Overview

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SEACAH2026

February 05-09, 2026 | Singapore EXPO, Singapore & Online

Welcome to The Southeast Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities!

Held in partnership with the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, Japan and our global partners, and supported by the Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau, the inaugural Southeast Asian Conference on Arts and Humanities (SEACAH2026) conference will be held alongside The Southeast Asian Conference on Education (SEACE2026), now in its sixth year.

This year, IAFOR returns to Singapore, situated centrally in the Southeast Asian region, which also comprises Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Brunei, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, Cambodia, and Malaysia. Southeast Asia is a vibrant, thriving, and developing area, and boasts a great diversity of peoples, cultures, and ethnicities. As a recognised regional hub, Singapore is a great location to help further the IAFOR mission of encouraging interdisciplinary discussion, facilitating intercultural awareness, and promoting international exchange.

As an organisation that engages across all sectors of society, and with multiple stakeholders to engage in some of the biggest challenges and issues the world faces from an interdisciplinary perspective, we have aligned our research initiatives and conferences with the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as outlined in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and around IAFOR’s four key themes:

  • Technology and Artificial Intelligence
  • Humanity and Human Intelligence
  • Global Citizenship and Education for Peace
  • Leadership

This event will encourage academics and scholars to meet and exchange ideas and views in a forum stimulating respectful dialogue, and like our long-running events elsewhere in the world, will afford an exceptional opportunity for renewing old acquaintances, making new contacts, networking, and facilitating partnerships across national, cultural, and disciplinary borders. IAFOR was made possible, and is a response to, the forces of globalisation, and the understanding that many of the most pressing challenges, whether felt or experienced locally, would require global cooperation and action to address.

Registration for either SEACAH2026 or SEACE2026 will allow delegates to attend the joint plenary sessions, and in keeping with our interdisciplinary mission, any parallel sessions in either conference, as desired.

I look forward to seeing you in Singapore!

For and on behalf of the IAFOR International Academic Board and the Conference Programme Committees,

Dr Joseph Haldane, Osaka University, Japan & University College London, United Kingdom
Chairman and CEO, IAFOR

Professor Jun Arima, University of Tokyo, Japan
President, IAFOR

Professor Anne Boddington, Middlesex University, United Kingdom
Executive Vice-President and Provost, IAFOR

Key Information
  • Location & Venue: Singapore EXPO, Singapore & Online
  • Dates: Thursday, February 05, 2026 ​to Monday, February 09, 2026
  • Early Bird Abstract Submission Deadline: August 29, 2025*
  • Final Abstract Submission Deadline: October 31, 2025
  • Registration Deadline for Presenters: December 05, 2025

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

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Programme

To be announced

  • Achieving Competency-Based Learning with LLMs
    Achieving Competency-Based Learning with LLMs
    Keynote Presentation: Ben Leong
  • Heritage for Cultural Dialogue: Digital Futures and Shared Memory
    Heritage for Cultural Dialogue: Digital Futures and Shared Memory
    Panel Presentation: Lisa Lim, David Ocón, Tim Winter, Umberto Ansaldo
  • AI-Enabled Futures: Collaboration, Learning, and Strategic Decision-Making in Asian Higher Education
    AI-Enabled Futures: Collaboration, Learning, and Strategic Decision-Making in Asian Higher Education
    The Forum: Philip Teow Huat Kwa, Apipol Sae-Tung, Melina Neophytou
  • Building Networks, Building Careers
    Building Networks, Building Careers
    Featured Roundtable: Joseph Haldane, Michael Klemm

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Speakers

To be announced

  • Umberto Ansaldo
    Umberto Ansaldo
    VinUniversity, Vietnam
  • Jervais Choo
    Jervais Choo
    National Heritage Board, Singapore
  • Michael Klemm
    Michael Klemm
    Singapore Education Network, Singapore
  • Philip Kwa
    Philip Kwa
    Asian Institute of Management, Philippines
  • Ben Leong
    Ben Leong
    National University of Singapore, Singapore
  • Shamila Janakiraman
    Shamila Janakiraman
    University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, United States
  • Lisa Lim
    Lisa Lim
    Lisa Lim, VinUniversity, Vietnam
  • David Ocón
    David Ocón
    Singapore Management University, Singapore
  • Tim Winter
    Tim Winter
    National University of Singapore, Singapore

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Conference Committees

The International Academic Board (IAB)

Professor Anne Boddington, IAFOR, Japan (IAB Chair)
Dr Joseph Haldane, IAFOR & The University of Osaka, Japan, & University College London, United Kingdom
Professor Jun Arima, IAFOR & The University of Tokyo, Japan
Professor Virgil Hawkins, IAFOR Research Centre & The University of Osaka, Japan
Mr Lowell Sheppard, IAFOR & Never Too Late Academy, Japan

Professor Umberto Ansaldo, VinUniversity, Vietnam
Dr Susana Barreto, University of Porto, Portugal
Professor Grant Black, Chuo University, Japan
Dr Evangelia Chrysikou, Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London, United Kingdom
Professor Donald E. Hall, Binghamton University, United States
Professor Brendan Howe, Ewha Womans University, South Korea & The Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA)
Dr James W. McNally, University of Michigan, United States & NACDA Program on Aging

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Conference Programme Committee

Lynette Swee Hian Goh, Singapore Management University (SMU), Singapore
Dr Joseph Haldane, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
Dr Brendan Howe, Ewha Womans University, South Korea
Professor Adisorn Juntrasook, Thammasat University, Thailand
Dr Leandro Loyola, Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Applied Learning, Canada
Dr Pisith Nasee, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
Dr Nongyao Nawarat, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
Dr Annie W. Y. Ng, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong
Dr Farish Noor, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore
Dr Justin Sanders, Woven by Toyota, Japan
Professor Melanie Tolentino, Central Luzon State University, Philippines
Professor Anusorn Unno, Thammasat University, Thailand

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SEACAH2026 Conference Review Committee


Dr Samra Afzal, National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, Pakistan
Dr Joselito Gutierrez, University of Santo Tomas, Philippines
Dr Rebecca Lind, University of Illinois at Chicago, United States
Dr Blenn Nimer, Notre Dame of Kidapawan College, Philippines
Dr Chandna Singh Nirwan, Majan University College, Oman
Dr Mathew Martin Poothullil, University of Mumbai, India
Dr K. Lakshmi Priya Varadarajan, Shrimathi Devkunvar Nanalal Bhatt Vaishnav College, India
Dr Ulysses Yu, St. Stephen's High School and Philippine Normal University, Philippines

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Achieving Competency-Based Learning with LLMs
Keynote Presentation: Ben Leong

The launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 created much excitement in diverse fields. This development also challenges our long-held assumptions about assessment, academic integrity, and the very purpose of schooling. Some folks claim that a revolution is happening, and perhaps teachers might no longer be relevant, yet more recent reports claim that ChatGPT might be causing harm to our students.

We believe that as AI becomes more powerful, human skills will become more important and that AI can assist in competency-based learning of said skills. In this talk, we will describe how at the National University of Singapore, we have developed and deployed LLM-powered role playing chatbots in diverse disciplines such as social work, law, and nursing to train human skills. We will also share some learning points from our experiences and our views about the longer term impact of AI on higher education in Singapore.

Read presenter's biography
Heritage for Cultural Dialogue: Digital Futures and Shared Memory
Panel Presentation: Lisa Lim, David Ocón, Tim Winter, Umberto Ansaldo

Beyond the preservation of traditions, heritage is a practice of dialogue and an arena where cultural memory is negotiated. As technologies transform the way traditions are archived, performed, and circulated, new opportunities and risks emerge: heritage becomes a site of diplomacy and soft power, but also of contestation. Educational institutions are in a position to mediate the tensions between the monopolisation of digital memory and the need for pluralistic datasets and inclusive participation of diverse groups. Through research and education, universities can contribute towards ethical datasets and interpretations, as well as foster the next generation of digital humanists and social scientists capable of managing the rapid technological turn. This panel explores how digital futures and shared memory can open pathways for inclusivity, transnational dialogue, and social justice.

Read presenters' biographies
AI-Enabled Futures: Collaboration, Learning, and Strategic Decision-Making in Asian Higher Education
The Forum: Philip Teow Huat Kwa, Apipol Sae-Tung, Melina Neophytou

The rise of Generative AI (GenAI) presents significant opportunities to transform the higher education sector through new forms of institutional collaboration and decision-making practices. Asian universities and academic organisations should take the lead in adopting GenAI technologies in both teaching and institutional management. Emerging technologies can help shape the future of higher education by personalising learning, enhancing human capabilities, and strengthening international connections in the classroom and within institutional operations.

However, the ongoing development of GenAI introduces significant challenges for educators, researchers, and policymakers alike, particularly its ethical application and potential for sustainable solutions, cultural diversity support, and institutional preparedness and acceptance. In this Forum session, we will bring together educational practitioners, researchers, and academic leaders to analyse GenAI’s possibilities and obstacles for supporting instructional practices and strategic decision-making, with a particular focus on the evolving educational setting. Participants are called to consider institutional case studies alongside present challenges they themselves are experiencing, and future possibilities to understand how GenAI applications can benefit higher education in Asia.

Read presenters' biographies
Building Networks, Building Careers
Featured Roundtable: Joseph Haldane, Michael Klemm

This roundtable discussion with Dr Joseph Haldane, Chairman and CEO of IAFOR, Japan, and Michael Klemm, CEO of the Singapore Education Network, Singapore, will consider the role of professional networks in shaping careers and sustaining international collaboration. Drawing on their experiences building and working within global organisations, the panellists will reflect on how networks support individual career development while also enabling others to access opportunities, mentorship, and collaboration. The discussion takes place at a moment when internationalisation is increasingly constrained, and will invite participants to consider the continued value and responsibility of maintaining international networks in an uncertain and fragmenting global context.

Read presenters' biographies
Umberto Ansaldo
VinUniversity, Vietnam

Biography

Dr Umberto Ansaldo is Professor of Linguistics and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at VinUniversity, Vietnam. As a linguist, he specialises in research on languages of Asia from a comparative and historical perspective. His publications advance an evolutionary framework of language contact that highlights the role of multilingualism and variation in language change. He previously worked in language documentation and researched endangered contact languages of the Indian Ocean.

As an educator, Professor Ansaldo has long promoted a student-centred, innovative, and interdisciplinary pedagogical philosophy. In his current role as Dean, he represents a governance style that emphasises meritocracy and transparency and fosters a culture of empathy and belonging. Away from work, Professor Ansaldo enjoys wining and dining and the practice of martial arts. He has lived and worked in many different countries prior to Vietnam, including Amsterdam, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia.

Professor Ansaldo serves on IAFOR’s International Academic Board.

Panel Presentation (2026) | Heritage for Cultural Dialogue: Digital Futures and Shared Memory
Jervais Choo
National Heritage Board, Singapore

Biography

Jervais Choo is the Deputy Director for Organisational Design and Innovation and currently heads the Innovation Programme office at the National Heritage Board (NHB) of Singapore. His division is responsible for business and digital transformation through creative solutioning and leads NHB’s digital heritage initiatives. Mr Choo has also held other portfolios with the NHB in the past decade, including Programme Director for the Singapore Heritage Festival and Singapore Night Festival, and Deputy Director of the National Museum of Singapore.

Panel Presentation (2026) | Heritage for Cultural Dialogue: Digital Futures and Shared Memory
Michael Klemm
Singapore Education Network, Singapore

Biography

Michael Klemm is an education professional with extensive experience in international education, employability, education technology, and entrepreneurship in Asia. In 2020, he founded and currently heads the Singapore Education Network (SEN), a regional alliance of 3,000+ education professionals & organisations in South East Asia and beyond, with offices in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. SEN is an education community-builder as well as training provider for the education sector and also manages e-commerce platform ‘EdTech Marketplace Asia’, offering 500+ technology-enabled solutions for the education sector in Asia.

Mr Klemm is also a Venture Partner - Higher Education & EdTech for education consultancy EDT&Partners, as well as Public-Private Partnership Specialist for the ADB-funded STEP UP project in Cambodia. He mentors EdTech Startups in accelerators Singapore National Youth Council, Start2 (Germany) and Next Challenge Foundation (South Korea). He is listed among the Top 100 influencers in EdTech 2023/24 by EdTech Digest.

Previously, Mr Klemm worked for Minerva University, National University of Singapore, Training Institute NTUC LearningHub, World Vision International, and the International Labour Organization in several countries across Asia (Singapore, India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia), gaining substantial expertise in the education and development sector.

Featured Roundtable (2026) | Building Networks, Building Careers

Philip Kwa
Asian Institute of Management, Philippines

Biography

Philip Kwa has more than 20 years of broad global working experience across multiple corporate and entrepreneurial environments. He has held key roles as CEO, CFO, Sales and Marketing Head, as well as Strategic Consulting Director, demonstrating a versatile skill set and adaptability to a diverse range of sectors.

He is currently the incoming Academic Program Director for the Master of Cybersecurity programme at the esteemed Asian Institute of Management, Philippines.

Professor Kwa’s main areas of focus include cyber security training and exercises, cyber risk and governance assessment, business process transformation, factory automation, and entrepreneurship.

In addition to his hands-on experience, he holds an MBA from the University of Hull, United Kingdom, an SMU-SID Diploma in Directorship, a NUS-ISS Post Graduate Diploma in Knowledge Engineering, and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia. Professor Kwa’s additional professional certifications include CISSP, CISM, PMP, Practitioner Certificate in Data Processing, and Certified Accountant status.

The Forum (2026) | TBA

Ben Leong
National University of Singapore, Singapore

Biography

Dr Ben Leong is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the School of Computing, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore. Dr Leong received his SB, MEng, and PhD degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States. He has been recognised for his excellent teaching with a number of teaching awards, including the NUS Outstanding Educator Award in 2015. Dr Leong also served as the Chair of the university’s Computer Science Department Standing Teaching Committee from 2017 to 2020. His research interests are in the areas of Computer Networking and Distributed Systems. More recently, he has been working on applying AI for education.

From July 2014 to June 2019, Dr Leong served as the Director of the Experimental Systems and Technology Laboratory at the Ministry of Education (MOE). In this role, he set up and managed an in-house software development team that successfully delivered a number of applications for MOE. In addition, Dr Leong served as a consultant to the Student Learning Space (SLS) team that built a new learning management system for MOE schools.

From January 2021 to December 2023, Dr Leong set up and served as Director of the Centre for Computing for Social Good & Philanthropy (CCSGP) at School of Computing (SoC). Since 2020, Dr Leong has served as Chief Data Officer of AI.SG, the national AI Programme, and concurrently as Director of the AI Centre for Educational Technologies (AICET), where his team applies AI to build software platforms for education.

Keynote Presentation (2026) | Achieving Competency-Based Learning with LLMs

Shamila Janakiraman
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, United States

Biography

Dr Shamila Janakiraman is an Assistant Professor in Learning Design & Technology (LTEC) at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, United States. She teaches graduate level courses in LTEC and her research interests are in emerging technologies, attitude change instruction, online teaching and learning, and competency-based education. Dr Janakiraman is keen on exploring the use of emerging technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, game-based learning in facilitating attitude change regarding the learning of different subjects, and attitudinal and behavioural learning regarding environmental sustainability and other socio-scientific topics.

Workshop Session (2026) | Designing Virtual Learning Environments with Augmented Reality and Interactive H5P Activities: A Practical Workshop for Educators
Lisa Lim
Lisa Lim, VinUniversity, Vietnam

Biography

Dr Lisa Lim is Director of Engagement and Development for the UNESCO Chair in Environmental Leadership, Cultural Heritage and Biodiversity at VinUniversity, Vietnam. She previously held professor positions at universities in Singapore, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Sydney, and Perth.

Her interests centre on language contact and evolution, particularly Asian multicultural ecologies; issues of language shift, endangerment, revitalisation, postvernacular vitality, and intangible cultural heritage of minority and endangered language communities; the sociolinguistics of globalisation; and environmental linguistics. Her books include Languages in Contact (Cambridge University Press, 2015) and The Multilingual Citizen: Towards a Politics of Language for Agency and Change (Multilingual Matters, 2018), which was shortlisted for the BAAL Book Prize. Passionate about engagement and impact, Dr Lim’s Knowledge Exchange grants at the University of Hong Kong supported student-led research on linguistic minorities in Hong Kong. For this body of work, she won a Knowledge Exchange award, was featured in Time Out HK, and pitched at a TEDxWanChaiWomen Open Mic event. She is currently a consultant for the Oxford English Dictionary and has been writing a fortnightly ‘Language Matters’ column in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post since 2016.

Panel Presentation (2026) | Heritage for Cultural Dialogue: Digital Futures and Shared Memory
David Ocón
Singapore Management University, Singapore

Biography

Professor David Ocón is an interdisciplinary cultural anthropologist and historian who works on the intersections of Asian cultural heritage with preservation, AI and digitalisation, tourism, geopolitics, and sustainability. He also analyses cultural diplomacy and cooperation in the Asian region, particularly between China, Japan, South Korea, and the ASEAN countries, as well as with external parties like the EU.

Professor Ocón has over twenty years of experience in the arts, culture, and heritage sectors. As a practitioner, he has led departments within organisations such as the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF, Singapore), ENCATC (Belgium), and the Cervantes Institute (Beijing, China), where he was the Head of Culture.

He is currently affiliated with Singapore Management University, where he leads courses including Cultural Relations and Diplomacy in Asia, Urban Cultural Anthropology, and Cultural Heritage and Social Sustainability. He is also an associated faculty member within the School of Humanities at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His academic career includes previous positions at City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, and James Cook University, Australia, and for over a decade, he has been a visiting faculty member at the University of Barcelona’s International Cultural Cooperation and Management Postgraduate Programme. Professor Ocón has authored numerous book chapters and articles, published in renowned peer-reviewed journals such as Sustainability Science, AI & Society, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, The International Journal of Heritage Studies, The Journal of Asian Public Policy, The Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, and the European Journal of Cultural Management and Policy, amongst others.

Panel Presentation (2026) | Heritage for Cultural Dialogue: Digital Futures and Shared Memory
Tim Winter
National University of Singapore, Singapore

Biography

Professor Tim Winter is Research Leader of the Inter-Asia Engagements Research Cluster at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. He is the Lead Investigator of the international research project Heritage Diplomacy; connecting histories and futures, (2026-2030; 3.9 Million SGD). Professor Winter has led the development of heritage diplomacy as a cross-disciplinary concept and introduced geocultural power to the analysis of international affairs. His recent articles on these topics appear in Geopolitics, International Affairs, International Journal of Cultural Policy, and Environment and Planning D. His most recent books are Geocultural Power: China’s Quest to Revive the Silk Roads for the Twenty First Century (University of Chicago Press, 2019) and The Silk Road: Connecting Histories and Futures (Oxford University Press, 2022). His current work addresses the re-emergence of civilisational discourses across Eurasia, and how this speaks to current debates about a shifting world order. Professor Winter currently holds an h-index of 33.

Panel Presentation (2026) | Heritage for Cultural Dialogue: Digital Futures and Shared Memory