Akiko Yamanaka was Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan from 2005 to 2006. She was a member of the Japanese House of Representatives from 2005 to 2009, and Director of the Women’s Bureau of the Liberal Democratic Party from 2006 to 2007. She currently serves as a Council member of the Japan Institute of International Affairs and as an Advisor on Research at the Japan Institute for International Policy Studies.

Akiko has been a visiting Professor at the United Nations University in Tokyo and Hokkaido University Graduate School and a senior researcher at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University and CSIS in Washington D.C. She is currently Professional By-Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge University.

Akiko specialises in Diplomacy and Security, especially Negotiation and Strategic Studies, and Peace Building. She has written several books and received the OISCA Award for contributions to Asia and the international Soroptomist Japan’s Sen Kayoko Prize for contributions to international understanding.