Prof. Dr. Ayaka Löschke

After two master’s degrees in philosophy at Sophia University and the University of Bonn, Ayaka Löschke changed her subject and started a PhD in Japanese Studies at the University of Zurich in 2013. From 2013 to 2015, she was employed as a stipendate scholar at the Humer Foundation Scholar for Young Academics in the interdisciplinary institute “Universitäre Forschungsschwerpunkte (UFSP) Asia und Europa” at the University of Zurich. This was followed in 2016 by a research stay funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation at the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington (Host: Prof. Dr. Robert Pekkanen). In 2016, a research stay at the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington (Host: Prof. Dr. Robert Pekkanen) followed, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Upon her return, she was back at UFSP Asia and Europe as a Research Associate. In June 2018, Prof. Löschke completed and defended her doctoral dissertation entitled “The national advocacy of Japan’s civil society organizations against radiation: policymaking and organizational transformation over six years” with summa cum laude. Afterwards, she was a visiting scholar at the LMU Munich at the Geschwister-Scholl-Institute for Political Science (at the Chair for Empirical Theories of Politics) until September 2019, again funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Since September 2019, she is Junior Professor of Japanese Studies on the tenure track (focus on Digital Transformation and Politics). Her habilitation topic is the regulation of online and offline hate speech in Japan.