Olivier Urbain (director)
Olivier Urbain was appointed director of the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research in April 2008. He was formerly professor of Modern Languages and Peace Studies at Soka University, Japan, and director of the Transcend: Art and Peace Network (T:AP), the artistic branch of Johan Galtung's TRANSCEND peace and development network. He was also the co-convener of the Commission on Art and Peace (CAP) of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) and member of the IPRA council until 2008. Publications include several articles about the power of the arts for peace, as well as the edition of Music for Conflict Transformation, a volume published by I. B. Tauris in 2008. His current research project is the formulation of a theory of positive peace that integrates the interrelated frameworks of Humanistic Psychology, Communicative Rationality and Cosmopolitan Democracy, with a book slated for publication in 2010.

For more information about the book Music for Conflict Transformation, please visit
http://book.music4ct.org/

Download a short CV here.

Satoko Takahashi (research director)
Satoko Takahashi has been the Program Manager at the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, Honolulu Center since 1996. She graduated from Tokyo University of Education, and has an M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She has done extensive translation to and from English and Japanese for major Japanese newspapers, journals and book publications.

Chloë Heiniemi (research assistant)
Chloë Heiniemi is a researcher with the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, where she also serves as assistant editor of Peace & Policy. She holds a Master of Arts in Service, Leadership, and Management, from the School for International Training (SIT), and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History from Adelphi University.