Junko Ota is a policy researcher at Kitakyushu Urban Center of IGES, specialized in localization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate change, and currently engaging in the forest and peatland fire mitigation project in Central Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. She also serves as the member of the Kitakyushu City Environmental Council, and Japan's delegation to Conference of the Parites (COP) of the Paris Agreement/ United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).  She received the Award of "14th Kitakyushu City Women's Active Participation and Work-Life Balance Awards" for 2020. She has been engaging the education, serving as a part-time lecturer of "Advanced Environmental Studies" at Kyushu Institute of Technology, "Global Leadership Program" at Kyushu Sangyo University, and an advisor for integrated studies at Yahata High School.  

Certified facilitator for "2030 SDGs Game" (Imacocollabo) , "Sustainable World BOARDGAME" (Future Technology Association for Promotion), and Lego® Serios Play® method (Robert Rasmussen and Associates). If you are interested, please contact her. 

Prior to joining IGES, she worked for Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as a climate change expert in Indonesia and a country officer for the Philippines, and also served for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, based in the Japanese Embassy in Germany as a liaison with UNFCCC.