The 2026 Philipp Franz von Siebold award winner

Masashi Urabe is a professor in the Faculty of International Studies at Hiroshima City University in Japan. He is regarded as an eminent authority on educational science in the German-Japanese context. His research focuses in particular on education for sustainable development, peace education, and the didactics and function of performance measurement. For his academic and cultural contribution to German-Japanese relations he is now being granted the Philipp Franz von Siebald Award.

Masashi Urabe completed his Master’s degree and Ph.D. in education at Hiroshima University in Japan. During his doctorate he already spent two semesters at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science research fellow. After several years’ working as an associate professor at various universities in Japan, he returned to Germany in 2019 on the strength of a Humboldt Foundation research fellowship for experienced researchers. In the course of his academic career, Urabe has continuously engaged in international collaborations, paving the way, for example, for the creation of a university partnership between Hiroshima City University and the University of Education Weingarten.

German-Japanese educational comparison

In numerous comparative studies, Masashi Urabe has examined the educational landscapes in Germany and Japan, acquiring significant insights and developing innovative ideas for future educational processes in an ever more globalised world. They include, for instance, ideal types of teaching and learning models.

As well as theory, Urabe considers a direct connection to practice indispensable. During his school visits in Germany, he gave lessons in which he discussed various issues in his own country with the pupils: Where does the word “Japan” actually come from? And, faced with a Japanese world map, (how) does one’s view of the world change? 

For his outstanding achievements, Masashi Urabe has gained enormous respect from many colleagues around the world. He is a member of several academic societies, including the Pacific Circle Consortium for Education, in which he has been a member of the board since 2015. Furthermore, he has been regional director of the alumni association "Humboldt Association of Japan" since 2025.

Philipp Franz von Siebold Award

The Philipp Franz von Siebold Award honours renowned Japanese researchers from all disciplines. It is traditionally presented to the recipient by Germany’s federal president during the Humboldt Foundation’s annual meeting in Berlin. The Philipp Franz von Siebold Award was established in 1978 by Germany’s then Federal President Walter Scheel during a state visit to Japan. It is presented every year to a Japanese researcher or academic in recognition of outstanding contributions to improving a mutual understanding of culture and society in Germany and Japan. The award is valued at €80,000.