March 2024
Prof. Obayashi (MSW) will continue contributing to our Centre’s research and education activities on ageing, care and technologies.
In March 2024, Prof. Kazuko Obayashi joined the UCD Centre for Japanese Studies. Prof. Obayashi is Director of Social Welfare Corporation Tokyo Seishin-kai and Universal Accessibility & Ageing Research Centre (UA-ARC). She obtained her MSc from the Graduate School of Social Service Management, Japan College of Social Work. She is a member of the Japan Geriatrics Society and the Japanese Society for Dementia Care. She has just stepped down as Professor in Healthcare Management at Nihon Fukushi University, Japan.
(Left: Prof. Shigeru Masuyama (Tokyo Medical University), Right: Prof. Obayashi)
(Social Welfare Corporation Tokyo Seishin-kai, Nishi-Tokyo, Japan)
Over the last 6 years, Prof. Obayashi gave several guest lectures for UCD students (Master of Public Policy) and secondary school students in Ireland, as part of the UCD Japanese Language and Culture Summer Camp in 2023 (supported by the Department of Education, Post-Primary Languages Ireland through the Irish government’s ‘Languages Connect' Strategy to encourage and promote foreign languages).
Her research interests include care management, the use of robotics/AI technologies in care, and welfare policy for older people.
Prof. Obayashi, Prof. Masuyama and JaSt’s Director, Assoc. Prof. Kodate have been collaborating since 2017, and received several awards and recognitions including the Best Digital Poster Award at the European Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS) 2020 Congress, 7-9 October 2020.
(During Obayashi-sensei’s online lecture at the UCD Japanese Language and Culture Summer Camp in 2023. At the FitzGerald Chamber, UCD Belfield Campus)