Kaoru Kitajima Japan

Kaoru Kitajima is a Professor in the Division of Forest and Biomaterials Science at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Agriculture, and has served as President of the Ecological Society of Japan since 2024. She brings over 30 years of tropical research experience in the Americas and Asia—including faculty roles at the University of Florida and a Research Associate position at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute—as well as service as a council member of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation. Her work spans functional plant ecology, trait diversity, invasive species ecology, and ecosystem–human coupling. In 2022, she received both the prestigious Ecological Society of Japan Prize and the MIDORI Academic Prize in recognition of her outstanding scientific contributions.