About ACE

Over the years, the Asian Conference on Education (ACE) has brought together thousands of passionate scholars and educators from around the globe to discuss ideas critical to the development of education in Asia and beyond, making it one of the most respected, and longest running annual conferences focused on all levels of education in Asia.

ACE was the first conference organised by The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) in Osaka in 2009, when the organisation was founded. Founded in Japan at a time when academic conferences held in English did not exist (outside those organised by professional associations dedicated to English language teaching), IAFOR quickly found support for these among a growing number of scholars in Japan, Asia, and beyond. Participants came together to make friends, network, and, at a time of rapid globalisation and technological advances, explore the latest ideas. The conferences also encouraged the search for research synergies in the pursuit of addressing and finding solutions to many of the myriad and complex challenges presented by the modern world.

IAFOR now has university partners across the globe, counts some of the world’s foremost intellectuals as advisers, and boasts an interdisciplinary research centre in Osaka University’s School of International Public Policy. The organisation also has a conference program that spans three continents, and in a divided world, IAFOR’s founding principles of nurturing ideas, individuals and research projects across barriers of nation, culture, and discipline are more timely than ever.

About IAFOR’s Conferences on Education

The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) promotes and facilitates new multifaceted approaches to one of the core issues of our time, namely globalisation and its many forms of growth and expansion. Awareness of how it cuts across the world of education, and its subsequent impact on societies, institutions and individuals, is a driving force in educational policies and practices across the globe. IAFOR’s conferences on education have these issues at their core. The conferences present those taking part with three unique dimensions of experience, encouraging interdisciplinary discussion, facilitating heightened intercultural awareness and promoting international exchange. In short, IAFOR’s conferences on education are about change, transformation and social justice. As IAFOR’s previous conferences on education have shown, education has the power to transform and change whilst it is also continuously transformed and changed.

Globalised education systems are becoming increasing socially, ethnically and culturally diverse. However, education is often defined through discourses embedded in Western paradigms as globalised education systems become increasingly determined by dominant knowledge economies. Policies, practices and ideologies of education help define and determine ways in which social justice is perceived and acted out. What counts as "education" and as "knowledge" can appear uncontestable but is in fact both contestable and partial. Discourses of learning and teaching regulate and normalise gendered and classed, racialised and ethnicised understandings of what learning is and who counts as a learner.

In many educational settings and contexts throughout the world, there remains an assumption that teachers are the possessors of knowledge which is to be imparted to students, and that this happens in neutral, impartial and objective ways. However, learning is about making meaning, and learners can experience the same teaching in very different ways. Students (as well as teachers) are part of complex social, cultural, political, ideological and personal circumstances, and current experiences of learning will depend in part on previous ones, as well as on age, gender, social class, culture, ethnicity, varying abilities and more.

IAFOR has several annual conferences on education, exploring common themes in different ways to develop a shared research agenda that develops interdisciplinary discussion, heightens intercultural awareness and promotes international exchange.

Previous Speakers

The following speakers, among others, have presented their research at IAFOR's conferences on education.

Sue Jackson, Pro-Vice Master (Vice President) for Teaching and Learning at Birkbeck, University of London and IAFOR International Director of Programme for Education; Rosemary Deem, OBE, Vice Principal for Education and Dean of the Doctoral School at Royal Holloway, University of London; Eiko Otani, President of Osaka Jogakuin University and education and technology expert; Barbara Lockee, Associate Director of the School of Outreach at Virginia Tech; Frieda Mangunsong, University of Indonesia Professor; Vice Chancellor (President) Mary Stuart of Lincoln University; Svetlana Ter Minasova, Founding Dean and now President of Moscow State University’s School of Foreign Languages; Akito Arima, Former Japanese Minister of Education and President of Tokyo University; Mona Abo-Zena, early childhood development expert of Brown University.

Other IAFOR Conferences in Education

The European Conference on Education (ECE)
The Asian Conference on Education & International Development (ACEID)
The IAFOR Conference on Educational Research & Innovation (ERI)
The IAFOR International Conference on Education – Hawaii (IICEHawaii)
The Barcelona Conference on Education (BCE)
The Southeast Asian Conference on Education (SEACE)

Ways to Get Involved

IAFOR depends on the assistance of a large number of international academics and practitioners who contribute in a variety of ways to our shared mission of promoting international exchange, facilitating intercultural awareness, encouraging interdisciplinary discussion and generating and sharing new knowledge. We are grateful for the time, effort and expertise donated by all our volunteer contributors.

Here are some of the ways you can get involved:

IAFOR Membership

IAFOR membership provides an exceptional opportunity to be a part of a leading global academic organisation, network and platform that is committed to nurturing the very best in interdisciplinary research in the global public interest. Membership is open to all scholars, professionals and policymakers, researchers, or those with a strong professional interest in education.

Learn more about IAFOR membership

Reviewing

With thousands of abstracts submitted each year for presentation at our conferences, IAFOR relies on academics around the world to ensure a fair and timely peer review process in keeping with established international norms of double-blind peer review. Our peer review process, which involves both reciprocal review and the use of Review Committees, is overseen by the Conference Programme Committee under the guidance of the International Academic Board.

If you hold a PhD or another terminal degree in your field, are a current or former faculty member and have previous peer review experience, we encourage you to join the ACE Review Committee.

Editing

IAFOR publishes four online, Open Access, editorially independent journals across a variety of disciplines, which are associated with IAFOR’s conferences. IAFOR journals are edited by academics who are experts in their fields, and journal submissions are evaluated by Editorial Board members and peer reviewers across the globe who have the relevant qualifications and expertise.

Publishing

Journals

Publish your research in one of IAFOR’s Open Access, editorially independent journals. Articles may be submitted via open calls for papers. Authors publishing with IAFOR are not required to pay submission or publication fees of any kind, and IAFOR journals are available to a global readership online, completely free of charge and without delay or embargo.

Conference Proceedings

If your abstract has been accepted, and you presented the work at ACE (including Virtual Presentations), you are encouraged to submit a full paper via the online submission system for inclusion in the Conference Proceedings, which will be made available online. For further details of how to submit your paper, please view the Final Paper Submission page. IAFOR Conference Proceedings are Open Access research repositories that act as permanent records of the research generated by IAFOR conferences. Please note that works published in the Conference Proceedings cannot be considered for publication in IAFOR journals.

Student Internships

Are you a student? Would you like to meet delegates and academics who are experts in their fields, practice your communication skills and experience a truly international academic event? The IAFOR Internship Programme offers opportunities for students to assist at IAFOR conferences such as ACE, involving responsibilities such as greeting participants, helping with registration and guiding participants to presentation rooms. To find out more about internships at an IAFOR event, please visit the IAFOR Internship Programme page.

If you have any questions, or if you would like to suggest additional ways in which you could contribute to IAFOR’s interdisciplinary activities, please feel free to email [email protected].