UK-Japan IT Conference for Emerging Technologies

Introduction

The University of Buckingham UK-Japan IT Conference for Emerging Technologies has been established in collaboration between School of Computing (Dean Dr. Harin Sellahewa) and Japanese academics, engineers and business persons represented by Dr. Kazuhiro Tobisawa of Max Beloff Centre and Ms. Keiko Imachi, former CIO of Shinkawa Ltd., a global company of semiconductor making equipment based in Tokyo. These three founding members serve as Co-Convenors of the Conference.

The Conference aims to exchange views, knowledge and visions of Information Technology by professionals and practitioners in the UK, Japan and the world. The Conference defines digital innovation which it explores is as creating new values in human activities in new IT era. The Conference recognises the benefits to be derived from increased collaboration, cooperation and interaction for the promotion and reinforce of IT systems and digital innovation. The Conference desire to work together for their mutual benefit to foster a collaborative framework in the Fields of Study above.

Fields of Study

  • AI (Artificial Intelligence)
  • Computing
  • Cybersecurity
  • Data Science
  • Data Protection
  • IoT (Internet of Things)
  • Immersive Technologies
  • IT governance and laws
  • Network Systems

Founding Members

Professor Harin Sellahewa

Dr Harin Sellahewa holds a BSc in Information Systems and a DPhil in Computing, both from The University of Buckingham. During the latter stages of his DPhil, he worked as a Research Associate on the EU-funded FP6 project, SecurePhone, led by Professor Sabah Jassim. He then joined the Gray Cancer Institute (now the Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology & Biology, University of Oxford), as a post-doctoral scientist to work with Professor Boris Vojnovic on the award winning CyMap project. Harin’s role was to develop algorithms to automatically detect, count and track cells.

He rejoined Buckingham in 2008 as a researcher, became a Senior Lecturer in July 2012 and a Reader in January 2018. He was appointed Head of Applied Computing Department (in School of Science) in November 2014, Interim Dean of School of Computing from 1st September 2018, and Dean of Computing from 1st September 2019. Since joining Buckingham, Harin has held the roles of Programme Director, Admissions Tutor, Research Officer and Link Tutor.

Harin’s research interests are in Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, and Machine Learning. He has co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed journal/conference papers and a book chapter. He has successfully supervised/co-supervised over a dozen PhD projects and continues to supervise a number of PhD projects in AI, Biometrics, Digital Health, and Cyber Security. He is the module lead for Image Processing, Software Project Management, and Software Engineering.

Dr. Kazuhiro Tobisawa, Honorary Research Fellow of Max Beloff Centre for the Study of Liberty

TobisawaDr Tobisawa’s research fields are disarmament, global governance, diplomacy and international law. His fieldwork in nuclear disarmament has involved research in several countries and areas including the UK, Japan, the United States, Switzerland and Austria. To explore global and local structures of nuclear disarmament, he has been interviewing senior members of leading civil society organisations and governmental sections.

In 2018, he published his book entitled Influence of Civil Society on Japanese Nuclear Policy on the private diplomacy of civil society organisations, which are based in Japan. This has now been published for The University of Buckingham Press.

Dr Tobisawa has also been working actively on UK-Japan educational exchange programs. He is the founder, and was the first Chairman of Board of Directors and Representative Director (2014-2015), the Margaret Thatcher Japan Foundation, in Tokyo. In terms of his legal practice and business expertise, he is now the Group Manager of Legal & Intellectual Property Group, Manager of Human Resources & General Affairs Group and Yamaha Motor Robotics Holdings, which has the biggest market share of semiconductor-making equipment (post-process) in Japan.

Dr Tobisawa has a BA, MA, LLM and DPhil from The University of Buckingham. Within the University, he has been working as a Research Fellow & External Relations Officer of the Centre for Global Studies and the Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor on Japan Initiatives. He is also Co-Convenor, UK-Japan IT Conference for Emerging Technologies (2020-present) and writing a book of laws in cybersecurity, privacy and data protection.

Ms. Keiko Imachi, Former CIO of Shinkawa Ltd., Japan

Ms. Keiko ImachiMs. Imachi has a long time experience as leaders of IT departments and divisions in a large number of Japanese and global commercial companies.

She has been CIO of Shinkawa Ltd. in Tokyo, which has the largest market share in Japan and the third largest market share in the world in the area of semiconductor making equipment (post-process). She is a specialist in networking and security, but has also been working on corporate strategies and accounting including US-Sox and J(Japanese)-Sox for some decades.

In recent years, she has been leading projects of China Cyber Security Law in Shanghai.
She had succeeded Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) Certification to Japanese enterprises. Also, she had audited interactive academic system of national governments in Southeast Asia.

She has been implementing securities including SDP, EDR, SD-WAN, DLP and SOAR at the current company.