Edward Rhys Jones

I am a doctoral student in Area Studies (Japan) at Wolfson College, University of Oxford. My research focuses on Japan’s science, technology, and innovation diplomacy, and is generously supported by the U.K. Economic and Social Research Council through the Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership.

In my current research, I examine the development and implementation of Japan’s science, technology, and innovation (STI) diplomacy. Through a series of case studies, I explore how Japan mobilises scientific and technical expertise both to tackle pressing global challenges and to advance its national interests. I am therefore interested in the question of how technologically advanced states strategically leverage specialised knowledge for both cooperative and competitive purposes.

Previously, my MPhil thesis explored Japan’s observer membership of the Arctic Council as a lens into its evolving Arctic policy. Through interviews with key stakeholders, I traced the interpersonal and institutional networks shaping Japan’s Arctic engagement and assessed the wider significance of its observer status.

Beyond my core research, I have broader interests in geopolitics and state legitimation in the Arctic and Antarctic; ‘unconventional’ forms of state power, including soft power; state media and public diplomacy; and the Polar, East Asian, and former Soviet Central and Western Asian regions more generally.

In 2024, I graduated with an MPhil in Global and Area Studies (distinction) from St Antony’s College, Oxford, and I also hold a BA in History.

Supervisors: Professor Kristi Govella and Professor Hugh Whittaker

Department: Oxford School of Global and Area Studies

College: Wolfson College, Oxford

Research Keywords: Japan, Arctic, science diplomacy, science policy, geopolitics, area studies