We will be holding Plenary Lectures at JpGU - AGU Joint Meeting. We sincerely hope that many researchers will attend.

Kate Kitagawa is a specialist in space education and is currently Professor of Practice in Space Research and Education at La Trobe University. Prior to her recent move to Melbourne, Australia, she worked at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) as Advisor to the Senior Vice President and Director of the Space Education Office. In this role, she represented JAXA in international space forums and chaired the International Space Education Board at the 2023 International Astronautical Congress, working with space agencies from around the world. She is deeply committed to expanding global access to education and has focused on developing learning modules and curriculum. Kate holds a BSc in mathematics and life sciences from the University of British Columbia, Canada, and a PhD in history from Princeton University, USA. Her earlier career with Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations shaped her interest in education as a form of cultural diplomacy, an approach reflected in the history courses she taught at Harvard University. She is also an accomplished author, with a national bestseller in Japan. Her co-authored book, The Secret Lives of Numbers: A Global of History of Mathematics & its Unsung Trailblazers, was shortlisted for the 2024 British Academy Book Prize and has been published in 14 languages worldwide. She regularly appears on television, radio, and digital media as a commentator on science, history, and education. Thriving in the Space Age: Global Science, New Opportunities, and Expanding Networks

Shang-Ping Xie is the Roger Revelle Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. He graduated from Ocean University of China in Qingdao and received his Ph.D. in physical oceanography in 1991 from Tohoku University, Japan. His research addresses such fundamental questions as how recurrent patterns of climate variability form, how predictable climate is, and how climate will change in the face of increasing atmospheric greenhouse gases. He was a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report, which was published in 2013. Dr. Xie is an AGU Fellow and received the Sverdrup Gold Medal from the American Meteorological Society in 2017 for “fundamental contributions to understanding the coupled ocean-atmosphere feedback processes involved in climate variability and climate change.”

Dr. Karin Markides earned her doctorate degree from University of Stockholm in Sweden and specializes in analytical chemistry. After serving as President and CEO of Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden as well as American University of Armenia, she became President and CEO of Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in June 2023 and is moving on as President Emerita and Executive Advisor from April 2026.
Dr. Markides is appointed Professor Emeriti of Analytical Chemistry at Uppsala University as well as Elected Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (KVA), where she has been involved in the selection of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the promotion of science for society, schools, and academia.