IAFOR > The IAFOR International Conference on Education in Hawaii (IICE) > IICE > Speakers

Speakers

The IAFOR International Conference on Education in Hawaii (IICE) is a multidisciplinary conference held concurrently with The IAFOR International Conference on Arts & Humanities in Hawaii (IICAH). Keynote, Featured and Spotlight Speakers will provide a variety of perspectives from different academic and professional backgrounds. Registration for either of these conferences permits attendance in both.

This page provides information about presenters. For details of presentations and other programming, please visit the Programme page.

Become a Speaker

Excellent plenary speakers are central to our conferences, ensuring that timely, innovative and engaging content is presented to our audiences around the world. If you would like to be considered for a speaking slot at one of our conferences, please apply below.

Apply to Speak

Plenary Speakers

Jun Arima

University of Tokyo, Japan
Grant Black

Chuo University, Japan
Joseph Haldane

The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
Mary Hattori

East-West Center, United States
Michael Menchaca

University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, United States
Melina Neophytou

IAFOR, Japan
Daron Williams

Virginia Tech, United States
Dan Yaffe

Virginia Tech, United States

Previous Speakers

View details of speakers at past IICEHawaii conferences via the links below.

IICEHawaii2023	IICEHawaii2022	IICEHawaii2021
IICEHawaii2020	IICEHawaii2019	IICEHawaii2018
IICEHawaii2017	IICEHawaii2016

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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).

Keynote Presentation (2025) | TBA

Grant Black

Chuo University, Japan

Biography

Professor Grant Black is a professor in the Faculty of Commerce at Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan, where he has taught Global Skills and Global Issues since 2013. Grant is engaged in diverse roles as a global manager, systems builder, executive leader and university professor. His research and teaching areas include global management skills, intercultural intelligence (CQ) and organisational management. He also has taught Japanese Management Theory at J. F. Oberlin University (Japan), and a continuing education course in the Foundations of Japanese Zen Buddhism at Temple University Japan. Previously, he was Chair of the English Section at the Center for Education of Global Communication at the University of Tsukuba where he served in a six-year post in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. He holds a BA Highest Honors in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara; an MA in Japanese Buddhist Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles; and a Doctor of Social Science (DSocSci) from the Department of Management in the School of Business at the University of Leicester. Dr Black is a Chartered Manager (CMgr), the highest status that can be achieved in the management profession in the UK. In 2018, he was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA). Grant is President of Black Inc. Consulting (Japan), a Tokyo-based firm specialising in international and intercultural project management, communication projects, and executive leadership and training. He is the director of the Nippon Academic Management Institute (NAMI) and the author of Education Reform Policy at a Japanese Super Global University: Policy Translation, Migration and Mutation (Routledge, 2022). He serves as a Vice-President for the International Academic Forum (IAFOR).

Panel Presentation (2025) | TBA

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 has a PhD from the University of London in nineteenth-century French studies (ULIP/RHUL), and has research interests in world history and politics; international education; and governance and decision making. Since 2015, he has been a Guest Professor at Osaka University’s School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), and Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre since 2017.

In 2020, Dr Haldane was elected Honorary Professor of University College London (UCL) through the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, and full Professor in the United Nations Peace University's European Center for Peace and Development in 2022. A member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network for global governance, he holds visiting professorships at Belgrade and Doshisha Universities where he teaches ethics and governance. He is a member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Professor Haldane 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 (Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas), and the Schools of Journalism of Sciences Po Paris and Moscow State University.

Dr Haldane has been invited to speak at universities and conferences globally, including the UN HQ 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 oversaw the 2021 Ministry of Foreign Affairs commissioned study on Infectious Diseases on Cruise Ships.

Panel Presentation (2025) | TBA

Previous Presentations

Featured Interview (2024) | Questions of Education, Curation and Artificial Intelligence

Mary Hattori

East-West Center, United States

Biography

Dr Mary Therese Perez Hattori is a daughter of Guåhan (Guam), of the clan Familian Titang, born to Paul Mitsuo Hattori† of Kalihi, O’ahu, Hawaii and Fermina Leon Guerrero Perez† of the village of Chalan Pago, Guam. She currently serves as Director of the Pacific Islands Development Program (PIDP) with the East-West Center and previously enjoyed a long career in various technology and education-related positions. PIDP is a regional organisation, a founding member of the Council of Regional Organisations of the Pacific and secretariat of the Pacific Islands Council of Leaders.

Dr Hattori is also affiliate graduate faculty in Pacific Studies, Learning Design and Technology, and several Educational Doctorate programs, a community organiser, advocate for Pacific Islanders in the United States, public speaker, author, and poet. She is co-founder and co-organizer of cultural events such as the Cultural Animation Film Festival and the Celebrate Micronesia Festival, both held annually in Honolulu. She serves the state of Hawaii as a member of the Board of Education and Associate Member of the Consular Corps of Honolulu.

Keynote Presentation (2025) | TBA

Previous Presentations

Panel Presentation (2021) | Cultural Resilience

Michael Menchaca

University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, United States

Biography

Michael Menchaca is Chair of the Department of Learning Design and Technology at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. He specialises in distance education, and has designed, implemented, and coordinated online and hybrid programs for over 20 years. He serves as editor for the IAFOR Journal of Education: Technology in Education Edition. He was an IT specialist for many years in the public and private sector. He teaches and conducts research in the areas of online learning, technology integration, and social justice with technology.

Featured Panel Presentation (2025) | TBA

Previous Presentations

Featured Panel Presentation (2024) | Practical Approaches to AI in Academia

Panel Presentation (2022) | Reimagining General Education Across Hawaii’s 10-Campus System: Process, Product, and Lessons Learned

Panel Presentation (2021) | Post-pandemic Online Education: Moving from Crisis Intervention to Optimal Experience

Melina Neophytou

IAFOR, Japan

Biography

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.

Her research interests currently focus on the Japanese welfare state, family values within Japanese society, and their relationship to family policies. She is particularly interested in state-society relations by uncovering how informal social ideas influence formal social policy.

Forum Discussion (2025) | TBA

Daron Williams

Virginia Tech, United States

Biography

Mr Daron Williams is the Director of Instructional Design & Development for Technology-enhanced Learning & Online Strategies (TLOS) at Virginia Tech, United States. In this role, he works with faculty and administration to plan, design, and build engaging technology-enhanced courses and programmes for the university. He and his team also consult with faculty about effective teaching with technology in the classroom, and facilitate faculty professional development around topics in the same realm.

Mr Williams originally comes from a professional background in broadcasting and journalism. He earned a master's degree in Communication from Virginia Tech, where he is currently a PhD candidate in Curriculum and Instruction in the School of Education. He earned a bachelor’s degree fromRoanoke College, United States.

Featured Workshop (2025) | Quality Courses Quickly: Using GenAI as a Course Design Assistant

Dan Yaffe

Virginia Tech, United States

Biography

Mr Daniel Yaffe is Director of Learning Technologies in Technology-enhanced Learning and Online Strategies (TLOS) at Virginia Tech, United States. Mr Yaffe has been working in Instructional Technologies (IT) and Professional Development (PD) fields for the past 10 years. Before transitioning to roles in IT and PD, he worked in the insurance and banking industry as well as corporate training. In his current role as Director, he supports the use of teaching and learning technologies and pedagogy across the university. He earned a Master of Education in Adult Education and Communications Technology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2011 and is currently a Doctoral Candidate in Instructional Design and Technology at Virginia Tech.

Featured Workshop (2025) | Quality Courses Quickly: Using GenAI as a Course Design Assistant