IAFOR > The Asian Conference on Education & International Development (ACEID) > ACEID > Speakers

Speakers

Speakers at The 11th Asian Conference on Education & International Development (ACEID2025) will provide a variety of perspectives from different academic and professional backgrounds. This page provides information about presenters. For details of featured presentations, the conference schedule and other programming, please visit the Programme page.

  • Hongmin Ahn
    Hongmin Ahn
    Inter-University Center for Japanese Studies, Japan
  • Yukari Ando
    Yukari Ando
    University of Toyama, Japan
  • Jun Arima
    Jun Arima
    IAFOR & University of Tokyo, Japan
  • Grant Black
    Grant Black
    Chuo University, Japan
  • Emiliano Bosio
    Emiliano Bosio
    Toyo University, Japan & Global Citizenship Education Interview Series
  • Lara Carminati
    Lara Carminati
    University of Twente, Netherlands
  • Dexter Da Silva
    Dexter Da Silva
    Keisen University, Japan
  • Amir Dhia
    Amir Dhia
    Education Above All (EAA) Foundation, Qatar
  • Beth Hedva
    Beth Hedva
    Canadian Institute for Transpersonal and Integrative Sciences, Canada
  • Harry A. Hill
    Harry A. Hill
    Oak Lawn Marketing, Japan
  • Brendan Howe
    Brendan Howe
    Ewha Womans University, South Korea
  • Kathryn M. Lavender
    Kathryn M. Lavender
    National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA), United States
  • Davy Tsz Kit Ng
    Davy Tsz Kit Ng
    The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  • Chi-Shing Tse
    Chi-Shing Tse
    The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  • Michael Menchaca
    Michael Menchaca
    University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, United States
  • Melina Neophytou
    Melina Neophytou
    IAFOR, Japan
  • Sheng-Hsiang Lance Peng
    Sheng-Hsiang Lance Peng
    University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
  • Dharmawan A. Purnama
    Dharmawan A. Purnama
    Krida Wacana Christian University, Indonesia
  • Lowell Sheppard
    Lowell Sheppard
    Never Too Late Academy & IAFOR, Japan
  • Kyung Nam Shin
    Kyung Nam Shin
    Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), South Korea
  • Hidenobu Sumioka
    Hidenobu Sumioka
    Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Japan

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 ACEID conferences via the links below.

ACEID2024
ACEID2023 ACEID2022 ACEID2021
ACEID2020 ACEID2019 ACEID2018
ACEID2017 ACEID2016 ACEID2015
Hongmin Ahn
Inter-University Center for Japanese Studies, Japan

Biography

Hongmin Ahn is an incoming student at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Studies in Yokohama, Japan (2024-25). He holds a Master of Theological Studies in Buddhism from Harvard Divinity School at Harvard University, United States, and a Bachelor of Arts in Religion from Bard College, also located in the United States. As an interdisciplinary scholar, Mr Ahn’s research focuses on modern transnational Buddhism in Korea and Japan, exploring their history, culture, practices, gender dynamics, and institutions such as clerical marriage and the popularisation of Buddhism through military chaplaincy.

Supported by IAFOR grants, Mr Ahn’s forthcoming ethnographic study on modern transnational religions in Korea and Japan, with a particular emphasis on Zainichi – the Korean diaspora in post-colonial Japan. His research explores the transnational networks of Zainichi religions that connect Korea, Japan, and the global Korean diaspora.

Panel Discussion (2025) | TBA
Yukari Ando
University of Toyama, Japan

Biography

Yukari Ando is a Professor at the University of Toyama, Japan. Her field of research centres around international refugee law and international human rights law. She served as a programme adviser in the Cabinet Office of Japan, during which she was involved in the General Election in Sudan in 2010 and the Southern Sudan Referendum in 2011 as an international observer. She obtained her LLM from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom, and an MA in International Cooperation Studies from Nagoya University, Japan. She has also conducted research at the Paris Human Rights Centre (CRDH), Paris-Panthéon-Assas University, France. One of her English publications related to her speech is the chapter ‘Impacts on Refugee Law: Implications for Japanese Law, European Union Law and International Human Rights Law' in Global Impact of the Ukraine Conflict: Perspectives from International Law (Springer, 2023).

Panel Discussion (2025) | Education for Good Global Governance
Jun Arima
IAFOR & University of Tokyo, Japan

Biography

Professor Jun Arima is the President of IAFOR, and the senior academic officer of the organisation. In this role, Professor Arima is the Honorary Chair of the International Academic Advisory Board, as well as both the Academic Governing Board and its Executive Committee. He also sits on the IAFOR Board of Directors.

Jun Arima was formerly Director General of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), UK from 2011 to 2015 and Special Advisor on Global Environmental Affairs for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan, from 2011 to 2015. He has previously held various international energy/environment-related positions, including: Head of Division, Country Studies, International Energy Agency (IEA); Director, International Affairs Division, Agency of Natural Resources and Energy, METI; and Deputy Director General for Environmental Affairs at METI’s Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau. In the COP (UN Convention on Climate Change) 14, 15 and 16, he was Japanese Chief Negotiator for AWG-KP.

Since 2015 Jun Arima has been a Professor at the University of Tokyo, Japan, where he teaches Energy Security, International Energy Governance, and Environmental Policies in the Graduate School of Public Policy. (GraSPP). He is also currently a Consulting Fellow at the Japanese Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI). He is also Executive Senior Fellow at the 21st Century Public Policy Institute, Principal Researcher at the International Environmental and Economic Institute (IEEI), Distinguished Senior Policy Fellow, at the Asia Pacific Institute of Research (APIR), Senior Policy Fellow on Energy and Environment, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), and was the Lead Author, the 6th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC).

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).

Emiliano Bosio
Toyo University, Japan & Global Citizenship Education Interview Series

Biography

Dr Emiliano Bosio is a leading educator, author, and public intellectual. He is known internationally for his work on values-based, critical, and ethical global citizenship for sustainability and the common good. As the Director of the Global Citizenship Education Interview Series, Dr Bosio fosters dialogue among scholars in international and comparative education. He currently teaches at Toyo University and Sophia University in Japan, contributing his expertise to the next generation of engaged and responsible global citizens.

Dr Bosio is the Guest Editor of UNESCO Prospects and Chief Editor of Conversations on Global Citizenship Education (Routledge), Ethical Global Citizenship Education (Cambridge University Press), Global Citizenship Education in the Global South (Brill), Value-Creating Education (Routledge), and The Emergence of the Ethically Engaged University (Springer). Dr Bosio’s broader commitment to sustainable and ethical societies is reflected in his roles on the Research Board of the Center for Global Nonkilling (CGNK), United States and as an Associate at the Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development at Sunway University, Malaysia. His recent publications include Fostering Service to Society, Inclusion, and Equity through Global Citizenship Education (with Hans de Wit), Critical Pedagogy and Global Citizenship Education (with Henry Giroux), Linking Moral and Social-Political Perspectives in Global Citizenship Education (with Wiel Veugelers), and Global Citizenship Education at the Crossroads (with Carlos Alberto Torres).

Forum Discussion (2025) | TBA
Lara Carminati
University of Twente, Netherlands

Biography

Dr Lara Carminati is a Senior Assistant Professor in Organisational Behaviour and Change Management at the University of Twente, Netherlands. She earned a PhD in Management, Organisational Behaviour from The University of Surrey, United Kingdom. Her research lies in the field of identity with key focuses on human-technology interactions from an identity work perspective, the role of (observed) emotions and emotional intelligence in team settings, as well as the micro and macro processes surrounding identity dynamics. Her work has been published in a number of journals, including Applied Psychology: An International Review, Production, Planning & Control, Frontiers in Psychology, Current Psychology, and Ethics and Behaviour.

Workshop Presentation (2025) | How to Write a Clear (and Effective) Introduction
Dexter Da Silva
Keisen University, Japan

Biography

Professor Dexter Da Silva is Professor Emeritus at Keisen University in Tokyo, Japan, where he has been teaching for 35 years. He is an Educational Psychologist who has taught at junior high school, language schools, and universities in Sydney, Australia, and at various educational institutions in Japan. He was educated at the University of Sydney, Australia (BA, Dip. Ed., MA), and the University of Western Sydney, Australia (PhD). He has presented and co-presented at conferences throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, and the United States, and published or co-published a number of books, articles, and book chapters on education-related topics. He is a past president of the Asian Psychological Association and currently a Vice-President of IAFOR. As an Educational Psychologist, he is very interested in how Artificial Intelligence will continue to be incorporated into and impact research and theory on the nature, types, and uniqueness of Human Intelligence(s).

Previous Presentations:

Panel Presentation (2024) | Communication and Education for Peace
Featured Panel (2020) | Educating Children in Vulnerable Communities
Amir Dhia
Education Above All (EAA) Foundation, Qatar

Biography

Dr Amir Dhia is the Manager of Higher Education at the Education Above All (EAA) Foundation in Qatar. His career spans over twenty-five years of global experiences and achievements in private, public, non-governmental, and state institutions. He has held several senior positions internationally, including Advisor, Dean, and Director General, contributing to the advancement of higher and executive education, certification institutions, language institutes, and international education partnerships.

At the EAA’s Al Fakhoora Programme, Dr Dhia supports efforts to transform lives through access to quality and relevant tertiary education by providing scholarships to over 10,000 marginalised and conflict-affected youth in more than 60 top-tier universities in over 10 countries worldwide.

Dr Dhia holds a PhD (summa cum laude) from the Centre d'Études Diplomatiques et Stratégiques, France, specialising in Knowledge Society and Diplomacy. He has also earned a number of designations in leadership, management, and business development. He is also an Associate Professor and Expert Trainer, having delivered keynote presentations at international conferences, lectured in various higher education institutions, and trained professionals at all levels.

Keynote Presentation (2025) | Supporting Quality and Relevant Tertiary Education for Marginalised Youth and Communities: Challenges and Opportunities for International Development
Beth Hedva
Canadian Institute for Transpersonal and Integrative Sciences, Canada

Biography

Dr Beth Hedva, has been called by United Nations ambassadors and national associations to assist in a variety of humanitarian missions across the globe. She has trained and upgraded psychologists and volunteer recovery workers in the two deadliest natural disasters of the century – the 2004/5 tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia and the 2010 Haitian earthquake; supported post-civil war healing in Sierra Leone; developed and lead multigenerational-genocide trauma recovery in post-Vietnam Cambodia; facilitated recovery from colonisation, and tackled racism between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians. A licensed psychologist and marriage and family therapist, international lecturer, and trainer of helping professionals, Dr Hedva is a former Director of the International Council of Psychologists and Canadian Chair of the Association for Trauma Outreach and Prevention.

Dr Hedva's reputation grew from blending emerging and contemporary clinical psychological practices with ancient and indigenous cultural healing and spiritual approaches to develop a uniquely flexible integrative strategy for individual and community health and wellness. Award-winning author of Betrayal, Trust and Forgiveness: A Guide to Emotional Healing and Self Renewal, she is listed in the 12th Edition of The World Who’s Who of Women, Marquis Who’s Who in America; and the American Biographical Institute’s Hall of Fame for Humanitarian Contributions in Cross-Cultural Psychology.

Harry A. Hill
Oak Lawn Marketing, Japan

Biography

Mr Harry A. Hill is a passionate and dynamic business and civic leader. As President and CEO of Oak Lawn Marketing, Inc. (OLM) in Japan from 2006 to 2017, the company grew from 15 billion JPY to 68 billion JPY in sales. Mr Hill and his management team successfully created a robust corporate culture based on their vision of ‘enriching lifestyles worldwide’. In 2009, he orchestrated one of Japan’s most significant M&A transactions when NTT Docomo took a majority share in OLM. In September 2017, Mr Hill stepped down as CEO, but remains an outside director. He went on to found Better-U, a fitness company operating UFC Gyms in Japan, in 2019.

Keynote Presentation (2025) | TBA
Brendan Howe
Ewha Womans University, South Korea

Biography

Brendan Howe is Dean and Professor of the Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha Womans University, South Korea, where he has also served two terms as Associate Dean and Department Chair. He is also currently the President of the Asian Political and International Studies Association, and an Honorary Ambassador of Public Diplomacy and advisor for the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has held visiting professorships and research fellowships at the East-West Center (where he is currently enjoying a second term as a POSCO Visiting Research Fellow), the Freie Universität Berlin, De La Salle University, the University of Sydney, Korea National Defence University, Georgetown University, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, and Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Educated at the University of Oxford, the University of Kent at Canterbury, Trinity College Dublin, and Georgetown University, his ongoing research agendas focus on traditional and non-traditional security in East Asia, human security, middle powers, public diplomacy, post-crisis development, comprehensive peacebuilding and conflict transformation. He has authored, co-authored, or edited around 100 related publications including Society and Democracy in South Korea and Indonesia (Palgrave, 2022), The Niche Diplomacy of Asian Middle Powers (Lexington Books, 2021), UN Governance: Peace and Human Security in Cambodia and Timor-Leste (Springer, 2020), Regional Cooperation for Peace and Development (Routledge, 2018), National Security, State Centricity, and Governance in East Asia (Springer, 2017), Peacekeeping and the Asia-Pacific (Brill, 2016), Democratic Governance in East Asia (Springer, 2015), Post-Conflict Development in East Asia (Ashgate, 2014), and The Protection and Promotion of Human Security in East Asia (Palgrave, 2013).

Panel Presentation (2025) | Education for Good Global Governance

Previous Presentations

Panel Presentation (2024) | Communication and Education for Peace
Keynote Presentation (2023) | Internationalisation, Education and Development Cooperation in East Asia
Featured Discussion (2023) | IAFOR’s Collaborative Efforts: AAS and the IAFOR Research Centre
Kathryn M. Lavender
National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA), United States

Biography

Kathryn Lavender is the Data Project Manager for the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA), the aging archive at the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the Institute for Social Research, the University of Michigan, United States. NACDA is funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Ms Lavender helps to guide data producers on data management and data sharing in the realm of data on aging populations/gerontology; promotes secondary research resources for public use; and contributes to spreading knowledge about quality metadata and data discovery through NACDA, as well as through the DDI Alliance. Ms Lavender has been an ICPSR staff member for more than 15 years and has been managing NACDA for nearly half of that time.

Featured Workshop Presentation (2025) | Aging Data: NACDA Resources for Gerontological Research, Training and Education
Davy Tsz Kit Ng
The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Biography

Dr Davy Tsz Kit Ng is currently an Assistant Professor at The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. He was previously an IT Panel Head at a local secondary school in Hong Kong and a Visiting Scholar at the Division of Integrative Systems and Design, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He holds a PhD in Education and Technology from The University of Hong Kong (HKU), a Master of Education in Educational Psychology, a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, and a postgraduate qualification in ICT Education from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Hong Kong. His research interests lie in the areas of Generative AI literacy, the metaverse and STEAM education, and technology-enhanced pedagogic innovation.

He has published around 50 articles, many in Q1 journals, and authored a book on AI literacy that obtained the China New Development Award from Springer Nature in 2023. His work is informed by recent research on using ChatGPT in self-regulated learning and conceptualising AI literacy and the metaverse. He was a recipient of the Research Postgraduate Student Publication Award at HKU, the Social Innovation Leadership Award at CUHK, and the Outstanding Paper Award in the International Postgraduate Roundtable and Research Forum at The Education University of Hong Kong. He has been named in the 2024 Stanford's List of World's Top 2% Scientists in Education.

Chi-Shing Tse
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Biography

Professor Chi-Shing Tse currently teaches in the Department of Educational Psychology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. He also serves as the university’s Director of the Doctor of Education program and the Associate Director at the Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies. His research spans several interdisciplinary fields, including autobiographical memory, learning sciences and technologies, psycholinguistics, and psychological well-being, reflecting a broad commitment to understanding complex cognitive and affective processes. In addition to his work as an educator and researcher, Professor Tse is involved in student affairs, holding the role of Associate Dean of Students at the university’s United College, where he plays a role in promoting the holistic development of students, placing a strong emphasis on mental health and well-being.

Michael Menchaca
University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, United States

Biography

Michael Menchaca is a professor at the Department of Learning Design and Technology at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, United States. He specialises in distance education, and has designed, implemented, and coordinated online and hybrid programs for over 20 years. He serves as editor for the IAFOR Journal of Education: Technology in Education Edition. He was an IT specialist for many years in the public and private sector. As an educator, he teaches and conducts research in the areas of online learning, technology integration, and social justice with technology.

Melina Neophytou
IAFOR, Japan

Biography

Dr Melina Neophytou is the Academic Operations Manager at IAFOR, where she works closely with academics, keynote speakers, and IAFOR partners to shape academic discussions within The Forum, bring conference programmes together, refine scholarship programmes, and build an interdisciplinary and international community. She is leading various projects within IAFOR, notably The Forum discussions and the authoring of Conference Reports and Intelligence Briefings, and she oversees the Global Fellows Programme.

Born in Germany and raised in Cyprus, Dr Neophytou received her PhD in International Development from Nagoya University, Japan, in 2023, specialising in political sociology, the welfare state, and contentious politics. She received an MA in International Development from Nagoya University, with a focus on Governance & Law, and a BA in European Studies from the University of Cyprus, Cyprus.

Her research interests currently focus on the Japanese welfare state, family values within Japanese society, and their relationship to family policies. She is particularly interested in state-society relations by uncovering how informal social ideas influence formal social policy.

Sheng-Hsiang Lance Peng
University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Biography

With his recent PhD completion from the University of Cambridge’s Education Faculty, Dr Sheng-Hsiang Lance Peng is an early career research fellow at IAFOR. His PhD work combines the spectral lens of hauntology with phenomenology to explore the gender(ed) lives of justice-involved girls in out-of-home care. Lance leverages his experience in applying uncanny perspectives such as mnemohistory, monster culture, and hauntology to work with marginalised narratives, and he currently uses monstrous othering to reinterpret voices on the fringes of Japanese society context as part of his monster(s) project.

Panel Discussion (2025) | TBA
Dharmawan A. Purnama
Krida Wacana Christian University, Indonesia

Biography

Dr Purnama is currently a lecturer in Psychiatry at the Faculty of Medicine, Krida Wacana Christian University, Indonesia. He serves as one of the executive board members of the Ricci Catholic School Foundation and is the founder of Smart Mind Center Consulting and the Asian Psychiatry Intervention Network (APIN), which is an association of psychiatrists and neuropsychiatrists from Asia focused on neurostimulation (ECT, rTMS, and neuromodulation). His broad interests in biological psychiatry include consultations in psychosexual and marital issues (sexual addiction and pornography), Consultation Liaison Psychiatry for Diabetes Mellitus, cardiovascular, gastroenterology, and neuropsychiatry, as well as ADHD in children and adults.

Both an active academic and practitioner, Dr Purnama has served as Chairman of Indonesian Sexology Associations, Chairman of The Indonesian Medical Association (ISI) North Jakarta Branch, Deputy Chairman of the Consultation Liaison Psychiatry section of the Indonesian Psychiatric Association, and an administrator of the PDSKJI Jakarta (Indonesian Psychiatric Specialists Association) and the Psychosexual and Marital section of the Indonesian Psychiatric Association.

Dr Purnama completed his general medical education at the Faculty of Medicine, Unika Atma Jaya Catholic University, Indonesia. He went on to obtain a specialist degree in Psychiatry from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia as well as a Doctorate in Philosophy from the Driyarkara School of Philosophy in the field of Existential Psychotherapy, with a dissertation on Logotherapy with a narrative restoration approach. He has undergone training at a number of institutions, including The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong University as well as clinical training at Sawa Hospital in Toyonaka City, Osaka, Japan.

Panel Presentation (2025) | Human vs(?) Artificial Intelligence: Psychological Threats and Opportunities
Lowell Sheppard
Never Too Late Academy & IAFOR, Japan

Biography

Mr Lowell Sheppard is an author, speaker, social entrepreneur, and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society with a lifelong commitment to social impact, ethical leadership, and exploration. He has worked extensively with established NGOs and start-ups, most notably as the Founder of HOPE International Development Agency Japan. Under his leadership, HOPE-JP has grown to rank among the top 2% of charitable organizations in Japan, achieving the prestigious nintei tax-deductible certification. Mr Sheppard has been a longtime supporter and past speaker at IAFOR Conferences. He currently serves as the organisation’s Director of Development, seeking to expand the Global Fellowship Programme and scholarship opportunities.

Mr Sheppard’s passion for social and environmental improvement projects has driven his career. For over two decades, Lowell has served as an informal advisor to companies and boards around the globe. In pursuit of adventure and deeper insights into ageing and longevity, Mr Sheppard moved onto a sailboat five years ago and has been sailing full-time around Japan, embracing the life of a digital nomad and explorer. Most recently, he has been moored in the Blue Zone of Okinawa, learning from one of the world’s longest-living communities.

In 2025, he embarks on a bold new journey: sailing the entire length of Japan, following the annual Cherry Blossom Front, retracing by boat the route he cycled 25 years ago. As he celebrates his 70th birthday along the way, he aims to uncover the secrets of long and energized living from Japan’s remote coastal communities.

As an author, his book Never Too Late (Lion Hudson PLC, 2005), published in four languages, became the inspiration for his latest social enterprise, the Never Too Late Academy. His most recent book, Dare to Dream, was shortlisted for the UK Business Book of the Year Award in 2023.

Orientation Session (2025) | IAFOR Information Session

Previous Presentations

Featured Presentation (2020) | From South East Asian Classrooms to the Middle of the North Pacific!
Kyung Nam Shin
Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), South Korea

Biography

Dr Kyung Nam Shin serves as the Assistant Director-General and Head of the Investment & Policy Solutions Division at the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) in South Korea, a leading international organisation dedicated to promoting green growth and climate resilience. GGGI collaborates with approximately 70 countries, including 49 member countries.

He leads global programmes in areas such as green hydrogen, low-carbon transport, and the circular economy, which have the potential to mobilise from 500 million to over 1 billion USD. He played a key role in securing a project preparatory fund of approximately 25 million USD over five years, supporting the expansion of sustainable project development. Currently, he is establishing a blended finance facility that integrates public and private capital.

He has an extensive career spanning 15 years at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), where he played a pivotal role in structuring financing agreements and processing project loans in South Asian countries. Prior to joining ADB, he spent over 13 years at the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Korea, focusing on international finance and public resource management.

Following his tenure at ADB, he served as Director-General at the Green Technology Centre, a Korean government agency specialising in climate technology projects, including renewable energy and sustainable transport initiatives.

Panel Presentation (2025) | Education for Good Global Governance
Hidenobu Sumioka
Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Japan

Biography

Dr Hidenobu Sumioka is the leader of the Presence Media Research Group in Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories, part of Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR), Japan, where he has conducted research for over ten years. He received a PhD in Engineering from Osaka University, Japan, in 2008. Following the completion of his doctoral studies, Dr Sumioka served as a Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), subsequently becoming a researcher at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in 2009 under the direction of Professor Rolf Pfeifer. His research interests include human-robot touch interaction, application of social robots for elderly care, and physiological influence of social robots on humans.

Keynote Presentation (2025) | Social Robots For All Stakeholders in Elderly Care