Waseda University and UCLA Hold Joint Symposium on Sport Sciences and Disability Studies

On Thursday, October 15, 2026, the 2026 Waseda-UCLA Joint Symposium was held at Waseda University’s Higashifushimi Campus, coordinated by Professor Atsushi Nakazawa of the Faculty of Sport Sciences. The symposium welcomed guests from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and attracted a total of more than 100 participants, including Waseda students and faculty members. Focusing on sport sciences and Disability Studies, the symposium featured lectures and research presentations by researchers and graduate students, as well as a poster session. Four sessions were held between 9:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

The symposium was organized to further advance interdisciplinary research on sports for people with disabilities by bringing together Waseda University’s expertise in sport sciences and UCLA’s research in Disability Studies. It also aimed to deepen exchanges among researchers and graduate students from both universities, create opportunities for new collaborative research, and provide graduate students with opportunities to present their research in an international setting.

UCLA participants included Assistant Vice Provost Leigh Harris, Lecturer Fred Ariel Hernandez, and doctoral student Yuriko Matsuo. The program featured a lecture by Leigh Harris on Disability Studies education at UCLA, a lecture by Fred Ariel Hernandez on research, recreation, and community related to sports and disability at UCLA, and a research presentation by Yuriko Matsuo on aging among people with Down syndrome and their families.

Researchers and graduate students from Waseda’s Faculty and Graduate School of Sport Sciences also gave presentations. In Session I, Professor Norikazu Hirose spoke about physical activity, connections with others, and social participation among children with neurodevelopmental characteristics. In Session II, Koki Tanaka, a doctoral student at Waseda’s Graduate School of Sport Sciences, presented on trends in Disability Studies research in Japan and possibilities for future research.

In Session III, the symposium welcomed Junichi Kawai, a Waseda University alumnus, Paralympic gold medalist, and current Commissioner of the Japan Sports Agency, who delivered a lecture titled “Toward a Society Where Everyone Can Live as Themselves Through Sport.” Junichi Kawai discussed various perspectives on para sports, the social model of disability, and the goals of the Paralympic Movement, while sharing his views on what an inclusive society through sport can look like.

In the afternoon, Session IV featured a poster session by graduate students. Encouraging graduate students to actively present their research and receive feedback from researchers, including those from UCLA, was one of the educational objectives of the symposium. The poster session generated lively discussions that transcended language barriers, providing a valuable opportunity to deepen academic exchange between the two universities.

By bringing together the distinct academic fields of sport sciences and Disability Studies, the symposium enabled researchers, graduate students, and those involved in sports policy to share insights from their respective perspectives. Discussions on diverse research and practices concerning sport, physical activity, and disability provided a further opportunity to strengthen academic exchange between Waseda University and UCLA.

The Faculty of Sport Sciences will continue to promote educational and research exchanges with universities overseas, further advancing sport sciences and fostering international and interdisciplinary academic exchange.