2021 Cohort, 2024-cohort-mentor
21
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==Bio==Haruka Oizumi (she/her/hers) is a student at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. She is part of the Department of Global Studies, within the Sophia Program for Sustainable Futures (SPSF), majoring in International Relations. Her academic focus is on social sustainability and social issues, particularly within the realm of international relations. Haruka is passionate about gender and sexuality topics, which she explores through her studies. Haruka has a culturally diverse background, having been born in Germany and also lived in China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Thailand. This multicultural upbringing has fostered her love for travel and experiencing new environments, allowing her to build a wealth of diverse experiences and connections. Her bachelor's dissertation, titled "Heteronormativity as Lived Experiences of Gay Undergraduate Students in Japan", examines the pervasive notion of heteronormativity—the idea that heterosexuality is the norm and preferred sexual orientation. Through interviews with gay undergraduate youths born and raised in Japan, her research diverges into how and where heteronormativity impacts non-heterosexual youths in their daily lives. Beyond academic pursuits, Haruka is a part of UIF Sophia, a student body in Sophia University dedicated to creating spaces for students to use the design thinking process as a way of sparking creative and innovative solutions to real-life problems. Through UIF Sophia, Haruka has designed and facilitated five in-person design thinking workshops in both Japanese and English, engaging participants ranging from middle school students to university staff members, totaling 150 participants. The topics of these workshops range from sense of belonging to youth empowerment. Haruka also organized a two-day bilingual event at Sophia University focusing on campus sustainability and waste reduction through design thinking, attended by approximately 90 participants.
==Achievements==