Resume

Resume
Associate Professor - Specialist in (anti-)corruption studies
jpozsgai@dailycorruption.info
https://iudp.hus.osaka-u.ac.jp/faculty-and-research/dr-pozsgai-alvarez/
Osaka-Japan

Dr. Joseph Pozsgai is a Specially Appointed Associate Professor in the School of Human Sciences of Osaka University (Japan). He is the founder of the Japan Network of Anti-Corruption Researchers (JANAR), member of the Steering Committee on (Anti-)Corruption and Integrity of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), and Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Economic Criminology (Elsevier). For over a decade, he has been involved in anti-corruption research and practice, focusing on corruption tolerance, measurement, and the political characteristics of anti-corruption reform.

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Work Experiece
School of Human Sciences, Osaka University
April 2021 – Present
Specially Apppointed Associate Professor and Program Director

Director of the International Undergraduate Degree Program, and Deputy Director of the International College.

Thesis supervision; research ethics review; admissions screening. Some subjects taught:

  • Globalization Studies
  • Statistics for Social Research
  • East Asian Politics
  • Introduction to Politics
  • Quantitative Research Methods
  • Ethics and Criminology

 

Basel Institute on Governance
July 2023 - Present
Independent Consultant

Provide technical expertise to the development of Anti-corruption Collective Action Opportunities Indicators/Tool, a project implemented and managed by the Basel Institute’s Private Sector division.

John Jay College of Criminal Justice
February 2022 - December 2022
Independent Consultant
  • Develop a comprehensive design and methodology for measuring corruption in different public and private sectors in 19 countries in the Western Hemisphere.
  • Coordinate data collection processes with research assistants and other consultants.
  • Prepare a ranking list and detailed scores for the sampled countries based on the original data collected.
  • Write country anticorruption scorecards.
  • Write the required sections for the Final Report.
International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA)
September 2022 - November 2022
Guest Lecturer
  • Subject: Corruption: issues, trends, definitions, consequences and measurements; impact of globalization on corruption.
  • Subject: Corruption policy, legal and institutional reform against corruption.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
January 2021 – November 2021
Independent Consultant
  1. Assist John Jay College in developing the Western Hemisphere Anticorruption Index (WHACI) project, which explores the scope of corruption at the regional, sub-regional, and national levels and the impact of corruption control interventions in the focus countries.
  2. Support John Jay College in its effort to increase user-friendly, systematic, and updated information on anti-corruption tools by conducting an analysis of how focus countries in the Western Hemisphere comply with their anti-corruption treaty obligations. (Visit the WHACI platform.)
  3. A report that provides a measurement and review of the level of fulfillment of anti-corruption obligations in each focus country in the Western Hemisphere. (Read the WHACI report.)
Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CEAS), Kyoto University
June 2018 – March 2021
Program-Specific Assistant Professor

Research activities on corruption and institutions in Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

Graduate School of International Development (GSID), Nagoya University
November 2018
Visiting Research Fellow

Research project: "The Social Origin of Corruption".

Global Commons, University of Tsukuba
May 2017 – May 2018
International Associate

Coordination with partner universities in Latin America for the implementation of the Trans-Pacific Human Capital Development Program. This Program is part of the Inter-University Exchange Project for achieving a global education and contributing toward global peace, supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.

Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba
April 2016 – March 2017
Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Research divided in two lines of inquiry:

  1. The political characteristics of international anti-corruption commissions in Central America’s Northern Triangle.
  2. The design and implementation of an international qualitative and quantitative database of corruption and anti-corruption news, later known as the Daily Corruption Project.
Presidency of the Council of Ministers of Peru
January 2010 – March 2010
External Consultant
  1. Produced the Executive Report on the Monitoring and Evaluation of the National Anti-Corruption Policies.
  2. Produced the Annual Report on the Progress of Implementation of Measures against Corruption.
Presidency of the Council of Ministers of Peru
May 2009 – December 2009
Intern
  1. Supported the production of the Guidelines for the Reporting on Requests of Access to Information (RM 301-2009-PCM) and the Guidelines for the Implementation of the Standard Website of Transparency in Public Agencies (DS 063-2010-PCM).
  2. Supported the training of public servants on the areas of public ethics, transparency, access to public information, and citizen monitoring.
Education
University of Tsukuba
April 2013 – March 2016
Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science

Doctoral Program in International Public Policy. Dissertation title: "Anti-Corruption Demands and Government's Defense: The Case of Peru, 2000-2014".

University of Tsukuba
April 2011 – March 2013
Master of Arts in International Studies

Masters Program in International Area Studies. Thesis title: "Citizens' Corruption Tolerance in Peru: A Behavioral Approach".

National University of San Marcos (Lima-Peru)
March 2003 – May 2009
Bachelor’s degree in Political Science

Political institutions, Latin American politics, law, political analysis, research methodology, etc.

Academic Papers (Peer-Reviewed Journals)
Books & Chapters
  • Pozsgai-Alvarez, Joseph and Bratu, Roxana (eds.). 2025 (forthcoming). Routledge Handbook of Anti-Corruption Research and Practice. Routledge.
Other Publications
  • Stephenson, Matthew; Gawthorpe, Steven; Pozsgai-Alvarez, Joseph; Hudson, Alan; Tonn, Johannes and Heywood, Paul. 2020. ACE Digital Library. Washington, D.C.: Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence (GI-ACE).
  • Gawthorpe, Steven and Pozsgai-Alvarez, Joseph. 2020. Anti-corruption Keywords  [Data file]. ACE Digital Library. Washington, D.C.: Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence (GI-ACE). Retrieved from https://library.globalintegrity.org.
  • Pozsgai-Alvarez, Joseph. 2020. "Editorial foreword," Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Center Journal, Vol. 2020, No. 1. DOI: 10.5339/rolacc.2020.1.
Conferences, Seminars, Lectures, etc.
  • Paper "The (de)construction of corruption in one hundred years of American foreign affairs discourse," presented at the General Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) held at University College Dublin, Ireland, August 12-15, 2023.
  • Paper "Are different types of corruption tolerated differently?" presented at the General Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) held at Charles University, Czech Republic, September 4-8, 2023.
  • Ankowska, Ania and Pozsgai-Alvarez, Joseph, "Simulating anti-corruption policy-making: the adoption of gamification principles in simulated cocreation sessions," presented at the "International Conference on Public Policy 6" held by the International Public Policy Association (IPPA) in Toronto, June 27, 2023.
  • Paper "Strategic corruption: conceptual deconstruction and theoretical development," presented at the "7th Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Forum" held by the Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Network (ICRN) in Barcelona, June 16-18, 2022.
  • Paper "Multidimensional measurement of corruption in Latin America," presented at the "6th Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Forum" held by the Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Network (ICRN) in Bologna, June 16-18, 2022.
  • Panel speaker at the international conference "Shaping and Anti-Corruption Environment: Education and Partnerships to Create a Positive Impact," session on "Transnational Aspects," organized by the Lusíada University of Porto, held online, May 5, 2022.
  • Panel speaker at The White House Summit for Democracy, session on "Promoting Strategies for Transparency and Accountability for a Flourishing Democracy in Iraq," held online, December 10, 2021.
  • Panel speaker at the Fourteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, session on "Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in the Artificial Intelligence Era," held in Kyoto, Japan, March 12, 2021.
  • Pozsgai-Alvarez, Joseph. "The Abuse of Entrusted Power for Private Gain: Meaning, Nature and Theoretical Evolution." Presentation at the General Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) held at the University of Wrocław, Poland, September 4-7, 2019.
  • Pozsgai-Alvarez, Joseph. "Sociopolitical norms, awareness and responses to incentives." Presentation at the "4th Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Forum" held by the Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Network at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine, June 13-14, 2019.
  • Pozsgai-Alvarez, Joseph. "Population Density and Corruption Tolerance in Latin America." Presentation at the "International Workshop on Data-Intensive Urban Studies" held by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) of Kyoto University, March 2, 2019.
  • Pozsgai-Alvarez, Joseph. "Corruption as a Process of Political and Social Cognition." Colloquium at the Center for Experimental Research in Social Sciences (CERSS) of Hokkaido University, December 20, 2018.
  • Pozsgai-Alvarez, Joseph. "Corruption as a Process of Political and Social Cognition." Seminar at the Graduate School of International Development (GSID) of Nagoya University, December 4, 2018.
  • Yusuke Murakami & Joseph Pozsgai. "Valores democráticos en el Perú" ("Democratic Values in Peru"). Presentation at the "8th International Conference of the Latin American Studies Council of Asia and Oceania (CELAO)" in Macau, November 10, 2018.
  • Pozsgai-Alvarez, Joseph. "The Quest for a Unified Theory of Corruption." Presentation at the Seminar "Cross-regional Comparative Studies and Informatics in Asia Pacific Era" held by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) of Kyoto University, March 18, 2018.
Memberships
  • International Political Science Association (IPSA), RC20 - Political Finance and Political Corruption. Board Member since 2024.
  • Journal of Economic Criminology (Elsevier). Editorial Board Member since September 2022.
  • Japan Network of Anti-Corruption Researchers (JANAR). Founder since November 2019.
  • European Consortium for Political Research’s (ECPR) (Anti-)Corruption and Integrity. Member of the Steering Committee since September 2019.
  • Japan Association for Latin American Studies. Regular member since October 2014.
Skills