UN University Rector Konrad Osterwalder has announced the appointment of Prof. Kazuhiko Takeuchi, of Japan, and Prof. Govindan Parayil, of India, as UNU Vice Rectors. The appointees bring considerable expertise to their new positions and will help to strengthen the strategic management and operation of the global UNU system of of UNU Centre in Tokyo, where they will be located.

Prof. Kazuhiko Takeuchi has had a distinguished three-decade academic career with Tokyo Metropolitan University (1977–1985) and the University of Tokyo (1985–2008), where he has been a full Professor in the Laboratory of Landscape Ecology and Planning, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, since 1997.

Since 2005, he has served concurrently in the posts of Director of the Division for International Relations, Deputy Executive Director of the Integrated Research System for Sustainability Science, and Special Adviser to the President. In April 2007, he was appointed the University of Tokyo’s Vice President for International Relations.

Prof. Takeuchi holds Bachelor of Science (Geography), Master of Agriculture (Agrobiology) and Doctor of Agriculture degrees from the University of Tokyo. He has authored numerous books, including A Vision for the Environmental Era and A Guide to Global Sustainability.

Since 2004. Prof. Govindan Parayil has been serving as full Professor with the Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture, University of Oslo (Norway) focusing on science, technology, innovation and sustainability. He served concurrently (2005–2007) as Director of Research and Leader of the Innovation Group.

Before that, he was Head and Associate Professor of the Information and Communications Management Programme at the National University of Singapore (2001–2004) and Assistant Professor in Science, Technology and Society at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (1994–2001). Previous academic affiliations include Cornell University, Illinois Institute of Technology and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (USA), and the University of Sulaimaniya (Iraq).

Prof. Parayil holds a Bachelor of Science degree (Electrical Engineering) from the University of Calicut (India), a Master of Science degree (Science, Technology and Values) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (USA), a Master of Arts degree (Development Economics) from American University (USA), and a Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (USA).

He wrote Conceptualizing Technological Change (1999) and edited Kerala: The Development Experience (2000) and Political Economy and Information Capitalism in India (2006). His book (co-edited with A.P. D’Costa) on The New Asian Innovation Dynamics: China and India in Perspective will be published in November.