Dr. Sheng-hsun Lee is a Lecturer at the School of Languages and Cultures, University of Queensland, specializing in intercultural and public health communication. As a core member of the Centre for Community Health and Wellbeing, their research employs multimodal discourse analysis to explore how language, gestures, and material objects co-construct meaning in social contexts. Key research areas include: Public health crisis communication Intercultural communication during study abroad Language learning in classroom and naturalistic settings Recent publications analyze pandemic communication strategies through 600+ hours of press conferences and 2M+ online comments, culminating in the 2025 monograph Health Crisis Communication: Multimodal Classification for Pandemic Preparedness . Current work examines food safety crises like Taiwan's rice noodle poisoning incident in the upcoming Numbers Talk in Health Crisis Discourse . Award highlights: 2021 Australian Academy of the Humanities Traveling Fellowship 2025 North America Taiwanese Professors' Association Young Scholar Research Award Actively supervising PhD/MPhil/Honours projects on health discourses, intercultural communication, and language pedagogy, Dr. Lee's work bridges applied linguistics with practical communication strategy development for policymakers and health professionals.
Étienne-Marie Lassi is a Professor in the Department of French, Spanish and Italian at the University of Manitoba's Faculty of Arts. His research focuses on Francophone African literature and cinema, postcolonial theories, ecocriticism, and posthumanism. PhD (Francophone Literature and Cinema), University of Ottawa, 2009 MA (Francophone African Literature), University of Calgary, 2005 Licence (Bilingual Studies), University of Yaoundé, 1990 His work explores interactions between humans and non-humans in African literature, ecological implications of postcolonial narratives, and urban/rural dichotomies in Francophone African fiction. Recent research examines posthuman societies and environmental social imaginaries. Publications and Google Scholar entries (2012-2025) demonstrate expertise in Francophone African ecocriticism, cinematic adaptation, and postcolonial urban/rural dynamics. Key themes include ecological imperialism, plantations, and environmental justice in literature. Falconer Emerging Researcher Award, Humanities Category (2016) Étienne-Marie Lassi is currently accepting graduate students for Master's and PhD supervision in Francophone African literature and cinema studies. His teaching includes courses on African cinema, postcolonial French literature, and written expression.
Professor Vic Cavalli is a faculty member at Trinity Western University's Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, holding a position in the English & Creative Writing department. He specializes in early-modern religious literature (focusing on St. Robert Southwell) and creative writing, with notable publications in both academic and literary journals. His creative work spans poetry, short fiction, and visual art, appearing in venues across Canada, the US, UK, Australia, and North Africa. Education: MA from the University of British Columbia and BA from St. Thomas University. Research focuses on intersections between religious history and creative expression, with peer-reviewed scholarship in Recusant History and Ushaw Magazine . Publications showcase a prolific output in literary journals like CIRQUE , Third Wednesday , and The New Quarterly , alongside a novel ( The Road to Vermilion Lake , 2017). His visual art often accompanies creative writing pieces, blending textual and visual storytelling. Received the Deans' Innovative Teaching Award (2007) for pedagogical excellence. Teaches courses ranging from introductory literature to creative writing workshops, emphasizing both traditional literary analysis and innovative creative practices. Active in literary communities through editorial contributions, art exhibitions, and participation in interdisciplinary projects, maintaining a strong presence in both academic and artistic spheres.
Roberto Minelli is a Scientific Collaborator and Academic Coordinator at the Software Institute, Faculty of Computer Science, Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), where he also completed his Bachelor, Master, and PhD in Informatics. His work bridges research, education, and technology outreach, with a strong focus on software engineering, visualization, and developer interaction analysis. His research centers on leveraging interaction data from development environments to enhance software comprehension and evolution. Key areas include software visualization , mining software repositories , reverse engineering , and program comprehension . He has pioneered work in visual metaphors such as Software Cities and explored immersive environments like virtual reality for code visualization. The recent publications reflect a consistent trend in visual analytics for software engineering, with increasing emphasis on social and collaborative aspects of development (e.g., Discord, GitHub issues), large-scale system comprehension, and the integration of diverse data sources into unified visual models. His work combines empirical studies, tool development, and human-centered evaluation. Best Paper Award, IWESEP 2016 Most Influential Paper Award, ICPC 2015 Distinguished Reviewer Award, ICPC 2020 Minelli actively mentors students, co-supervising numerous Bachelor and Master theses in software visualization and analytics. He has secured multiple research and development mandates, including projects like Self-Driving Cars on Interactive Dynamic Tracks (SNF Agora) and Sphere Two: Swiss Pavilion @ Expo 2025 . He plays a central role in organizing key events such as VISSOFT, SIESTA, and #FormulaUSI, and contributes to curriculum development and outreach programs targeting secondary education. He is involved in several labs and teams, primarily the REVEAL research group (led by Prof. Michele Lanza) and the Software Institute at USI. His leadership in initiatives like CodeLounge and #FormulaUSI underscores his commitment to experiential learning and public engagement in computing.
Dr Izabella Kimak is a Lecturer at the Department of English and American Studies, Faculty of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University. Her work focuses on ethnic minority literature in the U.S., corporeality in American culture, and urban narratives, with a particular emphasis on Polish-American and South Asian American writing. She holds a PhD (2011) and MA (2003) from UMCS, both examining diasporic female identity. PhD: Women at Cultural Crossroads (UMCS, 2011) MA: Native American Women in Their Own Eyes (UMCS, 2003) Her research explores intersections of ethnic identity , gender , and urban spaces , evidenced by her 2023 grant Sweet Home Chicago? on Polish migration literature and 2021 Kosciuszko Foundation fellowship at Northwestern University. Publications span analyses of Bharati Mukherjee, Chicago’s racial dynamics, and edited volumes on post-millennial cultural exhaustion. Key publication trends include Polish-American migration (2024), diaspora myth-making (2022), and postcolonial urbanism (2014). She contributes to editorial boards of Polish Journal for American Studies (2015–2024) and WiN (2019–2023), and co-leads the EAAS Women’s Network (2024–2026). Active in academic collaborations and co-authoring works like the 2023 Memory, Identity, Belonging , she has participated in conferences and research exchanges, including the 2009 JFK Institute Library fellowship in Berlin and the 2007 HCA Spring Academy in Heidelberg. Her expertise also extends to translation between Polish and English.
Dr. Chooc Ly Tan is a Lecturer in the Department of Art at Goldsmiths, University of London. As a multidisciplinary artist, DJ, and cultural producer, their practice spans moving image installations, experimental sound compositions, and curatorial projects that interrogate the intersections of physics, politics, and music through the lens of Afro-Asian diasporic experience. Academic Background: MFA in Fine Art, Goldsmiths University of London (2011) BA in Fine Art (Hons) in 3D (Sculpture), Central Saint Martins (2006) Research Interests: Chooc Ly Tan's work critically examines power imbalances through sound and video media, with particular focus on: Voguing and diasporic rhythms Subversion of scientific systems Postcolonial urban climates Decentralized cultural production Queer and feminist club cultures Experimental sonic practices Recent Research Trends: Their 2023-2025 projects include immersive sonic installations, urban speculative fiction works, and decolonial music production. The artist employs a methodology that combines field recordings, algorithmic composition, and theoretical frameworks from critical race studies. Scientific Awards: 2024 Art Council England Project Grant 2024 Fluxus Art Projects Grant 2023 The Yard Theatre Residency 2020 DYCP award from Arts Council England 2011 Startpoint Prize nomination Curatorial Work: Directing the ongoing DÉCALÉ project since 2018, which includes international collaborations across London, Berlin, and Accra. Recent exhibitions explore syncopation as a political metaphor through sound, theory, and performance.
Pamela Rogers is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa, where she conducts critical research on education policy, social studies education, and decolonizing pedagogies. Her academic work spans multiple interdisciplinary fields including critical race theory, gender studies, and historical consciousness within educational contexts. Professor Rogers' research interests focus on the intersections of neoliberalism and education policy, with particular attention to how market-driven reforms impact public education systems. Her scholarship critically examines the discursive shifts from antiracist education policies toward neoliberal frameworks that prioritize standardized testing and accountability measures. She investigates how historical consciousness is constructed in educational settings and how colonial narratives are perpetuated through classroom spaces and national historical spectacles. Her work on decolonizing citizenship challenges traditional conceptions of citizenship education within nation-state frameworks. Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on the impacts of neoliberal governance on public education, with particular emphasis on how privatization efforts undermine democratic processes in schooling. Her research demonstrates how education policy increasingly 'whites out' race through discursive shifts from racial equity toward achievement gap frameworks. She also explores the embodied dimensions of historical consciousness and how affective elements shape our relationship to historical narratives. Her scholarship on teacher mental health during the pandemic highlights the crisis in educator well-being within increasingly demanding educational environments. Professor Rogers has been active in advising and research collaborations, particularly with Nichole Grant on issues of education privatization and neoliberal governance. Her work often engages with critical theory frameworks including Bourdieu's symbolic violence, Foucault's governmentality, and decolonial theory to analyze educational policy and practice.
Naoko Yagi is Professor at the Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University, Tokyo. A theatre scholar trained at Sophia University and the University of Warwick (PhD Theatre Studies, 1999), she specializes in twentieth- and twenty-first-century British & Irish drama, with particular attention to Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett, Frank McGuinness, and the aesthetics of performance sound. Education: PhD Theatre Studies, University of Warwick (1993-1999) MA Theatre Studies, University of Warwick (1991-1992) MA Linguistics, Sophia University (1988-1990) BA English Literature, Sophia University (1984-1988) Research interests cluster around the sonic and spatial dimensions of plays, radio drama, archival recordings, and intermedial adaptation. Recent work applies sound-studies methodologies to modern Irish and British canonical texts, examining how auditory choices re-configure audience perception. Her more than thirty refereed articles trace a consistent trajectory: close readings of playtexts merged with performance analysis, often drawing on unpublished drafts, audio recordings, and international productions. Over two decades she has likewise co-edited three academic volumes, including Irish Theatre and Its Soundscapes (2015). Scientific recognition: invited visiting fellowships at Clare Hall and Wolfson College (Cambridge), the Moore Institute (Galway), and Columbia University; Erasmus+ teaching mobility at Ca' Foscari University of Venice. Teaching & grants: she currently delivers six undergraduate courses per year (Shakespearean tragedy, News English, world literature, etc.) within Waseda’s Political Science & Economics curriculum, and has led internal special-research projects on Pinter’s screenwriting. No graduate advisees or major prizes are recorded in the supplied material.
Professor Simon Perril is a distinguished academic and creative practitioner at De Montfort University (DMU), serving as Professor of Poetic Practice in the School of Humanities within the Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities. He is the director of the Leicester Centre for Creative Writing, a hub for innovative literary activity, public events, and interdisciplinary collaboration. His work bridges creative writing, critical scholarship, and visual art, with a strong focus on experimental and avant-garde traditions in contemporary poetry. His research interests include Creative Writing, practice-based research, and contemporary Anglo-American poetry, with specializations in Modernism, Surrealism, Postmodernism, and Linguistically Innovative poetics. He also maintains a visual practice in collage and poetry films, exploring multimodal forms of expression. His current major project, The Diver’s Manual , is a triptych of poetry collections that interweaves art history, philosophy, and the history of Marseille during WWII as a site of exile and intellectual refuge, drawing parallels to contemporary issues of displacement and cultural transmission. The body of his recent publications reveals a consistent engagement with interdisciplinary thought, speculative poetics, and formal innovation. His works span poetry collections like Two Duets with Occasion (2024), The Slip (2020), and Archilochus on the Moon (2013), alongside critical essays on figures such as Tom Raworth, John James, and Brian Catling. His articles frequently explore the cognitive and philosophical dimensions of poetic practice, often linking poetry with collage, cinema, and speculative thought. National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE) ALCS (Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society) Simon Perril is actively involved in PhD supervision, currently first supervising five and second supervising five additional practice-based doctoral students, whose projects span memoir, speculative biography, neurodiversity, and visual storytelling. He has secured both internal and external research funding, including a grant from the Henry Moore Foundation for Tending the Vortex: The Works of Brian Catling . He regularly presents at international conferences and participates in public poetry readings and multimedia installations, such as the Sun Deck Set Cogitation collaboration with composer Prof. John Young. He also contributes to public engagement through BBC Radio Leicester and co-organizes the States of Independence publishers’ fair, promoting independent literary voices. His teaching includes Uncreative Writing, Articulating Practice, and supervision across undergraduate, MA, and PhD levels. He is the MA Creative Writing Programme Leader, shaping pedagogical approaches that emphasize experimentation and critical reflection.
David Lewkowich is an Associate Professor in the Department of Secondary Education at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Education. His research focuses on reading experiences, literary theory, young adult literature, comics, psychoanalytic theory, and the emotional dimensions of education. He teaches courses such as EDSE 327 and 328, which explore Alberta's English Language Arts curriculum and pedagogical strategies for secondary education. His work often intersects with cultural studies, teacher identity, and adolescent memory. Dr. Lewkowich holds a PhD, MA, BEd, and BA. His publications analyze the representation of teachers in comics, the emotional underpinnings of education, and the intersections between literature, psychology, and pedagogy. He emphasizes creative remembering in teacher education and the role of graphic novels in exploring educational anxieties and identities. His courses integrate immersive literacy practices and address cultural and linguistic diversity. Notable research themes include the unconscious effects of reading, transferences in teacher education, and the use of visual media like Instagram to foster adolescent literacy. He advocates for pedagogies that embrace ambiguity and emotional complexity in educational settings.
Barbara White is Professor of Music at Princeton University, where she has been teaching since 1998. She is a distinguished composer with decades of experience in concert music and interdisciplinary collaboration, and an accomplished clarinetist with special interest in shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) and Cape Breton musical traditions. Her research interests span contemporary composition, the relationship between music and everyday experience, gender studies in music, traditional music practices, and the intersection of art with text, movement, and cultural context. She has developed innovative courses on topics including 'outsider music,' interculturalism and exoticism, autobiography and masquerade, and the relationship between specialized art-making and everyday experience. White's scholarly work explores the coordination between sound and movement, the relationship between creative activity and everyday life, and the impact of gender, listening, and spirituality on music. Her compositions range from intimate solo and chamber works to larger projects like the opera 'Weakness,' which premiered in 2012 and examines themes of female sovereignty and bystander complicity through a Celtic myth adaptation. Fromm Music Foundation Commission recipient (2017) Extensive work with shakuhachi performer Riley Lee Duo collaborations including 'Farewell to Music' and 'Fork & Spoon' Development of unique performance practices integrating contemplative and creative elements As a dedicated educator, White serves as composition teacher and dissertation advisor, cultivating both open-mindedness and rigor in her students. Her teaching philosophy emphasizes receptive listening to young composers' ideas while developing their technical and conceptual skills. She has hosted visiting artists like Riley Lee in her seminars, culminating in full concerts of student works.
Dr. Anita Rakoczy is an Associate Professor at Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, affiliated with the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Art Studies and Art Pedagogy. Her academic credentials include a PhD in Modern English and American Literature from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE, 2015) and multiple MA degrees in Hungarian/English literature and theatre dramaturgy from ELTE and the University of Theatre and Film Arts (SZFE). Her research explores Samuel Beckett's plays , Irish drama, documentary theatre, and performance analysis, with emphasis on textual genesis, cultural reception, and interdisciplinary adaptations. She has presented internationally on Beckett's Hungarian productions and contributed to major conferences like Staging Beckett at the University of Reading. Rakoczy's publications demonstrate consistent focus on Beckettian aesthetics across theatre, film, and opera. Her work intersects literary analysis, performance criticism, and cultural history, often examining post-Soviet interpretations and spatial metaphors in modernist drama. Awards & Grants: János Bolyai Research Scholarship (2023) ÚNKP Bolyai+ Scholarship (2023) Fulbright Scholarship (2011-2012, CUNY Graduate Center) Eötvös Scholarships (2013, 2018, University of Reading) Research Collaborations: Member of the Samuel Beckett Working Group (2016–), Rite-Theatre-Literature Research Group (2018–2020), and International Federation for Theatre Research. Organized the 2017 Samuel Beckett Conference and co-directed Fulbright 30 Gala (2022). Language proficiencies include advanced English (TOEFL/Cambridge), intermediate German, and basic Turkish.
Fabienne Kanor is an Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Penn State University. Her research focuses on Race, Gender, and Migrations across France and Francophone Africa, with particular emphasis on trauma studies and diaspora narratives. Visual Arts and Cinema Literature Francophone African Theater and Art Performance Migration Studies in French West Indies and Sub-Saharan Africa Slave-Trade Memory in Arts African Diaspora Studies Her creative and scholarly work examines transatlantic migration patterns, postcolonial memory, and identity formation through literature and film. She is currently working on a novel set in Louisiana exploring Cameroonian diaspora experiences. Scientific recognition includes: Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (French Minister of Culture)
Matija Munjiza Petrović is a researcher and film camera specialist affiliated with the University of Arts in Belgrade , where he has collaborated since 2017. He holds a diploma and master’s degree in Film and TV Camera from the Belgrade Academy of Arts. Education: Diploma and Master’s in Film and TV Camera (Belgrade Academy of Arts, class of Prof. Radoslav Vladić) Research and Creative Focus spans Cinematography , Audiovisual Storytelling , and Visual Aesthetics . His work includes experimental and narrative films, with emphasis on lighting, framing, and symbolic composition. Filmography Highlights (2012–2019) demonstrate expertise in documentary and short film formats, integrating dynamic camera movement and color grading. Notable collaborations include films like Usud (2014) and Ljubav u doba kontrole (2015), which explore existential and romantic themes through visual motifs. Scientific and Artistic Awards : Golden Medal – Best Debut Film Direction (2001) Golden Plaque – Best Camera Work (2015) Chevrolet Creative Contest Third Place (2011) Additional Contributions include jury participation at international film festivals and production work on music videos, commercials, and educational films. His role as a collaborator at the Academy of Arts involves mentoring students in camera techniques and filmmaking.
Paloma Pérez-Ilzarbe is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Navarra, Faculty of Philosophy and Arts. She is affiliated with the "Lógica y filosofía del lenguaje" research group.
