Yuma Osaki (大﨑祐馬) is a political economist in the making. He is a student of International Relations and International Political Economy (IR/IPE), interested in the politics of the international economy.
His research explores the evolution of the global trading system, with a focus on the advent of regional economic integration (REI) frameworks in Asia, from GATT/WTO to FTA/EPAs to the TPP and the RCEP.
His MA/LLM dissertation (marked Distinction/Excellent) - “The Regional Trade Dynamics in the Asia-Pacific: A Comparative Analysis of South Korea, Japan, and China’s Making Free Trade Agreement with Australia” examined the interplay between bilateral free trade agreements and REI initiatives, namely TPP and RCEP, in the multi-pronged trading system, through the case studies of Northeast Asian FTAs/EPA with Australia - the so-called “FTA Trifecta” in down under.
In 2016, he left Kyoto and touched down in Canberra to take part in the inaugural National Parliamentary Fellowships Program before his graduate study in Sheffield, UK. Facilitated by the Australian National University and Japan Center for International Exchange, this inter-governmental research exchange program between Japan and Australia involved a two-month stint at the Australian Parliament House. In 2019, he joined the Australia-Japan Youth Dialogue (AJYD) as an Organising Committee Member.