Teruo Fujii became the 31st President of the University of Tokyo on April 1, 2021, with a six-year term. He was previously the Executive Vice President in charge of finance and external relations for the university. He also served as Director General of the Institute of Industrial Sciences (IIS) of the University of Tokyo from 2015 to 2018. He received his Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1993, held research positions at IIS and RIKEN Institute, and became a Professor at IIS in 2007. 

He has served as an Executive Member (part-time) of the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan since March 2021. He was also an advisor to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) from 2005 to 2007, the Co-director of LIMMS-CNRS/IIS, a joint research lab between CNRS, France, and IIS, from 2007 to 2014, and the President of Chemical and Biological Microsystems Society (CBMS) from 2017 to 2019. His research specializes in applied microfluidics systems and underwater technology.

Ryuji Matsuhashi is Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems (EEIS) at the University of Tokyo since 2011, and the Director of the Collaborative Research Organization for Comprehensive Energy Sciences, established on July 1st, 2021.

Before that he was a Research Associate (1990-1993) and an Associate Professor (1994-1998) at the Department of Geosystem Engineering, University of Tokyo. Subsequently he served as an Associate Professor (1999-2002) and a Professor (2003-2010) at the Institute of Environmental Studies, University of Tokyo. He earned a B.Eng. in 1985 and a D.Eng. in 1990 both from the Department of Electronics at the University of Tokyo.

His intensive research on the analysis of energy systems and global environmental issues has produced various books and academic papers. He is currently a member of the Japan Society of Energy and Resources, the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan, and the Japan Institute of Energy.

Hiroshi Segawa is Professor at the Department of Multi-Disciplinary Sciences, University of Tokyo. He is also a Professor at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) and the Komaba Organization for Educational Excellence (KOMEX) at the University of Tokyo.

In 1995 he joined the University of Tokyo as Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. From 1997 he has also been affiliated with the Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, and was promoted to a Professor in 2006. He received his Ph.D. from Kyoto University in 1989.

His research focuses on next-generation high-performance photovoltaics using organometal halide perovskite. His research has achieved high energy conversion efficiencies of perovskite solar cells and its monolithic mini-module. He has received several awards, including the Prize for Science and Technology (The Commendation for Science and Technology by MEXT, Japan, 2019), and the Second Solar Award (Solar Award Executive Committee, Japan, 2013).

Ed Gerstner is the Director of Journal Policy & Strategy at Springer Nature. He is responsible for the development and implementation of policy and strategy across the entire Springer Nature journal portfolio. He is also the Chair of Springer Nature's SDG Programme Steering Group, whose task is to coordinate and enhance the company's support of research and researchers who are seeking solutions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

He has been an editor with Nature journals for over sixteen years and helped found Nature's first mainland China office in Shanghai, where he built a team of editors from across the Nature family to live and work in China. He has travelled extensively throughout Asia to learn about the ongoing research in the region, to teach researchers how to improve the impact of their scholarship through greater openness and transparency, and to help them to publish their research in the world's best journals. 

Akari Hayashi is Professor at the Kyushu University Platform of Inter- /Transdisciplinary Energy (Q-PIT). She also serves as a Professor at the International Research Center for Hydrogen Energy, which is part of the Department of Hydrogen Energy at Kyushu University.

Akari holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Davis. After receiving her PhD, she worked at the industry and in a national laboratory. She started her academic career as an Associate Professor at Nagoya Institute of Technology, and joined Kyushu University as an Associate Professor in 2011.

Her research focuses on Hydrogen energy through the production, storage, and use of hydrogen. She started hydrogen research in 2006, with her most recent interest being on the combination of renewable energy and hydrogen energy, with a focus on a key technology, namely water electrolysis.

Masahiro (Masa) Sugiyama is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Future Initiatives(IFI), University of Tokyo.  Prior to joining the University of Tokyo in April 2014, he was a Researcher at the Socio-Economic Research Center, the Central Research Institute of the Electric Power Industry.  He holds a Ph.D. in climate science and a MSc in technology and policy, both from MIT.

His research areas include scenario analysis of climate and energy policy and governance of climate engineering from the public engagement perspective.  His most recent book is “Controlling the Climate: The Risky Last Resort of Global Warming Countermeasures” (published by KADOKAWA).  He is a Lead Author of the Working Group III’s contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC).

Gregory Trencher is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University.  Before joining Kyoto University, he worked as an Associate Professor at Tohoku University (2017-2021) and Clark University in the USA (2014-2017).  Gregory holds a Ph.D. in Sustainability Science from the University of Tokyo (2014) and MA in Global Environmental Studies from Sophia University (2011).

Gregory’s research specializes in innovation processes and policies for advancing urban sustainability and transitioning to a sustainable energy system.  His current research examines the governance strategies used by government and industry in Japan, China and Korea to accelerate the transitioning to electric mobility, as well as the phase-out of gasoline vehicles.  He is also examining coal divestment in Japan, and the policies and company strategies influencing the decarbonization of Japan’s electricity market.  At the same time, he leads a project on the phase-out of environmentally unsustainable substances, technologies and processes.  Finally, he conducts research on urban sustainability, with an interest in smart cities aimed at solving social challenges.

Muhammad Aziz is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Industrial Science (IIS), University of Tokyo.  He worked previously as an Associate Professor (2015-2019) and Assistant Professor (2011-2015) at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, as a Researcher at IIS (2009-2011), and as a mechanical designer at Seiko Epson Corp. (2008-2009).  He received B.Eng., M.Eng., and D.Eng. degrees from Kyushu University in 2004, 2006 and 2008, respectively, in the field of mechanical engineering.

His general research areas are advanced energy conversion systems.  His research interests include power generation, renewable energy utilization, process modeling, smart grid, electric vehicle, battery, and hydrogen production, storage/transportation, and utilization.

Nicky Dean is the Chief Editor of Nature Energy, one of the Nature research journals.

He began working on the journal in 2015, which then launched in 2016.  Prior to that, he was a Senior Editor and Team Manager at Nature Communications, which he joined in 2011 following his post-doctoral research work.

Nicky holds a D.Phil. in condensed matter and atomic and laser physics from the University of Oxford.