Education, and the arts and humanities in particular, act as a positive force in framing and understanding the many contentious issues we collectively face in the pursuit of a sustainable world. In times that are increasingly uncertain, hostile, and contentious, and in which national governments focus on productivity, efficiency, technology, and security, considerations of humanity, human intelligence, and the wider common good are often ignored.

Have the arts and humanities made a sufficient case for their value to governments and the wider society today? In a world that focuses on progress and obsession with machines without considering the consequences, how do the arts and humanities remind us what it means to be human?

This Forum session invites participants to rethink the role of the arts and humanities in troubling times, and to explore how education can help cultivate stronger narratives of belonging.

Biographies

Dexter Da Silva

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).

Melina Neophytou

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.

Dr Neophytou’s research interests currently focus on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the relationship between state and society. Her current work examines technologies such as facial recognition (FRT) and biometric surveillance, and how these tools impact freedom of expression, protest, and social policy

About the Presenter(s)
-Professor Dexter Da Silva is Professor Emeritus at Keisen University in Tokyo, Japan, where he has been teaching for 35 years.
-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.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Saturday Schedule

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