IAFOR > The Asian Conference on Education (ACE) > ACE2025 > Speakers

Speakers

Keynote, Featured and Spotlight Speakers will provide a variety of perspectives from different academic and professional backgrounds. This page provides information about presenters. For details of presentations and other programming, please visit the Programme page.

Plenary Speakers

  • Grant Black
    Grant Black
    Chuo University, Japan
  • Mikel Garant
    Mikel Garant
    City University of Macau, Macau
  • Eric Hawkinson
    Eric Hawkinson
    Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Japan
  • Susie Kung
    Susie Kung
    Manukau Institute of Technology, New Zealand
  • Nabila Nindya Alifia Putri
    Nabila Nindya Alifia Putri
    Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia, Indonesia
  • Danny Liu
    Danny Liu
    University of Sydney, Australia
  • Sean McMinn
    Sean McMinn
    The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Hong Kong
  • Murielle El Hajj Nahas
    Murielle El Hajj Nahas
    Lusail University, Qatar
  • Martin Parsons
    Martin Parsons
    Hannan University, Japan
  • Najwa Saba ‘Ayon
    Najwa Saba ‘Ayon
    Rafik Hariri University, Lebanon

Become a Speaker

Excellent plenary speakers are central to our conferences, ensuring that timely, innovative and engaging content is presented to our audiences around the world. If you would like to be considered for a speaking slot at one of our conferences, please apply below.

Apply to Speak

Previous Speakers

View details of speakers at past ACE conferences via the links below.

ACE2023
ACE2022 ACE2021 ACE2020
ACE2019 ACE2018 ACE2017
ACE2016 ACE2015 ACE2014
ACE2013 ACE2012 ACE2011
ACE2010 ACE2009
Grant Black
Chuo University, Japan

Biography

Professor Grant Black is a Professor in the Faculty of Commerce at Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan, where he has taught Global Skills and Global Issues since 2013. He is engaged in diverse roles as a global manager, systems builder, executive leader, and university professor. His research and teaching areas include global management skills, intercultural intelligence (CQ), and organisational management. He also has taught Japanese Management Theory at J. F. Oberlin University, Japan, and a continuing education course in the Foundations of Japanese Zen Buddhism at Temple University Japan. Previously, he was Chair of the English Section at the Center for Education of Global Communication at the University of Tsukuba, where he served in a six-year post in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. He holds a BA Highest Honors in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara; an MA in Japanese Buddhist Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles; and a Doctor of Social Science (DSocSci) from the Department of Management in the School of Business at the University of Leicester. Professor Black is a Chartered Manager (CMgr), the highest status that can be achieved in the management profession in the United Kingdom. In 2018, he was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). Professor Black is President of Black Inc. Consulting (Japan), a Tokyo-based firm specialising in international and intercultural project management, communication projects, and executive leadership and training. He is the director of the Nippon Academic Management Institute (NAMI) and the author of Education Reform Policy at a Japanese Super Global University: Policy Translation, Migration and Mutation (Routledge, 2022). Professor Black serves as a Vice-President for the International Academic Forum (IAFOR).

Previous Presentations

Featured Interview (2021) | Undergraduate Research: Nurturing the Next Generation
Mikel Garant
City University of Macau, Macau

Biography

Dr Mikel Garant teaches English in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science at City University of Macau, Macau. He earned his BA in Political Science at The University of Tennessee, United States, his MSc in Teaching English for Specific Purposes at Aston University, United Kingdom, and his PhD in Organizational Communication at The University of Jyväskylä, Finland. His research interests include translation, intercultural communication, English language teaching, and virtual exchange practices. Dr Garant has been a Japanese National Scholar at Nara University of Education and The University of Osaka, Japan, and has held visiting researcher and professor roles at leading institutions all over the world.

Panel Presentation (2025) | Teaching Leadership Through Artificial Intelligence
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 is a Senior Lecturer within the School of Education at Manukau Institute of Technology, New Zealand, since 2006, and has substantial experience in the field of teacher education both in Malaysia and New Zealand.

Ms Kung has a special interest in teacher identity and its role in shaping the evolving teaching philosophy and practice of teachers and student teachers. Her passion for this area of teacher education has contributed to her teaching on human development ranging from child development to adult human development, reflective practice and teaching identity, teaching for social justice, and preparing student teachers for a diverse and fast-changing world. Case study and narrative approaches to research are her methodologies of choice, but she has a special interest in the Appreciate Inquiry approach to research and has used this methodology for several of her research projects. Her call for a reconsideration of teacher education as a holistic endeavor reflects her current interest in discourses of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in tertiary education. She is currently investigating the rapidly evolving nature of human-Al partnerships in teacher education and how this might shape the Human-Al hybrid teacher of the future.

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
Nabila Nindya Alifia Putri
Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia, Indonesia

Biography

Ms Nabila Nindya Alifia Putri is a master’s degree graduate and a scholarship awardee from Universitas Islam International Indonesia (UIII), Indonesia. She received her bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication and Design at Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia, where she initially discovered her passion towards education by creating a motion comic as a medium of learning physics. Her studies have since pivoted towards educational technology, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in learning and teaching, especially AI literacy. Her current research interests include educational well-being, AI literacy in education, and learning design and technology.

She was previously a grand finalist in the 2025 International Writing Competition hosted by Universitas Negeri Surabaya, Indonesia, where she presented her mixed-methods study titled ‘Does Being AI-Literate Lead to Academic Happiness? Exploring the Impact of AI Literacy on University Students’ Well-Being’.

In addition to her academic work, she has contributed to projects related to curriculum and instructional design, such as developing online learning content about a Udemy MOOC on Wasathiyah Islam. She is enthusiastic about discussing how emerging technologies, especially AI, can transform the future of education, but also the role of teacher preparedness and well-being in adapting to the changes.

Panel Presentation (2025) | Human-AI Partnership in Teacher Education: Rethinking the Hybrid Teacher of the Future
Danny Liu
University of Sydney, Australia

Biography

Dr Danny Liu is a molecular biologist by training, programmer by night, researcher and faculty developer by day, and educator at heart. A multiple international and national teaching award winner, he is Professor of Educational Technologies at the University of Sydney, Australia, where he co-chairs the University's AI in Education working group and leads the Cogniti.ai initiative that puts educators in the driver's seat of AI. His research interests include AI and learning analytics, educational technology, student engagement and transition.

Panel Presentation (2025) | Human-AI Partnership in Teacher Education: Rethinking the Hybrid Teacher of the Future
Sean McMinn
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Hong Kong

Biography

Dr Sean McMinn is the Director of the Center for Education Innovation at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Hong Kong. Previously, he served as Associate Professor and Director of the English Language Centre at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2020-2022) and held various academic roles at HKUST, including Associate Professor of Language Education and Co-Academic Director of the MA in International Language Education programme. As an early adopter of educational technologies, he has led initiatives in AI in education, blended learning, and fully online teaching modes. He currently serves on several international committees, including the AI and Education International Panel, Digital Education Council, Cyber-Physical Learning Alliance, and EduTech Asia organising committee.

The Forum (2025) | TBA
Panel Presentation (2024) | Navigating the Hype and Reality of Generative AI in Higher Education: Opportunities, Challenges, and Emerging Trends
Panel Presentation (2023) | Unleashing the Potential: The Impact of AI and ChatGPT in Revolutionising 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
Martin Parsons
Hannan University, Japan

Biography

Professor Martin Parsons is a professor in the Faculty of Information Sciences at Hannan University in Osaka, Japan, where he teaches courses on English and digital production. His research interests include interculturality, English language education in Japan, multimodality, and the intersection between digital literacy and foreign language learning. He has written extensively on the topic of digital production and language learning, including topics such as the use of podcasting and virtual exchanges in second language acquisition.

Panel Presentation (2025) | Teaching Leadership Through Artificial Intelligence
Najwa Saba ‘Ayon
Rafik Hariri University, Lebanon

Biography

Dr Najwa Saba 'Ayon is the academic coordinator of the Languages and Liberal Arts Unit at Rafik Hariri University, Lebanon. Dr Saba 'Ayon earned her PhD in Education (TEFL) from the University of Sussex, United Kingdom. She has been recognised for teaching excellence and has been teaching at the university level for over ten years, leading courses on, English Communication, Linguistics, Intercultural Communication, and Public Speaking.

Dr Saba ‘Ayon’s research interests include teacher training and development, English for Specific Purposes (ESP), innovative teaching strategies, intercultural communication, preparation of professional intercultural communications, and multilingualism. She has published and presented in national and international conferences on a variety of topics in education, including student motivation, collaborative learning in ESP courses, intercultural communication, plagiarism and ethical integrity, and EFL teachers’ conceptions of teaching and their practice.

Panel Presentation (2025) | Teaching Leadership Through Artificial Intelligence