Donna Weeks

In April 2016, Dr Weeks moved to Tokyo to take up a professorial position in the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law at Musashino University. She is responsible for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Japanese politics and peace studies and readings in political science mostly in Japanese language. From 2003 to 2016, she was a lecturer in Japanese Studies and International Relations at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

Her areas of expertise include Japanese politics and foreign policy, Australia–Japan relations and women in politics. She represented academic staff at USC on Academic Board and University Council and was the Honours Coordinator for the Schools of Communication and Social Sciences (exluding Psychology).

Dr Weeks has taught language and politics at the University of Queensland and Griffith University, and held appointments as Project Officer in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and research officer for a Queensland Senator. She has enjoyed extended periods in Japan as a graduate research student at Daito Bunka University Tokyo (Law Faculty), the University of Tokyo Graduate School and Visiting Research Fellow at Waseda University.

Dr Weeks' publications include chapters and articles on Australia–Japan relations, Japanese politics and auxiliary texts for young learners of Japanese language. Current projects she is working on include a book on the East Asia security community, 'unpopular culture' in Australia–Japan relations, and whaling. In 2010, she was a Harold White Fellow at the National Library of Australia, examining the Japanese language collections for early Japanese impressions of Australian political and cultural life; and she was selected to participate in the inaugural Asia Policy Assembly, through the National Bureau of Asian Research in Washington DC. She undertakes regular commentary in the media.

Research areas
* international relations including Japanese foreign policy and Japan–Australia relations, and contemporary international relations theory with a particular focus on concepts of security
* security issues in Northeast Asia
* Australian politics including contemporary Australian political and foreign policy issues and the role of the Senate
* Japanese politics including contemporary Japanese political issues, women in Japanese politics (past and present), and constructs of social and cultural identity in modern Japan
* Japanese language including adult learner pedagogy, teaching 'about' Japan in the classroom, development of advanced tertiary-level texts in the social sciences
* arts administration and cultural policy including cultural policy and performing arts and Queensland's arts industry