IAFOR > The European Conference on Education (ECE) > ECE2020 > Organising Committee

Organising Committee

The Organising Committee of The 8th European Conference on Education (ECE) is composed of distinguished academics who are experts in their fields. Organising Committee members may also be members of IAFOR's International Academic Advisory Board. The Organising Committee is responsible for nominating and vetting Keynote and Featured Speakers; developing the conference programme, including special workshops, panels, targeted sessions, and so forth; event outreach and promotion; recommending and attracting future Organising Committee members; working with IAFOR to select PhD students and early career academics for IAFOR-funded grants and scholarships; and overseeing the reviewing of abstracts submitted to the conference.


  • Kwame Akyeampong
    Kwame Akyeampong
    University of Sussex, UK
  • Anne Boddington
    Anne Boddington
    Kingston University, UK
  • Steve Cornwell
    Steve Cornwell
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) & Osaka Jogakuin University, Japan
  • Jean-Marc Dewaele
    Jean-Marc Dewaele
    Birkbeck, University of London, UK
  • Joseph Haldane
    Joseph Haldane
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
  • Jo Van Herwegen
    Jo Van Herwegen
    UCL, UK
  • Brian Hudson
    Brian Hudson
    University of Sussex, UK
  • Barbara Lockee
    Barbara Lockee
    Virginia Tech, USA
  • Zachary Walker
    Zachary Walker
    University College London, UK

Previous Organising Committees

View details of organising committees at past ECE conferences via the links below.

ECE2019ECE2018ECE2017
ECE2016ECE2015ECE2014
ECE2013
Kwame Akyeampong
University of Sussex, UK

Biography

Kwame Akyeampong is Professor of International Education and Development at the Centre for International Education (CIE), University of Sussex, UK. He has international research experience in educational evaluation and research and has worked on education and development research projects in a range of countries including Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda and Malawi. His research interests include education policy analysis, teacher governance, educational access and equity, impact evaluation studies in education, and employing quantitative and qualitative research methods. He also has experience managing large research education projects. He has consulted for the World Bank, DFID, and JICA on education evaluation projects and programmes. He was senior policy analyst with UNESCO, Paris, from 2011 to 2013. He is currently the co-chair of the Teacher Alliance for the Global Education and Skills Forum.

Previous Presentations

Plenary Panel II (2017) | Education for Change: Addressing the Challenges of UN Sustainable Development Goal 4
Anne Boddington
Kingston University, UK

Biography

Anne Boddington is Professor of Design Innovation, Pro Vice Chancellor for Research, Business and Innovation at Kingston University in the UK and recently appointed as the Sub Panel Chair for Art & Design: History, Practice & Theory for the UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021. Professor Boddington has extensive experience of the leadership, management and evaluation of art and design education and art and design research in higher education across the UK and internationally. She is an experienced chair and has held trustee and governance roles across the creative and cultural sector including as trustee of the Design Council, an independent Governor, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), an affiliate member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), a member of the executive of the Council for Higher Education in Art & Design (CHEAD) and a member of the advisory board of the Arts & Humanities Research Council. She has an international reputation in creative education and research and has been a partner, a collaborator, a reviewer and evaluator for a wide range of international projects and reviews across Dofferemt nations in Europe, the Middle East, Southern and east Asia and North America.

Previous Presentations

Plenary Panel I (2017) | Think Like a System, Act Like an Entrepreneur
Steve Cornwell
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) & Osaka Jogakuin University, Japan

Biography

Steve Cornwell is the President of IAFOR, and President of the Academic Governing Board. He coordinates and oversees the International Academic Advisory Board, and also serves on the organization's Board of Directors.

Dr Cornwell is Professor of English and Interdisciplinary Studies at Osaka Jogakuin University, and also teaches in the online portion of the MA TESOL Programme for the New School in New York. He helped write and design several of the New School courses and has been involved with the programme since its inception.

He has also been involved with the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT), (an affiliate of IAFOR) serving on its National Board of Directors as Director of Programme from 2012-2016; where his duties involved working with a volunteer team of 50+ to put on JALT’s annual, international conference each autumn.

Most recently, since 2012, he has been the Committee Chair of Osaka Jogakuin University’s Lifelong Learning Committee and is responsible for their evening extension Programme geared towards alumni and community members. He is also the Vice-Chair of Osaka Jogakuin University’s English Education Committee which is responsible for suggesting policy regarding English Education and also responsible for developing material for the integrated curriculum.

Jean-Marc Dewaele
Birkbeck, University of London, UK

Biography

Jean-Marc Dewaele is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism at Birkbeck, University of London. He does research on individual differences in psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, pragmatic, psychological and emotional aspects of Second Language Acquisition and Multilingualism. He has published over 250 papers and chapters, seven books and seven special issues. He is the author of the monograph Emotions in Multiple Languages in 2010 (2nd ed in 2013). He is former president of the European Second Language Association and the International Association of Multilingualism. He is former General Editor of the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism and current General Èditor of Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. He won the Equality and Diversity Research Award from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (2013) and the Robert C. Gardner Award for Outstanding Research in Bilingualism (2016) from the International Association of Language and Social Psychology.

Keynote Presentation (2019) | The Emotional Rollercoaster Ride of Foreign Language Learners and Teachers
Panel Presentation (2019) | Education as a Route to Independence and Interdependence
Joseph Haldane
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

Biography

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

Dr Haldane holds a PhD from the University of London in 19th-century French Studies, and has had full-time faculty positions at the University of Paris XII Paris-Est Créteil (France), Sciences Po Paris (France), and Nagoya University of Commerce and Business (Japan), as well as visiting positions at the French Press Institute in the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas (France), The School of Journalism at Sciences Po Paris (France), and the School of Journalism at Moscow State University (Russia).

Dr Haldane’s current research concentrates on post-war and contemporary politics and international affairs, and 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 Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre, an interdisciplinary think tank situated within Osaka University.

A Member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network for Global Governance, Dr Haldane is also a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade (Serbia), a Visiting Professor at the School of Business at Doshisha University (Japan), and a Member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the College of Education of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (USA).

From 2012 to 2014, Dr Haldane served as Treasurer of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (Chubu Region) and he is currently a Trustee of the HOPE International Development Agency (Japan). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in 2012, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2015.

Jo Van Herwegen
UCL, UK

Biography

Dr Jo Van Herwegen is an associate professor in developmental psychology at UCL Institute of Education. Her research focuses on improving educational outcomes of children, especially those with special educational needs. She has examined mathematical abilities, language abilities, transitions and the impact and quality of Education, Health, and Care plans for a wide range of neurodevelopmental disorders. She is an associate editor for Research in Developmental Disabilities, and educational needs advisor for the Williams Syndrome Foundation.

Previous ECE Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2019) | Challenges and Solutions to Improving Educational Outcomes
Brian Hudson
University of Sussex, UK

Biography

Brian Hudson is Professor of Education and Head of the School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sussex. He is the main Organiser of the World Education Research Association (WERA) International Research Network on Didactics - Learning and Teaching; a member of the WERA Outreach Committee; an Associate Editor of the Journal of Curriculum Studies and a Board Member of the Teacher Education Policy in Europe (TEPE) Network. He is Honorary Member of the EERA Network on Didactics - Learning and Teaching; Honorary Professor at the University of Dundee and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Education Studies and Leadership at the University of Ghana.

Previous Presentations

Plenary Panel II (2017) | Education for Change: Addressing the Challenges of UN Sustainable Development Goal 4
Barbara Lockee
Virginia Tech, USA

Biography

Barbara Lockee is a professor of Instructional Design and Technology in the School of Education at Virginia Tech. Since 1996, she has engaged in teaching and research related to instructional design and distance education, and has advised the research of more than three dozen doctoral students. Her scholarly inquiry is focused on mediated and online education and has been funded by various federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Agriculture, and the US Agency for International Development, among others. She has also consulted for a variety of organisations, including the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the US Army Training and Doctrine Command and the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. Her recent co-authored book, Streamlined ID: A Practical Guide for Instructional Design, strives to make the design of learning solutions accessible and pragmatic for those who develop educational courses and programs in workplace contexts.

Dr Lockee is Past President of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, an international professional organisation for educational technology researchers and practitioners. She earned her PhD in 1996 from Virginia Tech in Curriculum and Instruction (Instructional Technology), MA in 1991 from Appalachian State University in Curriculum and Instruction (Educational Media), and BA in 1986 from Appalachian State University in Communication Arts.

Keynote Presentation (2019) | Interaction in Online Learning: A Design Paradox
Zachary Walker
University College London, UK

Biography

Dr Zachary Walker is an academic, author, and speaker. In 2018, Zachary joined the University College London (UCL) Institute of Education (IOE) as an Associate Professor. At IOE, Zachary currently serves in the Department of Psychology and Human Development as the Programme Leader for Graduate Programs in Special Education and International Inclusive Leadership. Prior to joining IOE, Zachary was a faculty member at the National Institute of Education in Singapore from 2013-2018, where he served as a leader in Pedagogical Development and Innovation and on the 21st Century Teaching and Learning Framework taskforce. He was named a Think College Emerging Scholar (2012), as well as a Millennium Milestone Maker by the World Academy for the Future of Women (2015). He was awarded the John Cheung Social Media Award for Innovation in Teaching and Pedagogy (2015), and was nominated for the Wharton School Reimagine Education Awards (2016). Zachary's current work focuses on educational neuroscience, mobile technology, and leadership. He has delivered talks to education leaders and higher education faculty in North America, Central America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Keynote Presentation (2019) | Five Faces of this Generation
Panel Presentation (2019) | Education as a Route to Independence and Interdependence