahara, Research Associates Haley Gordon and Irene Kyoung, and a cohort of Stanford undergraduate and graduate students serving as research assistants. The lab plans to continue offering fellowship and training opportunities to scholars and students.

“SNAPL’s education mission is to nurture the next generation of researchers, including students and visiting scholars, and we firmly believe that the laboratory model, proven successful in the sciences — with its mentorship and hands-on engagement — holds immense potential for nurturing talent in the social sciences,” notes Shin. “I look forward to our team’s contributions to U.S.-Asia dialogue and Asia’s security and prosperity, and I am grateful to our supporters for providing foundational funding for the lab.”

On August 29-30, 2023, SNAPL will co-host its inaugural event, the Sustainable Democracy Roundtable, jointly with the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies and APARC's Korea Program. The two-day event will convene scholars and students from the United States and South Korea to present solutions that address global democratic backsliding, promote social progress, and advance long-term development.

For more information about SNAPL, visit the lab’s website at aparc.stanford.edu/snapl.

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Portrait of Gi-Wook Shin and the cover of his book, 'The Adventure of Democracy."
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Urgent Choices: Stanford Sociologist’s Book Examines Korea's Path to Democratic Advancement and Global Leadership

In his new book, Gi-Wook Shin explores the challenges and possibilities for Korea's democracy and national vision for its future development.
Urgent Choices: Stanford Sociologist’s Book Examines Korea's Path to Democratic Advancement and Global Leadership
Dancers perform upon a giant globe.
Q&As

Flow of Talent Among Asia-Pacific Nations Would Revitalize the Economy and National Security

Depopulation is a concern shared by Japan and South Korea. Immigration of high-skilled labor could be a solution for mitigating it. In this regard, Japan SPOTLIGHT interviewed Prof. Gi-Wook Shin, who is working on a new research initiative seeking to examine the potential benefits of talent flows in the Asia-Pacific region.
Flow of Talent Among Asia-Pacific Nations Would Revitalize the Economy and National Security
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Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab team members at Encina Hall, Stanford
Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab team members.
Michael Breger
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Housed within the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, the lab will pioneer evidence-based policy research to help Asian nations forge pathways to a future characterized by social, cultural, economic, and political maturity and advance U.S.-Asia dialogue.

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Mia Kimura

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Mia Kimura MBA

Mia Kimura is a Curriculum Consultant at the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE).

Prior to joining SPICE, Mia worked in marketing communications, supporting foreign firms in the Japanese market, and Japanese organizations in the United States. She has also served as Principal at Poppins Active Learning School, an international program for early childhood education in Tokyo. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Cognitive Science from Brown University, and a Master of Business Administration from The Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. She was born in San Francisco and lived in Tokyo for 25 years before returning to the Bay Area.

Mia’s role at SPICE represents the culmination of decades of experience bridging Japanese and American business and social cultures. She also draws from background as an executive coach, defining her role of instructor as an enabler of students’ own curiosity and abilities to question, reflect, and learn.

Curriculum Consultant
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The Social Costs of Keystone Species Collapse: Evidence From The Decline of Vultures in India

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Poster for event, "The Social Costs of Keystone Species Collapse: Evidence From The Decline of Vultures in India"

Co-sponsored by Peking University Institute for Global Health and Development, and the Asia Health Policy Program

July 11th, 5-6 pm PST; July 12th, 2023, 8-9 am Beijing Time

Scientific evidence documents an ongoing mass extinction of species, caused by human activity. Allocating conservation resources is difficult due to scarce evidence on the damages from losing specific species. This paper studies the collapse of vultures in India, triggered by the expiry of a patent on a painkiller. Our results suggest the functional extinction of vultures --- efficient scavengers who removed carcasses from the environment --- increased human mortality by over 4% because of a large negative shock to sanitation. These effects are comparable to estimates of heat deaths from climate change. We quantify damages at $69.4 billion per-year.

Eyal Frank 071123

Eyal Frank is an Assistant Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy and the Energy Policy Institute (EPIC) at the University of Chicago. He works at the intersection of economics and conservation, addressing three broad questions: (i) how do natural inputs, namely animals, contribute to different production functions of interest, (ii) how do market dynamics reduce natural habitats and lead to declining wildlife population levels, and (iii) what are the costs, indirect ones in particular, of conservation policies. To overcome causal inference challenges—as manipulating ecosystems and species at large scales is often infeasible—his work draws on natural experiments from ecology and policy, and uses econometric techniques to advance our understanding regarding the social cost of biodiversity losses.

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Eyal Frank, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Chicago
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Gidong Kim

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Visiting Scholar, Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab (SNAPL) Fellow, Summer 2025
Korea Program Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023-2025
gidong_kim_snapl.png Ph.D.

Gidong Kim joined the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as Visiting Scholar, Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab (SNAPL) Fellow for the summer of 2025. He currently serves as Associate Professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies' Department of Political Science and Diplomacy.

Previously, he was Korea Program Postdoctoral Fellow at APARC beginning August 2023 until February 2025. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from University of Missouri, as well as both a M.A. and a B.A. in Political Science from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. He studies comparative political behavior and economy in East Asia, with particular focus on nationalism and identity politics, inequality and redistribution, and migration in South Korea and East Asia. His work is published or forthcoming in journals including Journal of East Asian Studies, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Asian Perspective, Korea Observer, and Social Science Quarterly. 

His dissertation, “Nationalism and Redistribution in New Democracies: Nationalist Legacies of Authoritarian Regimes,” investigates the micro-level underpinnings that sustain weak welfare system in developmental states. He argues that authoritarian leaders who encounter twin challenges of nation-building and modernization tend to utilize nationalism as an effective ruling and mobilizing strategy for national development. As a result, nationalism shaped under the authoritarianism can embed pro-development norms, which can powerfully shape citizens' preferences for redistribution even after democratization. He tests his theoretical argument using a mixed-method approach, including in-depth interview, survey experiment, and cross-national survey data analysis.

At APARC, Gidong transformed his dissertation project into a book manuscript. Also, he led collaborative projects about nationalism, racism, and democratic crisis to address emerging social, economic, and political challenges in Korea and, more broadly, Asia. 

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Junki Nakahara

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Stanford Next Asia Policy Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023-2025
junki_nakahara_snapl.png Ph.D.

Junki Nakahara was a postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab (SNAPL), housed within the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC), for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 academic years. She earned her PhD in Communication (2023) and MAs in Media, Technology, and Democracy (2022) and Intercultural and International Communication (2019) from American University, and a BEd in Educational Psychology (2017) from the University of Tokyo.

Her research centers on nationalism and (digital) media, discourse theory, and postcolonial and decolonial IR. She is particularly interested in contemporary nationalism entangled with racism, xenophobia, historical revisionism (e.g., denial of wartime atrocities), and misogyny, with a primary focus on East Asia. Her past work draws from critical and cultural studies to examine how communication technologies empower marginalized communities while simultaneously amplifying hegemonic voices and exacerbating inequalities. This includes analyses of the global diffusion of Black Lives Matter as a digitally networked connective action in the comparative contexts of Brazil, India, and Japan (Link), and of how digital nationalism distorts the articulation of feminism on China’s video-sharing platform BiliBili through affordances and policies that implicitly favor nationalist manipulation (Link). Collectively, these studies contribute to her broader inquiry into the dialectical tensions between globalization and nationalization/racialization as key factors shaping the conjunctural dynamics of today’s communication landscape.

At SNAPL, Junki led the Nationalism & Racism research track, focusing on how nationalism and racism intertwine to create various forms of suppression and intolerance across the Asia-Pacific region, where entanglements among race, ethnicity, nation, and postcoloniality complicate related debates. Through archival data and discourse analysis, her team developed a typology identifying different logics and manifestations of racism “denial” in state-sanctioned discourses, showing how these are deeply conditioned by dominant ideologies of nationhood—ranging from core social and cultural values to political struggles over national unity and security (Link). Bringing interdisciplinary, comparative, and theoretically grounded approaches, the team pursued projects that include: (1) an investigation into how Asian states appropriate global anti-racist norms through their iterative engagement with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; and (2) a comparative analysis of how different colonial legacies have shaped the articulation of race and racism in India and Korea—from the period of resistance to empire and national liberation to the present.

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A Signal to End Child Marriage: Theory and Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh

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A Signal to End Child Marriage: Theory and Experimental Evidence from Bangladesh withErica Field

Co-sponsored by Peking University Institute for Global Health and Development, and the Asia Health Policy Program

Child marriage remains common even where female schooling and employment opportunities have grown. We experimentally evaluate a financial incentive to delay marriage alongside a girls’ empowerment program in Bangladesh. While girls eligible for two years of incentive are 19% less likely to marry underage, the empowerment program failed to decrease adolescent marriage. We show that these results are consistent with a signaling model in which bride type is imperfectly observed but preferred bride types (socially conservative girls) have lower returns to delaying marriage. Consistent with our theoretical prediction, we observe substantial spillovers of the incentive on untreated non-preferred types.

Erica Field

Erica Field is a Professor of Economics and Global Health at Duke University specializing in the fields of Development Economics, Health Economics and Economic Demography. Professor Field’s work examines the microeconomics of household poverty and health in developing countries, with an emphasis on the study of gender and development. She has written papers on several topics in development in many different parts of the world, including microfinance contract design and social networks in India, marriage markets in Bangladesh, micronutrient deficiencies in Tanzania, health insurance for the poor in Nicaragua, household bargaining over fertility in Zambia.  Her work has been published in several leading peer-reviewed journals, including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy and the American Economic Journal. Professor Field received her Ph.D. from Princeton University in 2003. Prior to joining the Economics Department at Duke, she was a John L. Loeb Associate Professor of Economics at Harvard University. 

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Erica Field, Professor of Economics, Duke University
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Thai Democracy: Future, Present, Past

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Thai Democracy: Future, Present, Past

Thailand is at a crossroads. On 14 May 2023, Thai voters took part in their country’s first fully free and fair election after nearly a decade under military and conservative-elite rule. The results gave a resounding victory in the 500-member House of Representatives to Thailand's two most progressive parties: the Pheu Thai Party affiliated with former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and the relative newcomer Move Forward Party. Exceeding even the most optimistic predictions, Move Forward won the most House seats, while the two most pro-military parties together took only 12 percent. Thai voters have conveyed their preferences. But will their votes decide who forms the government and what if any policy reforms are allowed to proceed? Looming over that question for the present is the chance of a more democratic future and the legacy of an authoritarian past.

Allen Hicken

Allen Hicken, in addition to his professorship, is affiliated with the University of Michigan’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies, its Center for Political Studies, and its Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies. His work focuses on political institutions, political economy, and policymaking with an emphasis on Southeast Asia. His many publications include a recent co-authored book, Mobilizing for Elections: Patronage and Political Machines in Southeast Asia (2022). Prof. Hicken has held visiting-scholar positions in Thailand (twice), the Philippines, Singapore, and Australia. His higher degrees are from the University of California San Diego (PhD) and Columbia University (MA).

Ken Lohatepanont

Ken Mathis Lohatepanont, alongside his doctoral studies, writes regularly for the Thai Enquirer, an English-language news website based in Bangkok.  Before coming to the University of Michigan he worked for the Thailand Development Research Institute as part of its Innovation Policy for Sustainable Development Team.  In that capacity he helped to generate policy recommendations as to how the Thai economy could be restructured to make it more competitive. Earlier affiliations included a stint as a Journalism Intern with the Asia Focus section of the Bangkok Post reporting and commenting on economics, politics, and business in the Asia-Pacific region.  His BA in political science is from UC-Berkeley.

Donald K. Emmerson

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Allen Hicken, Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan
Ken Mathis Lohatepanont, Ph.D. Student in Political Science, University of Michigan
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