Speaker Kit
Researcher · Speaker · Advocate
Everything you need to book, introduce, or feature me: signature talks, research themes, bios in three lengths, press photos, and booking details.
Research Areas
Research and Speaking Themes
Six areas I research, write, and speak about. Each talk below draws on one or more of them.
Aging
What Japan, the first super-aged society, can show Brazil as it ages fast. My MA dissertation studied aging and population decline in Japan; my BA thesis compared Japan with Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece.
Accessibility
Daily life with a disability, and the small obstacles nobody notices. My 2020 article in Revista Estudos Japoneses looked at the circumstances of people with disabilities in Japan.
Japanese Brazilian Culture and Identity
A mixed upbringing of Western and Eastern cultures that shaped my worldview and expanded my horizons. Brazil is home to about 2 million Japanese Brazilians, the largest Japanese community outside Japan.
Urban Infrastructure
Cities that open up when ramps, elevators, and good sidewalks are part of the plan. Japan is my reference, which I study with affection and a critical eye.
Rare Disease
Speaking up for patients with conditions most doctors rarely see. Since 2023 I have been the first Brazilian patient advocate in the FD/MAS Alliance.
Inclusive Fashion
Getting dressed with a disability, and what designers still leave out. I think about all types of bodies, often forgotten by the fashion industry.
Signature Talks
What I Speak About
Five signature talks in English and Portuguese, about 60 minutes each, in person or online. Each can be shaped into a keynote, panel contribution, workshop, or fireside conversation.
What Japan's Super-Aged Society Teaches the Rest of Us
Japan is the world's first super-aged society, and its experience is a preview for countries aging faster than they are preparing, Brazil among them. Drawing on my original MA research, this talk maps what Japan's demographic shift reveals about infrastructure, care systems, and public policy, and what other nations can still choose to do differently while there is time to plan.
Rare in Brazil: What Living with FD/MAS Reveals About Access in a Developing Country
Living with fibrous dysplasia and McCune-Albright syndrome (FD/MAS), a rare condition, means moving through a medical world that was not built with you in mind. This talk is about what FD/MAS taught me about resilience, self-advocacy, and being seen, and what rare disease advocacy looks like from Brazil, where infrastructure is thin and visibility is hard won.
Accessibility Is Infrastructure
Accessibility is too often framed as charity or an optional courtesy. This talk reframes it as public works: the ramps, signals, transit, and digital systems that a functioning society owes everyone. Using comparisons between Brazil and Japan, I show what it looks like when access is treated as infrastructure, and what it costs communities when it is not.
The Bridge: What 2 Million Japanese Brazilians Reveal About Identity
Brazil is home to the largest Japanese diaspora in the world, about 2 million people. As a mixed Japanese Brazilian woman, I use that history to explore identity, culture, and belonging: what it means to live between two worlds, to carry inherited traditions, and to build a sense of self at the meeting point of two nations. A warm, personal talk about diaspora and the bridges people become.
Listening as Medicine: What Rare Disease Communities Know About Empathy
Patient communities hold expertise that clinical settings often miss. This talk positions rare disease communities as teachers of empathy, showing how exchanging lived experience builds understanding and improves care at the human scale. It is an argument for listening as a form of medicine, and for treating patients as people first.
Available for Academic, Corporate, and Media Events
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Biography
Ready-to-Use Bios
Three lengths for different formats: program booklet, event listing, or full press feature.
Bia Kaori Mi is a Brazilian researcher, speaker, and rare disease advocate. Holding an MA from the University of São Paulo and affiliated with GEASIA / NUPRI, USP, she specializes in accessibility, urban infrastructure, and population aging, with a comparative focus on Brazil and Japan, alongside Europe and the United States. She is the first Brazilian patient advocate in the FD/MAS Alliance and speaks Portuguese, English, French, and Japanese.
Bia Kaori Mi is a researcher, speaker, and rare disease advocate based in Brasília, Brazil. She holds an MA from the University of São Paulo (USP), where she is affiliated with GEASIA / NUPRI, the Asian Studies research group. Her work centers on accessibility, urban infrastructure, and population aging, with a comparative lens on Brazil and Japan, alongside Europe and the United States.
In 2023, she became the first Brazilian patient advocate in the FD/MAS Alliance, a patient advocacy role for fibrous dysplasia and McCune-Albright syndrome (FD/MAS), a rare condition she lives with. She co-hosted one of the first global FD/MAS community meetings for patients and families and produced the first Portuguese translations of the Alliance's official content.
She has appeared on TV GGN, Canal Saúde (Fiocruz), and Rádio Senado, has spoken at ESPM and FD/MAS community events, and has lectured for GEASIA / NUPRI, USP. She presents in English and Portuguese.
Bia Kaori Mi is a researcher, speaker, and rare disease advocate based in Brasília, Brazil. She holds an MA in Japanese Language, Literature, and Culture from the University of São Paulo (USP) and has been a researcher at GEASIA / NUPRI, the university's Asian Studies group, since 2016. Her MA dissertation examined the challenges facing Japan as the world's first super-aged society: aging, population decline, and the condition of Japanese women.
Her research centers on accessibility, urban infrastructure, and population aging, examined comparatively across Brazil and Japan, alongside Europe and the United States. She believes theory and practice must walk together, and shares her research through talks, articles, and social media in English and Portuguese.
She lives with fibrous dysplasia and McCune-Albright syndrome (FD/MAS), a rare condition. In 2023, she became the first Brazilian patient advocate in the FD/MAS Alliance. She has since produced the first Portuguese translations of its official content and co-hosted one of the first global FD/MAS community meetings for patients and families.
Her media and speaking appearances include TV GGN (Geopolitics Observatory), Canal Saúde (Fiocruz), ESPM, Rádio Senado, SIMPORI (San Tiago Dantas IR Research Symposium), the Graduate Student Meeting in Japanese Studies at USP, and FD/MAS community events. Press coverage of her research includes O Globo, Folha de S.Paulo, and Jornal da USP. She has published in Carta Internacional and Revista Estudos Japoneses (USP).
She holds a BA in International Relations from Faculdades Integradas Rio Branco (FIRB), where she received two Academic Merit Certificates, as well as a CELTA in English language teaching, DALF C2 in French, and JLPT N2 in Japanese. She gives talks in English and Portuguese.
Press Photos
Photos for Media Use
High-resolution files for print and digital. Download the format that suits your layout.
Logistics
Languages, Formats, and Requirements
Practical information for event planners and producers.
Languages
PortugueseNative
EnglishFluent · TOEFL 119/120 · CELTA
FrenchIntermediate · DALF C2
JapaneseIntermediate · JLPT N2
Event Formats
- Keynote lecture
- Panel discussion
- Academic presentation
- Workshop / masterclass
- Podcast and audio interview
- Television and video interview
- Webinar (virtual)
Technical Requirements
- My own slide presentation
- Projector or screen
- Zoom / Google Meet compatible
- Stable internet connection
Booking
- Talks of about 60 minutes, in person or online
- At least 4 weeks' notice for virtual talks, 8 weeks for in person
- Recording only with permission agreed in advance
- Based in Brasília (BRT, UTC−3); travel costs apply outside the city
Track Record
Recent Appearances
Talks, interviews, and podcasts. The full list is on the Media page.
Asia on the Rise: Contemporary Dynamics and Transformations in the Asian Continent
Session: The Question of Aging in Japan · GEASIA / NUPRI, USP
Security, Strategies, and Defense: Geopolitics in the Asian Continent
Academic · Guest Lecture · GEASIA / USP
Population Aging and Why It Matters in International Relations
SIMPORI 2023, San Tiago Dantas IR Research Symposium, São Paulo
1 of 20 Podcast
Podcast · Spotify
Population Aging
Podcast · Rádio Senado, Ordem Global · Spotify
TV GGN, Geopolitics Observatory: Aging in East Asia and Lessons for Brazil
Television · Live debate · YouTube
Canal Saúde (Fiocruz): What Can We Learn from Japan's Population Aging
Television · Interview
Book Me
Invite Me to Your Event
Please include the event name and date, the expected audience and format, the topic you have in mind, and whether the event is in person or virtual. I reply within five business days, in English or Portuguese. For virtual events, no travel costs apply; for in-person events outside Brasília, travel and accommodation are negotiated per invitation.