Staff profile

Personal Profile

Ritsuko Koso-Kirk is Assistant Professor in Japanese Studies in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures. She teaches and convenes second and final year language modules on the Japanese Studies degree programme.

Ritsuko has worked extensively with the International Office to build relations with partner institutions in Japan as a Year Abroad officer. Externally, she has led outreach activities for promoting Japanese Studies, Japanese language and its culture, collaborating with the Oriental Museum in Durham, the Japan Foundation London and Consulate General of Japan in Edinburgh. Ritsuko also organises an annual internal Japanese speaking event at Durham, to give students opportunities to demonstate their ability and enthusiasm for Japan beyond the curriculum.

Conferences & Workshop papers

'Inter-University Virtual Study Abroad: challenges, actions and ways forward': XVIII CercleS International Conference. Durham University. September 2024. Collaborative talk given by members of the Inter-University Support Programme (IUSP) (A. Furukawa, F. Narumi-Munro, K. Casey, M. Inagawa, T. Kitagawa, and R. Koso-Kirk).

‘Development of a Virtual Year Abroad in Response to Global Pandemic: Inter-university collaborative teaching and learning in the UK​'. The Year Abroad Conference. Keele University and Regent’s University London. September 2021. Collaborative talk given by members of the Inter-University Support Programme (IUSP) (A. Furukawa, E. Darrah, K. Casey, , M. Inagawa, T. Kitagawa, R. Koso-Kirk, F. Narumi-Munro, and M. Takewa).

'Legal Points of Consideration for Online Teaching: A Guide for Teachers of Japanese Language A UK case study’. BATJ Presentation and Forum. September 2021. Collaborative talk given by members of the Inter-University Support Programme (IUSP) (A. Furukawa, K. Casey, E. Darrah, M. Inagawa, T. Kitagawa, R. Koso-Kirk, F. Narumi-Munro, and M. Takewa).

'Enriching linguistic understanding through multimodal texts’. UK LINGUA- Multilingual Language Learning and Teaching Colloquium. Durham University. April 2019.

‘Student Engagement through Online Collaborative Writing in Japanese’. UK LINGUA- Multilingual Language Learning and Teaching Colloquium. Durham University. April 2018.

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Awards

2018. Excellence in Learning and Teaching Award

Membership

The British Association for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language (BATJ)