Keynote Speakers

Sobhi Tawil (PhD) is Director of the Future of Learning and Innovation team at UNESCO where he currently leads the Futures of Education initiative, as well as work on technology and innovation in education. He has some 30 years of experience in teaching, education policy analysis, research and program management with diverse institutions and organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies (Geneva), as well as the Network for International Policies and Cooperation in Education and Training (NORRAG). He has also worked on issues of education policy in relation to identity-based conflict, social cohesion, and citizenship. Sobhi Tawil holds a PhD in Education and Development from the Graduate Institute for Development Studies in Geneva.

HUANG Ronghuai is a Professor of Education at Beijing Normal University (BNU) and holds multiple prestigious roles in the field. He is currently the Co-Dean of BNU’s Smart Learning Institute, the Director of the National Engineering Research Center of Cyberlearning and Intelligent Technology, and the Director of the Educational Informatization Strategy Research Base in Beijing, under the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. Additionally, he serves as the UNESCO Chair on Artificial Intelligence in Education and the Director of the UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education. In addition to his academic endeavors, Professor Huang holds important leadership roles, including serving as a Member of the Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence Technology Innovation at the Ministry of Education, and the Editor-in-Chief of Springer’s Journal of Computers in Education and Smart Learning Environment.

With extensive expertise in educational informatization, smart learning environments, technology-supported innovative teaching, and artificial intelligence in education, Professor Huang has received notable accolades throughout his career. He has been honored with the National Award for Outstanding Teaching Achievement, the Science Research Famous Achievement Award in Higher Institutions, the Science Research Famous Achievement Award in National Education, and the titles of Beijing Famous Teacher and Beijing Outstanding Teacher. Professor Huang’s contributions extend beyond recognition, as he has actively participated in over 100 national, provincial, and ministerial projects. His influential ideas have reached wide audiences through the publication of more than 300 academic papers and over 40 books, both domestically and internationally.

Li Wei is Director and Dean of the UCL Institute of Education at University College London (UCL), where he also holds the Chair of Applied Linguistics. His research covers many different aspects of bilingualism and multilingualism, including the acquisition of multiple languages in childhood, family language policy, education policy and practice regarding bilingual and multilingual learners of minoritized and transnational backgrounds, and the cognitive benefits of language learning. He is co/author of over 20 books and edited collections and over 130 journal articles and book chapters. His current journal editorships include the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism and the Applied Linguistics Review. He founded the biennial International Symposium on Bilingualism in 1997 and was founding editor of a number of international journals including International Journal of Bilingualism, Chinese Language and Discourse, Global Chinese, Educational Linguistics and Research Methods in Applied Linguistics. He has won the British Association of Applied Linguistics Book Prize twice, for the Blackwell Guide to Research Methods in Bilingualism and Multilingualism (with Melissa Moyer) and Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education (with Ofelia Garcia). He is a fellow of the British Academy, Academia Europaea, Academy of Social Sciences, UK, and the Royal Society of Arts. His previous posts include Pro-Vice-Master (Research and Postgraduate Studies) at Birkbeck, and Head of the School of Education at the University of Newcastle.

Dr. Hafdís Guðjónsdóttir is a professor emeritus at the University of Iceland, School of Education. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Oregon in 2000, her theses Responsive professional practice: Teachers analyze the theoretical and ethical dimensions of their work in diverse classrooms, focused on teachers’ professionalism in inclusive schools. Prior to working at UI, she taught for 25 years at comprehensive schools in Iceland.

As a professor at UI, Hafdís focuses on responsive practice and innovative teaching methods accommodating for diverse groups of students in inclusive classrooms. Her research projects focus on inclusive practices, multicultural education, and teacher education. From the perspective of constant changes, critical theory, pedagogy, and teacher professionalism she researches with teachers and students. Her research methodology is qualitative, participant and teacher research, action research and self-study of education practices. She has published numerous articles, book chapters and books and was one of the editors of the International Handbook of Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices.

Hafdís has collaborated with scholars from around the world and has been a gest professor at the Victoria University in Melbourne and the University of Northern Iowa.

 

Hafdís is co-editor-in-chief of Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research (TATE). Before she was an assistant editor of TATE and on the journal’s editorial board. Hafdís was a co-editor of the Icelandic Journal of Education and edited special issues. Hafdís is active in the Self Study of Teacher Education Practices Special Interest Group (S-STEP), a network at the America Education Research Association (AERA). She was the chair of S-STEP in 2015–2017 and a program chair in 2007–2010.

Professor Phillip (Phill) Dawson is the Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) at Deakin University. His research focuses on how address the many perceived ‘threats’ to assessment validity in a digital world. These threats span the use of artificial intelligence for cognitive offloading, the (in)security of online exams, assessment that is not inclusive, and beyond. His two latest books are Defending Assessment Security in a Digital World: Preventing E-Cheating and Supporting Academic Integrity in Higher Education (Routledge, 2021) and the co-edited volume Re-imagining University Assessment in a Digital World (Springer, 2020). Phill initially studied artificial intelligence and cybersecurity before his PhD in higher education. Beyond validity, he conducts broader research into assessment, which includes work on assessment design and feedback. In his spare time Phill performs improv comedy and produces the academia-themed comedy show The Peer Revue.