On July 7-8, I attended the 2023 Pacific International Politics Conference in Singapore with the EAA’s travel grant for young researchers. The conference took place at the National University of Singapore, where researchers from diverse countries gathered to present and discuss their latest work on international politics in the Asia-Pacific region.
The panels were organized into various sessions, such as “Conflict Process,” “International Institutions,” “Alliance and Public Opinion,” and “China.” I presented my paper during the “China” session on the second day of the conference. My work focused on measuring the sentiment scores of speeches by Chinese diplomats and assessing the correlation between the diplomats’ sentiment and the degree of intensity in the maritime conflicts involving China. After my presentation, I received valuable feedback from numerous wonderful attendees, including Prof. Phillip Lipscy from the University of Toronto, Prof. Erik Gartzke from the University of California, San Diego, Prof. Nien-chung Chang-Liao from Academia Sinica, Prof. Koji Kagotani from Chuo University, Prof. Keisuke Nakao from the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Dr. Tomoko Takahashi from Kyoto University, and Prof. Austin Strange from the University of Hong Kong.
The conference dinner on the first day and the excursion on the second day provided amazing opportunities to interact with professors and graduate students. Our conversations covered a diverse range of topics; we not only exchanged ideas about each other’s research but also discussed methodological issues in political science, as well as our future prospects in academia. Even after I returned to Tokyo, I was fortunate to stay in contact with some of the professors and graduate students I met at the conference when they visited Tokyo. We had lunch and dinner together, and sometimes we even discussed the possibility of future joint research. I strongly hope we can maintain these wonderful relationships for a long time.
Attending the 2023 Pacific International Politics Conference was a precious experience for me because it allowed me to present my ideas in an international setting and connect with professors and graduate students from diverse backgrounds. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who provided feedback on my work before, during, and after the conference. Lastly, I would like to extend special thanks to Prof. Tsuyoshi Ishii, Ms. Megumi Fukada, Ms. Rie Watanabe, and the East Asian Academy for New Liberal Arts for the generous support I received for my trip to Singapore.
Reported by Mon MADOMITSU (Graduate Schools for Law and Politics)