IAFOR > The Asian Conference on the Social Sciences (ACSS) > ACSS2024 Overview

ACSS2024 Overview

ACSS is organised by IAFOR in association with the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) in Osaka University, Japan.

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Join us in Tokyo for ACSS2024!

May 23–27, 2024 | Held at the Toshi Centre Hotel in Tokyo, Japan, and Online

Welcome to the 14th Asian Conference on the Social Sciences (ACSS2024).

Held in partnership with the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, this international conference encourages academics and scholars to meet and exchange ideas and views in a 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. Over the past year we have engaged in many cross-sectoral projects, including those with universities (the University of Barcelona, Hofstra University, UCL, University of Belgrade and Moscow State University), a think tank (the East-West Center), as well as collaborative projects with the United Nations in New York, and here, with the Government of Japan through the Prime Minister’s office.

With the IAFOR Research Centre, we have engaged in a number of interdisciplinary initiatives we believe will have an important impact on domestic and international public policy conversations. It is through conferences like these that we expand our network and partners, and we have no doubt that ACSS2024 will offer a remarkable opportunity for the sharing of research and best practice, and for the meeting of people and ideas.

The 15th Asian Conference on the Social Sciences (ACSS2024) will be held alongside The 14th Asian Conference on Cultural Studies and The 15th Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities. Registration for either conference will allow delegates to attend sessions in the other.

– The ACSS2024 Programme Committee

Key Information
  • Location & Venue: Held at the Toshi Centre Hotel in Tokyo, Japan, and Online
  • Dates: Thursday, May 23, 2024 ​to Monday, May 27, 2024
  • Early Bird Abstract Submission Deadline: December 08, 2023*
  • Final Abstract Submission Deadline: February 23, 2024
  • Registration Deadline for Presenters: April 05, 2024

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

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Programme

  • The Work of the University in Perilous Times
    The Work of the University in Perilous Times
    Keynote Presentation: Donald E. Hall
  • Can Today’s Universities Contribute to a Better Future?
    Can Today’s Universities Contribute to a Better Future?
    Keynote Presentation: Umberto Ansaldo
  • Navigating Polarising Discourses: Cultivating Values-Based Literacies in a Multimodal Society
    Navigating Polarising Discourses: Cultivating Values-Based Literacies in a Multimodal Society
    cultivating-values-based-literacies
  • Satellite Constellations and National Communities
    Satellite Constellations and National Communities
    Keynote Presentation: Thor Kerr
  • Ethics and Care in Sole Custody Policy
    Ethics and Care in Sole Custody Policy
    Panel Presentation: Grant Black
  • Possibilities of Change: Surviving the Times of Conflict
    Possibilities of Change: Surviving the Times of Conflict
    Keynote Presentation: Ishmeet Kaur

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Speakers

  • Umberto Ansaldo
    Umberto Ansaldo
    University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  • Grant Black
    Grant Black
    Chuo University, Japan
  • Joseph Haldane
    Joseph Haldane
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
  • Johan Edelheim
    Johan Edelheim
    Hokkaido University, Japan
  • Donald E. Hall
    Donald E. Hall
    Binghamton University, USA
  • Ayako Harada
    Ayako Harada
    Nagoya University Graduate School of Law, Japan
  • Ishmeet Kaur Chaudhry
    Ishmeet Kaur Chaudhry
    Central University of Gujarat, India
  • Thor Kerr
    Thor Kerr
    Curtin University, Australia
  • Timothy Langley
    Timothy Langley
    Langley Esquire, Japan
  • Noriko Odagiri
    Noriko Odagiri
    Tokyo International University, Japan
  • Rokuro Tabuchi
    Rokuro Tabuchi
    Sophia University, Japan

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Conference Committees

The International Academic Board (IAB)

Dr Joseph Haldane, IAFOR and Osaka University, Japan, & University College London, United Kingdom
Professor Jun Arima, President, IAFOR & University of Tokyo, Japan
Professor Anne Boddington, Executive Vice-President and Provost, IAFOR & Middlesex University, United Kingdom
Professor Barbara Lockee, Virginia Tech, United States
Professor Donald E. Hall, Binghamton University, United States
Dr James W. McNally, University of Michigan, United States & NACDA Program on Aging
Professor Grant Black, Chuo University, Japan
Professor Dexter Da Silva, Keisen University, Japan
Professor Gary E. Swanson, University of Northern Colorado, United States (fmr.)
Professor Baden Offord, Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University, Australia & Cultural Studies Association of Australasia
Professor Frank S. Ravitch, Michigan State University College of Law, United States

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Conference Programme Committee

Dr Grant Black, Chuo University, Japan
Dr Joseph Haldane, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
Professor Bradley J. Hamm, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, United States
Professor Donald E. Hall, University of Rochester, United States
Professor Fan Li, LePing Social Entrepreneur Foundation & Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), China
Professor James W. McNally, University of Michigan, United States & NACDA Program on Aging
Professor Sela V. Panapasa, University of Michigan, United States

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ACSS2024 Review Committee

Dr Suhaily Abdullah, Politeknik Jeli Kelantan, Malaysia
Dr Chittawan Chanagul, Kasetsart University, Thailand
Dr Tshililo Ruddy Farisani, Boston City Campus and Business College, South Africa
Dr Masanori Kaneko, Setsunan University, Japan
Dr Yuk Yee Lee, University of Wollongong Hong Kong (UOWCHK), Hong Kong
Dr Ho Keat Leng, University of Georgia, United States
Dr Akio Nawakura, National Federation of Depopulated Municipalities in Japan, Japan
Dr Patrizia Palumbo, Columbia University, United States
Dr Raees Unnisa, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia
Dr Julia Wong, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore


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The Work of the University in Perilous Times
Keynote Presentation: Donald E. Hall

As wars rage across the globe and as narcissistic politicians stoke mistrust in institutions—fanning the flames of racism and anti-intellectualism—the university campus has become a battleground over questions of social justice and fact-based understandings of history and the roots of inequality. Japanese, American, and European institutions have certainly seen past instances of such violent clashes over the very purpose of higher education, but today we find political interest groups using both mass and social media to incite conflict in new and shocking ways. We who work at universities are on the front lines—whether as students, professors, staff members, or administrators. We must be prepared to act bravely, but also tactically, as guardians of historical truth, as defenders of science, and as advocates for the needs of those groups and individuals easily scapegoated.

This is not a call to martyrdom. However, if we are not clever and subversive, we will lose the very positionality that enables our work and effectiveness.

In this address which will reference (among others) works by Michel de Certeau and Michel Foucault, both of whom were embroiled in the radical politics that shook late 1960s French higher education, I will argue for the use of multivalent tactics that are radical in intent but also self-protective in nature.

In drawing on examples from an international array of academic institutions, as well as works of fiction, film, and theory, I will ask conference members to take the work of IAFOR—its advocacy for international, intercultural, and interdisciplinary understanding—back to their home campuses. Indeed, the empathy, self-awareness, and commitment to understanding that we learn to exercise at IAFOR conferences represent critical skill sets that we must draw on as we wrestle with and respond to the growing volatility of our academic lives.

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Can Today’s Universities Contribute to a Better Future?
Keynote Presentation: Umberto Ansaldo

Since their inception, universities have set themselves goals typically captured in mottos and mission statements. Some of these goals obviously pertain to learning and wisdom; more ambitious ones mention truth, light, and progress, which are assumed to be the result of knowledge. More recently, especially in corporate universities, phrases like ‘change for good’ or ‘better future’ appear frequently, tacking on the theme of universities as agents of progress. Are these merely advertising catchphrases to increase student revenue, or can the modern university really bring about such positive societal developments?

In this presentation, before discussing whether and how today’s universities might contribute to positive change, I will offer some considerations about what a better future might look like. I will then look at different types of university systems and consider which might be better poised to bring about positive contributions to future society, and how they could strengthen their ability to do so. Finally, I will consider those structural aspects of modern universities that are clearly constraining the potential to build better futures.

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Navigating Polarising Discourses: Cultivating Values-Based Literacies in a Multimodal Society
cultivating-values-based-literacies

In modern society, literacy extends beyond mere reading and writing skills to encompass the ability to navigate the diverse modes through which meanings are constructed. Therefore, a literate person is, by definition, somebody who interprets and designs meaning-making entities in a competent manner. Fostering multiliteracies is vital for cultivating critical literacy in a world where ‘texts’ found throughout society and on various media platforms shape our perceptions.

Addressing social conflicts and polarising views requires a nuanced approach rooted in the ethics of care and dialogue, emphasising empathy, and cultivating respectful communication. By scrutinising the axiological dimensions of media messages and recognising the influence of diverse societal values, we gain insight into the underlying dynamics of social discourse. This presentation underscores the interconnectedness of these ideas and stresses the importance of cultivating an ethical and critical framework for engaging with diverse perspectives in our interconnected, "glocal" society.

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Satellite Constellations and National Communities
Keynote Presentation: Thor Kerr

The launch of low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellations providing broadband internet direct to subscribers has been met with varied responses by national regulatory authorities. On one hand, LEO satellite constellations may be revolutionising the telecommunications industry, particularly for high seas communication, but there has been noticeable hesitancy towards—or outright rejection of—the first available constellation by authorities in many national spaces.

In this presentation, I review a research project in collaboration with Dr Irfan Wahyudi at Universitas Airlangga in Surabaya, Indonesia, in which we are investigating discourses and practices around the adoption of Starlink services in Australia and Indonesia. For this study, we consider the long history of electronic communications and public memories around communications infrastructure. As we grapple with the emerging implications of our research, I will glance back to the final lecture of Benedict Anderson at Universitas Indonesia to consider imaginations about electronic communications and political communities.

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Ethics and Care in Sole Custody Policy
Panel Presentation: Grant Black

Japan has had a long legal tradition of awarding only sole custody in the event of the dissolution of a marriage: this is deeply rooted in the traditional koseki family registry system. Koseki means “membership of a household” and is oriented towards the household as a group rather than to individual status. Therefore, in the koseki system, a child must be attached to one household or the other in the case of divorce, and this remains the current policy in Japan today.

With custody granted to only one parent (almost always the holding parent and usually the mother), there is an epidemic of children growing up without the financial and emotional involvement of the non-custodial parent (usually the father). In Japan, 90% of divorcing women assume sole custody, with 70% of non-custodial parents having no contact with their children post-divorce. This complex legal territory is further complicated by issues involving protections from domestic violence and child abduction. Yet, rather than providing an ethical basis for the care and protection of women and the rights of children, it is widely observed—especially from an international perspective—that the current legal framework ends up incentivising child abduction as a strategy to obtain custodianship.

The koseki-driven custodial system further exacerbates an underreported crisis in Japan for single-parent homes and parental estrangement from children. It is estimated that as many as 1 in 6 children live in poverty in Japan, with the majority of those being in single parent homes. Furthermore, 3 million children in Japan are estranged from a parent and blocked from access to that parent.

With domestic and international efforts underway to reform Japan’s sole custody policy, this panel seeks to assess the ethics and care of the current legal landscape and will consider such issues as single-parent homes, child welfare, domestic violence protection, the role of the father, and the rights of the child to be raised by both parents in the case of separation.

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Possibilities of Change: Surviving the Times of Conflict
Keynote Presentation: Ishmeet Kaur

In the last five years, the world has bore witness to various forms of conflict based on religious discrimination and/or patriarchal oppression; riots spurned by ethnic conflict and global political upheavals, the recent bio-war (COVID-19), and of course, the physical wars between Ukraine and Russia, the seizing of Afghanistan, and now the Gaza-Israel war; several grassroots farmers’ movements, and natural famines, floods, earthquakes, massive bushfires and landslides have erupted across the globe as a result of ongoing global warming. Is it even possible to reason why conflict has escalated to such a massive scale in such a short amount of time? Or, has this been a pattern across many years–that every eighty to hundred years, the order of the world undergoes a change where conflict erupts as a natural occurrence within the cycle of humanity?

We don’t have answers, we only have questions.

But in the bid to confront these questions head-on, we all look forward to a more peaceful future, hoping more peaceful years replace the years of turmoil. Twenty years ago, scholars had predicted that in 2050–only twenty five years from now–the world would be a more peaceful place (Håvard Hegre, 2012). In 2015, Time magazine sought out answers to questions such as ‘Is World Peace Possible?’. This presentation will delve into the many aforementioned conflicts waging across the globe at present and discuss the possibilities of change from both intercultural and literary perspectives. The presentation will offer an analytical study of the modes of representation used in selected protests or even writings by those living in the conflict zones. The presentation will also engage with the fact that digital spaces offer liminal spaces for dialogue on a global level, as it effectively leads to a blurring of divisive boundaries. Ultimately, the aim of this presentation is to offer reassuring prospects that enable humankind to be more prepared to tackle conflict in an unpredictable future.

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Umberto Ansaldo
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Biography

Professor Umberto Ansaldo is currently an Honorary Professor in the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. He recently served as Head of the School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry at Curtin University, Australia from 2021 through 2023. Previously, he was the Head of the School of Literature, Art and Media at the University of Sydney, Australia from 2018 through 2020, and Head of the School of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong, where he taught from 2009 to 2018.

Professor Ansaldo’s disciplinary roots are in linguistics – most specifically in the study of language contact, linguistic typology, and language documentation. He is the author of four books to date (with CUP, OUP, Routledge, and Stockholm University Press), has edited or co-edited a further 11 volumes and journal special collections, and has authored multiple journal articles and book chapters. His most recent output is the co-editorship of The Routledge Handbook of Pidgin and Creole Languages (Routledge, 2021).

At the University of Hong Kong (HKU), Professor Ansaldo led the Humanities Area of Inquiry on the Common Core Curriculum Committee in HKU’s major revision of its curriculum (2010-2013), a time when, along with the University of Melbourne, Australia, HKU was leading in reimagining undergraduate curricula. As Chair of Linguistics, he was instrumental in establishing the Department within the top ten programs in Linguistics (QS rankings), and number one in Hong Kong. He also sat on HKU’s Senate and HKU’s Campus Development & Planning Committee. In the latter role, he was involved in the completion of the new Humanities Tower at the Centennial Campus, and the physical relocation of the Faculty from the Main Building.

At the University of Sydney, Professor Ansaldo sat on the University Executive Research Committee and led his School through a transformative period in terms of curriculum innovation and research engagement. He was in charge of overseeing the incorporation of the Sydney College of the Arts into the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. This included integrating existing and developing new curricula, forging research synergies, and leading the renovation of a purpose-built facility, with associated financial, technical, and HR responsibilities. He also piloted the first three micro-credit units in the Faculty.

Professor Ansaldo has secured competitive research grants and leveraged industry funding for the advancement of the humanities and social sciences throughout his career. One of his proudest achievements was his role in securing financial support to develop and host an exhibition on language and the brain, the “Talking Brains” exhibition, that launched successfully at the CosmoCaixa in Barcelona, Spain in 2017. This type of engagement and championing of the Humanities is what Umberto is most passionate about.

Umberto has lived and worked in Sweden, The Netherlands, Singapore, and Hong Kong, before moving to Australia. He speaks seven languages including Mandarin – he is well-acquainted with Asia and has conducted fieldwork in Muslim communities of the Indian Ocean, and has strong international networks in Southeast Asia, Japan, and Europe.

Keynote Presentation (2024) | Can Today’s Universities Contribute to a Better Future?
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. Grant 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. Dr Black is a Chartered Manager (CMgr), the highest status that can be achieved in the management profession in the UK. In 2018, he was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). Grant 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). He serves as a Vice-President for the International Academic Forum (IAFOR).

Keynote Presentation (2024) | Ethics and Care in Sole Custody Policy

Previous Presentations

Panel Presentation (2022) | Accidental Leadership and Innovative Learning
Joseph Haldane
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

Biography

Joseph Haldane is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of IAFOR. He is responsible for devising strategy, setting policies, forging institutional partnerships, implementing projects, and overseeing the organisation’s global business and academic operations.

Dr Haldane’s research and teaching is on history, politics, international affairs and international education, as well as governance and decision making, and he is a Member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network for Global Governance. Since 2015 he has been a Guest Professor at The Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, where he teaches on the postgraduate Global Governance Course, and, since 2017, Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre, an interdisciplinary think tank situated within the University.

In 2020 Dr Haldane was appointed Honorary Professor of UCL (University College London), through the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction. He holds Visiting Professorships in the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade, and at the Doshisha Business School in Kyoto, where he teaches Ethics and Governance on the MBA, and is a member of the Value Research Center. He is also a Member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa.

Professor Haldane has given invited lectures and presentations to universities and conferences globally, including at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and advised universities, NGOs and governments on issues relating to international education policy, public-private partnerships, and multi-stakeholder forums. He was the project lead on the 2019 Kansai Resilience Forum, held by the Japanese Government through the Prime Minister’s and Cabinet Office, and oversaw the 2021 Ministry of Foreign Affairs commissioned study on Infectious Diseases on Cruise Ships.

Dr Haldane has a PhD from the University of London in 19th-century French Studies, and has had full-time faculty positions at the Université Paris-Est Créteil, Sciences Po Paris, and Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, as well as visiting positions at the French Press Institute in the Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas, and the schools of Journalism at both Sciences Po Paris, and Moscow State University.

From 2012-2014, Dr Haldane served as Treasurer of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (Chubu), and since 2015 has been a Trustee of HOPE International Development Agency (Japan). He was elected Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in 2012 and the Royal Society of Arts in 2015. He lives in Japan and holds a black belt in Judo.

Johan Edelheim
Hokkaido University, Japan

Biography

Johan R. Edelheim (PhD) is a Professor of Tourism and Media at the Research Faculty of Media and Communication and the Graduate School of International Media, Communication and Tourism Studies at Hokkaido University, Japan.

After more than a decade working in hospitality and tourism industries around the globe, Professor Edelheim transitioned to teaching in secondary and tertiary education in these fields. He later managed the largest tourism educational institute in northern Europe for five years. Japan, where he relocated in 2019, is the eighth country in which Professor Edelheim has lived and worked.

Professor Edelheim has diplomas and degrees in education, philosophy, cultural studies, hospitality, and business. Behind his research lies a deeply rooted aim for humanism and equality. Most of his studies focus on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), especially in connection with tourism and hospitality Higher Education; Critical Tourism Studies (CTS) in regards to climate change, equality, identity, ethnicity and care; and foundational philosophies in tourism, with a special interest in ontology and axiology.

Keynote Presentation (2024) | Navigating Polarising Discourses: Cultivating Values-Based Literacies in a Multimodal Society
Donald E. Hall
Binghamton University, USA

Biography

Donald E. Hall is Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Binghamton University (SUNY), USA. He was formerly Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering at the University of Rochester, USA, and held a previous position as Dean of Arts and Sciences at Lehigh University, USA. Provost Hall has published widely in the fields of British Studies, Gender Theory, Cultural Studies, and Professional Studies. Over the course of his career, he served as Jackson Distinguished Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English (and previously Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages) at West Virginia University. Before that, he was Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English at California State University, Northridge, where he taught for 13 years. He is a recipient of the University Distinguished Teaching Award at CSUN, was a visiting professor at the National University of Rwanda, was Lansdowne Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of Victoria (Canada), was Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Cultural Studies at Karl Franzens University in Graz, Austria, and was Fulbright Specialist at the University of Helsinki. He has also taught in Sweden, Romania, Hungary, and China. He served on numerous panels and committees for the Modern Language Association (MLA), including the Task Force on Evaluating Scholarship for Tenure and Promotion, and the Convention Program Committee. In 2012, he served as national President of the Association of Departments of English. From 2013-2017, he served on the Executive Council of the MLA.

His current and forthcoming work examines issues such as professional responsibility and academic community-building, the dialogics of social change and activist intellectualism, and the Victorian (and our continuing) interest in the deployment of instrumental agency over our social, vocational, and sexual selves. Among his many books and editions are the influential faculty development guides, The Academic Self and The Academic Community, both published by Ohio State University Press. Subjectivities and Reading Sexualities: Hermeneutic Theory and the Future of Queer Studies were both published by Routledge Press. Most recently he and Annamarie Jagose, of the University of Auckland, co-edited a volume titled The Routledge Queer Studies Reader. Though he is a full-time administrator, he continues to lecture worldwide on the value of a liberal arts education and the need for nurturing global competencies in students and interdisciplinary dialogue in and beyond the classroom.

Professor Donald E. Hall is a Vice-President of the IAFOR Academic Governing Board.

Keynote Presentation (2024) | The Work of the University in Perilous Times
Ayako Harada
Nagoya University Graduate School of Law, Japan

Biography

Dr Ayako Harada is Professor of Sociology of Law at Nagoya University Graduate School of Law, Japan. She earned her doctoral degree (LL.D) from Kyoto University in 2007. Throughout her academic career, she has been engaged in research on children and family law issues involving child abuse and neglect, child custody, and adoption. She has published ample research on this topic, including “Family Reorganization in the Japanese Family Conciliation System: Resolving Divorce Disputes Involving Minor Children,” 33(1) International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 75-103, 2019. In 2023, her book entitled Protecting the Children's Right to Be Heard: Children's Right in Family Justice System was released, for which she received the Onaka Ikuo Family Law Research Award in 2024.

Keynote Presentation (2024) | Ethics and Care in Sole Custody Policy
Ishmeet Kaur Chaudhry
Central University of Gujarat, India

Biography

Dr Ishmeet Kaur Chaudhry is an educationist, author, and poet who teaches in the Centre for English Studies at Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, India. She was recognised as an Inspired Teacher for the President of India’s In-residence Program at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi in June 2015. Throughout her career, she has largely been interested in the areas of marginal literature, studies of violence, trauma, and women's studies. She has also been actively engaged in Comparative Studies and translations from Punjabi into English and was a member of the Global Guru Granth Sahib Translation project at Sikh Research Institute, United States from 2018 to 2023. Her most recent work has been focused on violence studies, specifically engaging with discourses on the 1984 anti-Sikh carnage in Delhi.

She is an editor of Black November: Writings on Anti-Sikh Massacres of 1984 and the Aftermath (2019); Patrick White: Critical Issues (2014); co-editor of Violence, Subversion and Recovery: Women Writers from the Sub-continent and Around (2019, with Rachel Bari); co-editor of Seeking Nanak : Commemorating the 551st Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Devji (2021, with Paramjeet Singh and Charanjeet Kaur), and the author of Life Sketch and Teachings of Guru Teghbahadar Sahib (2023, with Jaswant Singh) and Texting the Scripture: Sri Guru Granth Sahib and the Visionary Poetics of Patrick White (2016). She has also released a collection of poems, Forbidden Button and Other Poems (Signorina Publications, 2020).

Dr Ishmeet Kaur Chaudhry also conducts talks on women's concerns, well-being, and mindfulness. Her work engages strongly with her firm belief that in a world full of pressures, there is an innate energy within human beings that can be positively channelised into making this world a better place. Through this principle, she engages in discourses on various aspects of spirituality, learnings from Guru Granth Sahib, and real-life memoirs.

She has delivered lectures around the globe, in various institutions and different countries like Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, America, Pakistan, United Kingdom, and Spain. Most recently, she was invited as a guest faculty at University of Barcelona, Spain, where she delivered the 2023 Doireann MacDermott Lecture in April 2023.

Keynote Presentation (2024) | Possibilities of Change: Surviving the Times of Conflict
Thor Kerr
Curtin University, Australia

Biography

Thor Kerr is Dean Global, ASEAN at Curtin University and the International Director of its School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry. Dr Kerr’s research draws on approaches from media and cultural studies with a focus on representations of infrastructure and communities on the eastern rim of the Indian Ocean. His teaching experience has focussed on postgraduate education,including the development, implementation, and coordination of master’s programs and research student supervision.

Dr Kerr has published a number of books, including To the Beach: Community Conservation and its Role in ‘Sustainable Development’ (2015) and Setting up the Nyoongar Tent Embassy: A Report on Perth Media (2013). He served as Lead Editor for Urban Studies: Border and Mobility (2019) and Indian Ocean Futures: Communities, Sustainability and Security (2016). Dr Kerr was also Guest Editor for issue 37(5) of the Q1 journal Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies (2023) and for Coolabah journal’s Reimagining Australia editions (2018). His articles and essays have been published in a variety of research journals, including Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, Media Practice and Education, Media International Australia, Somatechnics, International Journal of Heritage Studies, Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Journal of Historical Geography, Thesis Eleven, From the European South and contributed to broader media outlets, including The Conversation and The Jakarta Post.

Keynote Presentation (2024) | Satellite Constellations and National Communities
Timothy Langley
Langley Esquire, Japan

Biography

With 40+ years of experience in public affairs in Japan, Timothy Langley is the founder and driving force behind Langley Esquire, K.K. He leads the firm’s government and corporate outreach, advances stakeholder engagement, and crafts public affairs strategies for company clients.

Timothy Langley holds law degrees from Georgetown University and the University of Denver in the United States, as well as from Tohoku University, Japan. He combines a comprehensive understanding of international law with a unique perspective gained from decades working in and alongside the Japanese government. Langley was the first foreign national to work in the National Diet, serving as a policy aide to former Foreign Minister Nakayama Taro. He has developed and maintained contacts with senior politicians in all major parties since.

Langley has served as a political attaché for United States presidents and diplomats when they visit Japan, coordinating meetings with senior figures in the Japanese government. He has also served as General Counsel and Director of Public Affairs for Apple Computer and General Motors Asia-Pacific, supporting their operations in Japan. Companies ranging from startups to Fortune 100 firms have relied on his expertise to navigate Japan’s political and legal environment.

Keynote Presentation (2024) | Ethics and Care in Sole Custody Policy
Noriko Odagiri
Tokyo International University, Japan

Biography

Noriko Odagiri is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Tokyo International University where she teaches clinical psychology within the university’s counselling course. She holds a PhD in Psychology and is a certified clinical psychologist, a certificated public psychologist, and has been as an ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) mediator for the Hague Child Abduction Convention in Japan since 2014.

She has served as a Visiting Professor at Willamette University, United States from 2011 to 2013. She participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) arranged by the United States Department of State, visiting Washington DC, Florida, and Oregon for research on the legal practice of international child abduction in December 2016.

Currently, she provides therapy to divorced or separated parents who have difficulty with childcare and parent-child relationships, and counsels children experiencing parental disputes. Additionally, she provides co-parenting programs after divorce, creating an app for participants in this program, and runs a visitation centre with a lawyer in Tokyo.

Keynote Presentation (2024) | Ethics and Care in Sole Custody Policy
Rokuro Tabuchi
Sophia University, Japan

Biography

Professor Rokuro Tabuchi is a professor in the Faculty of Human Sciences at Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan, where he has taught sociology since 2007. He also serves as Associate Director of the Island Sustainability Institute, which was launched in 2022 at Sophia University to foster transdisciplinary collaboration with various partners to conduct valuable research activities supporting island sustainability in Japan and overseas. His research and teaching areas include family sociology, demography, and sustainability studies. He was a key member of the international research project on Family Patterns and Family Change in East Asia in the 2000s, the results of which culminated in the co-edited book "Changing Families in Northeast Asia" (Sophia University Press, 2012) and other publications. He was a principal investigator of the 2018 National Family Research of Japan (NFRJ) conducted by the National Family Research Committee of the Japan Society of Family Sociology. He has served on the boards of the Japan Society of Family Sociology and the Japan Sociological Society. His most recent research areas include an investigation of sustainable community development in remote islands and other disadvantaged areas.

Keynote Presentation (2024) | Ethics and Care in Sole Custody Policy