Harald Conrad

Harald Conrad is Sasakawa Lecturer in Japan’s Economy and Management at the University of Sheffield’s School of East Asian Studies. From 2000 to 2008 he worked in Japan as Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the German Institute for Japanese Studies and Associate Professor at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. From 2005 to 2008 he was concurrently Japan Representative of the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Tokyo.

Harald’s research focuses on Japanese and comparative social policy, industrial relations, human resource management, economic issues related to demographic change and cross-cultural negotiation behaviour.

He is Director of Research of the “Business, Political Economy and Development” cluster at the White Rose East Asia Centre, a member of the International Advisory Board of Asia Pacific World and member of the editorial boards of Contemporary Japan and Japan Forum. From 2005 to 2011 he was elected Council Member of the European Association of Japanese Studies.

Harald’s recent and ongoing research has focused on:
1. changes in Japanese human resource management practices which are related to the aging workforce.
2. the relationship between occupational pension and pay system reforms in Japan.
3. the role of Japanese labour unions in changes of company benefit systems since the 1990s.
4. UK institutional investors’ attitudes towards Japanese equities.
5. Economic sociology perspectives on the Japanese antique art trade.

His latest journal articles have appeared in the Social Science Japan Journal, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Journal of Social Policy and the Japanese Economy. A forthcoming book chapter is in the 'Oxford Handbook of Employment Relations: Comparative Employment Systems'.