Prof. Rustam Shadiev

Zhejiang University, China

 

Prof. Rustam Shadiev is a Tenured Professor at the College of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, specializing in advanced learning technologies for language learning and cross-cultural education. He earned his Ph.D. in Network Learning Technology from National Central University in 2012. Prof. Shadiev is a Fellow of the British Computer Society (BCS), a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). He also serves as a Graduate Faculty Scholar in the College of Graduate Studies at the University of Central Florida, USA.

In 2019, Prof. Shadiev was honored with the title of Distinguished Professor of Jiangsu Province, China. He has published over 200 academic studies, with more than half appearing in journals indexed by the Social Sciences Citation Index. Additionally, he has been recognized as one of the most cited Chinese researchers in the field of education by Elsevier, Scopus, and Shanghai Ranking for four consecutive years, from 2020 to 2023.

Prof. Shadiev serves on the Editorial Board of several prestigious journals, including the Journal of Educational Technology & Society, the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, and Smart Learning Environments. He also guest edits special issues for various esteemed journals, such as the Journal of Educational Technology & Society, Sustainability, and Frontiers in Psychology.

 

Assoc. Prof. Jianhua Yang

Warwick University, UK

 

Dr. Jianhua Yang currently serves as an Associate Professor - Reader at WMG, Warwick University. He began his career in higher education in 2006 as a postgraduate research fellow at Warwick University, while pursuing his Ph.D. His PhD research focused on the topic of intelligent data mining using artificial neural networks and evolutionary computing. Jianhua earned his PhD in 2010, and subsequently, he worked as a bioinformatics researcher, initially on a European Union Framework No. 7 project, and later as a lecturer, teaching a variety of ICT courses at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, in addition to supervising PhD research projects. Prior to his return to Warwick in 2018, Jianhua also gained experience in the automotive industry. He is a Chartered Engineer, a Senior Member of the IEEE, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Jianhua is a Fellow of the Warwick International Higher Education Academy where he co-leads the AI in Education Learning Circle.

 

Assoc. Prof. Celina da Silva

York University, Canada

 

Celina da Silva, MN/ Collaborative Bioethics, PhD holds the position of Associate Professor at York University in Toronto, Canada. Her research is centered around virtual serious games (VSGs) and virtual reality. She has received grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada and eCampus Ontario to support her work in this area including a recent SSHRC grant received in 2024.
Dr. da Silva’s recent study, backed by SSHRC funding focuses on developing open-access VSGs tailored for International Educated Nurses (IENs). She is collaborating with IENs using a co-design approach and leveraging the Morai open-access framework to create culturally relevant VSGs. These immersive virtual experiences aim to tackle the challenges faced by IENs as they transition into the Canadian healthcare system. Additionally she has partnered with research teams to explore the transitional needs of post-secondary students and mid-career workers with disabilities. The objective of these initiatives is to develop engaging digital tools customized for the unique needs of marginalized communities, through a person-centered approach.
Leveraging her multifaceted expertise in game design, virtual reality, and community-engaged scholarship, Dr. da Silva occupies a pivotal role in harnessing the power of transformative digital tools for positive social impact. Her innovative projects aim to enhance learning, wellbeing, and accessibility in the virtual world by centering the “lived experiences” of end-users and prioritizing social good.

 

Assoc. Prof. Jessica Humphreys

University of Warwick, UK

 

Jess Humphreys is the Director of the Warwick International Higher Education Academy and an Associate Professor at the University of Warwick. WIHEA leads educational excellence at Warwick by empowering staff and students to forge meaningful connections and vibrant communities that seek to develop, recognise, and embed outstanding learning and teaching practices that enhance student opportunities to 'learn beyond boundaries.' Before joining WIHEA, Jess worked in Academic Development, leading the institutional, professional development of digital education and the Learning Design Consultancy Unit (LDCU) created during the pandemic. The LDCU brought colleagues together from across the institution to share practice and support around blended learning design. As part of this work, Jess also created, led and coordinated the Technology Enhanced Learning Forum and Technology Enhanced Active Learning Festival (TEALFest) with colleagues from Academic Technology and across the institution. The LDCU work received the Advance HE Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) in 2022. Jess champions design thinking methodologies, exploring new ways to embed the student voice in design, particularly around digital education. She has co-led a new initiative at Warwick, bringing staff and students together to design solutions to education challenges. This work has culminated in blog posts, conference papers, journal articles and a book chapter. The Designing Together team were also recognised with the institutional Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence in 2024.
Jess’s area of research includes student voice in design, the power of communities of practice in transforming education and creating safe spaces for innovation and scholarship. Outside of Warwick, Jess is Chair of the ALT-ELESIG (formerly the Evaluating Learner Experiences of E-learning Special Interest Group) and co-leads a scholar scheme initiative with colleagues from across the UK. Jess is a reviewer for several journals including 'Innovations in Education and Teaching International Journal' and the 'Association for Learning Technology Review Journal'.

 

 

Assoc. Prof. Eamon Costello

Dublin City University, Ireland

 

Dr Eamon Costello is an Associate Professor of Digital Learning in Dublin City University. He has degrees in English and History, Computer Science and a Doctorate in Education. He is deeply curious about how and why we learn in particular environments, offline, online and everywhere in between. He is also concerned with how we actively shape our world so that we can have better and more humane places in which to think, work, live and learn. Ultimately this has become an increasing focus of his work: to determine how students and teachers can work together and hold each other accountable for building mutually shared worlds. This work has been widely published in journals relating to critical education, ethics of educational technology, open education, digital learning pedagogies, learning design, speculative methods and AI in education. He is an accomplished public speaker and is known for his creative approaches to teaching and multimodal research and outreach. He was formerly Head of Open Education in Dubin City University and is currently a national ambassador for the DigiEduHack European Digital Education initiative. He is an advocate of using the right tool for the right job – or sometimes none at all, for not everything can be fixed nor should be built. You can read more on his university profile and connect with him on LinkedIn.

 

 

 

Prof. Fahriye Altinay

Near East University, Cyprus

 

Prof. Dr. Fahriye Altinay graduated from the Faculty of Communication. She completed her master's degree in educational sciences in the field of educational technology, distance education. She completed her master's thesis as the subject of "communication barriers in distance education". She graduated from the Near East University, PhD program in Educational Administration.

The subject of the doctoral thesis is the adaptation of learning organizations and distance education institutions. Later, she completed her doctorate program in Educational Technology at Middlesex University. In her doctoral thesis, she worked on how student and teacher participation can be realized in the learning and teaching process with a focus on interaction in distance education.

In the field of educational technologies, especially in the field of distance education, since 2002, it has been sharing scientific studies with the academic world and conducting academic studies within the framework of international cooperation on current issues in this field. She works full-time at the Near East University and serves as the Vice Director of the Graduate Studies Institute and the Co-Chair of the Social Research and Development Center. It carries out social projects and scientific studies on disability, women and children.

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2ObLuS8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8452-5992
 

 

Co-Presenter: 

 

Prof. Dr. Zehra Altinay

Near East University, Cyprus

 

Prof. Dr. Zehra Altinay completed her master's degree in Educational Sciences with his thesis in the field of Education Technology, Distance Education. She graduated from the Near East University in the field of Educational Administration. Prof. Altinay completed the doctoral program in the field of Educational Technology at Middlesex University. She is a full-time faculty member at Near East University. Prof. Dr. Zehra Altinay teaches at doctoral, master's and bachelor's degrees.

Prof. Dr. Zehra Altinay is the Chair of the Center for Social Research and Development, affiliated with the Center of Excellence. She is the head of the Educational Sciences Ethics Committee and also the head of the Monitoring Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She takes part in national books, international books, projects and scientific studies on the scope of social issues.
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=h4Ogu68AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6786-6787

 

Assoc. Prof. Zoran Wittine

University of Zagreb, Croatia

Zoran Wittine is an Associate Professor at the Department of International Economics, Vice-Dean for infrastructure and business processes at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business and a member of the University Senate. In addition, he is also a member of the Commission on Customs and Trade Facilitation within the International Chamber of Commerce; member of International project management association (IPMA) and a senior member of the International Economics Development and Research Center. His areas of expertise include international business, international entrepreneurship, social innovation education, social entrepreneurship and risk management. He is a member of the editorial boards of several international scientific journals and was a member of the organizational and technical committee of many international conferences. He was a leader of many international/EU-funded projects, of which most of them were focused on the topics of education development, digitalization, social innovation, social entrepreneurship, innovation, skill development and capacity building. In addition, he was an associate on many professional projects and had an active role in creation of the “Industrial strategies of The Republic of Croatia 2014-2020”. Before taking up a position at the University of Zagreb, he worked as a management consultant at McKinsey&Company, where he worked on projects of corporate restructuring, corporate integration processes, improvement of corporate efficiency, etc.