Dr. Atsuko Higashino is Professor in the faculty of International Studies at University of Tsukuba, Japan. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from University of Birmingham, the United Kingdom, and an MA and BA in Political Science from Keio University, Japan. Before working at University of Tsukuba, she was a Lecturer at University of Birmingham and Associate Professor at Hiroshima City University. She also worked as a special assistant for the Japanese Delegation to the OECD in Paris, where she was in charge of researches on the outreach activities of the OECD. Dr. Higashino is currently teaching International Relations, International History, and politics and policies of the European Union. Her research interests include EU enlargement (Turkey and the Western Balkans), European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), Eastern Partnership (EaP), EU-China relationship. She has written extensively on the Ukraine Crisis (since 2014) as well as Russia-Ukraine War (since 2022) and EU's response to it.