Aoyama Waka is Professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, and Visiting Researcher at the Joint Ateneo Institute for Mindanao Economics, Ateneo de Davao University. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Tokyo. As an ethnographer specializing in Southeast Asian studies focusing on the Southern Philippines, her research interests include human wellbeing, care, and resilience in the context of the ever changing, globalized world.