ACAH2019

Speakers

Speakers at The 10th Asian Conference on the Arts & Humanities (ACAH2019) will provide perspectives from a variety of academic and professional backgrounds on the conference theme, “Reclaiming the Future”.

IAFOR on Wed, January 25, 2017

ACAH2019

IAFOR Research Centre

The Asian Conference on the Arts & Humanities 2019 (ACAH2019) is organised by IAFOR in partnership with the IAFOR Research Centre at Osaka University, Japan.

IAFOR on Tue, January 24, 2017

ACAH2019

IAFOR Membership

Become a stakeholder in the IAFOR mission of facilitating international exchange, encouraging intercultural awareness, and promoting interdisciplinary discussion.

IAFOR on Mon, January 25, 2016

IAFOR > The Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities (ACAH)

The 10th Asian Conference on Arts & Humanities (ACAH2019)

The Final Abstract Submission Deadline has now passed. To register as a Presenter or Audience member, please visit the Registration page. Thank you.

Conference Theme: "Reclaiming the Future"

We live in a period characterised by rises in regionalism, nationalism and authoritarianism; a time of great global uncertainty and anxiety, as well as inequality and iniquity which both reflects and drives political divide, and undermines international systems of cooperation. Clashes of identities, beliefs and ideologies are evident in academia, media and the arts, contributing to a feeling that humanity is spiralling out of control; that our relationships with each other, as well as with the earth and environment, have never been worse.

Yet, as humans, we are not conditioned by fear alone, but instead by a remarkable ingenuity, and a capacity for hope, self-reflection, activism and action. This agency to improve our own lives, and those of others, is the theme of this international conference, inviting us to consider the ways in which we contextualise and process the past, reimagining ourselves, our relationships, and our environments; driving positive change and reclaiming the future as a time we look towards with hope, and even optimism.

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

In conjunction with our Global Partners, we look forward to extending you a warm welcome in 2019.

– The ACAH2019 Organising Committee

Joseph Haldane, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
Donald E. Hall, University of Rochester, USA
Bradley J. Hamm, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, USA
Yutaka Mino, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan
Haruko Satoh, Osaka University, Japan

Key Information
  • Location & Venue: Toshi Center Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
  • Dates: Friday, March 29, 2019 ​to Sunday, March 31, 2019
  • Conference Theme: "Reclaiming the Future"
  • Early Bird Abstract Submission Deadline: November 14, 2018*
  • Final Abstract Submission Deadline: January 14, 2019
  • Registration Deadline for Presenters: February 14, 2019

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

If you would like to receive email updates for ACAH2019, please join our mailing list. If you have any questions, please contact us at acah@iafor.org.

Visit ACAH2019 Overview Page

Speakers

  • Ezra Acayan
    Ezra Acayan
    Documentary Photographer
  • Heather Croall
    Heather Croall
    Adelaide Fringe Festival, Australia
  • Bradley J. Hamm
    Bradley J. Hamm
    Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, USA
  • William Lindesay OBE
    William Lindesay OBE
    Founder, International Friends of the Great Wall
  • Yutaka Mino
    Yutaka Mino
    Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan

ACAH2019 Conference Flyer

Download (PDF, 3.48MB)

Download PDF Conference Flyer

IAFOR Research Centre (IRC) – “Innovation and Value Initiative”

The IAFOR Research Centre (IRC) is housed within Osaka University’s School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), and in June 2018 the IRC began an ambitious new “Innovation and Value Initiative”. Officially launched at the United Nations in a special UN-IAFOR Collaborative Session, the initiative seeks to bring together the best in interdisciplinary research around the concept of value, on how value can be recognised, and measured, and how this can help us address issues and solve problems, from the local to the global.

Learn more about the Innovation and Value Initiative

Visit Japan

As the world’s largest continent continues to develop, so do its educational and academic needs, and as the global economy recentres towards the Asia-Pacific region, the relevance and significance of IAFOR as an interdisciplinary think tank for both Asia and the West grows. IAFOR's Asian Conference Series, held in Tokyo, Japan, is the ideal forum in which to discuss emerging regional and global issues, and to keep up to date with the latest interdisciplinary research across a range of academic fields.

Why Join an IAFOR Conference?

The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) welcomes academics from all over the world to our interdisciplinary conferences held in Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East. Our events provide a unique international, intercultural and interdisciplinary environment in which to hear the latest world-class research and network with leading academics, professionals and practitioners.

Our conferences are meticulously planned under the direction of prominent academics to ensure that they offer programmes of the highest level, and are supported by some of the world’s leading academic institutions, including the University of London (UK), Virginia Tech (USA), University of Barcelona (Spain), Waseda University (Japan), University of Sussex (UK), Medill School of Journalism (USA), Moscow State University (Russia) and The University of Tokyo (Japan).

By facilitating dialogue between the world’s academics and thought leaders, IAFOR has become a pioneer in providing the research avenues and visionary development solutions that are necessary in our rapidly emerging globalised world. We welcome you to engage in this expanding global academic community of individuals and network of institutions, and look forward to seeing you at one of our future events.

Ezra Acayan
Documentary Photographer

Biography

Ezra Acayan is a documentary photographer based in Manila whose work primarily focuses on social issues and human rights. Currently, he is working on a documentary reportage on the suffering and abuse experienced by communities under the Philippine government's war on drugs.

In 2017, together with a team of Reuters journalists, Ezra was awarded a special merit at the Human Rights Press Awards for multimedia reporting on the drug war. In 2018, he received both the Ian Parry Scholarship Award for Achievement and the Lucie Foundation Photo Taken Emerging Scholarship, as well as being named Grand Prize winner at the IAFOR Documentary Photography Award and Young Photographer of the Year at the Istanbul Photo Awards.

This work—along with work by other journalists who cover the drug war—has been exhibited in Geneva for two straight years as part of the Universal Periodic Review of the Philippines at the United Nations Human Rights Council. It has also been exhibited at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Thailand (FCCT), in France during the Prix-Bayeux Calvados Award for War Correspondents, in Sarajevo during the WARM Festival, and in Germany during the Lumix Festival for Young Photojournalism.

He has done multimedia work for various outfits such as Reuters, European Pressphoto Agency, Agence France-Presse, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, and the French Society magazine. He has also done work for NGOs such as Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe, Care International, and the French Red Cross. His work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Vice, Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Le Monde, Stern, Paris Match, and more.

Featured Presentation (2019) | Presentation information will be added here shortly
Heather Croall
Adelaide Fringe Festival, Australia

Biography

Heather Croall is an experienced CEO and Director known as a visionary in the creative sector who delivers innovative festival programs, new audiences and organisational growth.

She has specific expertise in partner engagement and capital acquisition. With an international career in film, TV and the arts, Heather has a strong track record in implementing organisational change and capacity building. She has transitioned a number of creative sector organisations into the digital age.

Heather has a reputation for generating new income streams and delivering excellent management of stakeholder relations. Under her leadership, every festival she has run has seen an increase in turnover, been met with high critical acclaim, delivered growth in ticket sales and expanded audience demographic.

She became Director and CEO of the Adelaide Fringe – the Southern Hemisphere’s largest annual arts festival and the second-largest Fringe in the world after Edinburgh – ahead of the 2016 festival, and since then has overseen a digital transformation including new ticketing and artist registration systems.

Over the past three festivals under Heather’s leadership, Adelaide Fringe’s ticket sales have grown by 16 per cent (from 604,000 in 2016 to 705,761 in 2018) and box office revenue has increased by 11 per cent (from $14.8 million to $16.6 million). After the 2016 festival, Heather set a target of tripling visitor numbers to the Adelaide Fringe by 2022 and she is on her way to achieving this with last year’s Fringe attracting 20,244 visitors – up from 18,655 in 2017.

Heather was awarded a Fellowship in Interactive Media by Screen Australia in 2005. In 2013, The Alliance of Women Film Journalists named Heather Ambassador of Women’s Film for her work in creating opportunities for women documentary makers.

Heather was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctorate by Sheffield Hallam University in 2014, and just last year she received the Ambassador Award from the Governor’s Aboriginal Employment Industry Clusters Program in recognition of her contribution setting up and serving as the inaugural Chair of the Arts and Culture Cluster.

Featured Presentation (2019) | Presentation information will be added here shortly
Bradley J. Hamm
Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, USA

Biography

Bradley J. Hamm is a full professor at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University USA, serving as the dean from 2012-2018, where he oversaw Medill's programs in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco in addition to its home campus in Evanston. Previously, he was dean of the Indiana University School of Journalism in Bloomington and Indianapolis.

Hamm's PhD is in mass communication research from the University of North Carolina, with a master’s degree in journalism from the University of South Carolina and an undergraduate degree from Catawba College in North Carolina.

He also served as the interim dean and associate dean of the School of Communications at Elon University in North Carolina. Hamm has taught in study abroad programs in Japan, China and Great Britain and started his career as a newspaper reporter. His teaching and research interests are in journalism history and media theory, particularly agenda setting theory.

He served as a trustee for the Poynter Institute and is a judge for the Scripps Howard National Journalism Awards. He serves as an independent, non-executive member of the Board of Directors for Next Digital media company of Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Keynote Presentation (2019) | Presentation information will be added here shortly
William Lindesay OBE
Founder, International Friends of the Great Wall

Biography

William Lindesay OBE is an honorary senior research fellow at University of Liverpool, where he studied geography and geology in the 1970s. Recently he received the Royal Society for Asian Affairs’ Special Award 2016. He first went to China to recce the Great Wall in 1986, making the first documented traverse of the ruins on foot the following year, in 1987, in which he covered 2,470 km.

Since 1990 he has resided permanently in China, spending more than 2,700 days on its Great Walls. He has written five books on the subject, published by Harvard University Press and Penguin among others, and fronted documentaries that have been screened on National Geographic Channel, Channel 4, Discovery Channel and the Smithsonian Channel.

William Lindesay is credited with arousing China’s national consciousness to protect the Great Wall and its environment, and he has created/curated two national exhibitions in Beijing, at the Capital Museum and the Imperial Academy, and seven provincial exhibitions. For his work presenting and preserving the Great Wall and assuming the role of its international ambassador he was granted permanent residency in China. He lives with his wife and two sons in Beijing, in a village below the Great Wall in the city’s northern suburbs.

Keynote Presentation (2019) | Presentation information will be added here shortly.
Yutaka Mino
Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan

Biography

Dr Yutaka Mino was born in Kanazawa, Japan, in 1941, and received his PhD in Art History from Harvard University, in 1977. He was appointed associate curator in charge of the Asiatic Department at Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, in 1976, the curator of the Oriental Art Department at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, in 1977, and the curator of the Asian Department at the Art Institute of Chicago, in 1985. After Returning to Japan, he was named as the director of the Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, in 1996, and as the founding director of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, in 2004. In 2007, he became the Vice Chairman, Sotheby’s North America, the Chief Executive Director of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, and the Honorary Director, Osaka Municipal Museum of Art. In April 2010, he was appointed as the director of the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, and in 2012, the director of Yokoo Tadanori Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2013, he was named Honorary Director, Abeno Harukas Museum of Art. Yutaka Mino has organized many exhibitions, and also published individual books and catalogs such as Freedom of Clay and Brush Through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz’u-chou Type Wares, 960-1600 A.D. in 1980, and Hakuji (White Ware), vol.5 in the Chugoku Togi (Chinese Ceramics) series in 1998.

Keynote Presentation (2019) | Museum Cultivates Aesthetic Sensibility

Previous Presentations

Featured Presentation (2018) | The Ceramic Road
Featured Presentation (2017) | Art and Narrative in the Public Sphere