ACE2025 Overview


Join us in Tokyo for ACE2025!

November 23–28, 2025 | Toshi Center Hotel, Tokyo, Japan

Welcome to The 17th Asian Conference on Education (ACE2025), held in partnership with the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, Japan.

ACE2025 encourages academics and scholars to meet and exchange ideas and views in an international forum stimulating respectful dialogue. This event will afford an exceptional opportunity for renewing old acquaintances, making new contacts, networking, and facilitating partnerships across national and disciplinary borders.

Since its founding in 2009, IAFOR has brought people and ideas together in a variety of events and platforms to promote and celebrate interdisciplinary study, and underline its importance. IAFOR continues to engage in many cross-sectoral projects across the world, including those engaging leading universities (Virginia Tech, UCL, Singapore Management University, University of Belgrade, Lingnan University, Barcelona University, University of Hawai’i, Moscow State University), think tanks, research organisations and agencies (the East-West Center, The Center for Higher Education Research, The World Intellectual Property Organization), as well as collaborative projects with governments and international governmental organisations (Government of Japan through the Prime Minister’s office, the United Nations in New York) and media agencies (The Wall Street Journal, JWT, HarperCollins).

With the IAFOR Research Centre at Osaka University, we have engaged in a number of interdisciplinary initiatives we believe will have an important impact on domestic and international public policy conversations and outcomes.

IAFOR's unique global platform facilitates discussion around specific subject areas, with the goal of generating new knowledge and understanding, forging and expanding new international, intercultural and interdisciplinary research networks and partnerships. We have no doubt that ACE2025 will offer a remarkable opportunity for the sharing of research and best practice and for the meeting of people and ideas.

We look forward to seeing you in Tokyo and online!

– The ACE2025 Programme Committee


Key Information
  • Venue & Location: Toshi Center Hotel, Tokyo, Japan (and online)
  • Dates: Sunday, November 23, 2025 to Friday, November 28, 2025
  • Early Bird Abstract Submission Deadline: June 20, 2025*
  • Final Abstract Submission Deadline: August 22, 2025
  • Registration Deadline for Presenters: October 03, 2025

*Submit early to take advantage of the discounted registration rates. Learn more about our registration options.

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Plenary Speakers

  • Eric Hawkinson
    Eric Hawkinson
    Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Japan
  • Susie Kung
    Susie Kung
    Manukau Institute of Technology, New Zealand
  • Murielle El Hajj Nahas
    Murielle El Hajj Nahas
    Lusail University, Qatar

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Programme

  • Educational Leadership in the Age of AI Agents
    Educational Leadership in the Age of AI Agents
    Keynote Presentation: Eric Hawkinson
  • Human-AI Partnership in Teacher Education: Rethinking the Hybrid Teacher of the Future
    Human-AI Partnership in Teacher Education: Rethinking the Hybrid Teacher of the Future
    Panel Presentation (Online): Susie Kung
  • Teaching Leadership Through Artificial Intelligence
    Teaching Leadership Through Artificial Intelligence
    Panel Presentation (Online): Najwa S. Fares, Mikel Garant, Martin Parsons, Murielle El Hajj Nahas

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Conference Committees

The International Academic Board (IAB)

Professor Anne Boddington, IAFOR, Japan (IAB Chair)
Dr Joseph Haldane, IAFOR & Osaka University, Japan, & University College London, United Kingdom
Professor Jun Arima, IAFOR & University of Tokyo, Japan
Professor Virgil Hawkins, IAFOR Research Centre & Osaka University, Japan
Mr Lowell Sheppard, IAFOR & Never Too Late Academy, Japan

Dr Susana Barreto, University of Porto, Portugal
Professor Grant Black, Chuo University, Japan
Dr Evangelia Chrysikou, Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London, United Kingdom
Professor Donald E. Hall, Binghamton University, United States
Professor Brendan Howe, Ewha Womans University, South Korea & The Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA)
Dr James W. McNally, University of Michigan, United States & NACDA Program on Aging

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Conference Programme Committee

Distinguished Professor Tien-Hui Chiang, Zhengzhou University, China
Dr Joseph Haldane, IAFOR and Osaka University, Japan, & University College London, United Kingdom (Conference Co-chair)
Susie Kung, Manukau Institute of Technology, New Zealand
Professor May Sok Mui Lim, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore
Dr Tzu-Bin Lin, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
Professor Barbara Lockee, Virginia Tech, United States
Dr Leandro Loyola, Conestoga College, Canada
Professor José McClanahan, Creighton University, United States
Dr Sean McMinn, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
Dr Murielle El Hajj Nahas, Lusail University, Qatar
Dr Justin Sanders, Minerva Project
Dr Tati D. Wardi, Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII), Indonesia
Dr Aki Yamada, Tamagawa University, Japan

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The International Academic College (IAC)

Dr Hasan Al-Wadi, University of Bahrain, Bahrain
Dr Shamim Ali, Riphah International University , Pakistan
Professor Umberto Ansaldo, VinUniversity, Vietnam
Professor Shingo Ashizawa, Kansai University of International Studies, Japan
Dr Brian Aycock, International Christian University, Japan
Professor William Baber, Kyoto University Graduate School of Management, Japan
Professor Emeritus Sue Ballyn, University of Barcelona, Spain
Ms Keiko Bang, Bang Singapore Pte Ltd, Singapore
Professor Geoff Beattie, Edge Hill University, United Kingdom
Professor Denis Binder, Chapman University, United States
Dr Sarah Louisa Birchley, Toyo Gakuen University, Japan
Dr Holger Briel, Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College, China
Mr James Joseph Briganti, Michigan State University, United States
Professor Bruce Brown, Royal College of Art, United Kingdom
Lord Charles Bruce, Japan Society of Scotland, United Kingdom
Dr Eddie Bruce-Jones, SOAS, University of London, United Kingdom
Professor Chung-Ying Cheng, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, United States
Distinguished Professor Tien-Hui Chiang, Zhengzhou University, China
Mr Marcus Chidgey, Founder & CEO at Loqiva, United Kingdom
Dr George D. Chryssides, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Dr Christine Coombe, Dubai Men’s College, United Arab Emirates
Professor Melinda Cowart, Texas Woman’s University, United States
Professor Georges Depeyrot, French National Center for Scientific Research, France
Professor Jean-Marc Dewaele, Birkbeck, University of London, United Kingdom
Professor Tatiana Dobrosklonskaya, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Dr Richard Donovan, Kansai University, Japan
Dr Murielle El Hajj Nahas, Lusail University, Qatar
Professor John Nguyet Erni, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong
Professor Said M. Faiq, American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Dr William C. Frick, University of Oklahoma, United States
Dr Alfonso J. García Osuna, Hofstra University & The City University of New York, United States
Professor Gerard Goggin, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Dr Fernando Darío González Grueso, Tamkang University, Taiwan
Professor Stephen J. Hall, Sunway University, Malaysia
Dr June Henton, Auburn University, United States
Mr Harry Hill, Japan United States Friendship Commission (JUSFC), Japan
Dr Rodney F. Hill, Hofstra University, United States
Dr Tamsin Hinton-Smith, University of Sussex, United Kingdom
Professor Curtis Ho, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, United States
Dr Daniel Hoffman, University of Hawaii at Manoa, United States
His Excellency Professor Toshiya Hoshino, UN Inspectorate General, Immediate Past President of IAFOR, and former Japanese Ambassador to the UN
Professor Tom Houghton, Curtin University, Australia
Professor Brendan Howe, Ewha Womans University & The Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA), South Korea
Professor Kay Irie, Gakushuin University, Japan
Professor Hiroshi Ishida, University of Tokyo, Japan
Dr Maxime Jaffré, United Arab Emirates University, United Arab Emirates
Mr Matthew Kay, Nature Publishing, United Kingdom
Mr Michael Liam Kedzlie, Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand, New Zealand
Professor Anshuman Khare, Athabasca University, Canada
Mr Daniel Kjellsson, Future Talent Council, Sweden
Dr Yukinori Komine, Harvard University, United States
Dr Rachel Lam, Independent Consultant, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Dr Celia Lam, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, China
Ms Fan Li, LePing Social Entrepreneur Foundation & Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), China
Dr Tzu-Bin Lin, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
Professor Robert Logie, Osaka Gakuin University, Japan
Dr Jacqueline Lottin, Higher Colleges of Technology, United Arab Emirates
Professor Craig Mark, Kyoritsu Women's University, Japan
Professor Ljiljana Marković, European Centre for Peace and Development (ECPD), Serbia
Dr Yvonne Masters, Independent Researcher, Australia
Professor José McClanahan, Creighton University, United States
Professor Dennis McInerney, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong
Professor David McLoughlin, Meiji University, Japan
Dr Michael Menchaca, University of Hawaii at Manoa, United States
Professor Keith W. Miller, University of Missouri, United States
Dr Alyson Miller, Deakin University, Australia
Dr Yutaka Mino, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan
Professor Kuniko Miyanaga, Human Potential Institute, Japan
Professor Johannes Moenius, University of Redlands, United States
Professor Joshua Ka Ho Mok, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Dr Bernard Montoneri, Independent Researcher, Taiwan
Professor Thomas Brian Mooney, Charles Darwin University, Australia
Dr Amanda Müller, Flinders University, Australia
Dr Jo Mynard, Kanda University of International Studies, Japan
Ms Karen Newby, Par les mots solidaires, France
Dr Cynthia Northington-Purdie, Hunter College (CUNY), United States
Dr Keiichi Ogawa, Kobe University, Japan
Professor Mark Pegrum, The University of Western Australia, Australia
Dr Anemona Peres, European Border and Coast Guard Agency,
Dr Alexandru I. Petrisor, Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism, Romania
Dr Elena Raevskikh, Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Dr Thanassis Rikakis, University of Southern California, United States
Professor Richard Roth, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, United States
Dr James Rowlins, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore
Dr Justin Sanders, Woven by Toyota, Japan
Dr Monty P. Satiadarma, Tarumanagara University, Indonesia
Dr Linda Schwartz, Ambrose University, Canada
Dr Shahrokh (Sharo) Shafaie, Southeast Missouri State University, United States
Dr Sharo Shafaie, Southeast Missouri State University, United States
Mr Lowell Sheppard, HOPE International Development Agency, Japan
Dr Jeffrey Sommers, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, United States
Dr Marcelo Staricoff, University of Sussex, United Kingdom
Dr Pearl Subban, Monash University, Australia
Professor Gary E. Swanson, University of Northern Colorado (fmr.), United States
Dr Amy Szarkowski, Harvard Medical School, United States
Professor Svetlana Ter-Minasova, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia
Dr Devayani Tirthali, Independent Researcher, India
Dr Brian Victoria, Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, United Kingdom
Dr Deborah G. Wooldridge, Bowling Green State University, United States
Dr Seiko Yasumoto, The University of Sydney, Australia
Dr Tingting Ying, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, China

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Conference Review Committee

Now accepting applications

To be Announced

IAFOR's 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 (IAB). Review Committee members are established academics who hold PhDs or other terminal degrees in their fields and who have previous peer review experience.

If you would like to apply to serve on the ACE2025 Review Committee, please visit our application page.

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Eric Hawkinson
Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Japan

Biography

Dr Eric Hawkinson is a self-described ‘learning futurist’ and Professor at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Japan, where he teaches courses on issues related to technology and touring. Known for his creative approach to immersive education, Professor Hawkinson designs experiences where digital and physical learning merge, such as augmented reality art exhibitions, mixed reality games, and virtual field trips. As founder of the educational AR platforms Together Learning and Reality Labo, and chair of the World Learning Labs symposium, his work blends curiosity, research, and play to rethink what education can be. Professor Hawkinson is an Adobe Education Leader, a Google Certified Innovator, and a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert. He has published over 50 papers and delivered more than 150 talks worldwide, from TEDx to SXSW. His current research focuses on immersive learning, digital ethics, and automation in education, most recently exploring the concept of the ‘automation abyss’ and the shifting role of educators in AI-driven systems. Visit erichawkinson.com for a full listing of Professor Hawkinson’s active projects, research, and publications.

Keynote Presentation (2025) | Educational Leadership in the Age of AI Agents
Susie Kung
Manukau Institute of Technology, New Zealand

Biography

Susie Kung has been in education since 1980 and in teacher education for over 26 years. She has been teaching within the Bachelor of Education programme at The Manukau Institute of Technology, New Zealand, since 2006. She is a Senior Lecturer attached to the School of Education and is also the Academic Lead overseeing the provision of pastoral care, as well as the retention and success of four programmes in the Institute’s School of Education. She has substantial experience in the field both in Malaysia and New Zealand.

Ms Kung’s passion for teacher education includes her research on effective tertiary teaching-learning spaces and, more recently, blended teaching-learning environments during the COVID-19 pandemic; teacher identity and teacher motivation, preparing student teachers for a fast-changing, diverse world, and a reconsideration of teacher education as a holistic endeavour. Case study and narrative approaches to research are her methodologies of choice, but she has a special interest in the Appreciative Inquiry approach to research and has used this methodology for a number of her research projects. She is currently investigating the role of teacher identity, teacher motivation, and the teacher’s perception of advocacy in the teaching role.

Panel Presentation (2025) | Human-AI Partnership in Teacher Education: Rethinking the Hybrid Teacher of the Future

Panel Presentation (2024) | Navigating AI in Higher Education: Multiple Perspectives from Policy to Practice
Panel Presentation (2023) | No One Left Behind: Advocating for Equitable Opportunities for
Success in Tertiary Education
Murielle El Hajj Nahas
Lusail University, Qatar

Biography

Dr Murielle El Hajj Nahas is currently an Assistant Professor and Director of Lusail University Press (LU Press) at Lusail University, Qatar. She holds a PhD in French Language and Literature, specialising in Psychoanalysis of Literature and Textoanalysis from the Lebanese University, Lebanon and currently serves as an Associate Editor for the IAFOR Journal of Literature & Librarianship and the IAFOR Journal of Education (Language Learning in Education issues). Additionally, she is an Editorial Board Member for In Analysis, revue transdisciplinaire de psychanalyse et sciences (Elsevier Masson SAS, France), a Senior Reviewer for the IAFOR Journal of Education (Technology in Education issues), and a Reviewer for the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP) programme in the United States. Her domain of research focuses on psychoanalysis of literature, the perspective on the unconscious in literary study, the roles of the instances involved in analytical/critical praxis, and the relation between literature and psychoanalysis. Her research interests include analysis of written narrative structure and focalisation; comparative studies of literary genres; discourse analysis and semantics; French linguistics, literature, modernism, and postmodernism studies; gender studies; literary semiotics and semiology; psychoanalysis; psychoanalytic criticism and textoanalysis; rhetoric and stylistics; and schizoanalysis. She has published book chapters, original articles, academic interviews, translated articles, book reviews and analyses, as well as poems. She has also authored a contemporary theatre book titled Fragments chaotiques (2022), published by Les impliqués Éditeur, France.

Panel Presentation (2025) | Teaching Leadership Through Artificial Intelligence

Previous Presentations

Panel Presentation (2024) | Blended Learning: Overcoming Challenges and Implementing Solutions
Panel Presentation (2023) | Unleashing the Potential: The Impact of AI and ChatGPT in Revolutionising Education
Panel Presentation (2022) | Mental Health in Action: Strategies to Build Teacher and Student Capacity
Roundtable Presentation (2021) | Being Resilient: Finding Ways to Publish in Difficult Times
Educational Leadership in the Age of AI Agents
Keynote Presentation: Eric Hawkinson

What happens to teaching when the tools start teaching back? As Artificial Intelligence and extended reality become embedded in the daily practice of education, our roles as educators are evolving. This keynote draws on over a decade of student data and hands-on experimentation with immersive learning to explore a central shift: learning is no longer shaped only by pedagogy but by platforms that influence how knowledge is created, shared, and experienced. Through examples from projects like My Hometown, AR escape rooms, and shared virtual spaces, we will examine how new technologies are reshaping not just classrooms, but the professional relationships and responsibilities that surround them. As augmented and virtual reality move towards becoming the preferred lens with which humans interact with AI, they simultaneously serve as data gathering engines educators can use and, in turn, enrich.

Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution, this session proposes a new way of thinking about extended reality technology in education. Drawing on insights from educational AR projects Together Learning, Reality Labo, and World Learning Labs, the session highlights practical strategies for designing ethical, engaging, and flexible learning environments. The goal is not to escape disruption, but to lead through it with clarity and creativity. Participants will leave with a renewed sense of optimism about the future of education and have a set of operational strategies they can put to work in their own classrooms, institutions, and communities.

Read presenter's biography
Human-AI Partnership in Teacher Education: Rethinking the Hybrid Teacher of the Future
Panel Presentation (Online): Susie Kung

AI technologies are no longer passive tools but active agents in the professional lives of teachers: they are impacting teachers' ways of being, informing their pedagogical approaches, and contributing to new and complex conceptions of teaching identity. As the field experiences a surge of interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI), considerable literature exists on AI's application in education, but less attention has been paid to how technology-assisted learning and AI-mediated environments are reimagining the role and identity of teachers. This panel explores the evolving nature of Human-AI partnerships in teacher education and their role in shaping teacher identity, teaching philosophy, and professional practice.

This session offers a platform for reimagining the future of teacher education and the teacher of the future. Questions regarding current and future concerns about AI and the teaching profession will be discussed, including how emerging teacher identities are shaped in digital/AI-rich environments and how they differ from those in traditional settings; whether AI-mediated contexts intensify identity tensions or can catalyse positive transformation; how cultural, societal, and contextual factors influence responses to AI integration; and whether the future educator will inevitably be a Human–AI hybrid, and if so, whether this should be embraced, critiqued, or reimagined.

Read presenters' biographies
Teaching Leadership Through Artificial Intelligence
Panel Presentation (Online): Najwa S. Fares, Mikel Garant, Martin Parsons, Murielle El Hajj Nahas

What happens to teaching when the tools start teaching back? As Artificial Intelligence and extended reality become embedded in the daily practice of education, our roles as educators are evolving. This keynote draws on over a decade of student data and hands-on experimentation with immersive learning to explore a central shift: learning is no longer shaped only by pedagogy but by platforms that influence how knowledge is created, shared, and experienced. Through examples from projects like My Hometown, AR escape rooms, and shared virtual spaces, we will examine how new technologies are reshaping not just classrooms, but the professional relationships and responsibilities that surround them. As augmented and virtual reality move towards becoming the preferred lens with which humans interact with AI, they simultaneously serve as data gathering engines educators can use and, in turn, enrich.

Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution, this session proposes a new way of thinking about extended reality technology in education. Drawing on insights from educational AR projects Together Learning, Reality Labo, and World Learning Labs, the session highlights practical strategies for designing ethical, engaging, and flexible learning environments. The goal is not to escape disruption, but to lead through it with clarity and creativity. Participants will leave with a renewed sense of optimism about the future of education and have a set of operational strategies they can put to work in their own classrooms, institutions, and communities.

Read presenters' biographies