Petrice R. Flowers is Director of the Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs and Professor at the Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. She is an international relations scholar specializing in the study of international norms in Japan. Her research has examined gender and diplomacy, the domestic impact of international human rights norms, transnational networks, and refugee policy. Dr. Flowers completed post-doctoral research at the University of Tokyo and has held several visiting positions in Japan including at Hitotsubashi University’s Institute for the Study of Global Issues, Waseda University’s Graduate School of Asia and Pacific Studies, and Ochanomizu University’s Institute for Gender Studies. She has secured research funding from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Fulbright US Scholars’ Program, the Council on Foreign Relations-Hitachi International Affairs Fellowship, and the Japan Foundation, among others. In 2009, Flowers published Refugees, Women, and Weapons: International Norm Adoption and Compliance in Japan (Stanford University Press). Another monograph, Refugee Policies in East Asia (Cambridge University Press Elements Series) was published in early 2025. She has published research in Gastronomica: Journal for Food Studies, Hague Journal of Diplomacy, Human Rights Quarterly, the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Critical Asian Studies, the Journal of Japanese Studies, and several edited volumes. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Wellesley College and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities.

Amber Hall is a graduate assistant at the Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs and an M.A. student in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Their research interests include the roles that modern media in the United States and Japan have in influencing preconceptions of one another. They previously studied at Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan. They hold a B.A. in Global Communication from Utah State University with minors in Japanese and Marketing.

Natasha Quinn is a research assistant at the Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs and a rising senior at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa majoring in Political Science. Originally from Lake Forest, California, she is working towards the undergraduate Law & Society certificate and Peace Corps Prep certificates through the Matsunaga Institute for Peace. Her past research through UROP explored the role of algorithmic decision-making in perpetuating social and political divisions, with a focus on its impact on constitutional protections. She is the president of the Mānoa Pre-Law Association, is a recipient of the Margaret and Roy Eby Scholarship for her work in peace studies, and is a Disney College program alumna.

Lorianna Hermann is a research assistant at the Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs and a rising senior pursuing a double major in Sustainability and Art Studio and certificate in Peace Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Lorianna is passionate about furthering research in regards to how Sustainability and Peace Studies are intertwined and how it is necessary to understand both in order to promote a better future.