IAFOR Press Room - Spring 2012
Hiroshi Ishiguro to be Keynote Speaker for The Asian Conference on Computer Science 2012
January 31 2012
Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro is to be the keynote speaker at ACCOMS2012, the first Asian Conference on Computer Science. Professor Ishiguro is director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory in the Department of Systems Innovation, Osaka University Graduate School of Engineering Science. He has achieved worldwide recognition and media attention for his pioneering work in the development of the actrold, humanoid robots with lifelike appearance, and the future potential of the use of robots in wider society.
Professor Ishiguro has lectured throughout the world and is usually accompanied by the Geminoid, his most famous creation (pictured left: photo courtesy of Makoto Ishida). He and this robot created in his own image have been the subject of numerous features in both Japan and abroad (BBC, CNN, ABC).
ACCOMS2012 has as its theme "Society and Technology" and the event is to be co-chaired by editor-in-chief of the IEEE Technology and Society magazine, Keith Miller (University of Illinois-Springfield), and Robert Logie (Osaka Gakuin University).
For more information about ACCOMS2012, please click here.
For more information about ACCOMS2012, please click here.
Autumn 2011
Akito Arima announced as Keynote Speaker for ACAH/LibrAsia 2012
November 3 2011
Akito Arima is a nuclear physicist of international renown who has taught at universities all over the world, including his alma mater, the University of Tokyo, of which he was president from 1989-1993. He has promoted the importance of science through his activities as a researcher, university administrator, and as director of RIKEN, The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (1993-1998). He was elected to the upper house of the Japanese Diet in 1998, serving successively as Minister for Education, Science, Sports and Culture (1998-1999), and Minister of State for Science and Technology (1999). On leaving the House of Councillors, he was Chairman of the Japan Science Foundation from 1999 until 2011, and appointed Director of the Science Museum in 2004, a post he still holds. Professor Arima is not only known for his promotion of science however, and is a haiku master, and President of the Haiku International Association and appears frequently in the media. He is the author of several collections of Haiku that have been widely translated, most notably "Einstein's Century", a collection of his works. Professor Arima will also be announcing the winner of the Second Vladimir Devide Haiku Award, founded and judged by ACAH/LibrAsia 2011 keynote speaker, His Excellency Drago Stambuk.
For more information about ACAH/LibrAsia 2012, please click here.
Yozo Yokota announced as Keynote Speaker for ACSS/ACSEE 2012
November 3
2011 IAFOR are proud to announce that internationally renowned jurist and diplomat, Yozo Yokota is to be the keynote speaker for the 2012 Asian Conference on the Social Sciences & the 2012 Asian Conference on the Sustainability, Energy and the Environment, held jointly this year, from May 3-6, 2012.
Yozo Yokota is President of The Center for Human Rights Affairs, Special Adviser to the Japanese Ministry of Justice, Chairman of the International Labor Organization Committee of Experts, Special Adviser to the Rector of the United National University, and a Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists. He started his career as Legal Counsel to the World Bank in Washington before holding professorships in Law at ICU, the University of Tokyo and Chuo University, Tokyo. An internationally respected jurist and proponent of human rights, he has extensively advised the United Nations, serving as the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar between 1992 and 1996.
To read more about Professor Yokota and the ACSS/ACSEE programme, click here.
Yozo Yokota is President of The Center for Human Rights Affairs, Special Adviser to the Japanese Ministry of Justice, Chairman of the International Labor Organization Committee of Experts, Special Adviser to the Rector of the United National University, and a Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists. He started his career as Legal Counsel to the World Bank in Washington before holding professorships in Law at ICU, the University of Tokyo and Chuo University, Tokyo. An internationally respected jurist and proponent of human rights, he has extensively advised the United Nations, serving as the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar between 1992 and 1996.
To read more about Professor Yokota and the ACSS/ACSEE programme, click here.
The Asian Conference on Education 2011
November 2 2011
The Third Asian Conference on Education was held in affiliation with Waseda University (Japan), London University Birkbeck (UK), The National Institute of Education (Singapore) and Tainan National University (Taiwan). ACE III attracted 250 registrants representing more than 40 countries, and more than the organizers expected in this difficult year for Japan. It was a great celebration of interdisciplinary study around the 
conference theme, "Learning and Teaching in a Globalized World" and IAFOR would like to thank our keynote speakers (pictured left), Professors David Aspin (Monash, Australia), Judith Chapman AM (ACU, Australia and the University of Cambridge, UK) and our featured speaker Dr Monty Satiadarma (Tarumanugara University, Indonesia). 
IAFOR would also like to thank our conference chairs Professors Sue Jackson (London), Michiko Nakano (Waseda) and Liu Woon Chia (NIE) (pictured right), and programme adviser Professor Tien Hui Chiang for their continued academic support and guidance, as well as all the participants from around the globe. We look forward to building on this successes next year as we look to the future with hope and confidence.
Asian Business and Management Conference 2011
September 27 2011
The International Academic Forum, in association with Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, La Trobe University, The European Foundation for Management Development, Zagreb University, and Chulalongkorn University's Sasin School of Business is excited to welcome delegates back to Osaka for the second Asian Business and Management Conference. This year the conference programme was directed by Dr David Wilkinson of La Trobe, and Professor Don Brash of AUT, and will be chaired by distinguished political economist Jeffrey Sommers of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Stockholm School of Economics. ABMC2011 is proud to welcome world-renowned economist Michael Hudson as the keynote speaker.
Michael Hudson is distinguished research professor of Economics at the University of Missouri and president of the Institute of Long-term Economic Trends (ISLET). Professor Hudson has advised the US and Chinese governments among others, and was cited by the Financial Times, as one of six economists who saw the 2008 financial crisis coming. He is the author of the hugely influential "Super Imperialism: The Origins and Fundamentals of US World Dominance", and will give his forthright views in relation to the challenges posed by the current economic crisis in a keynote address entitled, "Debts that can't be paid, won't be - what happens next?"
Also appearing alongside Michael Hudson and JEffrey Sommers are distinguished monetary historian Georges Depeyrot, and William Saito, CEO of InTecur. Professor Depeyrot is a CNRS researcher and faculty member at the ENS in Paris, and is currently leading a research project at Tokyo University. His address will look at Japan's coinage as it emerged from its years cut off from the world in an address entitled: "From Isolation to Globalisation: The Meiji Yen". Entrepreneur and venture capitalist William Saito will look at entrepreneurship in Japan, in an a speech that asks if the adversities suffered after the March 11 earthquake may help nurture a new spirit of entrepreneurship in the country: "Reinvigorating Japan's Entrepreneurial Energy: Will the Next Sony be from Tohoku?"
For more information about ABMC2011, click here.
For more information about ABMC2011, click here.
International Advisory Board Updates
Posted September 27 2011
The International Advisory Board helps shape what IAFOR does, and we would like to extend a warm welcome to three new members who are all thought leaders in their own field, and whose experience will help shape the research and direction of IAFOR in the years to come.
Professor Sir Geoffrey Lloyd is currently scholar in residence at the Needham Research Institute. A former Master of Darwin College, University of Cambridge, he held a personal chair in Ancient Philosophy and Science in the university, and has held visiting professorships across the world. Professor Lloyd was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1983, and in 1997 was knighted for 'services to the history of thought'.
Professor Michael A. Cusumano is the Sloan Management Review Distinguished Professor of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, with a joint appointment in the MIT Engineering Systems Division. He is one of the world's foremost experts in the study of strategy, product development, and entrepreneurship in the computer software industry, as well as automobiles and consumer electronics. Professor Cusumano has been a visiting professor at Hitotsubashi University and Tokyo University in Japan, Imperial College in London, the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, the University of Maryland, and Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich.
Professor Dr. Chung-ying Cheng is am internationally known philosopher of East-West integration and a leading representative of Neo-Confucian philosophy in the contemporary world. He has been a visiting professor at the National Taiwan University, Hong Kong Baptist University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, International Christian University (Tokyo), Queens College of the City University of New York, Yale University, Oxford University and Berlin Technical University.
For a full list of our IAB, please click here.
MediAsia 2011 - The Second Asian Conference on Media and Mass Communication
Posted September 26 2011
IAFOR are pleased to announce Professor Richard Roth of the Medill School of Journalism, will give the keynote address at this year's Asian Conference on Media and Mass Communication. A journalist of distinction, Professor Roth was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting of the 1971 Attica prison riot, and as an editor was involved in the development of the Wall Street Journal online. Now Senior Associate Dean at Northwestern University Qatar, he has been a close observer of the recent developments in the so-called Arab Spring, and will speak on the subject of mobile technology and its impact on the spread of journalism in the Middle East.
IAFOR is also very glad to welcome Gary Swanson back to Japan, as conference chair of the event. Professor Swanson has won numerous awards for broadcasting, and producing, including three national EMMY's for his work as an NBC broadcaster and producer. Now the Mildred S. Hansen Endowed Chair in Journalism at the University of Northern Colorado, Professor Swanson will give an address on entitled "Social Media: Itfs Impact on Journalism, Communication and Society in The 21st Century".
For more information about MediAsia 2011, please click here.
Professor Sir Geoffrey Lloyd is currently scholar in residence at the Needham Research Institute. A former Master of Darwin College, University of Cambridge, he held a personal chair in Ancient Philosophy and Science in the university, and has held visiting professorships across the world. Professor Lloyd was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1983, and in 1997 was knighted for 'services to the history of thought'. Professor Michael A. Cusumano is the Sloan Management Review Distinguished Professor of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, with a joint appointment in the MIT Engineering Systems Division. He is one of the world's foremost experts in the study of strategy, product development, and entrepreneurship in the computer software industry, as well as automobiles and consumer electronics. Professor Cusumano has been a visiting professor at Hitotsubashi University and Tokyo University in Japan, Imperial College in London, the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, the University of Maryland, and Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich.
Professor Dr. Chung-ying Cheng is am internationally known philosopher of East-West integration and a leading representative of Neo-Confucian philosophy in the contemporary world. He has been a visiting professor at the National Taiwan University, Hong Kong Baptist University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, International Christian University (Tokyo), Queens College of the City University of New York, Yale University, Oxford University and Berlin Technical University.
For a full list of our IAB, please click here.
MediAsia 2011 - The Second Asian Conference on Media and Mass Communication
Posted September 26 2011
IAFOR are pleased to announce Professor Richard Roth of the Medill School of Journalism, will give the keynote address at this year's Asian Conference on Media and Mass Communication. A journalist of distinction, Professor Roth was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting of the 1971 Attica prison riot, and as an editor was involved in the development of the Wall Street Journal online. Now Senior Associate Dean at Northwestern University Qatar, he has been a close observer of the recent developments in the so-called Arab Spring, and will speak on the subject of mobile technology and its impact on the spread of journalism in the Middle East.
IAFOR is also very glad to welcome Gary Swanson back to Japan, as conference chair of the event. Professor Swanson has won numerous awards for broadcasting, and producing, including three national EMMY's for his work as an NBC broadcaster and producer. Now the Mildred S. Hansen Endowed Chair in Journalism at the University of Northern Colorado, Professor Swanson will give an address on entitled "Social Media: Itfs Impact on Journalism, Communication and Society in The 21st Century".
For more information about MediAsia 2011, please click here.
Spring/Summer 2011
ACLL/ACTC 2011
Posted June 12 2011
The Inaugural Asian Conference on Language Learning was held alongside the inaugural Asian Conference on Technology in the Classroom, and drew 100 registrants from around the world, and focused on both academic and vocational aspects of language learning.
IAFOR would like to thank the keynote speakers, world renowned presentation expert, Garr Reynolds, and education specialist Dr Jill Robbins. Both presentations were highly informative, relevant and entertaining.
Also thanks to Featured Speakers, Professors Deryn Verity, Charles Kowalski, Bill Pellowe, Roger Palmer, Brent Jones, and Kevin Cleary, President of the Japan Association of Language Teachers. We hope that the event will continue to grow in 2012.
IAFOR would like to thank the keynote speakers, world renowned presentation expert, Garr Reynolds, and education specialist Dr Jill Robbins. Both presentations were highly informative, relevant and entertaining.
Also thanks to Featured Speakers, Professors Deryn Verity, Charles Kowalski, Bill Pellowe, Roger Palmer, Brent Jones, and Kevin Cleary, President of the Japan Association of Language Teachers. We hope that the event will continue to grow in 2012.
ACSS/ACSEE 2011
Posted June 2 2011
IAFOR was happy to welcome Keynote Speakers Professor Keith Miller and Mr Lowell Sheppard to Osaka, to open the Second Asian Conference on the Social Sciences. Professor Miller (Schewe Professor of Liberal Arts and Science at the University of Illinois Springfield), spoke of artificial intelligence, of webbots and of robots, and their increasing role in the modern world, as well as a number of ethical ramifications as computers become more and more 'intelligent'. This presentation was interactive and thought-provoking and will be available soon as part of the research archive.
Lowell Sheppard, Asia Pacific Director of the HOPE International Development Agency spoke of his role assisting in the recovery efforts following the recent Japan earthquake. Lowell had spoken at an event just a few weeks after March 11 and returned to give some personal perspectives from someone on the ground. It was both sad and inspiring.Also at the event a partnership was agreed to between the International Academic Forum and URBAN-INCERC of Romania, and signed by Professor Vasile Meita, the National Institute's General Manager, IAFOR Executive Director, Dr Joseph Haldane, and Professor Stuart Picken, Chair of the IAFOR IAB. Professors Meita and Picken are pictured right.
Vladimir Devide Haiku Award
Posted May 28 2011
The First Vladimir Devide Haiku Award was announced on the evening of May 28, 2011 by His Excellency Dr Drago Stambuk (pictured left), founder and judge, and the Grand Prize went to Jim Kacian of the United States of America. The award was named in memory of Vladimir Devide, who died last year, as a tribute to the distinguished Croatian japanologist, poet, and tireless promoter of haiku, by his spiritual successor, Drago Stambuk, renowned poet, and former Croatian ambassador to Japan from 2005-2010.
The award received 166 entries from twenty-nine countries, and from this number Dr Stambuk selected ten haiku to be commended, eight as runners up, and one to be awarded the Grand Prize. Each of the haiku were read twice by the Ambassador, apart from the Grand Prize entry, which was read thrice.
The Award was organized by the International Academic Forum as part of the inaugural Asian Conference on Literature and Librarianship 2011 (LibrAsia), and will be an annual event. The entries were judged on their literary merit, regardless of whether they were traditional or modern, and the award, in the true spirit of the unifying figure of Vladimir Devide, transcends haiku divisions.
The organization would like to thank the many poets and other lovers of haiku who supported the event, including Akito Arima, President of the Haiku International Association, Hana Fujimoto, the organization's Secretary, Shokan Kondo, President of the Japan Renku Association, and Ban'yan Natsuishi, President of the World Haiku Association, as well as Her Excellency Mira Martinec, new Croatian Ambassador to Japan, Hiroshi Ojima, Honorary Croatian Consul in Osaka, and many others.
The announcement of the award was followed by a poetry reading. Dr Stambuk read a moving selection of his poetry in English and Croatian, including extracts from Black Wave, and from his most recent haiku collection. Scots-Indian poet Bashabi Fraser then read a selection of poems that treated East Meets West themes in a very personal way, underlining both enrichment and loss. The evening ended in an idiosyncratic reading by the Grande Dame of Japanese Literature, Kazuko Shiraishi.
A call for entries for the Second Vladimir Devide Haiku Award will be launched in the fall on the IAFOR site, and in collaboration with Haiku Associations throughout the world.
To download the complete list of winners, please click here.
March 11 Earthquake
Posted March 29 2011
On March 11, a large earthquake off the Northeastern coast of Japan caused a massive tidal wave to strike the coast in that area with devastating force. This left over 25,000 dead or missing, and crippled the Fukushima nuclear energy plant, resulting in a radioactive leak, and power shortages for much of the capital. While Osaka, where IAFOR bases its conferences was not affected, a number of delegates were unable to attend the late March events, or did not wish to make the journey. The conferences went ahead however, and we were delighted to hear the experiences of Lowell Sheppard, Asia-Pacific Director of HOPE International and IAFOR IAB member, who led a large team of volunteers to ensure delivery of key supplies to the region. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who lost their lives, and their families and friends.
IAFOR & NIE Enter Strategic Partnership
Posted February 11 2011
The National Institute of Education of Singapore and IAFOR have entered into a strategic cooperative partnership, to help promote and develop the work of both organizations. Professor Sing Kong Lee, director of the NIE, will join the IAFOR IAB, as will Associate Dean Liu Woon Chia, who will also act as the NIE's liaison. Dr Liu will also serve as a conference co-chair for the upcoming ACE III conference, alongside Professor Sue Jackson of Birkbeck (University of London), and Professor Michiko Nakano (Waseda).ACE III - Learning and Teaching in a Globalized World
Posted January 26 2011
The third Asian Conference on Education will return to Osaka for the third year running and this year the conference will hope to build on the successes of the events held in 2009 and 2010. We are very happy that London University through Birkbeck, and Waseda University will again support the event in the spirit of international partnership.
The event website will be up and running soon, so watch this space!
Autumn/Winter 2010
Kazuko Shiraishi to speak at Librasia 2011
Posted December 22 2010
Since her first collection was published in 1951, Kazuko Shiraishi has become one of the world's most celebrated contemporary poets, with her work widely translated into many different languages. Ms Shiraishi has been the recipient of many major Japanese poetry literary prizes including the prestigious Yomiuri Literary Prize, and also the Japanese Medal of Honor (Purple Ribbon Medal - Shijuhosho).
She will speak alongside Dr Drago Stambuk and Anglo-Indian poet Bashabi Fraser at the event in May. For more information about Librasia 2011, click here.
Bashabi Fraser to speak at Librasia 2011
Posted December 12 2010
Noted Anglo-Indian Writer Bashabi Fraser has accepted an invitation by IAFOR to be a featured speaker and writer at the 2011 Asian Conference on Literature and Librarianship. Dr Fraser's latest work is an epic poem, from the Ganga to the Tay, excerpts of which were read last year at ACAH 2010. The poem is written in the form of a poetic conversation accross continents and centuries, between the "female" Ganges and the male "Tay" rivers. Bashabi Fraser read the Ganges and IAFOR IAB member Lord Charles Bruce read the part of the Scottish river. She will speak alongside Dr Drago Stambuk and Japanese poet Kazuko Shiraishi at the event in May. For more information about Librasia 2011, click here.
Vladimir Devide Haiku Award
Posted December 10 2010
Vladimir Devide, one of the world's best known haiku poets, and Japanologist of great distinction, died earlier this year. A full member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Vladimir Devide won a number of awards and honours, including the Le Prix CIDALC (1977), the Prize of the City of Zagreb (1982), and for his work as a promoter of Japanese culture, the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure (1983).
In his memory the inaugural Librasia conference will host an open haiku competition, with the first prize being designated the Vladimir Devide Haiku Award. For more information about participating in this event, click here.
Vice Chancellor Mary Stuart Addresses ACE 2010
Posted December 4 2010
Professor Mary Stuart, Vice Chancellor of the University of Lincoln (UK), spoke to delegates at the Second Asian Conference on Education in Osaka, on the challenges facing education today, and particularly in difficult economic times where universities are facing massive changes in the way in which they are funded. Professor Stuart's address focused on the UK but provided a great deal of insight into vision and leadership that could be translated across boundaries and cultures. For more information about ACE, please click here.
London and Waseda forge a distance learning partnership across the globe
Posted December 3 2010
Two pioneers in distance learning in their respective countries, Birkbeck (University of London) and Waseda University co-sponsored the Second Asian Conference on Education, and the two conference chairs provided inspirational direction to the event. Professors Sue Jackson of the University of London and Michiko Nakano of Waseda, underlined how lifelong and distance learning is one of the ways we will adapt to rise to meet the challenges of an increasingly disparate and heterogeneous student population. For more information about the conference, click here.
His Excellency Dr Drago Stambuk to give keynote address to LibrAsia 2011 and ACAH 2011 participants
Posted December 1 2010
Posted December 1 2010
Dr Stambuk, one of the world's most celebrated Haiku poets, will give a presentation on the concept of "Haiku Consciousness", the normative idea of minimalism and space as being necessary on so many levels to endeavors both artistic and ethereal. He will also read from his latest work, Black Wave, a selection of poems with an introduction by Kazuko Shiraishi and Tess Gallagher.
Dr Stambuk is Croatian Ambassador to Japan and The Republic of Korea.
He will also serve as programme adviser to the Librasia conference. For more information about Drago and the conference, please click here.
Events
