Noriko Aikawa-Faure is an advisory body member for the International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific-Region-IRCI, Osaka. Noriko previously acted as the former director of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Unit of UNESCO. She continued to develop this program since its inception in 1992. She has also been a visiting professor at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo. Between 2013 and 2017 she served as advisor for intangible cultural heritage for the Agency of Cultural Affairs as well as the Government of Japan. She is a UNESCO accredited facilitator for its Capacity Building Programme (Intangible Cultural Heritage) since 2011. Her research focuses on policy studies for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. Noriko holds a graduate degree in art history from Tokyo University, Japan. She is a doctorate candidate for art history at the University of Paris Sorbonne, France and also for social anthropology at l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, France.