Saya Kiba is an associate professor at Komatsu University in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. Her major fields of interest are Southeast Asian studies, civil-military relations, international cooperation policies, and defense diplomacy. Prior to that, she served as a member of staff to Congressman Seiji Maehara from 2010 to 2012. She has also worked in the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines, Embassy of Japan in Thailand, and a Japan-based international organization for conflict prevention. Her recent English-language publications include "Civil- Military Cooperation Strategy for Disaster Relief in Japan" in Liaison Magazine IX(1) published by the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, Hawaii, and "Regional Cooperation on Civil-Military Coordination in Disaster Response? Crisis or Opportunity?" in the book Security Sector Reform: Modern Defense Force Philippines, published in 2014. She holds a bachelor's and master's degree in political science from Doshisha University, Japan and obtained her Ph.D. in political science from Kobe University, Japan. Saya is a Fellow of Salzburg Global Seminar.