Keynote Speakers

Dr. Xiaochun Qiao

Dr. Xiaochun Qiao is a professor at the Institute of Population Research, Peking University, vice president of China Population Association (CPA), the pioneer member of International Network of Health Expectancy and Disability Process (REVES), vice president of International Commission of Historical Demography (ICHD), and editor-in-chief of the Journal of China Population and Development Studies (CPDS). He got B.S.in Computational Mathematics at Liaoning University in 1982, and then started working at the population census office of Liaoning Province. He got both master and PhD degrees in demography at Renmin University of China in 1987 and 1994, respectively, and conducted post-doc research and to be research associate at Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA from 1999 to 2001. He was an overseas fellow at the Institute of Developing Economy, Japan External Trade Organization, Japan in 2003, and visiting professor of Department of Sociology at University of Waterloo, Canada in 2008. He served as editor-in-chief of the leading journal of Population Research (in Chinese) from 1994 to 1999 and executive editor-in-chief of Journal of Population and Development from 2006 to 2020. He was a council member of IPPF at Asia and Oceania, and was invited by UN, UNFPA, and WHO as advisors. His research interests focus on population policy, population Aging, Health Expectancy, Population Census, Population Projection, and Quantitative Methods for Social Sciences. He has published more than two hundred articles and fifteen books in both English and Chinese.

Dr. Liudmila Ivonina

Dr. Liudmila Ivonina is professor of Department of History and Law, Smolensk State University. Her research areas are the history of international relations, the images of political leaders and monarchs, the problems of representation of power in XVII-XVIII centuries. In 1987-1995, she worked as an assistant, senior assistant and lecturer at the history faculty at the University of Zaporozhye (Ukraine). In 1991, she received her doctorate degree in Leningrad University with a dissertation “Anglo-French diplomatic relations during the Thirty Years' War” (under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Alexander Nemilov). From February 1995, she worked as a lecturer at the State University of Smolensk (Russia). Dr. Ivonina has taken part in various international congresses and conferences (Münster 1996; Smolensk 1998, 2001, 2010; Pskov 2007; Reading, UK 2003; Moscow 2003; Mainz, Germany 2009; Kazan, 2010; Baden, Switzerland 2012, Moscow 2015-2016, Saint Petersburg 2016, Strasbourg 2018, Edinburgh 2019, Toulouse 2022, London 2023 and so on). She is the author more than 200 publications (papers and books).

Anja Heikkinen

Dr. Anja Heikkinen is a Professor of Education in the Faculty of Education and Culture of Tampere University in Finland (https://equjust.wordpress.com/). During her career she has been working as a teacher of mathematics, sciences and philosophy in gymnasia, vocational college and folk high school, as a planner and a chief of educational affairs in state and municipal administration, and as a lecturer and professor in fields of vocational, adult and general education in universities of Jyväskylä and Tampere, besides as a visiting scholar in number of universities in Europe and elsewhere. She has been initiating networks and collaborative projects of historical, cross-cultural and gender-critical research and studies in vocational and adult education across all continents, as well as acting a convener and steering committee member in national and European research associations, such as the European Educational Research Association and the European Society for the Research on Education of Adults. In all her actions, she has promoted dialogue and collaboration between researchers, practitioners and policymakers in tackling the problems of participation, equality and justice through adult, vocational and higher education. Lately, she has been occupied with initiatives to open universities to the urgent and intertwined challenges of rapidly increasing forced migration, social and economic inequalities and environmental degradation. Her mission is to transform the university into a societally and environmentally responsive community, where studies and research are integrated into a transformative action, which promotes equality, justice and well-being of the human and non-human inhabitants on the planet earth. Some of these ideas are included in her recent publications, such as Disciplinary Struggles in Education (https://trepo.tuni.fi//handle/10024/115765), Myths and Brands in Vocational Education (https://www.cambridgescholars.com/myths-and-brands-in-vocational-education) and Adult Education and the Planetary Condition (https://issuu.com/svv-ohjelma/docs/adult_educ_planetary_cond_2016).

Dr. Jin Kwang SO

Dr. Jin Kwang SO is an Emeritus Professor at Gachon University. He received a bachelor’s degree in geography education major and economics minor, a master's degree in urban planning, and a Ph.D. in public administration from Seoul National University. After working as a professor at the Local Administration Training Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he moved to Kyungwon University (currently Gachon University) in 1990 and is now serving as an emeritus professor in the Department of Public Administration. He served as the dean of the School of Law and the Dean of the Graduate School of Social Policy at Kyungwon University. He has been dispatched to Hanoi Architectural University as a professor by KOICA twice (2001-2002, 2008-2009) and to Tirana Municipal Government of Albania as a policy advisor in 2003. He served as the Vice President after integrating 4 universities and colleges into Gachon University since 2012. He served as the 14th president of the Korean Regional Development Association, and the 11th president of the Korean Association for Local Government Studies, and served as a consultant to the Korean government and international organizations for a long time. He has been involved in Korea's foreign aid projects for over 20 years, and has performed evaluation and feasibility studies on aid projects for more than 15 developing countries. In particular, while serving as the 23rd president of the Korea Saemaul Undong Center, he organized the Saemaul Undong Global League (SGL), which currently has 46 member countries. Emeritus Professor, SO published more than 180 academic papers and more than 30 books. Emeritus Professor, SO received various academic awards for his books and articles. In 2015, he was awarded a “National Medal” by the Korean government for his contribution to the academic development of Korea in the field of local government studies.

Dr. Mostaq M. Hussain

Dr. Mostaq M. Hussain is a Professor of Accounting in the Faculty of Business at the University of New Brunswick-Saint John. He obtained his B.Com (with honors) and M.Com (in accounting) from the University of Dhaka and MSc, and Ph.D. (in Accounting) from the University of Vaasa, Finland. He worked in different universities in Japan (Nihon University), Sweden (Umeo University), Finland, Qatar (Qatar University), Kuwait (American University of Kuwait), UAE (University of Sharjah and Canadian University in Dubai) and Oman (Sultan Qaboos University. He is the Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Accounting and Finance (IJAF). He has published a number of articles in international refereed journals and book chapters, and received more than two dozens of scholarships/awards from different institutions in Finland, Sweden, Japan, Norway, UK and Canada, including Literati Club’s 'Awards for Excellence', and Sultan Qaboos University’s 'Distinguished Research Award'.

Dr. SM Abdul Quddus

Dr. SM Abdul Quddus is a professor of technology management and sustainable innovation at the Business School of the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (WNUAS). He earned an M. Phil and Ph.D. in Public Administration from the University of Bergen, Norway. He has been lecturing at various universities in Bangladesh, Norway, and Malaysia for 30 years. Before joining WNUAS in 2022, he was a professor and director at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). He also served as the Chairman of Public Administration at the University of Chittagong and was a member of the Board of Governors at the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC), Savar, Dhaka. He is a member of the Comparative and International Education Society at the University of Chicago, and The Norwegian Association of Researchers (2022- present). He is also a life member of the Malaysian Social Science Association (MSSA). He specializes in technology management and sustainable development; education, organizational change and innovation; globalization and governance; and politics, administration, and organization in the Muslim world. He worked as a foreign expert to review academic programs and design Academic Master Plans for selected public universities in Bangladesh and Malaysia. He has authored and edited six books/monographs and contributed over two dozen articles/book chapters to internationally refereed journals/books published in the US, Norway, Singapore, Malaysia, and other parts of the world. He is the recipient of the Guest Scholar Fellowship awarded by the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Dr. Kamrul Hossain

Kamrul Hossain is an expert in international law. He is a Research Professor and the Director of the Northern Institute for Environmental and Minority Law (NIEM) at the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland. Currently, he chairs the University of the Arctic’s Legal Research and Education and leads the Thematic Network on Arctic Law. His research mainly focuses on international environmental law, ocean governance, and human rights laws, especially as they relate to the Polar and the Arctic regions. Over the years, he has published extensively on nearly all aspects of Arctic governance, including climate change and environmental management, biodiversity, Arctic geopolitics and security, the law of the sea, and human rights, emphasizing legal, institutional, and policy perspectives. He has served as the Principal Investigator (PI) for approximately two dozen research grants at both the international and national levels, funded by organizations such as the Research Council of Finland, the Nordic research funding agency – NordForsk, the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM), the Finnish National Agency for Education, UArctic, the Sasakawa Foundation and the Council of the Baltic Sea States.

Dr. M. Rezaul Islam

Dr. M. Rezaul Islam is currently a Director of the Institutional Quality Assurance Cell ( IQAC), University of Dhaka, and Professor, Department of Public Health, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He hold a Ph.D. in Social Sciences (Development Policies) and a Master of Social Work (MSW) from the University of Nottingham, England. With 28 years of professional experience, he has contributed internationally to teaching, research, and public speaking at prestigious institutions. His research and teaching interests adopt a multidisciplinary approach to the social sciences, supported by an extensive publication record. In recognition of his academic contributions, he has been ranked 52nd worldwide in the latest 2024 Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Scientist Rankings for the Social Work subfield. Dr Islam serves on the International Advisory Board of the Community Development Journal and hold editorial positions with Asian Social Work and Policy Review, Local Development & Society, International Journal of Community Well-being, and SN Social Sciences.

Dr. Mohammad Mainul Islam

Dr. Mohammad Mainul Islam is a professor and former Chairman of the Department of Population Sciences at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, with over 23 years of experience in Population and Development, Sociology, Global Health, and China Studies. In 2025, Professor Islam was recognized as one of the world’s top 2% scientists on the list by Elsevier and Stanford University. Dr. Islam holds a PhD degree in Demography from Peking University of Beijing, China, where he received the First Prize of Academic Excellence Award, and later he completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Global Health at McGill University. He has also received advanced training from institutions including  Johns Hopkins, Stanford University, Brown University, University of Quebec, the University of Laval, University of Bergen, and Beijing Language and Culture University. As a scholar, Dr. Islam has authored over 89 scientific publications and presented at more than 250 conferences in both domestic and abroad. His research has appeared in The Lancet, Lancet Global Health, PLOS ONE, and other leading journals. He currently leads a China-Bangladesh comparative research project funded by CCS and SISS. Beyond his primary role, he teaches in the Departments of Chinese Language and Culture, Linguistics, and Sociology at the University of Dhaka. He has served on the Syndicate of Dhaka University and is currently a Syndicate member of Comilla University, nominated by the Government of Bangladesh.

Major General Md Habib Ullah

Major General Md Habib Ullah, SGP, SPP, ndc, afwc, psc, MPhil,  is currently serving as Ambassador, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,  Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh. He was commissioned into the Armoured Corps of the Bangladesh Army on 20 December 1991.  He was the former Chairman of Sena Kalyan Sangstha (SKS). Throughout his career, he has attended numerous professional training courses, including the Company Commander’s Course in China and the VIP/Dignitary’s Protection Course in Thailand. He is a graduate of the Defence Services Command and Staff College and has completed the Armed Forces War Course and National Defence Course at the National Defence College, Bangladesh. He holds an MPhil in Strategic and Development Studies from the Bangladesh University of Professionals. Major General Md Habib Ullah has received two peacetime awards: the SPP (Army Efficiency Medal) and the SGP (Army Medal of Glory), in recognition of his outstanding professionalism and dedication. With three decades of experience, he has held various command, staff, and instructional positions in the Army, including serving as an instructor at the School of Infantry and Tactics, Principal of a Cadet College, and Commandant of the School of Military Intelligence and Armour School. He has also served in United Nations Peacekeeping Missions as a Military Liaison Officer in Timor Leste (UNMIT) and as a Military Observer in East Timor (UNTAET). Major General Habib has been actively involved in humanitarian efforts, participating in post-cyclone management in 1991 and flood relief in 1998.