Keynote Speakers
Prof. Ngo Van Nong
✧ Affiliation: Center for Low-temperature Plasma Science, Nagoya University
✧ Email: ngo.van.nong.d2[at]f.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp
Prof. Ngo Van Nong is a Full Professor and Head of Division at the Center for Low-temperature Plasma Science, Nagoya University, Japan. He received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Hanoi University of Education, Vietnam (1997), his M.Sc. in Materials Science from ITIMS, Hanoi, Vietnam (1999), and his Doctor of Engineering from Kyushu University, Japan (2006). After postdoctoral positions in Japan and Taiwan, he spent a decade at DTU Energy, Technical University of Denmark, as Senior Researcher, Technology Coordinator for thermoelectric technology, and Associate Professor, before joining Nagoya University in 2019.
His research focuses on advanced functional materials and devices for energy conversion and storage, including semiconducting thermoelectric materials and generators for waste heat recovery, and nanocarbon materials for high-performance lithium-ion batteries. He achieved a world-record performance for p-type thermoelectric oxides (Advanced Materials, 2011, cited more than 250 times) and holds more than 30 patents on thermoelectric devices and lithium-ion battery technologies. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles (h-index 34, more than 3,000 citations), has attracted over 20 million USD in research funding as PI and Co-PI since 2011, and currently serves as daily project manager for two large JAXA projects on advanced lithium-ion batteries for satellites.
Prof. Nong has more than 15 years of experience in teaching and supervising Ph.D. and M.Sc. students, has delivered over 20 keynote and invited talks, and is a reviewer for journals including Nature Materials, Advanced Materials, and Energy & Environmental Science.
Prof. Pham Nam Hai
✧ Affiliation: Insititute of Science Tokyo
✧ Email: pham.n.ab[at]m.titech.ac.jp
Prof. MAKI Takayoshi
✧ Affiliation: International Education Development Program, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University
✧ Email: maki[at]hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Takayoshi Maki, Ph.D. is a Professor of Human Resource Development for Education at the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University, Japan. His research focuses on teacher education reform, teacher educators’ identities, comparative education, and educational equity, particularly in Asia and Africa. He has extensive academic and research experience in Southeast Asia, including studies at Chulalongkorn University as an exchange student, service as a visiting researcher at the Thai Ministry of Education, work as a visiting scholar at Mae Fah Luang University, and an appointment as a Visiting Professor at Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia. In addition to his work in graduate education, he teaches in the Multicultural and Global Education Program in the School of Education. Professor Maki currently leads several research projects supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), including a comparative study of teacher educators’ identities and professional lives in Asia and Africa and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) project on equitable teacher education in remote and small schools across mainland Southeast Asia. He has also contributed to research on teacher policy, university admissions, educational disparities, overseas Chinese communities, multicultural education in Japan, and the KOSEN. His research laboratory brings together traditional and non-traditional teacher educators from Asia and Africa and is guided by the motto, “Research as My Daily Meal.”
Prof. Jane Singer
✧ Affiliation: Department of Global Studies, Kyoto University of Foreign Studies
✧ Email: j_singer[at]kufs.ac.jp
Jane Singer is professor in the Department of Global Studies at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. She received a BA from the University of the Pacific (California, USA), a Masters in International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, and, in 2015, a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University. Her thesis explored improving outcomes for ethnic minority communities in Vietnam who are displaced by hydropower dam construction. Her current research focuses on development-forced displacement and resettlement as well as university-led community engagement. Before her current position she served as associate professor at Kyoto University for 11 years. She has published 38 book chapters and journal articles. She has also published four books on community resilience and displacement, all from Routledge, including Development-Induced Displacement and Resettlement in Vietnam (2023), co-edited with Mr. Nguyen Quy Nghi of the World Bank.
Prof. Sean A. White
✧ Affiliation: Faculty of Business Administration, Ryukoku University
✧ Email: white[at]biz.ryukoku.ac.jp
Sean White is professor of English Communication in the Faculty of Business Administration and Interfaculty English Communication Course at Ryukoku University, Kyoto. He received his Ph.D. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from the University of Kansas, USA, and M.Ed. in Japanese Language Education from Shimane University, Japan. He has taught English in Japanese higher education for more than 25 years, with the last 15 involving internet and mobile technology-based virtual exchange. In addition to teaching at Ryukoku, he has served as Dean of the university’s International Center and Executive Board Member of the Center for the Promotion of Global Education. His research interests include reading and writing instruction, technology and culture in language education, and educational policy.
Prof. Daniel James
✧ Affiliation: Faculty of Global and Community Studies, Hiroshima Shudo University
✧ Email: james[at]shudo-u.ac.jp
Originally from the U.K., Professor Daniel James is long-term resident of Japan and has spent his career in education the last 10 of which has been at Hiroshima Shudo University. His academic interests span trends in inbound and outbound study abroad programmes based in Japan and the influences of financial incentives, silence as part of non-verbal communication and awareness of it in international students in Japan and also the effects of Extensive Reading on vocabulary acquisition. He has also spent over 25 years involved in promoting study abroad and is interested in finding out the perspectives of Vietnamese students at this conference.
Invited Speakers
Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Gia Minh Thao
✧ Affiliation: Shimane University
✧ Email: nguyenthao[at]riko.shimane-u.ac.jp
Biography
Dr. Ngo Hoai Nguyen
✧ Affiliation: Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University
✧ Email: ngo.hoai.nguyen.a8[at]tohoku.ac.jp
Biography
Dr. Doan Thi Kim Dung
✧ Affiliation: Innovation Center of Nanomedicine (ICONM)
✧ Email: doan-d[at]kawasaki-net.ne.jp
Biography
Asst. Prof. Tomoyuki Hirano
✧ Affiliation: Hiroshima University
✧ Email: tomoyuki-hirano[at]hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Biography
Assoc. Prof. Phung Duc Luc
✧ Affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture, Yamagata University
✧ Email: lucphung[at]tds1.tr.yamagata-u.ac.jp
Biography
Dr. Phung Duc Luc is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Agriculture at Yamagata University. His research focuses on sustainable circular agriculture through the safe use of sewage-derived resources, particularly composted sewage sludge and treated wastewater. Combining field, controlled-environment, and laboratory studies, he investigates crop productivity, nutrient-use efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, dissolved organic matter, and soil microbial functions. He also examines the occurrence, fate, and transfer of emerging contaminants across water –soil–plant systems and their potential ecological and human-health risks.
Dr. Luc received his Ph.D. from the United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Iwate University. He previously served as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellow and a Project Assistant Professor. Through collaboration with municipalities, resource-recovery operators, farmers, and international researchers, he develops practical solutions for climate-smart, resource-efficient, and environmentally safe agriculture.
Asst. Prof. Namita Maharjan
✧ Affiliation: National Institute of Technology, Nagaoka College
✧ Email: namimaha[at]nagaoka-ct.ac.jp
Biography
Dr. Nguyen Thi Hai Anh
✧ Affiliation: Hiroshima University
✧ Email: haianhnguyen.tb17[at]gmail.com
Biography
Dr. Hai Anh has a background in chemistry and environmental engineering. She received her Ph.D. in Engineering from Hiroshima University, Japan, in 2026, and her Master’s degree from the University of Ulsan, Korea.
Before her graduate studies, Dr. Hai Anh worked for nearly ten years in the pulp and paper industry in Vietnam. Her work involved industrial processes, water and wastewater treatment, and environmental monitoring. This practical experience led her to continue her research in water treatment and environmental materials.
Dr. Hai Anh research interests include carbon-based materials, adsorption, advanced oxidation processes, and the use of waste materials for environmental applications. She hopes to develop practical and sustainable materials for the treatment of emerging contaminants and resource recycling.
Asst. Prof. PHAM Tam Long
✧ Affiliation: College of International Management, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University
✧ Email: longpt[at]apu.ac.jp
Biography
Assistant Professor Long Tam Pham, PhD in Business Administration (2024), is at the College of International Management, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU). As a Japanese Government Scholarship (MEXT) scholar, he holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Osaka University. His research explores Sustainable Development, Social Responsibility, and Sustainability in Management. He is an early-career researcher with a record in comparative management research, including the EURAM Sustainability Paper Award (2025) for a transgenerational study of family firms in Japan and Austria, the Distinguished Impact Award of the College of International Management (AY2026), and a British Council RENKEI Early Career Researcher Grant (2023).
Dr. Forhad Hossain
✧ Affiliation: Faculty of Liberal Arts (International Business & Economics), Sophia University
✧ Email: f-hossain-6p6[at]sophia.ac.jp
Biography
Dr. Forhad Hossain is an academician, entrepreneurship educator, and social entrepreneur whose work focuses on Empathy-Driven Entrepreneurship (EDE)—an approach that connects entrepreneurship, innovation, and human-centered problem solving to address complex social and economic challenges. With more than 10 years of experience across academia and industry, his interdisciplinary background spans Management and Information Science, with research and practice in entrepreneurship, social business, SDGs, digital health, health innovation, and sustainable development.
Through his teaching, research, and entrepreneurial engagement, Dr. Hossain promotes entrepreneurship not only as a means of venture creation, but also as a mechanism for understanding people’s needs, designing inclusive solutions, and generating meaningful social and economic value. His current work on Empathy-Driven Entrepreneurship emphasizes the importance of empathy, contextual understanding, collaboration, and responsible innovation in developing entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
He has worked across sectors to design entrepreneurship programs, support startups, mentor aspiring entrepreneurs, and advance sustainable solutions, particularly in Global South contexts. He is also actively engaged in building collaboration between developed and developing countries to promote knowledge exchange, capacity building, and resource mobilization for sustainable impact.
Through his academic and practical initiatives, Dr. Hossain seeks to bridge empathy with entrepreneurship, research with practice, and ideas with action, contributing to more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Dr. Nguyen Anh Hao
✧ Affiliation: Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University
✧ Email: anhhaonguyen[at]aoni.waseda.jp
Biography
Dr. Nguyen Anh Hao is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University. Holding a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Yokohama National University, his research primarily explores behavioral operations management and oganizational behavior, specifically the mechanism of establishing a sense of urgency to drive workplace innovation, continuous improvement, and collaboration. His broader academic interests encompass supply chain management, marketing, entrepreneurship, and education. Dr. Hao’s work has been featured in several publications in international journals, including the International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, and The TQM Journal. As an alumnus of Vietnam-Japan University, he actively fosters academic and educational collaborations between Vietnam and Japan. Alongside his research, he coordinates graduate courses on Japan’s global cooperation experiences at Waseda University and lectures on international business, corporate strategy, and organizational development across prominent Japanese institutions, including Sophia University and Yokohama National University.