Katsutaka Shiraishi is Professor at the Faculty of Policy Science, Ryukoku University, Japan and has acted as the LORC’s Director between 2008 and 2011 and again since 2014. He is also the chair of the board of the Kyoto Alliance, a collaborative platform between universities, local governments, business organisations and non-profit organisations (NPOs) in Kyoto.Nobutaka Matoba is Professor at the Faculty of Policy Science, Ryukoku University, Japan and has acted as the LORC’s Deputy Director since 2014. He obtained a PhD from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.