Hitoshi Nasu

Hitoshi Nasu is Professor of International Law at the Exeter Law School. Prior to his current appointment, he held academic positions at the Australian National University, where he was also Co-Director of the Centre for Military and Security Law and the Australian Network for Japanese Law, and was a visiting research fellow at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore.

Research Interests

As an expert of international law, Hitoshi is interested in the intersection of international law and new developments in science and technology. Without any background in science at all, he started this challenging journey in 2009, with his first major funded project on the legal regulation of military and security applications of nanotechnology (Australian Research Council, Project ID: DP110102637). After a series of almost incomprehensible conversations with scientists, he started understanding various potential applications of new scientific and technological developments that require legal response or raise legal issues. Currently, he is interested in exploring how the rise of artificial intelligence and robotic technologies might affect the operation of international law, whether legal response can provide effective defensive mechanisms against misinformation, and how international law applies to military activities in the outer space.

Select Outputs

H. Nasu and R. McLaughlin (eds). New Technologies and the Law of Armed Conflict. The Hague: TMC Asser, 2014.

H. Aitken and H. Nasu. “Human Degradation Technologies and International Law.” In New Technologies and the Law in War and Peace, edited by W. H. Boothby. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.

H. Nasu. ‘”Nanotechnology and the Future of the Law of WeaponryInternational Law Studies 91 (2015): 486516.

H. Nasu and H. Trezise. “Cyber Security in the Asia-Pacific.” In Research Handbook on International Law and Cyberspace, edited by R. J. Buchan and N. Tsagourias, 446464. Edward Elgar, 2015.

H. Nasu. “Nanotechnology and the Law of Armed Conflict.” In New Technologies and the Law of Armed Conflict, edited by H. Nasu and R. McLaughlin, 143157. The Hague: TMC Asser, 2014.

H. Nasu and T. Faunce. “Nanotechnology in Japan: A Route to Energy Security After Fukushima?.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 69, no. 5 (2013): 6874.

H. Nasu.Nanotechnology and Challenges to International Humanitarian Law: A Preliminary Legal Assessment.” International Review of the Red Cross 94 (2012): 653672.

H. Nasu and T. Faunce. “Nano-Safety or Nano-Security? Reassessing Europe’s Nanotechnology Regulation in the Context of International Security Law.” European Journal of Risk Regulation 3 (2012): 416421.

H. Nasu and T. Faunce. “The Proposed Ban on Certain Nanomaterials for Electrical and Electronic Equipment in Europe and Its Global Security Implications: A Search for an Alternative Regulatory Approach.” European Journal of Law and Technology 2, no. 3 (2011).

H. Nasu and T. Faunce. “Nanotechnology and the International Law of Weaponry: Towards International Regulation of Nano-Weapons.” Journal of Law, Information and Science 20 (2010): 2154.

Select Conference Appearances

Exeter Workshop for the Woomera Manual on the International Law Applicable to Military Space Operations, University of Exeter, 5-9 August 2018.

Select Media Appearances

H. Nasu, “The Future of Nanotechnology in Warfare,” The Global Journal, 4 July 2013.

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"New Technologies and the Law of Armed Conflict," edited by Hitoshi Nasu and Robert McLaughlin

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