Kyoko Imai is an associate director with the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative (IPSI) of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. In this capacity, she supports a broad portfolio of programming and research designed to promote forward-looking strategies and constructive solutions for pressing issues affecting the Indo-Pacific region, particularly the rise of China, in order to enhance cooperation between the United States and its regional allies and partners. She spearheads IPSI’s Japan portfolio, the Korea Foundation Journalist Fellowship Program, as well as contributes to the Initiative’s work on Integrated Deterrence of Adversary Limited Nuclear Use in East Asia, US-Japan-ROK Trilateral Cooperation, and Trans-Atlantic-Pacific coordination to defend the rules-based international system.

Prior to joining the Atlantic Council, Kyoko Imai worked as a Program Associate for the Asia & the Pacific region for the Center for International Private Enterprise, Young Professional for the East-West Center, and Research Assistant to the former Senior Director for Asia at the National Security Council, Evan Medeiros, at Georgetown University’s Asian Studies Program. Kyoko graduated from Georgetown University with a Master of Science in Foreign Service, with a Concentration in Global Politics & Security as well as Certificates in Asian Studies and Refugees & Humanitarian Emergencies. She received her Bachelor of Arts in International Relations with a Minor in French from the University of Rochester. Kyoko is from Japan but grew up in Myanmar, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates.