Mieko Hama majored in Economics and Geography (B.Sc.) at the Department of Economics, University College London (UCL), UK. While at UCL, she interned under Dr. Keiichiro Komatsu (currently Professor of Human Security and Global Affairs at AUSN and Principal of KRA) at the London office of the Foundation for Global Peace and Environment.

Mieko acquired her master's degree (M.A.) in Environment and Development from the Department of Geography at King's College London (KCL). She also took units from the International Boundary Studies at KCL (Graduate School). Her master's thesis focused on environmental considerations in Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) to sub-Saharan Africa, and explored the differences in perceptions and expectations between donor countries, recipient countries, and local residents, as well as the interactions between politics and economics (political economy). She is interested in the differences in perspectives between academic fields even when researching the same topic, as well as the differences in perceptions between academia and the practical world, between policymakers and grassroots activists. After obtaining her master's degree, she participated in the launch of KRA in 2005 as one of the three founding members. KRA now has offices in London and Tokyo. Recently, she has also been interested in comprehensive and sustainable solutions that utilise and apply interdisciplinary thinking, practical knowledge of practitioners, and indigenous knowledge to solve global issues. She has published numerous papers on topics such as UK national resilience strategies, the UK after the pandemic and Brexit, industrial policies related to COP26 held in Glasgow, as well as territorial disputes between the Indian Ocean island nations of Seychelles and Mauritius and the role of the Blue Economy. She is a member of l’Association Japon-Madagascar.