Dr. Daisaku Higashi is professor of international relations at Sophia University in Tokyo.  He is a leading scholar on mediation during armed conflicts and peacebuilding in post-conflict states in Japan. Dr Higashi recently published How Can We End the War in Ukraine: Limits and Potential of Mediation (in Japanese, February 2023). In English, he has published Inclusivity in Mediation and Peacebuilding: UN, Neighboring States, and Global Power (Edward Elgar 2022) and Challenges of Constructing Legitimacy in Peacebuilding: Afghanistan, Iraq, Sierra Leone and East Timor (Routledge 2015). He obtained his Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He then worked for UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan as a team leader for reconciliation (2009-2010); he also served as Minister-Counsellor in the Japanese mission to the UN in charge of mediation and peacebuilding (2012-2014).