Daisuke Kawai serves as Project Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo’s Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), where he specializes in Indo-Pacific security and emerging technologies. He helped develop Japan’s Economic Security Promotion Act and now leads critical and emerging technologies cooperation within the Quad, while serving as Senior Advisor for Quad Strategic Planning at the Quad Investors Network (QUIN). He also advises Tak Niinami, CEO of Suntory Holdings and Chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai).
His previous appointments include Research Fellow positions at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) Japan, and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). His honors include the JIIA’s 60th Anniversary Essay Contest award and selection as a young leader at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Munich Security Conference, and Raisina Dialogue. In 2024, the Trilateral Commission named him a David Rockefeller Fellow and head representative of its Asia-Pacific group.
He currently holds additional positions as Senior Researcher at Keio SFC Institute, Asia Fellow at the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), and Nonresident Fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR).