IAFOR > The European Conference on Arts & Humanities (ECAH)

The 13th European Conference on Arts & Humanities (ECAH2025)

Partner Logos: Birkbeck, University of London, UCL, OSIPP, IAFOR Research Centre

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Join us in London (and online) for ECAH2025!

July 10-14, 2025 | SOAS & University College London, UK

Held in partnership with University College London (UCL), Birkbeck, University of London and the University of Sussex, this international conference encourages academics and scholars to meet and exchange ideas and views in a forum stimulating respectful dialogue, by bringing together university scholars working in the UK, Europe, and beyond to share ideas and research. This event will afford an exceptional opportunity for renewing old acquaintances, making new contacts, networking, and facilitating partnerships across national and disciplinary borders.

Since its founding in 2009, IAFOR has brought people and ideas together in a variety of events and platforms to promote and celebrate interdisciplinary study, and underline its importance. Over the past year we have engaged in many cross-sectoral projects, including those with universities (the University of Barcelona, Hofstra University, UCL, University of Belgrade and Moscow State University), think tanks (the East-West Center), as well as collaborative projects with the United Nations in New York, and the Government of Japan through the Prime Minister’s office, and right here in London with University College London (UCL), Birkbeck, University of London and the University of Sussex, for this conference!

With the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, we have engaged in a number of interdisciplinary initiatives we believe will have an important impact on domestic and international public policy conversations. It is through conferences like these that we expand our network and partners, and we have no doubt that ECAH2025 will offer a remarkable opportunity for the sharing of research and best practice, for the meeting of people and ideas. We expect the resultant professional and personal collaborations to endure for many years!

The 13th European Conference on Arts & Humanities (ECAH2025) is an interdisciplinary conference held alongside The 13th European Conference on Education (ECE2025) and The 5th European Conference on Aging & Gerontology (EGen2025). Registration for any of these conferences will allow delegates to attend sessions in the others. In keeping with our mission, we open the plenary sessions to all delegates across the conferences. We do this as every individual delegate has their own different overlapping interests.

In conjunction with our Global Partners, including University College London (UCL), Birkbeck, University of London and the University of Sussex, we look forward to meeting you in London (and online) for ECAH2025.

– The ECAH2025 Programme Committee

Key Information
  • Venue & Location: SOAS & University College London, UK
  • Dates: Thursday, July 10, 2025 ​to Monday, July 14, 2025
  • Early Bird Abstract Submission Deadline: February 14, 2025*
  • Final Abstract Submission Deadline: April 18, 2025
  • Registration Deadline for Presenters: May 23, 2025

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

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Speakers

  • Jun Arima
    Jun Arima
    University of Tokyo, Japan
  • Anne Boddington
    Anne Boddington
    Middlesex University, United Kingdom & IAFOR, Japan
  • Evangelia Chrysikou
    Evangelia Chrysikou
    University College London, UK
  • Joseph Haldane
    Joseph Haldane
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
  • Li Wei
    Li Wei
    University College London, Institute of Education, UK

IAFOR's Conference Themes for 2025-2029

IAFOR Themes 2025-2029
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.

    Conference News

    Accepted Presentations

    As of March 11, 2025, ECAH2025 has received over 260 submissions from 50 countries. The following submissions have been accepted for presentation at ECAH2025. Media, Film Studies, Theatre, Communication - Representing Tigers on Film: Evolution of Identity and Cultural Symbolism ...
    The IAFOR Pub Quiz

    Networking Event: Classic British Pub Quiz

    Sit back, relax, and get a little competitive after the plenaries with IAFOR’s Classic British Pub Quiz event on Friday, July 11 ...
    IAFOR Scholarship Recipients

    IAFOR Grant and Scholarship Recipients 2024

    We are delighted to announce the recipients of IAFOR grants and scholarships for ECAH2024 to be held in London in July 2024 ...

    Read Last Year's Conference Report

    View the ECE/ECAH/EGen2024 Conference Photo Gallery

    About IAFOR

    "Inspiring Global Collaborations"

    Founded in 2009, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) is a mission-driven politically independent non-partisan and non-profit organisation dedicated to encouraging interdisciplinary discussion, facilitating intercultural awareness and promoting international exchange, principally through educational interaction and academic research. Based in Japan, its main administrative office is in Nagoya, and its research centre is in the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), a graduate school of Osaka University. IAFOR runs research programs and events in partnership with universities, think tanks, and other associations. Through its international, intercultural and interdisciplinary conferences, research, and publications, IAFOR is a network hub for interdisciplinary discussion across Asia and beyond.
    Read more about IAFOR.

    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).

    Panel Discussion (2025) | TBA
    Li Wei
    University College London, Institute of Education, UK

    Biography

    Li Wei is Director and Dean of the UCL Institute of Education, where he also holds a Chair of Applied Linguistics. He is Fellow of the British Academy, Academia Europaea, Academy of Social Sciences (UK), and Royal Society of Arts (UK). He is Editor of the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism and Applied Linguistics Review.

    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.

    Joseph Haldane
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

    Biography

    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 global business and academic operations.

    Dr Haldane’s research and teaching is on history, politics, international affairs and international education, as well as governance and decision making, and he is a Member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network for Global Governance. 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, since 2017, Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre, an interdisciplinary think tank situated within the University.

    In 2020 Dr Haldane was appointed Honorary Professor of UCL (University College London), through the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction. He holds Visiting Professorships in the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade, and at the Doshisha Business School in Kyoto, where he teaches Ethics and Governance on the MBA, and is a member of the Value Research Center. He is also a Member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa.

    Professor Haldane has given invited lectures and presentations to universities and conferences globally, 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 and Cabinet Office, and oversaw the 2021 Ministry of Foreign Affairs commissioned study on Infectious Diseases on Cruise Ships.

    Dr Haldane has a PhD from the University of London in 19th-century French Studies, and has had full-time faculty positions at the Université 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 Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas, and the schools of Journalism at both Sciences Po Paris, and Moscow State University.

    From 2012-2014, Dr Haldane served as Treasurer of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (Chubu), and since 2015 has been a Trustee of HOPE International Development Agency (Japan). He was elected Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in 2012 and the Royal Society of Arts in 2015. He lives in Japan and holds a black belt in Judo.

    Previous Presentations

    Featured Interview (2021) | Selfless: Journeys through Identity and Social Class
    Plenary Panel Presentation (2018) | Fearful Futures
    Anne Boddington
    Middlesex University, United Kingdom & IAFOR, Japan

    Biography

    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.

    Previous Presentations

    Panel Presentation (2021) | Building Back Better: Are Universities Fit for Purpose?
    Keynote Presentation (2020) | Viral Lessons
    Plenary Panel (2019) | Reimagining the Future
    Plenary Panel Presentation (2018) | Fearful Futures
    Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | The Challenges of Doing Research and Creative Activity in the Arts and Humanities Today