Mirai-e

Into the future of Japan-UK collaboration in culture, education and innovation

Mirai-e is a unique UK-Japanese group of cultural, design, communications, educational and policy experts and consultants who work together to:

Create strategies for partnerships, knowledge, and cultural exchange through research, design and communication.

Support and encourage mutual cultural understanding through exploration and experience.

Develop innovative joint strategies for a shared future.

Our approach to research and communications is based on design thinking - we focus on the solution to a problem through a creative, engaging and data-led process. We apply design thinking to communication strategies and programmes for cultural and academic exchange, collaboration, and partnerships, to foster mutual understanding and strengthen people-to-people ties between the UK and Japan.

The group

Mirai-e Research and Communications brings together an expert UK-Japan team, with high-level knowledge, experience, and insight.

Founding Director General of Japan House London, and museum director who has worked in a diverse range of cross-cultural settings and with collections of national and international significance.
Mike has worked at the Imperial War Museum and has led the Horniman Museum, the National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Between 2016 and 2022, he was Director General Japan House London, a major cultural diplomacy initiative by the Government of Japan, to showcase Japan's cultural, social and economic contribution to the 21st Century.

Professor Chie Adachi is the Dean for Digital Education within the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at Queen Mary University of London. She is a thought leader and researcher on the transformational power of digital education within the higher education sector.
Originally from Japan, Professor Adachi completed her PhD in Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh, and worked at universities in Japan, Australia and the UK. She has spent her academic career working with researchers, teachers and industry partners from around the globe. Her research interests and expertise lie at the intersection of critical digital pedagogy, educational technology and interculturalism in re-thinking how they might enhance teaching and learning practice at higher education. Her MOOC, on FutureLearn, “Transforming Digital Learning: Learning design meets service design” has attracted more than 28,000 global learners worldwide and won multiple international awards, including ‘Best Online Courses of All Time 2020 edition’ by Classcentral. This short course provided a large scale professional development opportunity for those.
www.linkedin.com/in/chie-adachi/

David is founder of Keechdesign, a London-based company founded in 2005 which supplies creative services to Japanese businesses. Keechdesign has a strong network of partner companies in Japan and numbers Yanmar, Epson, Yamaha and Central Japan Railway among its long-standing clients.
David graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1989 where he studied under and later worked closely with Sir Eduardo Paolozzi. David was an Associate at Foster & Partners, joining as a member of the Bilbao Metro project team. He was one of the founding members of Norman Foster’s in-house product design team, gaining experience in architecture, product design and project management. He was the first non-Japanese designer to join Yamaha’s design team in Hamamatsu, Japan and produced a number of ground-breaking designs for their music equipment and consumer product sectors. He was a key force in the internationalisation of Yamaha’s design team. David has led numerous projects on the Innovation Design Engineering course at the Royal College of Art as a senior visiting tutor, and is also a visiting Project Leader at KLC School of Design.

Stuart MacDonald is the Director of ICR Research, the UK’s leading research consultancy specialising in Public Diplomacy, Cultural and Educational Exchange, and Data Analytics.
ICR Research has a global network of academic researchers and practitioners and works mostly for Governments, Universities, Trusts and Foundations, and multilateral organisations such as the European Union.
Stuart is a former senior policy adviser to the UK Government on a wide range of policy areas, including international relations, cultural and educational policy, research and evaluation, senior staff training, and the digitisation of Government services. He is also active in higher education. He is a co-founder of the Digital Influence and Intelligence Lab, based in the University of Edinburgh’s Edinburgh Futures Institute where he is an Associate. He is a Board Member of the Academy of Sport, a Fellow of the Centre for Online and Distance Education at the University of London, a co-founder of Arts Cabinet, an arts organisation dedicated to artistic research, and writes on aspects of international cultural relations.

Andrew teaches international relations at the University of Siena and is a former Director of the Global Office of EUNIC (European Union National Institutes for Culture).
Andrew is an experienced practitioner of international cultural relations as well as an academic teaching and researching in EU cultural diplomacy and cultural relations. As Global Director of the Global Office of EUNIC (European Union National Institutes for Culture) he was responsible for initiating a strategic partnership with the European Commission and the European External Action Service. This strategic partnership between member states’ national cultural institutes and EU Delegations is the platform for the implementation of the new EU Strategy for International Cultural Relations. Prior to his work with EUNIC, Andrew held senior management posts for the British Council in the UK, Europe and Africa including Director of the EU Office in Brussels. He has a doctorate in Nationalism from the University of Manchester.

Our unique approach to research and communications

Research for successful strategies

Understanding Audiences:
We help understand international audiences through situational analysis.

Strategy Development:
Our research supports evidence-based planning for the change you want to see.

Programme Design:
Drawing on global best practices to design policies and programmes that deliver sustainable results.

Measuring Impact:
Using data and real-time feedback to understand what works and learn for the future.

Communications with an international audience

Reaching audiences with your message and sharing your vision.

Influencing their choices and shaping their preferences.

Building your reputation with key contacts, partners, audiences.

Increasing trust through shared understanding.

Our identity

Our team has strength in: senior cultural leadership, international relations, public and cultural diplomacy, evidence-led policy, national and local government, private sector, senior academic expertise, design, branding and communications.

We have extensive knowledge of the UK, Japan, and global networks.

We work across borders of all kinds, and use an agile, creative approach to achieve outstanding results for businesses, organisations, cultural and educational institutions, and places.

We are creative, flexible, collaborative, rigorous, and ethical.