Sugiura Mikiko

Mikiko M. Sugiura is a Professor in the Graduate School of Global Studies, Sophia University. She also belongs to the Center for Global Education and Discovery.
She holds a Ph.D. and a master's degree, both in international studies, and the first B. A. in law from the University of Tokyo besides the second B. A. in comparative culture from Sophia University.

Her research focuses on developing institutional frameworks for sustainable water resources management, particularly river water use. She is keenly interested in issues related to sustainability, such as drought response, water rights systems (e.g., environmental water rights), and biodiversity conservation, based on the development of modern engineering technologies such as multi-purpose dams and long-distance water transfers.

Her teaching interests are in conservation, environmental science, development studies, and developing a trans-disciplinary approach to ecological issues.

Her interest, in other words, lies in the interaction between humans and nature, and she is particularly interested in how water resource management reflects the diversity of physical (e.g., climate) and non-physical (e.g., culture) conditions. In particular, she is strongly interested in the characteristics and trends observed in agricultural water use (especially in rice paddies) in the Asian monsoon region, where more than half of the world's population lives. She approaches irrigation commons, institutions, and conservation based on river flow characteristics (gravity-led, hydrological cycle, and fluctuation in volume).

Currently offers the following classes for undergraduate and graduate students: Conservation Studies, Environmental Science, Sustainable Development (for undergraduates), Environment and Development, Environmental History and Policies in Japan (for graduate students).