Risa Koyanagi
Space · Nuclear · Cyber · Emerging Technology Governance
Researcher · Platform Builder
Risa Koyanagi is a researcher working across space, nuclear, and emerging technology governance, joining Human, Social and Political Sciences at Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge in October 2026. Her work focuses on legitimation, dual-use systems, and authority architecture. She is Team Leader of SGAC’s 2026 Space Policy Project Team (Japan) and sits on the JAXA International Space Education Board (2026). She also designs public-facing research platforms on AI governance, strategic infrastructure risk, and interpretive systems.
Research
Selected research across governance domains
Who Speaks for Humanity on the Moon?
Examining legitimation audiences, translation devices, and authority architecture in competing lunar governance frameworks.
Responsible Behaviour as an Unfinished Norm
Investigating denial, displacement, and inoculation in AI governance discourse across space, AI, and cyber domains.
Post-Disaster Governance and the Trust Gap
Long-term fieldwork examining policy gaps, trust, and recovery governance in post-disaster Fukushima communities.
Selected Conference Presentations
Forthcoming papers and panels at international research convenings
- 01
Dual-Use Neutralisation and Responsible Behaviour Norms in Lunar Infrastructure Governance
Oral PresentationE9 — Space Security, Stability and Sustainability· 8 October 2026 - 02
Conditional Openness: How Universalist Language Produces Boundaries in Future Lunar Exploration Governance
Interactive PresentationE3 — Space Policy, Regulations and Economics - 03
Mythic Naming as Soft Infrastructure in Competing Lunar Orders: Artemis and Chang’e
Interactive PresentationE5 — Space and Society
Research focuslunar governance, dual-use systems, norm formation, and symbolic infrastructure in emerging space orders.
Fieldwork & Public Engagement
Fieldwork, leadership, dialogue, and public-facing engagement across policy, research, and international exchange
Fukushima Field Research
2019–2024Multi-site fieldwork in Futaba and Namie districts examining post-disaster governance, trust, and recovery.
AFRECOS
2024Co-Founder & President
Co-founded a 10+ country network for cultural and policy events bridging Africa and Japan.
Art Practice
Interdisciplinary art practice spanning visual thinking, international exhibition, and conceptual work.
Speaking & Policy Engagement
TICAD Ministerial Meeting
Policy engagement and youth representation at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development.
Japan–Netherlands Peace Exchange
Bilateral dialogue and peace exchange between Japanese and Dutch participants.
Africa–Japan Youth Drive
Youth-focused policy forum addressing Africa–Japan co-creation and development cooperation.
Roundtable and Friends of Education
Hosted by GPE and the World Bank at the Japanese House of Councillors.
Education
Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge
October 2026BA Human, Social, and Political Sciences (HSPS)
London School of Economics (University of London)
2025–2026BSc Politics and International Relations
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
Nov 2025 – Jan 2026AI and Digital Transformation in Government
Certificate
SOAS University of London
2024–2025BSc Social Sciences (Foundation Year)
First Class
Certifications
Microsoft Generative AI for Data Analysis
Professional Certificate
Google Cybersecurity Specialization
Certificate
Skills
Research
Legitimation, dual-use systems, authority architecture, strategic risk, space governance, nuclear governance, emerging technology governance, infrastructure politics.
Discourse and narrative analysis, qualitative coding, comparative political research, interpretive methods, policy framing, symbolic and mythic analysis, and research-to-interface translation.
Policy · communication
Policy analysis, strategic writing, briefing development, narrative framing, stakeholder engagement, cross-sector communication.
Public speaking, moderation, workshop and event design.
Technical · engineering · data
- Next.js · React · TypeScript
- D3.js (data visualization) · Leaflet · GeoJSON (interactive geospatial mapping)
- Front-end UI & responsive interface development
- Interactive dashboard & data-product design (policy-grade interfaces)
- Data cleaning, structuring & dataset construction (corpus building; IAEA / SIPRI geospatial layers)
- Geospatial data pipelines (IAEA / SIPRI datasets)
- Vercel (deployment) · Git / GitHub (rskyex)
- SQL
- Python (foundational; not used regularly in practice)
- Generative AI for data-analysis workflows (prompting, analytical task structuring)
- Cybersecurity foundations (digital risk, security-aware thinking)
Languages
Interests
Music
Violin · Bach · Sibelius · Puccini · Verdi · Tchaikovsky · Dvořák · Stravinsky
Literature
Dostoevsky · Yukio Mishima · Radiguet · Rilke / Greek Mythology
