This project investigated the current standing and relevance of the human security doctrine. While human security continues to be a regularly used framework in Japanese academia and foreign policy, it has struggled to receive the same amount of acceptance and uptake within the UN system and by other states. Noting the enduring value of human security’s basic intervention – placing people as the referent of security – the project considered in more detail what the ‘human’ in human security means. People are vulnerable, dependent creatures that are at risk of harm, pain and death, and this has consequences for how we understand security. From this minimal foundation, it is possible to develop a stronger understanding of human vulnerability as a lived condition, something we all experience and are exposed to, albeit to differing degrees. The project developed the idea of focusing on vulnerability as providing a valuable route towards developing a more robust conception of human security, one that offers insight into the way conditions of insecurity are created, exacerbated and may potentially be reduced. A paper from the project was presented at the International Studies Association Asia-Pacific conference, City University of Hong Kong, June 2016.