July 10–14, 2025 | SOAS & University College London, UK
We are very excited to host The 5th European Conference on Aging & Gerontology (EGen2025), the sister conference to The Asian Conference on Aging & Gerontology (AGen), which has been held in Japan since 2015.
IAFOR has joined efforts with The Bartlett Real Estate Institute at UCL, UK, the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA) at the University of Michigan, the IAFOR Research Centre at OSIPP, Osaka University, Japan, and academic leaders and thinkers of all disciplines from a wide range of prestigious institutions to host a conference that brings together all disciplines to discuss one of the greatest challenges humanity currently faces: the ageing of the population. Scholars from practically every discipline are welcomed to bring their perspective, as ageing involves almost all aspects of humanities, science and policy. With thematic streams covering many disciplines such as the built environment, frailty, loneliness, the silver economy, and others, EGen2025 will again provide a great opportunity for researchers.
Dr Joseph Haldane, IAFOR and Osaka University, Japan, & University College London, United Kingdom Professor Jun Arima, President, IAFOR & University of Tokyo, Japan Professor Anne Boddington, Executive Vice-President and Provost, IAFOR & Middlesex University, United Kingdom Professor Barbara Lockee, Virginia Tech, United States Professor Donald E. Hall, Binghamton University, United States Dr James W. McNally, University of Michigan, United States & NACDA Program on Aging Dr Grant Black, Chuo University, Japan Professor Dexter Da Silva, Keisen University, Japan Professor Baden Offord, Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University, Australia & Cultural Studies Association of Australasia Professor Frank S. Ravitch, Michigan State University College of Law, United States Professor William Baber, Kyoto University, Japan
Members of the IAFOR Board of Directors and The Academic Governing Board are standing members of the Global Programme Committee.
Evangelia Chrysikou
Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction
University College London
United Kingdom
Conference Programme Committee Members
Jane Biddulph, University College London, United Kingdom Dimitrios Buhalis, Bournemouth University Business School, United Kingdom Dorina Cadar, Brighton & Sussex Medical School, United Kingdom Stefano Capolongo, Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy Carina Dantes, SHINE 2Europe, Portugal Eddy Davelaar, Birkbeck, University of London, United Kingdom Isaiah Durosaiye, School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom Joseph Falzon, Centre for Research & Innovation, Malta Ava Fatah, Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, United Kingdom Dr Joseph Haldane, IAFOR and Osaka University, Japan, & University College London, United Kingdom (Conference Co-chair) Paul Higgs, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, United Kingdom Fernando Loizides, School of Computer Science & Informatics, Cardiff University, United Kingdom Elena Petelos, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Greece & Faculty of Health, Medicine & Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Netherlands Eleftheria Savvopoulou, SynThesis Architects, Greece Anastasios Tellios, School of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Greg Williams, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Dr Vincent Lee, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Dr Naqeeb Hussain Shah, Kohat University of Science & Technology, Pakistan Dr Hoang-nam Tran, Tokushima University, Japan Dr Adi Vitman- Schorr, Tel hai university on the rise, Israel Dr Lu Wang, Hebei University of Techology, China
IAFOR's peer review process, which involves both reciprocal review and the use of Review Committees, is overseen by the Conference Programme Committee under the guidance of the International Academic Board (IAB). Review Committee members are established academics who hold PhDs or other terminal degrees in their fields and who have previous peer review experience.
If you would like to apply to serve on the EGen2025 Review Committee, please visit our application page.
The European Conference on Aging & Gerontology (EGen) is run in partnership with The Bartlett Real Estate Institute at UCL, The National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA) at the University of Michigan, USA, and the IAFOR Research Centre at Osaka University.
Our selected themes for 2025-2029 bring together ideas and encourage research and synergies in the following areas:
Technology and Artificial Intelligence
Humanity and Human Intelligence
Global Citizenship and Education for Peace
Leadership
Our four themes can be seen as standalone themes, but they are also very much in conversation with each other. Themes may be seen as corollaries, complementary, or in opposition/juxtaposition with each other. The themes can be considered as widely as possible and are designed, in keeping with our mission, to encourage ideas across the disciplines.
Jun Arima
University of Tokyo, Japan
Biography
Professor Jun Arima is the President of IAFOR, and the senior academic officer of the organisation. In this role, Professor Arima is the Honorary Chair of the International Academic Advisory Board, as well as both the Academic Governing Board and its Executive Committee. He also sits on the IAFOR Board of Directors.
Jun Arima was formerly Director General of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), UK from 2011 to 2015 and Special Advisor on Global Environmental Affairs for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan, from 2011 to 2015. He has previously held various international energy/environment-related positions, including: Head of Division, Country Studies, International Energy Agency (IEA); Director, International Affairs Division, Agency of Natural Resources and Energy, METI; and Deputy Director General for Environmental Affairs at METI’s Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau. In the COP (UN Convention on Climate Change) 14, 15 and 16, he was Japanese Chief Negotiator for AWG-KP.
Since 2015 Jun Arima has been a Professor at the University of Tokyo, Japan, where he teaches Energy Security, International Energy Governance, and Environmental Policies in the Graduate School of Public Policy. (GraSPP). He is also currently a Consulting Fellow at the Japanese Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI). He is also Executive Senior Fellow at the 21st Century Public Policy Institute, Principal Researcher at the International Environmental and Economic Institute (IEEI), Distinguished Senior Policy Fellow, at the Asia Pacific Institute of Research (APIR), Senior Policy Fellow on Energy and Environment, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), and was the Lead Author, the 6th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC).
Dr Tim Beasley-Murray is Associate Professor of European Thought and Culture at University College London (UCL), United Kingdom. He leads the new BA in Creative Arts and Humanities programme at the university, a programme in which students learn to play and experiment in a variety of creative modes such as writing, performance, and moving images, alongside critical study of the humanities. Dr Beasley-Murray’s research ranges across European languages and cultures, including French, German, Czech, English, Slovak, and Russian, and explores topics such as autofiction with a particular interest in contemporary French literature theories of revolution, reticence and silence, political theory, and more. His book, Critical games: on play and seriousness in academia, literature and life, was recently published in June with Manchester University Press. He is currently thinking about a new project on anecdote and informal knowledge.
Dr Jane Biddulph is an academic in the Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London (UCL), United Kingdom. Her areas of expertise include chronic health conditions within the older population, and the application of analytical techniques to explore survey data that has included the English Longitudinal Study of Aging and the Health Survey for England.
Dr Biddulph’s main areas of interests include ageing, mental health, cognition, and cancer research. She has published her work in several journals, particularly on health conditions within the older population, the development and application of mathematical models, and guidance on evidence use in health impact assessment. Her recent funded research collaborations have focused on frailty in older age and have led to the development of a framework for cohabitation with robots and smart technology within the built environment. She has a particular interest in the domestic integration of robots and smart technology, and inclusive design for improving the quality of life for vulnerable groups.
Professor Anne Boddington is Executive Vice-President and Provost of IAFOR, and oversees the academic programs, research and policies of the forum.
Anne Boddington is Professor Emerita of Design Innovation and has held executive and senior leadership roles in Higher Education including as Dean of Arts & Humanities at the University of Brighton, Pro Vice Chancellor for Research, Business & Innovation at Kingston and Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange at Middlesex University.
In 2022 she concluded chairing the Sub Panel (32) for Art & Design: History, Practice & Theory as part of the Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) and has extensive experience in the governance and conduct of peer review, research evaluation and assessment in REF2014 (Sub Panel Deputy Chair and Equality Diversity Advisory Panel [EDAP]) and RAE2008. A former member of AHRC’s Advisory Board, she is the current Chair of the Advisory Board for the UKRI’s National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research (NICER) programme (£30M), Deputy Chair and a Trustee of the Design Council, the government’s strategic advisor for design, and a member of both the InnoHK Scientific Committee (Hong Kong) and the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ).
Since the 1990’s Anne has worked across the UK and internationally with a wide range of quality assurance, professional, statutory, and regulatory bodies in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Hong Kong, and India.
As an independent consultant she now works as a strategic advisor and mentor and is committed to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion in practice, developing effective governance, supporting career development, reducing bureaucracy, and improving organisational design, integrity, and productivity in the changing workplace.
Evangelia Chrysikou
University College London, UK
Biography
Dr Evangelia Chrysikou is a registered architect and senior research fellow at UCL. She owns the award-winning SynThesis Architects (London – Athens), that specialises in medical facilities. Her work received prestigious awards (Singapore 2009, Kuala Lumpur 2012, Brisbane 2013, Birmingham 2014, London 2014). Parallel activities include teaching at medical and architectural schools, research (UK, France, Belgium, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Greece and the Middle East) and advisory. She advised the Hellenic Secretary of Health and is the author of the new national guidelines for mental health facilities. Dr Chrysikou is the author of the book ‘Architecture for Psychiatric Environments and Therapeutic Spaces’, healthcare architecture editor, reviewer, active member of several professional and scientific associations and a TED-MED speaker. She is a Trustee, Member of the Board and Director of Research at DIMHN (UK) and Member of the Board at the Scholar’s Association Onassis Foundation.
Dr Francesco Ciriello is a Senior Lecturer in Engineering Education at King’s College London, United Kingdom, where he teaches interdisciplinary design. He researches how students learn by working on engineering projects and how they use computational intelligence to improve design processes and outcomes. He is also Director of Undergraduate Student Experience, Departmental lead for Project-based Learning & Design for the General & Electrical Engineering programmes at the same institution, and King’s Academy Fellow in Project-based Learning.
Dr Ciriello has broad expertise in Simulation and Engineering Design, with application to robotics and control systems, fluid dynamics, and manufacturing. He previously worked in the Education Group at MathWorks and provided consultancy services to educators and researchers on software development with MATLAB & Simulink. He also holds a PhD in Engineering from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, for his work in experimental fluid dynamics and a MEng in Civil Engineering from Imperial College London, United Kingdom.
Dr Ciriello is also a visiting lecturer for continued professional development courses at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, where he teaches short courses on Artificial Intelligence for Generative AI, Cloud & Edge, and Digital Twins: Enhancing Model-based design with Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality.
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).
European Federation for Transport and Environment, Belgium
Biography
Mr Antony Froggatt is the Senior Director for Aviation, Energy and Shipping at Transport & Environment (T&E), Belgium, a Brussels-based NGO advocating for clean transport and energy. He previously served as Deputy Director and Senior Research Fellow in the Energy, Environment, and Resources Department at Chatham House, United Kingdom, where he focused on global energy policy and the geopolitics of climate change, including research on the energy and climate policy implications of Brexit and the impact of the war in Ukraine on global energy security.
With over three decades of experience, Mr Froggatt has collaborated with governments, environmental organisations, academic institutions, and public bodies globally, particularly across Europe and Asia, contributing to a broad spectrum of projects addressing energy and environmental challenges. He has been a special advisor to the House of Lords in the United Kingdom and the European Parliament, and has given formal evidence to governments and parliaments across Europe.
Joseph Haldane is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of IAFOR. He is responsible for devising strategy, setting policies, forging institutional partnerships, implementing projects, and overseeing the organisation’s international business and academic operations, including research, publications and events.
Dr Haldane is a founding Co-Director of the IAFOR Research Centre, an interdisciplinary think tank situated at The Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University, where since 2015 he has also been a Guest Professor, teaching on the postgraduate Global Governance Course.
A Member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network for Global Governance, Professor Haldane’s research and teaching is on history, politics, international affairs and international education, as well as governance and decision making.
In 2020 Dr Haldane was appointed Honorary Professor of UCL (University College London), through the Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management. He also holds Visiting Professorships in the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade, and at the School of Business at Doshisha University in Kyoto, where he teaches Ethics and Governance on the MBA programme. He is a Member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
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, Sciences Po Paris, and Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, as well as visiting positions at the French Press Institute in the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas, The School of Journalism at Sciences Po Paris, and the School of Journalism at Moscow State University (Russia).
Dr Haldane has given invited lectures and presentations to universities and conferences around the world, including at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and advised universities, NGOs and governments on issues relating to international education policy, public-private partnerships, and multi-stakeholder forums. He was the project lead on the 2019 Kansai Resilience Forum, held by the Japanese Government through the Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet Office in collaboration with IAFOR.
From 2012-2014, Dr Haldane served as Treasurer of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (Chubu), and since 2015 he has been a Trustee of the HOPE International Development Agency (Japan). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in 2012, and the Royal Society of Arts in 2015.
Rana Khalife
University College London, United Kingdom
Biography
Dr Rana Khalife is a Lecturer in the Department of Biochemical Engineering at University College London (UCL), United Kingdom.. She primarily teaches the Regenerative Medicine minor, covering a broad range of topics including Manufacturing of Cell and Gene Therapy Products, Bioprocessing, Cost Analysis of Therapies, Advanced Materials, and Devices, such as Bioreactors and Microfluidics. Dr Khalife brings over 10 years of research experience in pluripotent stem cell research and cancer research. Her expertise lies in integrating her deep knowledge of biochemistry, metabolism, and molecular biology with advanced stem cell bioprocessing techniques.
As the Regenerative Medicine Coordinator for the IEP minor within the department, Dr Khalife plays a pivotal role in designing and delivering content for this specialised programme. She also serves as the Programme Director and Admissions Tutor for the Manufacture and Commercialisation of Stem Cell and Gene Therapies MSc, where she oversees curriculum development, student recruitment, and programme management. Additionally, Dr. Khalife is the Chair of Recruitment within the Department of Biochemical Engineering, leading initiatives to attract applicants and promote departmental growth. Throughout her career, Dr Khalife has demonstrated a strong commitment to bridging fundamental research with practical applications, particularly within the rapidly evolving fields of regenerative medicine and bioprocessing.
Dr Bernadette Lee has served as a consultant in palliative medicine at Princess Alice Hospice, United Kingdom since 2001. Dr Lee attended Guy’s Hospital Medical School, now part of the GKY School of Medical Education at King’s College London, United Kingdom. She trained in various specialties in general medicine and completed the four-year specialty registrar rotation in palliative medicine.
Dr Lee works mainly in the hospice inpatient unit, where patients with life-limiting diseases are admitted for symptom control or end-of-life care. She works closely with the hospice community team in the hospice’s Wellbeing Centre, providing care to over 1,000 patients in the local area. She is also active in medical education: she is currently a clinical supervisor to various grades of resident doctors and an educational supervisor to specialty registrars. She previously served as the Regional Specialty Adviser for the Kent, Surrey, and Sussex areas, stepping down after a two-year term as Chair of the Specialist Training Committee.
Her special interests include ultrasound and more recently sustainability. She has been running the Focused Abdominal Ultrasound Palliative Care Course (FASP) with Professor Max Watson since 2010.
Ms Bernice Lee OBE is Distinguished Fellow and Senior Advisor at Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, an independent policy institute based in the United Kingdom. She chairs the Advisory Board of the Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator and Bellwethers Group, a non-profit organisation that activates influential networks to accelerate action on climate and nature. She serves on the boards of Energy Foundation China and Chapter Zero Alliance. She is also a member of the Steering Committee for the Forum on Trade, Environment & the SDGs (TESS) and the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Energy Transition.
Previously, Ms Lee was Director of Climate Change at the World Economic Forum, and Director of Chatham House’s Energy, Environment, Global Economy, and Finance programmes and the Hoffmann Centre for Sustainable Resource Economy. She has also held positions at the UN Secretary-General’s office, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Aga Khan Foundation. She has served on the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation’s Climate Change Advisory Board, Shell’s External Review Committee, Neste’s Sustainability Council, Vale’s CEO Sounding Panel, and the UK Climate Change Committee’s International Advisory Group.
Ms Lee holds degrees from Oxford University and the London School of Economics, United Kingdom. In 2011, she was honoured as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire OBE for her contributions to climate change cooperation.
Dr Gill Livingston is an academic psychiatrist and Professor of Psychiatry of Older People with a research focus on dementia at University College London, United Kingdom. She leads the Lancet Standing Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care, including the publishing of the Commission’s reports in 2017, 2020, and 2024. Her work with the Commission has resulted in producing new knowledge and enacting changes in individual and clinical practice and policy in various countries, including the United Kingdom, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Germany, France, Switzerland, Norway and the United States.
Professor Gill collaborated in many international projects in the field of dementia research, and is involved in epidemiological work and systematic reviews to elucidate mechanisms as well as co-design and test interventions. Her most recent projects include ENHANCE, an intervention-based coaching application aimed to reduce cognitive deterioration for people with high risk of dementia, and the DREAMS:START trial, an intervention for sleep disruptions caused by dementia, which is currently completing a two-year follow-up study.
Dr Lillian Yun Yung Luk is an Assistant Professor in the Teaching and Learning Innovation Centre at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), Hong Kong, and an honorary research fellow in the Centre for Engineering Education at University College London (UCL), United Kingdom. She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA). Dr Luk conducts research in teaching and learning research across multiple disciplines, specifically student learning through internship experience, students’ sense of belonging in engineering, and assessment literacy in generic skills development. She works closely with academics on professional development in HKU and has more than 10 years of research experience in higher education. Her current research interests lie in the areas of employability, career development, and experiential learning in engineering education.
University of Michigan & NACDA Program on Aging, United States
Biography
Dr James W. McNally is the Emeritus Research Scientist for the NACDA Program on Aging, located in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, United States. He was trained initially in forensic anthropology at the University of Maryland and then in formal demography at Georgetown University. As part of this PhD work, Dr McNally was awarded the first minor degree in social gerontology from the Population Studies and Training Center at Brown University, followed by a two-year postdoctoral appointment examining policy applications of health data at Syracuse University’s Center for Policy Research. After teaching at Brown University as an Assistant Research Professor, Dr McNally directed the NACDA Program on Aging from 1998 to 2025, building an internationally recognised collection of seminal studies on the aging lifecourse, health, retirement, and international aspects of aging. In addition to lifecourse research, he has spent much of his career addressing mechanisms to maintain and strengthen family support networks, focusing on the needs of frail or cognitively impaired elders, presenting on these issues in the United States and internationally. Dr McNally also serves as the Vice-President of the International Academic Forum (IAFOR) based in Nagoya, Japan, where he chairs the Social Sciences & Sustainability division of the International Academic Board.
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.
Medical University of South Carolina, United States
Biography
Dr Paul J. Nietert is currently Executive Vice Chair and Professor of Biostatistics at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), United States. He earned a BS in Mathematics at Duke University, United States, and his PhD in Biostatistics at MUSC. As a collaborative biostatistician, he has directed several quantitative cores for large research centres, including the South Carolina Clinical and Translational Research Center, South Carolina Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, MUSC’s Core Center for Clinical Research for rheumatic diseases, and MUSC’s Digestive and Liver Diseases Research Core Center. He also leads the Charleston Heart Study, a longitudinal study on aging, which was funded by the National Institute on Aging, a division of the United States’ National Institute of Health, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Dr Nietertethodological research interests include pilot study design, hierarchical data analysis, health services research methods, and randomisation in clinical trials. One of his passions is mentoring junior researchers on rigorous study design and data analysis techniques.
Professor Anne Nortcliffe is the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Computing and Engineering, Professor of Inclusive Engineering and Technology, and a member of the University Senior Leadership Team at Wrexham University, United Kingdom. Prior to her joining Wrexham University, Professor Nortcliffe was the Founding Head of Engineering, Technology and Design, a new equity, inclusive, and diverse engineering higher education provision at Canterbury Christ Church University, United Kingdom. She has 30 years of experience in educating the next generation of engineering, technology, and design graduates for industry. Professor Nortcliffe is an experienced and internationally published researcher and developer of engineering and computing education. She passionately works with colleagues and students to develop good practice inclusive engineering and computing education. In 2022, she received the Inspiring Women in Construction and Engineering Award in the Contribution to Gender Diversity category and was awarded Executive Leader of the Year at the Engineering Talent Awards in 2021.
Dr Tejendra Pherali is Professor of Education, Conflict and Peace at the Institute of Education, University College London (UCL), United Kingdom, where he leads research and teaching in the area of Education, Conflict and Peacebuilding. Professor Pherali developed a pioneering MA in Conflict, Emergencies and Peace at UCL, which provides advanced academic training to postgraduate students from around the globe. Currently, he co-directs the Education Research in Conflict and Crisis (ERICC) Programme, a global research and learning partnership that strives to transform education policy and practice in conflict and protracted crises around the world through building a global hub for rigorous, context-relevant and actionable evidence base.Professor Pherali is the former Chair of the British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE). He is the founding editor of Education and Conflict Review, an open access peer-reviewed journal, author of Conflict, Education and Peace in Nepal (Bloomsbury, 2022) and co-author of Laboratories of Learning: Social Movements, Education and Knowledge-Making in the Global South (Pluto Press, 2024). He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in the United Kingdom in 2023 and is a current Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).
Dr Marcelo Staricoff is a Lecturer in Education and Course Leader of the Bachelor of Arts in Primary and Early Years Programme and Course Leader for the Master of Education Course at the University of Sussex, United Kingdom. He is the author of the book entitled The Joy of Not Knowing (Routledge, 2021), a publication on the Philosophy of Education Transforming Teaching, Thinking, Learning, and Leadership in Schools. A former scientist and primary school headteacher, Professor Staricoff has worked on behalf of UNICEF with policy makers, educators, and textbook publishers to implement a reformed national curriculum in Uzbekistan. He also works for the Coram Children’s Charity alongside implementing courses and advising several schools and educational organisations in the United Kingdom.
Professor Staricoff speaks regularly at national and international events on the principles that underpin The Joy of Not Knowing’s philosophy of education and school leadership. He is also the author of its predecessor, Start Thinking (Imaginative Minds, 2005) and has published widely in the fields of creative, critical, multilingual, multicultural, and philosophical thinking and learning in the classroom. A member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Education (APPG), and Chair of the Michael Aldrich Foundation, Professor Staricoff’s work and his contributions to education have been widely recognised, being named as a Founding Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching in 2019 and through his assignment as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2023.
Dr Fiona Truscott is an Associate Professor (Teaching) with the Integrated Engineering Programme and Centre for Engineering Education in the Faculty of Engineering at University College London (UCL), United Kingdom. She earned a BA/MSc in Natural Science (Chemistry) from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. Following her PhD, she conducted postdoctoral research on the interface of Biology and Chemistry at the Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles (ICSN), part of the CNRS Délégation Île-de-France Sud. She then went on to conduct postdoctoral research in the Department of Biochemical Engineering at UCL, working on the application of automation technology to Biochemical Engineering.
Professor Truscott is the Engineering Challenges Module Lead, a cross faculty, large-scale team project module for first year undergraduates at UCL. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and co-chair of the SEFI DEI Special Interest Group. Her current research interests are interdisciplinary teaching, teamwork, and the embedding of social factors in Engineering Education.
Dr Rosa Urbano Gutiérrez is a Professor of Architecture at the Manchester School of Architecture, United Kingdom, leading the research by design programme in the school’s Non Standard Habitats Atelier. She was trained as an architect at ETS Arquitectura Madrid, Spain, and holds an MDesS in Design and Technology from Harvard University, United States. Professor Gutiérrez conducted her PhD studies in Madrid and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States. A registered architect in both Spain and Portugal, her academic journey includes a significant period at the Liverpool School of Architecture, where she was a Reader in Architecture and held different academic roles between 2010-24.
Professor Gutiérrez’s research lies at the interface between sustainable architectural design and material technology, with an emphasis on the impact of innovative environments on occupants’ comfort and health. She is the founding director of the Experimental Material Ecologies Research Group, and within it created two laboratories, ECALab (2011) and HouseLab (2020), to engage in the production of buildings and policy by developing neglected areas of inclusive, human-centred design.
Dr Helge Wurdemann is a roboticist and Professor of Robotics at University College London (UCL), United Kingdom. He leads the Soft Haptics and Robotics Lab in the university’s Department of Engineering, , which develops soft robots that adapt their shape and stiffness to bridge the gap between rigid and flexible systems. Professor Wurdemann creates and embeds innovative stiffness-controllable mechanisms as well as combines advanced Artificial Intelligence with control strategies in robotic prototypes emerging from his lab.
Professor Wurdemann has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, the majority of which are published in top journals in the field, including Nature Communications and journals of the IEEE and ASME, and in proceedings of leading international conferences. He has served as Associate Editor for prestigious robotics conferences (ICRA and IROS), as Associate VP within the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society Conference Activities Board, and as a member of the IET Robotics and Mechatronics TPN Executive Board. He was a Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute and Co-General Chair of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in 2023, hosted for the first time in the United Kingdom the same year. He is currently a member of the ICRA Steering Committee of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society.
Dr Francesco Ciriello is a Senior Lecturer in Engineering Education at King’s College London, United Kingdom, where he teaches interdisciplinary design. He researches how students learn by working on engineering projects and how they use computational intelligence to improve design processes and outcomes. He is also Director of Undergraduate Student Experience, Departmental lead for Project-based Learning & Design for the General & Electrical Engineering programmes at the same institution, and King’s Academy Fellow in Project-based Learning.
Dr Ciriello has broad expertise in Simulation and Engineering Design, with application to robotics and control systems, fluid dynamics, and manufacturing. He previously worked in the Education Group at MathWorks and provided consultancy services to educators and researchers on software development with MATLAB & Simulink. He also holds a PhD in Engineering from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, for his work in experimental fluid dynamics and a MEng in Civil Engineering from Imperial College London, United Kingdom.
Dr Ciriello is also a visiting lecturer for continued professional development courses at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, where he teaches short courses on Artificial Intelligence for Generative AI, Cloud & Edge, and Digital Twins: Enhancing Model-based design with Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality.
In 2017, an innovative and inclusive higher education provision in engineering, design, and technology was strategically conceived, designed, implemented, and operated at Canterbury Christ Church University, United Kingdom. In 2018, the first cohort of BEng (Hons) Chemical Engineering students were welcomed to the programme, who graduated in 2022. This was followed by the inaugural cohorts of BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering, BEng (Hons) Biomedical Engineering, and BEng (Hons) Product Design Engineering, who completed their programs in 2023.
This keynote will share the journey led by Professor Anne Nortcliffe and her team, highlighting how equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) research theory has been intricately woven into every aspect of the initiative — from building a diverse talent pipeline from primary to higher education, embedding EDI in the engineering curriculum and student experience, to fostering inclusive practises in collaboration with industry partners to support research, innovation, knowledge exchange, and graduate employment.
The session will conclude by reflecting on key lessons learned, offering valuable insights for educational practitioners seeking to design and implement EDI innovations that enhance student learning experiences, support social justice, and promote future graduate success.
Technology and AI in Engineering/STEM Education: Preparing Engineering/STEM Graduates for Global Citizenship and Leadership
Panel Presentation: Fiona Truscott, Lillian Luk, Francesco Ciriello, Mo Zandi, Rana Khalife
Education systems worldwide are becoming more socially and culturally diverse due to globalisation. However, the way education is conceptualised is often shaped by Western perspectives, as globalised education systems are increasingly influenced by dominant knowledge economies. Pedagogical discourse with global stakeholders aids in regulating and normalising formerly biased understandings of what learning is and who counts as a learner.
This panel discussion will focus on the connection between STEM education and the themes of the conference, particularly around how the ongoing developments in technology and AI have impacted STEM/engineering education and how we prepare our graduates to be global citizens and leaders e.g. through developing global competence, embedding EDI, upskilling in transversal competencies, awareness of ethical and professional practice, responsible innovation, and sustainability, among other facets of global citizenship.
The aim of this discussion is to bring to light the interface between rapid global developments and our STEM leaders of the future, in hope that through pedagogical discourse with our fellow global colleagues, we can continue in efforts to level out the knowledge economy.
Universities are under attack. This is clear, especially in Trump’s America, where esteemed institutions such as Columbia and Harvard have come under fire, accused by the current administration of anti-Americanism primarily from concerns related to discrimination and national values. This can be similarly observed in Starmer’s Britain, where the influential Blue Labour faction is arguing that they would be happy to see Higher Education institutions “go to the wall”. What is the substance of these attacks? On one hand, universities are portrayed as trivial and often ridiculous. Here, in elitist bubbles cut off from the concerns of so-called ordinary people, universities are depicted as fretting absurdly about trivial concerns such as pronouns and safe spaces. On the other hand, universities are cast as something serious: a palpable danger to the moral and intellectual health of the younger generation, cultivating “gender-indeterminate snowflakes”; perpetuating a dangerous, anti-patriotic fifth column, threatening to undermine not only the nation, but the entirety of Western civilisation. In sum, are we in universities something serious, or are we something of a joke?
In this talk, I’ll address the ambivalence of universities and the education that we provide, oscillating between the dour seriousness of things like impact and employability, and the pleasurable playfulness of experiment. I will argue, counterintuitively perhaps, that in order to seriously assert our value in the contemporary world, we need to emphasise university and its education, less as a site of seriousness and more as a site of freedom and play.
Cooperating in Difficult Times, Part II: Making Interdisciplinarity Work
Forum Discussion: Marcelo Staricoff, Melina Neophytou
The world faces a plethora of pressing issues today, including intensifying geopolitical tensions, climate change, the rapid advancement of AI, widening social and economic divides, and the erosion of international cooperation. It is commonly agreed that these global challenges are the result of a combination of factors and can therefore not be understood in isolation. Many also concur that these challenges, prevalent in many parts of the world, require international cooperation to be solved. Where international cooperation on a political level is currently failing, education is being called upon to carry on the huge responsibility of cultivating global citizenship, promoting intercultural understanding, and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration in pursuit of shared solutions. However, these challenges and transformations increasingly blur reality and challenge traditional ways of thinking, learning, and living, urging us to reconsider traditional educational frameworks in which we expect interdisciplinarity to work.
The first part of this Forum series on the topic of interdisciplinarity was held during our June conference in Paris, where delegates explored the barriers to interdisciplinary collaboration and asked the crucial question of whether interdisciplinary collaboration and dialogue between disciplines and methodologies are at all possible. The first round of discussion concluded that a lot of interdisciplinary collaboration is taking place, but it tends to be informal. While there is demand and interest in interdisciplinary research, there are limited structures in place to support it, and an exclusionary mindset still persists. The majority of participants agreed, however, that dialogue between disciplines and methodologies is possible.
In Part II of this special Forum series, held both onsite and online in London, we focus on solutions. If interdisciplinarity were to be assessed, what would be the criteria for a successful and high-quality interdisciplinary collaboration project? What academic values does interdisciplinarity address, and how can we reimagine educational values to support interdisciplinary collaboration? What would an interdisciplinary curriculum or research culture look like in practice? How do organisations promote both interdisciplinary interactions within their own institutions and across national and international boundaries? How would interdisciplinary output interact with sectors outside of academia?
Prevention of Dementia: What We Have Learned in the Lancet Commission
Keynote Presentation: Gill Livingston
Dementia is one of the most feared illnesses of older people. It is also one of the most expensive illnesses, as affected individuals may require care for many years, impacting them, their family, and society at large. The potential to prevent dementia is very high, with around 45% of the risk being accounted for by fourteen potentially modifiable risk factors. However, risks are more prevalent in underserved people, who are more likely to have dementia and at an earlier age. This panel will discuss how evidence was evaluated to decide on which putative risk factors to include in the Commission’s model, taking into account prevalence, relative risk, and communality.
Action to tackle these risk factors begins in early life and continues throughout life and is at the level of policy as well as the individual. There is evidence of the effectiveness of reducing such factors, even in individuals with high genetic risk for dementia. Early and continuous Intervention should lead to a lengthening of the health lifespan, and while some people will still develop dementia, a shortening of time in which people live with dementia. The discussion will focus on the risk factors, interventions, and economics of this, using evidence-based population-level as well as complex and individual interventions.
This knowledge offers hope, as it presents a large scope for individuals to reduce their risk of dementia. In addition, governments can decrease dementia in the population, helping individuals, families, and the economy.
Supporting Independent Living, Health and Healthcare Needs in Older Age: Integration of Robots and Smart Technology Within the Home
Panel Presentation: Rosa Urbano Gutiérrez, Bernadette Lee, Paul J. Nietert, Helge Wurdemann, Jane Biddulph
Inclusive residential design can support ageing through facilitation of the use of technological advances and can be used to aid the planning of homes for living with/and technological support for an aging population with diverse and changing needs. Cohabitation with robots and smart technology to support independent living, health, and home-based healthcare in older age has significant potential, but remains limited.
Currently, the integration and adoption of robots and smart technology aimed at those living with frailty or in older age within the home faces challenges, created by real home environments, the changing needs of the resident, and the current design trends in these technological advances.
Overcoming the challenges faced within real home environments, multidisciplinary research co-production, and matching advances with the changing needs, wishes, and perspectives of the resident is central to the future integration and adoption of these technological advances within the home in older age.
The aim of the discussion is to highlight the potential for multidisciplinary input and perspectives to overcome the challenges facing the integration of robots and smart technology to support independent living, health, and healthcare needs in older age.
Education in Contexts of Political Resistance and Armed Struggles: Towards an Agenda for Peace with Justice
Keynote Presentation: Tejendra Pherali
Education is inherently political: policies, curricula, and teaching and learning processes are influenced by the political economy dynamics in the wider context of the society. In contexts of political resistance and armed struggles, education is not only victim to violence but also complicit in fuelling conflict drivers. Educational processes have the potential to address the root causes of inequities and structural inequalities and can build foundations for peace with justice and promote social transformation. Yet, there are significant gaps in research about how children in these politically unstable settings learn and develop. Where the evidence exists, it is generally fragmented and siloed by disciplines, making it difficult to assess progress or take stock of what we know about policies, programmes, and practices that are effective in improving holistic learning outcomes.
Practical, methodological, and ethical challenges in conducting research in these contexts make it difficult to generate rigorous evidence. More importantly, the top-down, formulaic, and often extractive research partnerships that promote the agenda of the donor and external development actors undermine what is needed in local contexts. They also limit how research knowledge can help Indigenous education actors to sustain education and utilise the knowledge to foster their educational struggle. In this presentation, I will discuss the nexus of education, conflict, and peace, and highlight the efforts of the Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crises (ERICC) research consortium to build a coherent body of knowledge in this field by aligning with the locally-developed research agenda that aims to foster policy-oriented and actionable solutions to education in challenging environments.
Climate Change and International Cooperation: Educating in a Contested Space
Panel Discussion: Bernice Lee, Jun Arima, Antony Froggatt, Joseph Haldane
Climate change remains one of the most urgent and complex global challenges, demanding rapid, coordinated action across national borders. With COP 30 on the horizon, this panel will explore the critical role of international cooperation in advancing climate action. It will discuss the role of education in fostering this dialogue, assisting people in making informed decisions, and cultivating negotiation skills. The panellists will give their opinions on the successes and limitations of current multilateral frameworks, such as the Paris Agreement, and examine the evolving expectations for COP 30, including the need for stronger, binding commitments within the revised NDCs, and transparent accountability mechanisms. By fostering dialogue among academics, experts, and civil society, this meeting aims to identify practical pathways for enhancing global solidarity and ambition in the lead-up to COP 30 and beyond.
Jun ArimaUniversity of Tokyo, Japan
