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iafor.org/about/partners

IAFOR Partners

International Academic Board Professor Anne Boddington, IAFOR & Kingston University, United Kingdom (IAB Chair) Dr Joseph Haldane, IAFOR & The University of Osaka, Japan Professor Jun Arima, IAFOR & The University of Tokyo, Japan Professor Virgil Hawkins, IAFOR Research Centre & The University of Osaka, Japan Mr Lowell Sheppard, IAFOR & Never Too Late Academy, Japan Professor Umberto Ansaldo, VinUniversity, Vietnam Dr Susana Barreto, University of Porto, Portugal Professor Grant Black, Chuo University, Japan Dr Evangelia Chrysikou, Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London, United Kingdom Professor Donald E. Hall, Binghamton University, United States Professor Brendan Howe, Ewha Womans University, South Korea & The Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA) Dr James W. McNally, University of Michigan, United States & NACDA Program on Aging

VCAH/VCSS2026 Conference Programme Committee Dr Wilfried Swoboda, Pädagogische Hochschule Wien, Austria Professor Barbara Dobretsberger, Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, Austria Professor Anne Boddington, IAFOR & Kingston University, United Kingdom Dr Joseph Haldane, IAFOR & The University of Osaka, Japan Dr Ruth Mateus-Berr, Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Austria Dr Rolf Laven, Pädagogische Hochschule Wien, Austria

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Letter of Welcome Dear Colleagues, Willkommen in Wien! Welcome to Vienna! I am very excited to bring the International Academic Forum’s European City Conference Series to the wonderful city of Vienna, where we will hold The Vienna Conference on Arts and Humanities (VCAH2026) alongside the Vienna Conference on the Social Sciences (VCSS2026). Vienna is a city of breathtaking beauty, architectural splendour, and intellectual and artistic innovation. All of this has been shaped by Austria’s central location on the European continent, and more than two thousand years of operating as an international city, where people, ideas and religions have vied for influence, and where the arts, and in particular music, have flourished. Today Vienna operates as a major diplomatic centre, and welcomes our international conference in this spirit of cultural exchange, with an expected attendance of 300 from more than 50 different countries. I would like to thank the conference and review committee for their work in bringing together this rich programme, the plenary speakers who will provoke and stimulate the conference, and the presenters from many different fields who will engage across the boundaries of nation, culture and discipline. In doing so, they will create new personal and professional partnerships that will inspire collaborations well into the future. I encourage your active participation throughout the conference and look forward to meeting you all. Warmest regards,

Dr Joseph Haldane Chairman & CEO, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) Professor, European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD), United Nations University for Peace Guest Professor, Osaka School of International Public Policy, The University of Osaka, Japan Member, Expert Network, World Economic Forum

Become an IAFOR Member IAFOR provides an enriching personal and professional environment for academics and scholars of all ages and backgrounds to exchange and contribute to interdisciplinary and intercultural dialogue that informs and is informed by their own cultural and disciplinary background and experiences. We are able to do this thanks to our extraordinary network of individuals and institutions around the world who support our work and help shape our events globally. We particularly emphasise the nurturing and support for emerging academics from an array of different backgrounds, and aim to provide opportunities for them to seek advice, support and guidance, as well as offering mid-career and more established academics opportunities to forge working relationships beyond their traditional disciplinary ambitions. In our current world where division and strife are often reinforced and played out in national and local contexts, and political posturing frequently seeks to ostracise and demonise, IAFOR is committed to working across cultural and national borders, and to work to bring people together through dialogue. We believe that mature human interaction and academic and cultural exchange are essential to offering positive versions of the future, where cooperation happens between individuals and institutions who share a commitment to listen, to reach out and bridge divides, and to contribute to good global citizenship, and to making the world a better place. By becoming a member of IAFOR, you will become part of an extraordinary network and a stakeholder in shaping the IAFOR mission and facilitating international exchange, encouraging intercultural awareness, and promoting interdisciplinary discussion in the hope and expectation of generating and sharing new knowledge. Join us now in this growing global organisation, and help make a difference today. To learn more about IAFOR membership, please visit:

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VCAH/VCSS2026 Key Statistics Date of Creation: October 12, 2026

257

52 166

204

61 4%

60% University Faculty

22% Doctoral Student 5% Other

22%

Occupation

60%

4% Private Sector 3% Postgraduate Student

57% Doctoral Degree 39%

Education

57%

39% Masters Degree 4% Bachelors Degree

2.5% Postdoctoral Fellow/Instructor 2.5% Independent Scholar 1% Public Sector/Practitioner

1. Humanities - Teaching and Learning (27)

1. Japan (9%)

2. Psychology & Social Psychology (16)

2. United States (7%)

3. Teaching and Learning (14)

3. India (7%)

4. Humanities - Language/Linguistics (10)

4. United Kingdom (6%)

5. Politics, Public Policy, Law & Criminology

5. Indonesia (5%)

(10)

9% 7%

Single-Authored Submissions vs. Multiple-Authored Submissions

227

111

61%

39%

Conference Venue

Austria Center Vienna Address: Bruno-Kreisky-Platz 1, 1220 Vienna

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Conference Venue

Austria Center Vienna Suggested Lunch Options and Local Amenities

Please note that lunch is not provided. This map offers suggestions on where you can eat around the conference venues, as well as the locations of local amenities.

November 13 | All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Friday at a Glance

Conference Venue: Austria Center Vienna 09:00

Conference Check-in | Foyer D (Level -2)

09:30-10:00

Welcome Address & Recognition of IAFOR Scholarship Winners | Hall G (Level -2) & Online Joseph Haldane, IAFOR & The University of Osaka, Japan

10:05-10:15

Special Video Address | Hall G (Level -2) & Online Christoph Wiederkehr, Minister for Education, Austria

10:20-10:45 10:45-11:00

Keynote Presentation | Hall G (Level -2) & Online Digital Humanism in a More-Than-Human World Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Future Platform ReGenerativa, Austria Q&A

11:00-11:30

Networking Coffee Break

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November 13 | All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Friday at a Glance

Conference Venue: Austria Center Vienna 11:30-12:45

Keynote and Panel Presentations | Hall G (Level -2) & Online The Arts in Times of Crisis

11:30-11:50

Keynote Presentation | Hall G (Level -2) & Online Performance Art Countering Social Invisibility at the Intersection of Social Justice and Legal Change Darrel Toulon, Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität, Austria

11:50-12:10

Keynote Presentation | Hall G (Level -2) & Online Arts in Crisis Settings: Rethinking Health, Education and Protection Albane Buriel, Art to Face NGO & University Rennes 2, France

12:10-12:45

Discussion Panel | Hall G (Level -2) & Online Albane Buriel, Art to Face NGO & University Rennes 2, France Darrel Toulon, Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität, Austria Ruth Mateus-Berr, Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Austria (Moderator)

November 13 | All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Friday at a Glance

Conference Venue: Austria Center Vienna 12:45-12:50

Conference Photograph

12:50-14:30

Extended Break

14:30-15:30

The Forum | Hall G (Level -2) The Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences in Times of Crisis Anne Boddington, IAFOR & Kingston University, United Kingdom (Respondent) Melina Neophytou (Moderator) The Forum is a plenary session designed as a platform for international, intercultural, interdisciplinary – and inclusive – discussions, joining experts and practitioners in an open dialogue format. Come share your thoughts and experiences as global educators and researchers.

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November 13 | All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Friday at a Glance

Conference Venue: Austria Center Vienna 15:35-16:35

Cultural Presentation | Hall G (Level -2) Viennese Traditions of Strings and Winds Peter Schuhmayer, First Violinist of Artis Quartet, Austria Seina Matsuoka, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Austria Elias Auzinger, Reedlines, Austria Ariella Kouyoumdjian, Reedlines, Austria Raquel Lechner, Reedlines, Austria Bernadett Pöll, Reedlines, Austria A special Cultural Presentation featuring two emerging and established chambermusic ensembles from Vienna: violinists Peter Schuhmayer and Seina Matsuoka, and the clarinet quartet Reedlines. Bringing together performance, musical insight, and cultural history, this onehour session will introduce delegates to Vienna’s living classical-music tradition through two contrasting instrumental settings. Each ensemble will give a 20-minute performance followed by a 10-minute talk, offering attendees an opportunity to hear the music and learn more about its repertoire, interpretation, and cultural context directly from the performers.

16:40-17:40

Welcome Reception & Conference Poster Session | Hall G (Level -2)

20:00-22:00 Conference Dinner | Wiener Rathauskeller This is an optional ticketed event

November 14 | All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Saturday at a Glance

Conference Venue: Austria Center Vienna 08:45

Conference Check-in | Foyer D (Level -2)

09:05-09:35 Conference Orientation for First-Time Presenters | Room -2.33 (Level -2) Matthew Chima, IAFOR, Japan Melina Neophytou, IAFOR, Japan This session provides an overview of what to expect at the conference, including guidance on preparing your presentation, publishing opportunities, and ways to engage with IAFOR. 09:40-10:10

Flash Presentations | Room -2.33 (Level -2) This session allows presenters to maximise their visibility and showcase their research in this fast-paced, informal networking session. Each presenter has 60 seconds to highlight the key ideas, findings, or areas of interest in their work in lightning rounds, providing an opportunity for all participants to discover other presenters’ work and find sessions they may wish to attend during the conference. This session is open to all delegates, including those who have already presented. Audience members are welcome to watch the presentations.

10:10-10:40

Networking Coffee Break

10:40-12:20 Onsite Parallel Session 1 Room -2.32 (Level -2): VCSS | Psychology and Social Psychology Room -2.33 (Level -2): VCAH | Humanities - Teaching and Learning Room -2.43 (Level -2): VCSS | AI and Psychology in Education Room -2.62 (Level -2): VCSS | Economics and Management Room -2.63 (Level -2): VCSS | Politics and Public Policy

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November 14 | All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Saturday at a Glance

Conference Venue: Austria Center Vienna 12:20-12:35

Break

12:35-13:50 Onsite Parallel Session 2 Room -2.32 (Level -2): VCSS | Psychology Room -2.33 (Level -2): VCAH | Humanities - Teaching, Learning and Praxis Room -2.43 (Level -2): VCAH/VCSS | Language Teaching and Learning Room -2.62 (Level -2): VCSS | Comparative Economic Analyses Room -2.63 (Level -2): VCSS | International Relations and Politics 14:00-14:50

Cultural Workshop | Room -2.33 (Level -2) Viennese Folk Music Workshop: Wienerlied Vienna-born musician and performer Christoph Lechner and accordionist and vocalist Herbert Bäuml, who will lead delegates on an interactive journey into the distinctive musical world of the Wienerlied.

14:50-15:20

Networking Coffee Break

15:20-17:00 Onsite Parallel Session 3 Room -2.32 (Level -2): VCAH/VCSS | Social Psychology Room -2.33 (Level -2): VCAH | Humanities - Teaching and Learning Methods Room -2.43 (Level -2): VCSS | Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age Room -2.62 (Level -2): VCSS | Sociology and Psychology in Economics, Management, and Public Policy Room -2.63 (Level -2): VCAH/VCSS | Sociology

November 15 | All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Sunday at a Glance

Conference Venue: Austria Center Vienna 09:00

Conference Check-in | Foyer D (Level -2)

09:30-11:10 Onsite Parallel Session 1 Room -2.32 (Level -2): VCAH/VCSS | Sustainability Issues in Cultural and International Studies Room -2.33 (Level -2): VCAH | Humanities - Teaching and Learning with AI Room -2.43 (Level -2): VCAH | Humanities - Language/Linguistics Room -2.62 (Level -2): VCAH | Social Wellbeing Room -2.63 (Level -2): VCSS | Globalisation and Internationalisation 11:10-12:10

Networking Session: The World in a Room | Room -2.33 (Level -2) IAFOR conferences bring together delegates from across countries, cultures, disciplines, and institutions. The World in a Room is an interactive networking session that celebrates this international community and creates space for delegates to meet, share perspectives, and reflect on the value of intercultural exchange.

12:10-12:40

Networking Coffee Break

12:40-13:55 Onsite Parallel Session 2 Room -2.32 (Level -2): VCAH | From Awareness to Acceptance: Reframing Disability (Workshop) Room -2.33 (Level -2): VCAH | Cultivating Lifelong Writers Through Reflective and Creative Practice (Workshop) Room -2.43 (Level -2): VCSS | Special Topics in the Social Sciences Room -2.62 (Level -2): VCSS | Psychoanalytic and Literary Framework for Recognizing Resistance to Healing (Workshop) Room -2.63 (Level -2): VCAH | The Lived Poetics of Color (Workshop)

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November 15 | All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Sunday at a Glance

Conference Venue: Austria Center Vienna 13:55-14:10

Break

14:10-15:50 Onsite Parallel Session 3 Room -2.32 (Level -2): VCAH/VCSS | Digital Humanities Room -2.33 (Level -2): VCAH | Humanities - Teaching and Learning Room -2.43 (Level -2): VCAH/VCSS | Teaching and Learning Room -2.62 (Level -2): VCSS | Education and Social Welfare Room -2.63 (Level -2): VCSS | Sociology and Sustainability 15:50-16:05

Networking Coffee Break

16:05-17:45 Onsite Parallel Session 4 Room -2.32 (Level -2): VCAH | Ethnicity, Difference, Identity Room -2.33 (Level -2): VCSS | Teaching and Learning Experiences Room -2.43 (Level -2): VCAH/VCSS | Cultural and Media Studies Room -2.62 (Level -2): VCAH | Arts - Media Arts Practices Room -2.63 (Level -2): VCAH/VCSS | Special Topics in Education and Social Sciences

November 16 | All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Monday at a Glance

Conference Venue: Austria Center Vienna 09:00

Conference Check-in | Foyer D (Level -2)

09:30-11:10 Onsite Parallel Session 1 Room -2.32 (Level -2): VCAH/VCSS | Sexuality, Gender, Families Room -2.43 (Level -2): VCAH/VCSS | Humanities - History/Historiography Room -2.62 (Level -2): VCAH/VCSS | Perspectives on Societal Changes Room -2.63 (Level -2): VCAH/VCSS | Literature, Media and Identities 11:10-11:40

Networking Coffee Break

11:40-12:55 Onsite Parallel Session 2 Room -2.32 (Level -2): VCAH/VCSS | Cultural Studies and Practice Room -2.43 (Level -2): VCAH/VCSS | Urban Studies and Design Room -2.62 (Level -2): VCAH/VCSS | Sociology Room -2.63 (Level -2): VCSS | Journalism and Communication 13:00-13:20

Closing Session | Room -2.33 (Level -2)

13:20-14:30

Extended Break

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November 16 | All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Monday at a Glance

Conference Venue: Austria Center Vienna 14:30-16:50

Knowledge Exchange Hubs | Room -2.33 (Level -2) Connect, collaborate, and shape ideas in this interactive session designed to turn delegates from passive participants into active contributors. Join rotating topic groups, exchange ideas on topics selected by delegates, explore potential interdisciplinary collaborations, and experiment with AI-based tools to develop and share your ideas. Coffee will be served throughout the session. 14:30-15:00 15:00-15:10 15:10-15:40 15:40-16:10 16:10-16:40 16:40-16:50

Networking Coffee Opening and Group Formation Group Discussion Creative Reflection & Storytelling (with optional AI support) Group Presentations Wrap-Up

November 17 | All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Tuesday at a Glance Conference Venue: Online via Zoom 09:00-09:05

Message from IAFOR

09:05-10:05

The Forum (Online) | Live-Stream Room 1 The Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences in Times of Crisis Umberto Ansaldo, VinUniversity, Vietnam (Online Respondent) Briar Pelletier, IAFOR, Japan (Online Moderator) The Forum is a plenary session designed as a platform for international, intercultural, interdisciplinary—and inclusive—discussions, joining experts and practitioners alike in an open dialogue format. Come share your thoughts and experiences as global educators and researchers.

10:05-10:20

Break

10:20-12:00 Online Parallel Session 1 Live-Stream Room 1: VCAH/VCSS | Social, Political and Community Agenda Live-Stream Room 2: VCSS | Politics and Public Policy Live-Stream Room 3: VCAH/VCSS | Media Studies

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November 17 | All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Tuesday at a Glance Conference Venue: Online via Zoom 12:00-12:10

Break

12:10-13:25 Online Parallel Session 2 Live-Stream Room 1: VCAH/VCSS | Education and Social Welfare Live-Stream Room 2: VCAH/VCSS | Humanities - Cyberspace, Technology, and Education Live-Stream Room 3: VCAH | Religion and Spirituality 13:25-13:35

Break

13:35-14:50 Online Parallel Session 3 Live-Stream Room 1: VCAH/VCSS | Sexuality, Gender, Families Live-Stream Room 2: VCAH | Arts Practice, Policy, Management and Advocacy Live-Stream Room 3: VCAH | Creative Thinking in Secondary Education 14:50-14:55

Message from IAFOR

Notes

IAFOR’s Conference Themes for 2025-2029

IAFOR’s conference programme provides an essential comparative and contrastive space for people to engage in multidisciplinary research across borders of nation, culture, discipline, and professions. We encourage mixed approaches and methodologies, combining theory and practice between and across the disciplines, and we look to harness the collective intelligence of our International Academic Forum in addressing some of the most pressing issues of our time. Through the implementation of new formats in our conference programme over the last year, including Intelligence Briefings, Keynote Interviews, and The Forum, we gathered insights into what has been discussed at the theoretical and policy levels, identified the challenges, and the outlook for best practices in tackling global contemporary issues, which we have identified as the themes for 2025-2029. Our four themes can be seen as standalone themes, but they are also very much in conversation with each other. Themes may be seen as corollaries, complementary, or in opposition/juxtaposition with each other. The themes can be considered as widely as possible and are designed, in keeping with our mission, to encourage ideas across the disciplines.

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1. Technology and Artificial Intelligence Our first theme examines the rapid pace of technological advancements, aided most particularly by those driven by artificial intelligence and its enormous and growing impact in all fields. 2. Humanity and Human Intelligence Our second theme asks us which principles, values, and attributes we wish to encourage, protect, and nurture and how we accomplish this. Technological advancements constantly ask us to reconsider and reimagine what it means to be human, including questions regarding communication, creativity, inclusivity, ethics, and care. 3. Global Citizenship and Education for Peace This theme prompts us to consider our existence and coexistence with each other, within our communities and places of belonging, and with peoples of different countries, cultures, and backgrounds, as well as with our environment and our planet. It includes engagement with enormous issues facing us beyond borders, such as peace and human security, climate change, etc. 4. Leadership The final theme recognises the continuing importance of leadership as a skill, particularly in light of difficult times, where recognising and encouraging best practices in leadership at all levels of society is critical. Encouraging leadership at the government level, in businesses, and within institutions of all sizes represents the engine of change.

Conference Themes in Theory, Policy, and Practice Many theories are born and initially tested in the academy, informing discussions in the public sphere that influence policy. IAFOR represents a unique combination of engagement emerging from the collaborative efforts of senior policymakers, administrators, and individuals working on the ground or in the field. IAFOR has made this rare combination of equitable theoretical and practical exchanges the standard for our organisation and represents a valuable model for how science should be done. We will develop conference and institutional programmes and publications around these themes as well as capacity building sessions for our conference programme over the next five years. It is our aim with the implementation of these themes, alongside the implementation and continuing refinement of new formats, to best harness the unique arena IAFOR and its network have built in regard to pressing issues of today and the future.

Networking Events Welcome Reception

Join fellow delegates for a drink or two at the conference Welcome Reception. This event provides a great opportunity for delegates to network and get to know each other. The event will be held in the Austria Center Vienna, Hall G (Level -2). Time & Date: Friday, November 13 | 16:40-17:40 Location: Austria Center Vienna, Hall G (Level -2) Admission is included in the conference registration fee and is only open to registered conference delegates.

Conference Dinner | Wiener Rathauskeller

Join us after the plenary sessions for the Conference Dinner at Wiener Rathauskeller, where you can reconvene with fellow delegates and our keynote presenters to continue conference conversations over an authentic Viennese meal. Established in 1899, has long been associated with Viennese hospitality, traditional Austrian cuisine, and hosting convivial gatherings within one of the city’s most recognisable civic landmarks. Time & Date: Friday, November 13 | 20:00–22:00 Location: Wiener Rathauskeller Availability: 50 persons Ticket Price: 125 EUR This is an optional ticketed event. Only delegates with pre-purchased tickets are able to attend the Conference Dinner.

Networking Session: The World in a Room

Connect with fellow delegates through intercultural networking, exchanging personal, cultural, and academic perspectives while building connections beyond the main conference programme and discovering new perspectives. Time & Date: Sunday, November 15, 2026 | 11:10-12:10 Location: Austria Center Vienna, Room -2.33 (Level -2) Admission is included in the conference registration fee and is only open to registered conference delegates.

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Networking: Connecting with Other Delegates IAFOR conferences are designed to offer countless networking opportunities to make and consolidate personal and professional connections, reconnect with colleagues, and meet new friends in a spirit of convivial collegiality. Whether in the plenaries, parallel sessions, workshops, information sessions, or cultural events, we encourage your active and open participation throughout the conference, remembering the importance of the spaces in between: over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, or the continuation of conversations and relationships outside the conference. We encourage you to network at the conference over the Networking Events, the Networking Coffee, and Extended Breaks. In addition, you are invited to join the Online Presentation Sessions and the Online Forum discussion to explore even more presentations and opportunities to make connections for future collaborations. While conferences serve as a platform to present your work and make connections, please be mindful of the other delegates’ privacy and their consent to provide personal information.

Networking Spaces The Austria Center Vienna features several comfortable spaces, such as the main lobby, coffee area, and the outdoor terrace, which serve as perfect locations for networking during the conference. These spaces provide an excellent opportunity to meet new people, connect with familiar faces, exchange ideas, and explore possible collaborations. We encourage you to make use of these spaces to connect with fellow attendees for a quick coffee or a longer chat to broaden your network and enhance your conference experience.

Missed the opportunity to make connections? You can connect with other delegates by using our ‘Find a Presentation’ feature. This feature can be accessed by scanning the QR code provided on the back of your name badge, and is also available on the conference’s website. You can search by presentation title, submission number, the presenter’s name, or the name of their affiliation. From there, you can look up the presenter’s bio and connect with them through their preferred contact channel. In addition to the ‘Find a Presentation’ online feature, presentation schedules are also displayed in front of presentation rooms.

General Information The QR code, as shown on the back of your name badge, contains the information you need to attend the conference, including: - Full Conference Schedule - The ‘Find a Presentation’ Feature - Conference Survey - Suggested Lunch Options - Online and Virtual Presentations - Presentation and Session Chair Guidelines, and more. Please scan this QR code or visit https://linktr.ee/iaforvienna

Check-in & Information Desk You will be able to pick up your name badge at the Conference Check-in & Information Desk at the times listed below. If you have any questions or concerns, IAFOR staff and volunteers will happily assist you in any way they can. Austria Center Vienna, Foyer D (Level -2) Friday, November 13 | 09:00-17:00 Saturday, November 14 | 08:45-16:30 Sunday, November 15 | 09:00-17:00 Monday, November 16 | 09:00-15:30 Tuesday, November 17 | No in-person Check-in

Name Badges Wearing your badge is required for entrance to the sessions and events. You must wear your badge at all times.

Refreshment Breaks & Lunch Complimentary coffee, tea, water, and light snacks will be available during the scheduled coffee breaks. Please note that lunch is not provided.

Connecting to WiFi Free WiFi for light use, like reading emails and web browsing, is available at the conference venues. Streaming video will not be possible. If your presentation includes video, please bring it on a file that can be played without an internet connection. Network name: ACV Password not required.

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General Information Conference Schedule The full conference schedule (including abstracts) and conference programme are available on the conference website.

Pre-Recorded Virtual Presentations & Virtual Poster Presentations A full list of pre-recorded virtual video presentations and virtual poster presentations will be on the conference website during and after the conference. We encourage you to watch these presentations and provide feedback through the video comments.

Conference Catch-Up (On-Demand) All Keynote Presentations and live-streamed sessions will be recorded and uploaded to the Conference Catch-Up (On-Demand) page via Vimeo. The Catch-Up page will be available after the conference until Thursday, December 17, 2026.

Certification Corresponding authors will be able to download Certificates of Presentation, as well as Session Chair certification and reviewer certification for Senior Reviewers, for all presenters by logging in to the submission page. Certificates of Presentation will be available from Thursday, December 3, 2026. Certificates of Participation for non-presenters, as well as reviewer certification for Review Committee members, will be sent out by email in a PDF format within two weeks of the Conference's conclusion.

Photo/Recording Waiver Human interaction through networking, and dissemination of this knowledge, is at the core of what IAFOR does as an academic research organisation, conference organiser and publisher. As part of the archiving of the conference event, IAFOR takes photos in and around the conference venue, and uses the photos to document the event. This also includes the filming of certain sessions. We consider this documentation important, and it provides evidence of our activities to members, partners and stakeholders all over the world, as well as to current and potential attendees like you. Some of these photos will therefore appear online and in print, including on social media. The above are the legitimate interests of the organisation that we assert under the European Union law on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Under this legislation, you have an absolute right to opt out of any photo. We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. Read our full privacy policy – iafor.org/about/privacy-policy iafor.org/about/privacy-policy

iafor.org/publications

IAFOR Publications Conference Proceedings

IAFOR Conference Proceedings are Open Access research repositories that act as permanent records of the research generated by IAFOR conferences. The Conference Proceedings are published online in the IAFOR Research Archive (papers.iafor.org). All accepted authors who present at the conference may have their full paper published in the online Conference Proceedings. For further details of how to submit your paper, please visit the Conference website. Please note that: 1) Papers published in the Conference Proceedings cannot be considered for publication in IAFOR journals. 2) IAFOR's Conference Proceedings are not peer-reviewed and are not ‘Scopus-indexed’. Full text submission is due by Tuesday, December 15, 2026, through the online system. The proceedings will be published on Thursday, February 18, 2027.

Conference Reports and Intelligence Briefings (ISSN: 2759-4939)

IAFOR produces conference reports that provide concise and coherent overviews of the ideas, conversations, and areas of research presented at our conferences. These include key themes and takeaways, referencing programme(s), speakers and attendees, which are curated and archived for both those who attended the event, as well as those who did not. Readers can stay abreast of many of the developments and insights provided by the conference, and the collective intelligence of its participants. Links to video recordings of the presentations and interview references are included where possible, encouraging readers to engage further with the conference material and presentations. Each report contains photos of the event, as well as key statistics pertaining to general attendance and demographics. Read and download the Conference Reports and Intelligence Briefings, and access Conference Photo Galleries from past conferences using the QR code on the back of your name badge. You will receive a notification email when the Conference Photos and the Conference Report and Intelligence Briefing of this conference are available.

THINK Magazine: The Academic Platform

THINK is an online magazine presenting the latest in interdisciplinary research and ideas from some of the world’s foremost academics and thought leaders. As a publishing platform, THINK makes selected research presented at IAFOR’s international, intercultural, interdisciplinary conferences freely available to a global academic audience. Content on THINK spans everything from the arts to psychology, politics to film, law to education and history to technology, presenting research, ideas and perspectives from every corner of the globe. The format is varied, encompassing full research papers, long-form journalism, opinion pieces, creative writing, interviews, podcasts, video, photography and more. To learn more about THINK, please visit think.iafor.org or access the webpage from the QR code on the back of your name badge.

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iafor.org/publications

IAFOR Journals IAFOR's Open Access Journals IAFOR publishes several editorially independent, Open Access journals across a variety of disciplines. They conform to the highest academic standards of international peer review, and are published in accordance with IAFOR’s commitment to make all of our published materials available online.

How are papers submitted? Submissions should be original, previously unpublished papers which are not under consideration for publication in any other journal. All articles are submitted through the submission portal on the journal website and must conform to the journal submission guidelines.

How does IAFOR ensure academic integrity? Once appointed by IAFOR’s Publications Committee, the Journal Editor is free to appoint his or her own editorial team and advisory members, who help to rework and revise papers as appropriate, according to internationally accepted standards. All papers published in the journal have been subjected to the rigorous and accepted processes of academic peer review. Neither editors nor members of the editorial team are remunerated for their work.

Where are the journals indexed? IAFOR Journals are indexed in Web of Science, Scopus, DOAJ, ERIC, MIAR, TROVE, CiteFactor and EBSCO, SHERPA/ROMEO and Google Scholar. DOIs are assigned to each published issue and article via Crossref. Please note that indexing varies from journal to journal.

What’s the reach? Each of our journal issues is viewed thousands of times a month, and the articles are frequently cited by researchers worldwide, largely due to our dedicated marketing efforts. Each issue is promoted across our social media platforms and to our tailored email marketing lists. On average, each journal is published biannually.

What’s the cost? IAFOR Journals are Open Access publications, available online completely free of charge and without delay or embargo. Authors are not required to pay charges of any sort towards the publication of IAFOR Journals, and neither editors nor members of the editorial boards are remunerated for their work.

How are IAFOR Journals related to IAFOR Conferences and Conference Proceedings? IAFOR Journals reflect the interdisciplinary and international nature of our conferences and are organised thematically. A presenter can choose to publish either in Conference Proceedings or submit their manuscript to the corresponding IAFOR Journal for review.

Current IAFOR Journal titles include IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies (Scopus Indexed) IAFOR Journal of Education (Scopus & Web of Science Indexed) IAFOR Journal of Literature & Librarianship (Scopus Indexed) If you would like more information about any of IAFOR’s publications, please visit iafor.org/journals Follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/iaforjapan | IAFOR Vienna 2026 | IAFOR.ORG | 33

Academic Grant & Scholarship Recipients IAFOR's grants and scholarships programme provides financial support to PhD students and early career academics, with the aim of helping them pursue research excellence and achieve their academic goals through interdisciplinary study and interaction. Our warmest congratulations go to the following scholarship recipients who have been selected to receive grants and scholarships to present their research at the conference.

Stuart D. B. Picken Scholarship Recipient Professor Stuart D. B. Picken was a cherished friend and an inspiration to IAFOR and its community of supporters. In honour of Professor Picken and his dedication to academia, the ideals of intercultural understanding, and the principles of interdisciplinary study, IAFOR created the Stuart D. B. Picken Scholarship, an award supported by the Stuart D. B. Picken Memorial Fund. This award is given to PhD students and early career academics who are in need of funding to complete their research, and whose work demonstrates excellence in the core values of academic rigour, intercultural sensitivity, and interdisciplinarity.

Zhenia Mahdi (Oral Presentation)

106425 | Echoes of Peak Experiences and Flow States in Slow and Meditative Screendance Filmmaking Ms Zhenia Mahdi is a Belfast-based multidisciplinary artist, currently completing her practice-based PhD research at the University of Brighton, United Kingdom, exploring peak experience and flow states in slow and meditative Screendance filmmaking. She holds an MA in Future Communications, a BA in Visual Communication, and an HSD in Fashion. She has made several short films, and her feature documentary Tapestry of Colours (2012) has been screened in 28 venues in Ireland and the United States. Her vocals have featured on Banco De Gaia's album Apollo (2013) and on film soundtracks of ‘Ancient Skies’ (2012), 'Monkey Love' (2006) and ‘Pump Girl’ (2009). She has also held several exhibitions of her paintings in Ireland.

About Stuart D. B. Picken (1942-2016)

The late Reverend Professor Stuart D. B. Picken began his academic career as a Rotary Scholar in Japan. A native of Scotland dedicated to religious studies, he became fascinated by Japanese culture and the practice of Shinto. Whether in his research or teaching, Reverend Professor Picken devoted much of his life to increasing understanding between Japan and the West, and in 2007 he was recognised with the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure for his contribution to the promotion of friendship and mutual understanding between Japan and the United Kingdom. From 2009, he was the founding Chairman of The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), where he helped nurture and mentor a new generation of academics and facilitate intercultural and international understanding.

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Academic Grant & Scholarship Recipients VCAH2026 IAFOR Scholarship Recipients Supriya Choudhary (Oral Presentation) 111298 | Chinese Porcelain and the Visual Culture of Luxury in Dutch Golden Age Painting Ms Supriya Choudhary is a Master’s student at Fudan University, Shanghai, studying Chinese History and Culture. Her research focuses on global art history, material culture, and Chinese export porcelain in Dutch Golden Age painting. Supradip Das (Live-Stream Presentation) 110531 | Remembering Revolution Through Literature: Representation, Memory, and Afterlives of the Cultural Revolution in Chinese Fiction Mr Supradip Das is a researcher at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. His research interests include contemporary Chinese literature, memory, and intellectual history. His current project focuses on representations of the Cultural Revolution in post-Mao fiction. Raunak Kumar (Oral Presentation) 111471 | Vanishing Mediators and Typological Form: The Allegorical Schema of the Nation in Joyce’s Ulysses Mr Raunak Kumar is a Senior Research Fellow and PhD student at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Roorkee, India. Palina Salei (Oral Presentation) 111171 | Media Framing of Sustainable Food Consumption in British and American News Discourse Palina Salei is an early career researcher in media and discourse studies. She recently completed an MA in Applied English Linguistics at Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania. Her research examines how news media shape public understanding of social issues such as sustainability and migration, with particular attention to framing, agency and responsibility, and meaning construction. She is preparing to apply for PhD programmes in communication and related interdisciplinary fields.

VCSS2026 IAFOR Scholarship Recipient Dayana León (Virtual Presentation) 110305 | Local Violence, Global Crime: Multilevel Governance and State Capacity in Ecuador’s Security Crisis Ms Dayana León is a PhD Student at Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Ecuador, and an international consultant. Her interests include governance, organised crime, elections and security; her current project examines criminal governance and child recruitment.

Keynote & Featured Presentations All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Abstracts appear as originally submitted by the author. Any spelling, grammatical, or typographical errors are those of the author.

IAFOR events are among the most diverse on earth Bridging divides of nation, culture, and discipline; informing and shaping ideas, research, practice, and policy in a comparative and contrastive space, IAFOR encourages the sharing and nurturing of diverse ideas. Over the past year, more than 5,000 delegates from more than 120 countries have participated in an IAFOR event.

5,000+ Delegates

120+ Countries

Inspiring global collaborations, this diversity of peoples, nations, voices, cultures, and ideas is at the heart of what we do.

It is our greatest strength. Join us.

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Plenary Speaker: Joseph Haldane

Welcome Address & Recognition of IAFOR Scholarship Winners Friday, November 13, 2026 | 09:30-10:00 | Austria Center Vienna, Hall G (Level -2) & Online

Joseph Haldane 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 19thcentury French Studies (ULIP/RHUL), and has research interests in world history, politics, and education, as well as governance and decision-making. Since 2015, Dr Haldane has been a Guest Professor at The Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at The University of Osaka, having taught on the postgraduate Global Governance Course, and has been Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre, an interdisciplinary research centre situated within the university, since 2017. Since 2022, he has been a Professor at the European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD) of the University for Peace, established by the United Nations. He is also a Member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network for Global Governance. From 2019 until 2026, he was a Visiting Professor at Doshisha University, where he taught Ethics and Governance in the Global MBA. From 2020 to 2025, Dr Haldane was an Honorary Professor at University College London (UCL), through the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction. Earlier in his career, he held 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 in the Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas and the Schools of Journalism of Sciences Po Paris and Moscow State University. Professor Haldane has given invited lectures and presentations at universities and conferences globally, including at the United Nations headquarters 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. From 2012 to 2014, Dr Haldane was Treasurer of the Chubu chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce Japan, and from 2015 to 2020 was a Trustee of the HOPE International Development Agency Japan. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in 2012 and the Royal Society of Arts in 2015. He lives in Japan and holds a black belt in Judo. Follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/iaforjapan | IAFOR Vienna 2026 | IAFOR.ORG | 39

Keynote Presentation: Christoph Thun-Hohenstein

Digital Humanism in a More-Than-Human World Friday, November 13, 2026 | 10:20-10:45 | Austria Center Vienna, Hall G (Level -2) & Online

Digital Humanism is a movement founded in Vienna that is characterised by a critical yet constructive stance towards digitalisation: it posits that digital technologies should serve people, not the other way round, and is based on five fundamental considerations: • Digital technologies change us and our lives. • They must protect people and the environment. • They should strengthen democracy and society. • They are malleable, not fate. • Most importantly, people are not machines. The rapid developments in AI and the massive ecological crisis call for an urgent update to Digital Humanism. We must embed it within a holistically conceived ‘more-than-human world’, and position nature as humanity’s most important partner in dealing with AI. For humans are part of nature; they are one species among many. Humans would therefore be well advised to abandon anthropocentric thinking and to use powerful technologies such as AI not only for their own benefit, but also consistently for the protection and well-being of our planet. The ultimate goal must be the regeneration of human civilisation in future-oriented harmony with nature. This keynote will introduce a brand new initiative that brings together people, nature, and AI into a groundbreaking shared vision. It will outline a Regenerative Digital Humanism, through which AI, nature, and we are united as allies for a better world. It will focus on empowering Gen Z, a generation with the best prospects of living to see the next turn of the century.

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Christoph Thun-Hohenstein Christoph Thun-Hohenstein is a cultural manager, curator, and author at the interface of fine art, media art, design, architecture, and ecology, climate, regeneration, as well as digitalisation and artificial intelligence/superintelligence. He is Artistic Director of the Future Platform ReGenerativa, Austria. After studying law, political science, and history of art at the University of Vienna, Austria, Dr Thun-Hohenstein worked for the Austrian Foreign Ministry and held posts in Abidjan, Geneva, and Bonn. He was Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum New York from 1999 to 2007. From 2022 to 2025, he was Director General for International Cultural Relations at the Austrian Foreign Ministry. From 2007 to 2011, he served as Managing Director of Departure, the Creative Industries Agency of the City of Vienna. Dr ThunHohenstein also served as General Director and Artistic Director of the MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna from 2011 to 2021. He then founded the Vienna Biennale for Change, which he directed from 2014 until 2022. Most recently, he initiated the Vienna Climate Biennale and chaired the Advisory Board of the Vienna Climate Biennale. Dr Thun-Hohenstein has published several books. His most recent book, Zukunftsmutig (Kremayr & Scheriau 2026, in German), was released earlier this year.

Keynote Presentation: Darrel Toulon

Performance Art Countering Social Invisibility at the Intersection of Social Justice and Legal Change Friday, November 13, 2026 | 11:30-11:50 | Austria Center Vienna, Hall G (Level -2) & Online

Social invisibility refers to the phenomenon where certain groups or individuals are marginalised in a haze of stigmatisation, discrimination, and non-acceptance. Docu-dance-theatre (Toulon, 2014) is a performance art that uses participatory artistic interventions to effect personal growth, trauma transformation, and societal change in vulnerable populations. By transforming the hard facts of real-life biographical source material into fiction for performative interpretation to breach the void of communication, dominant cultural narratives can be rewritten and witnessed, initiating multi-layered processes of integration, reconciliation, and socio-political transformation. At the heart of this presentation is more than a decade’s insight from an evidence-based body of work, drawn from internationally implemented projects that intersect with transdisciplinary research in post-conflict zones, contributing to, for example, the recognition and acceptance of children born of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and children born in captivity in Uganda. Simultaneous, coordinated engagement across multiple domains is necessary for this work to successfully foster a sustainable, just society. How can an invisible population be rendered as empowered creative agents and advocates? How can vulnerable groups challenge their social and legal invisibility, and break the walls of silence surrounding their existence? How can marginalised groups negotiate when and how they want to be seen, and have their needs and experiences recognised by mainstream society, policy makers, and researchers? Docu-dance-theatre methodology is situated within the Post-Traumatic Growth model (Calhoun and Tedeschi, 1998), and builds on Trauma-Informed Principles (Alessi and Kahn, 2022) to create ‘safe spaces’ that allow interventions to unfold in a benevolent manner. Hart’s Peacebuilding Wheel (2008) serves as a framework for visualising the multi-layered needs of societies affected by war, with tangible and intangible issues, intergenerational trauma transmission, and deep-rooted conflict.

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Darrel Toulon

populations.

Darrel Toulon is an artistic researcher, practitioner, and educator at the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität, Austria. He is also a cultural manager, an artist supported by Arts and Health Austria, and the Founding Artistic Director of 'the alpha group’, based in Vienna. His projects align with the university's Third Mission, addressing issues such as the consequences of migration and war, intersectionality and identity, and long-term unemployment. His primary area of research is the development of docu-dancetheatre as a transdisciplinary tool using participatory artistic interventions for personal growth, trauma transformation, and societal change, with marginalised, stigmatised, and silenced

Toulon has headed projects in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Uganda, and was a featured artist at Künstlerhaus Wien (SUBSTANZ Exhibition, 2024-25). Other international projects include the intergenerational/ interethnic Peace-Building with Performance Arts Residency at Mindanao State University, Philippines. His projects also target young adults with migration backgrounds and NEET status, and individuals living with their Lebensborn family inheritance. In 2002, he was awarded the First Austrian Dance Production Special Prize. His community dance project “THROUGH THE OPEN DOOR” (2015), created with unaccompanied minor refugees residing in Graz, Austria, was nominated for Place of Respect 2016. He was awarded the Styrian Golden Cross of Honour in 2016.

Keynote Presentation: Albane Buriel

Arts in Crisis Settings: Rethinking Health, Education and Protection Friday, November 13, 2026 | 11:55-12:10 | Austria Center Vienna, Hall G (Level -2) & Online

Over the past decade, arts, health, and wellbeing have become an increasingly established field of research, practice, and public policy. The WHO scoping review on arts and health (Fancourt & Finn, 2019), the creation of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, and UNESCO’s Framework for Culture and Arts Education reflect a growing recognition of artistic and cultural participation as a matter of public interest. Yet, in contexts of crisis, conflict, and displacement, the purposes and conditions of arts-based practice require particular attention. Violence, displacement, disrupted education, weakened social ties, and the loss of cultural spaces affect not only individual wellbeing, but also collective memory, cultural continuity, participation, and possibilities for peace. This keynote draws on multi-sited research and practice in Syria, Iraq, and other crisis-affected contexts to examine how arts-based programmes operate across health, education, and protection. Proposing a typology of existing approaches, this talk distinguishes between programmes primarily oriented towards health and psychosocial support and those focused on education in emergencies, while also identifying hybrid approaches that connect cultural participation, protection and community life. These practices include visual arts, theatre, music, storytelling, participatory, and biographical approaches, often developed in collaboration with local artists and communities. The keynote argues that artistic practices should not be understood solely through therapeutic outcomes or individual wellbeing. Their potential lies also in creating conditions for expression, recognition, collective meaning-making and social connection. However, such effects are neither automatic nor inherent to art itself. They depend on facilitation, meaningful participation, cultural legitimacy, and the quality of relationships between artists, educators, health professionals, and humanitarian actors. The presentation concludes by considering the ethical, professional, and evaluative challenges facing this emerging field.

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Albane Buriel Dr Albane Buriel is an associate researcher in Education Sciences at University Rennes 2, France, within the Centre for Research on Education, Learning and Didactics (CREAD), and the founder and president of Art to Face, an international NGO dedicated to culture and arts education in emergency, conflict, and postconflict settings. Her work lies at the intersection of research, humanitarian practice, and cultural action. She specialises in arts-based approaches across mental health and psychosocial support, education, and community participation, examining how artistic and cultural practices can support agency, recognition, collective meaning-making, and social cohesion in contexts of violence and displacement. Dr Buriel has conducted multi-sited fieldwork in Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Eastern Europe, working alongside local communities, artists, educators, NGOs, and international organisations. Her research draws on ethnographic and participatory methodologies, including participant observation, arts-based and biographical devices, and collaborative knowledge production. She teaches humanitarian action, MHPSS, and arts-based education in several universities. Her work critically examines both the potential and the ethical tensions of arts-based practice, including questions of power, representation, emotional exposure, care, and sustainability. Through Art to Face, she is currently developing the International Observatory on Culture and Arts Education in Crisis and Post-Conflict Contexts.

Discussion Panel: Albane Buriel, Darrel Toulon, Ruth Mateus-Berr (Moderator)

The Arts in Times of Crisis

Friday, November 13, 2026 | 12:15-12:45 | Austria Center Vienna, Hall G (Level -2) & Online

Please refer to the online programme for the full session description.

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Albane Buriel See full biography on page 45.

Darrel Toulon See full biography on page 43.

Ruth Mateus-Berr (Moderator) Dr Ruth Mateus-Berr is an artist, researcher, social designer, and professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria. She heads the Center for Didactics of Art and Interdisciplinary Education at the university and is a teacher at BRG XXI Schulschiff Bertha von Suttner secondary school in Vienna. Her main research areas are art, artistic research, (social) multisensual design research, interdisciplinary art and design education, and health. She has published several articles and books, and has exhibited art and artistic research internationally.

The Forum | The Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences in Times of Crisis Anne Boddington (Respondent), Melina Neophytou (Moderator) Friday, November 13, 2026 | 14:30-15:30 | Austria Center Vienna, Hall G (Level -2) Umberto Ansaldo (Online Respondent), Briar Pelletier (Online Moderator) Tuesday, November 17, 2026 | 09:05-10:05 | Online via Zoom

Humanity is facing a series of interconnected crises that transcend national borders, cultures, and disciplines. Academics have long sought to understand these challenges and their implications for human activity. In essence, the arts involve different forms of human creation, cultural works, and their appreciation; the humanities interpret meaning, values, and histories of the human experience; and the social sciences use empirical methods to analyse human behaviour and societies. These disciplines are therefore crucial to understanding the world around us, particularly in these hugely uncertain times of runaway technological developments and great conflict. However, scientific research and policymaking increasingly seek solutions within a framework that promotes utilitarian values and economic growth. One may argue that we have become so focused on efficiency, innovation, and growth that the stories we tell about progress have contributed to the crises we are trying to solve. What can the arts, the humanities, and the social sciences do to rethink storytelling and transform social thinking and acting? The Forum session invites participants to share why the arts, humanities, and social sciences matter for understanding the crises we face today, and how they can challenge dominant forms of storytelling in times of increased uncertainty.

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Anne Boddington Professor Anne Boddington is Executive Vice-President and Provost of IAFOR, and oversees its academic programs, research, and policies. Anne Boddington is Professor Emerita of Design Innovation and has held executive and senior leadership roles in Higher Education, including as Dean of Arts & Humanities at the University of Brighton, Pro Vice Chancellor for Research, Business & Innovation at Kingston University, and Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange at Middlesex University. In 2022, she concluded chairing the Sub Panel (32) for Art & Design: History, Practice & Theory as part of the Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) and has extensive experience in the governance and conduct of peer review, research evaluation and assessment in REF2014 (Sub Panel Deputy Chair and Equality, Diversity Advisory Panel [EDAP]) and RAE2008. A former member of AHRC’s Advisory Board, she is the current Chair of the Advisory Board for the UKRI’s National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research (NICER) programme (£30M), Deputy Chair and a Trustee of the Design Council, the government’s strategic advisor for design, and a member of both the InnoHK Scientific Committee (Hong Kong) and the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications (HKCAAVQ). Since the 1990s, Anne has worked across the UK and internationally with a wide range of quality assurance, professional, statutory, and regulatory bodies in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Hong Kong, and India. As an independent consultant, she now works as a strategic advisor and mentor and is committed to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion in practice, developing effective governance, supporting career development, reducing bureaucracy, and improving organisational design, integrity, and productivity in the changing workplace.

Melina Neophytou (Moderator) 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. 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. Dr Neophytou’s research interests currently focus on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the relationship between state and society. Her current work examines technologies such as facial recognition (FRT) and biometric surveillance, and how these tools impact freedom of expression, protest, and social policy. Follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/iaforjapan | IAFOR Vienna 2026 | IAFOR.ORG | 49

Umberto Ansaldo (Online Respondent) Dr Umberto Ansaldo is Professor of Linguistics, UNESCO Chair, and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at VinUniversity, Vietnam. As a linguist, he specialises in research on languages of Asia from a comparative and historical perspective. His publications advance an evolutionary framework of language contact that highlights the role of multilingualism and variation in language change. He previously worked in language documentation and researched endangered contact languages of the Indian Ocean. As an educator, Professor Ansaldo has long promoted a studentcentred, innovative, and interdisciplinary pedagogical philosophy. In his current role as Dean, he represents a governance style that emphasises meritocracy and transparency and fosters a culture of empathy and belonging. Away from work, Professor Ansaldo enjoys wining and dining and the practice of martial arts. He has lived and worked in many different countries prior to Vietnam, including Amsterdam, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia. Professor Ansaldo serves on IAFOR’s International Academic Board.

Briar Pelletier (Online Moderator) Briar Pelletier is the Editorial and Communications Coordinator at IAFOR, where she works with the academic team on a range of academic projects and initiatives, including the Forum’s Scholarship and Grant Opportunities, Conference Proceedings, and Conference Reports and Intelligence Briefings. She is currently developing IAFOR’s online community content for members and moderates its monthly Academic Advice Surgery sessions. Ms Pelletier is completing her PhD at Nagoya University, Japan, where she was recognised as a Next Generation Research Fellow from 2022 to 2025. Her research focuses on grassroots cultural exchange initiatives and community-led digital archives, with particular attention to projects affiliated with sister-city partnerships. She holds an MA in Cultural Studies from Nagoya University and a BA in Art History from the University of Maine, United States.

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Friday, November 13 16:40-17:40 | Hall G (Level -2) Friday Poster Session All times are Central European Time (UTC+1) Abstracts appear as originally submitted by the author. Any spelling, grammatical, or typographical errors are those of the author.

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16:40-17:40 | Hall G (Level -2)

Friday Poster Session Arts - Arts Theory and Criticism 110443 | Balloon Time Model Geza Csosz, Bath Spa University, United Kingdom This paper introduces the Balloon Time Model, a conceptual and practice-based framework developed to investigate the phenomenology of temporal experience and the unstable nature of the present moment. Drawing on Edmund Husserl’s account of retention and protention, Henri Bergson’s concept of durée, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of perception, the model proposes that time is not experienced as a sequence of discrete moments but as a continuously expanding field in which memory, perception, and anticipation interact. The Balloon Time Model employs the balloon as both a visual metaphor and an analytical framework structured around three interconnected components: temporal expansion, the dynamic relation between past and future, and the continual displacement of the apparent present. Building on the author's research into the proposition that the present does not exist as an independent temporal entity, the model examines how the “now” emerges as a transient experiential construction rather than a fixed ontological point. Situated at the intersection of contemporary visual art, phenomenology, and scientific conceptions of time, the research employs photography, video art, and experimental moving-image practices as methods of inquiry. Through performative and time-based visual experiments, artistic production generates analytical insights into duration, transformation, and disappearance. The originality of the Balloon Time Model lies in integrating phenomenological theories of temporality with practice-based artistic research, offering a novel framework for investigating how the present is continuously constituted and dissolved within lived experience.

Arts - Teaching and Learning the Arts 107045 | Visual Creativity Techniques for Learning and Motivation in Kindergarten and School: A Norwegian Case-study May Olaug Horverak, Norwegian Research Centre, Norway Øistein Kristiansen, Earthtree Media AS, Norway Janne Håkedal, Birkenes municipality, Norway Mette Harberg, Birkenes municipality, Norway Marianne Henriksen, Birkenes municipality, Norway Kindergartens and schools are quite different in nature, and many children struggle with the transition between the two contexts. They both have curricula and competence aims, however, kindergartens emphasize play and playful practices, whereas schools focus on learning, such as basic mathematical, reading and writing skills and learning strategies to approach textual material. For some children, the transition is so stressful that they experience strong emotional distress and anxiety. To solve this challenge, a case-study has been carried out in a Norwegian municipality, where creative drawing techniques have been applied across kindergartens and schools to ensure continuity and emotional safety across contexts. Preschool teachers and teachers have been instructed in drawing faces with different emotions, as well as animals and other creatures, with techniques that are simple, which results in, sometimes strange and funny, but good drawings and facial expressions. Experiences from applying these visual creativity techniques have been collected from representatives from two schools, and three kindergartens. The kindergartens reported that the children experienced mastery in the drawing situation, and that they were proud, when applying these techniques. They expressed surprise that also children who normally did not draw participated actively. The schools emphasized the same, that the children enjoyed applying these techniques, as they were fun and quite simple, and most children were proud of the results, although it could be challenging that some children strived for perfection. Further research is needed to investigate and realize the potential of the visual creativity techniques applied in this study.

Humanities - Knowledge 114242 | Value Extraction and Narrative Construction of Business Archives: The Case of Suzhou Jiameike Button Factory Jingyi Zeng, Nankai University, China Li Niu, Renmin University of China, China Lei Wang, Sun Yat-sen University, China Xiaoshuang Jia, Renmin University of China, China Archives play a crucial role throughout an enterprise’s lifecycle by supporting business continuity and fostering product innovation, representing their primary value. When enterprises undergo restructuring or their archives reach the end of the retention period and are transferred to national comprehensive archives, the secondary value of these records emerges. At this stage, archives contribute to documenting business history, interpreting product innovation across eras, and shaping collective memory. This study examines the Suzhou Jiameike Button Factory as a case to explore the identification of the value of business archives and the construction of archival narratives. Building on prior archival development efforts at the factory, the research applies theories of archival value and narrative to analyze the multiple layers and dimensions of archival significance. Based on these findings, the study proposes narrative strategies explicitly tailored to business archives. The results indicate that archival narratives in the business context center on “objects” and “events,” reconstructing the history of product and business activities while revealing the formation of social memory. Business archives are actively reused over time, engaging in cycles of production and reproduction. Through this process, they generate new narratives within the domains of economic history, micro-social history, and international communication.

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16:40-17:40 | Hall G (Level -2)

Friday Poster Session Humanities - Language/Linguistics 113645 | Reading Together Across Languages: A Picture Book-Sharing Intervention to Support Young Children’s Early Literacy Sumaya Saqr, Emirates College for Advanced Education, United Arab Emirates Shared book reading provides valuable opportunities to support young children's language and early literacy development while strengthening parent–child interactions. This presentation describes a picture-book-sharing intervention designed to encourage Emirati fathers to read with their four- and five-year-old kindergarten children at home, in both Arabic and English. The intervention highlights the importance of interactive shared book reading in fostering children's language and literacy development within the UAE's multilingual context. Drawing on fathers' accounts of their shared reading experiences and observations of their children's responses, the presentation examines how fathers engaged in home-based shared book reading and the language and literacy practices they employed during these interactions. It also outlines criteria for selecting culturally and linguistically accessible picture books that facilitate meaningful shared reading experiences for young children in the UAE. By highlighting the role of fathers in family literacy, the presentation offers practical guidance for parents, educators, and early childhood practitioners on selecting appropriate picture books and fostering rich home literacy experiences that support children's language development, early literacy, and enjoyment of books. 110166 | The Effects of Different Types of Feedback on Student Writing Hui-Tzu Hsu, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan Yuan-Shan Chen, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taiwan Hsuan-Yu Tai, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan In language learning, corrective feedback (CF) plays a significant role. However, few studies have examined how learners actually process such feedback and how this processing contributes to their language development. The present study investigated how L2 learners process different types of CF. Twelve high-intermediate Chinese learners of English participated in this study. They completed a written completion task and received different types of CF. In the direct CF condition, learners received explicit corrections. In contrast, the indirect CF group received revision suggestions only, and revised the errors accordingly. To capture the learners' cognitive processes during feedback reception and revision, the study employed think-aloud protocols. Participants were asked to verbalize their thoughts as they reflected on the CF they received. These verbal reports were subsequently analyzed, and the analysis revealed a noteworthy difference between the two groups. Learners who received direct CF can quickly clarify errors, but it may not always encourage them to reflect critically or develop autonomous language awareness. Conversely, learners exposed to indirect CF demonstrated a more active engagement, which led to deeper learning and greater internalization of the forms. The findings highlight the importance of considering the type of feedback provided in language teaching. While direct CF may efficiently correct errors, indirect CF seems to foster deeper level of processing, encouraging learners to think critically and develop self-regulated learning strategies. Pedagogically, teachers may strike a balance between both feedback types, perhaps beginning with direct CF for clarity but gradually incorporating indirect feedback to promote long-term language development.

Humanities - Media/Film Studies/Theatre/Communication 113497 | Communicating Thai Identity Through Thai Restaurants in the United States Benjaporn Panlinfar, Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, Thailand Supaporn Sridee, Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, Thailand Wittayatorn Tokaew, Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, Thailand Thai restaurants in the United States serve as cultural spaces where international audiences encounter Thai culture beyond cuisine. Through atmosphere, hospitality, visual design, and cultural practices, they communicate values that shape perceptions of Thailand. While prior studies have focused on tourism, marketing, and consumer behavior, limited attention has been paid to their role as media of cultural communication. This study explores how Thai identity is communicated through Thai restaurants in the United States and how these practices contribute to representing Thai Cultural identity internationally. Guided by Cultural Communication, Cultural Identity, and Soft Power perspectives, this qualitative research adopts a multiple-case study approach involving selected Thai restaurants. Data were collected through observations, analysis of restaurant environments and communication materials, and semi-structured interviews with restaurant owners and customers. The study expects to demonstrate that Thai identity is conveyed through authentic cuisine, visual elements, cultural narratives, service practices, and the overall dining experience. Together, these elements create meaningful cultural encounters that shape customers’ understanding and appreciation of Thai culture while reinforcing Thailand’s image abroad. This research contributes to cultural communication scholarship by illustrating how everyday commercial spaces function as platforms for intercultural dialogue and cultural representation, while also offering practical insights for Thai restaurant entrepreneurs and policymakers seeking to strengthen Thailand’s cultural identity and soft power through strategic communication.

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16:40-17:40 | Hall G (Level -2)

Friday Poster Session Humanities - Philosophy/Ethics/Consciousness 109652 | Against Transhumanism: Embodiment and the Vulnerability of the Human Being Ryosuke Matsumura, Fuji Women's University, Japan Contemporary transhumanism, exemplified by thinkers such as Ray Kurzweil, envisions the technological transcendence of the human condition, culminating in the so-called Technological Singularity. Within this framework, human beings are expected to move beyond biological limitations—first through cyborgization and ultimately toward existence as disembodied informational entities. This presentation argues that such a vision can be understood as a contemporary manifestation of what Jacques Maritain criticized as the “angelism” of modern philosophy: the tendency to conceive the human being as if it were a purely intellectual or immaterial entity, thereby neglecting the constitutive role of embodiment and finitude. By revisiting Maritain’s critique, the presentation highlights the philosophical and ethical significance of the human body, as well as the positive value of vulnerability and dependency. It suggests that these features are not merely limitations to be overcome, but essential dimensions of human existence that ground relationality, moral responsibility, and lived meaning. In doing so, the presentation offers a critical perspective on transhumanist aspirations and calls for a renewed appreciation of embodiment as central to any adequate account of the human person.

Humanities - Science, Environment and the Humanities 111789 | Reinterpreting the Land Walls as a Hydrological System: A Basin-Based Reading Beyond the Buffer Zone Rahime Hande Canbilen Omacan, Beykoz University, Türkiye Aysegul Cankat, Universite de Grenoble, France Istanbul's Land Walls are managed today through two tools: a registered monument and a protective buffer zone drawn around it. Neither tool matches the nature of what it governs. The buffer zone is areal and static; the water infrastructure along the walls' cross-section is relational and processual: points where water changes state- emergence, storage, conveyance, distribution, production, discharge- form a network of nodes. This network's value lies not within its structures but in the transitions between them. A water well inside the buffer zone can be registered; the transition to the garden it feeds cannot, because current tools hold no such category. This basin network reading builds on Çorakbaş's (2013) proposal and Cankat's (2011) systemic outlook; the study's contribution is giving it concrete form, for the first time, on one segment. It cross-reads historical maps tracing water's path, photographs, late antique legal records on water-use permissions, and field research at Yedikule-Balikli, rendering the data visible through sections and plans. Reading the same area through two lenses, 'monument and buffer zone' and 'basin', produces a discrepancy; that discrepancy is the study's principal finding. In light of this, the comparison with Carcassonne and Diyarbakir-Hevsel is reframed at the scale of the fortified height, not the city: Istanbul's peninsula is not an exception among these cases but their most intensified instance, suggesting this reading may extend beyond one segment to other, similarly structured sites. The paper's contribution is not a finished design model but making visible the basin-scale relationships current conservation 111391 | Results of the Analysis of the Materials Conducted in the “Altan Ganjur” Scripture Oyunbileg Oidov, Mongolian University of Culture and Arts, Mongolia Mongolians are a people with an ancient culture of writing and have a tradition of writing scriptures with precious stones. The Altan Ganjuur Sutra has been damaged due to climatic factors or excessive dryness of the environment, resulting in the violation of the preservation and protection regime of cultural heritage, resulting in damage such as tearing, breaking, crushing, breaking, and disfiguring of letters in many volumes of the sutra, which necessitates a scientifically based study. Based on the environmental technology used in the study of the preservation and protection of cultural heritage, we conducted visual inspection (VT), XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence) elemental composition (two samples: paper and ink), optical microscopy of the paper fibers of the scripture (×200, ×400), polarized light microscopy, and SEM-EDS (Scanning Electron Microscopy -Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy) surface analysis of inorganic elements on the Altan Ganjuur Sutra. This study identified the characteristics and patterns of cultural documentary heritage and the causes of damage and deterioration through material analysis, which paved the way for the development of methods and recommendations to create appropriate environmental conditions and extend the lifespan of documentary heritage by clarifying the internal and external environmental impacts of the Altan Ganjuur Sutra.

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16:40-17:40 | Hall G (Level -2)

Friday Poster Session Humanities - Sexuality/Gender/Families 110968 | Inclusive Development and Challenges of LGBTIQ+ Inclusion in Clinical Setting Chiharu Miyata, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan Japan has been noted as lagging in understanding and addressing LGBT issues. Efforts are being made to enhance understanding of LGBT issues through school education and the enactment of related laws. However, healthcare field still faces challenges in establishing a ideal system for accommodating patients of LGBT. In this study, we aim to clarify nursing administrators’ knowledge and awareness of LGBT individuals and the level of consideration provided to LGBT patients during hospitalization. The survey was conducted via a web-based questionnaire. Responses were obtained from 107 nursing administrators from 100 randomly selected hospitals. Participants have not received education on gender diversity during school education, and 80 percent have not undergone any training after graduation. Many participants lacked sufficient knowledge of gender diversity, recognized the need for opportunity acquire knowledge. In terms of hospital policies, fewer than 10% of hospitals had standards addressing ethical considerations for gender diversity, such as using a patient's selfidentified gender in medical records and documents, providing a transgender-specific rooms, or offering access to transgender-friendly restrooms. Many nursing administrators acknowledged that their LGBT-related knowledge was insufficient and expressed the need for further knowledge, although opportunities for learning were limited. Especially, they felt difficulty in determining visitation rights and consideration for being present at the time of death, and that they faced greater challenges in making decisions regarding gender identity, preferred names, selection of hospital rooms and restrooms. These results suggest the need for educational opportunities and establishment of organizational standards.

Humanities - Teaching and Learning 110910 | Role of Technology in the Teaching and Learning Process of Private Universities of Bangladesh H M Jahirul Haque, Canadian University of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Fariha Basher, Canadian University of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Mahbubur Rahman, Canadian University of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Anup Sharma, Capella University, United States Classroom teaching and learning quality has emerged as an important issue in the private universities in Bangladesh along with growing use of technology in the classroom teaching learning processes. Though a good number of private universities use different technologies in the process of classroom teaching and learning there is a little empirical study about the actual impacts of the technology in quality enhancement of teaching and learning This proposed study seeks to identify the current status of use of technology at tertiary education in Bangladesh and also its role in the process of quality enhancement of teaching and learning. This study is quantitative in nature. Data was collected from 268 undergraduate students in different private universities through a structured questionnaire. The correlations and multiple regression analysis were applied to determine relationship among technology use, teaching quality, and student learning outcomes. The findings revealed that technology integration makes higher teaching quality (β = 0.42, p < 0.01) and student engagement (β = 0.37, p < 0.01). Student satisfaction was also found to be significantly higher when they experienced technology integrated classroom. However, teaching quality using technology in the classroom is contingent on instructor's technical skills and teaching techniques. It concludes that technology helps better classroom teaching when institutional support and trainer's technical skills are in place. This study offers practical implications to improve quality of higher education in Bangladesh. 111633 | Early Childhood Global Citizenship Reflected in the 2019 Revised Nuri Curriculum Duri Kim, Chungnam National University, South Korea Kyeong Eon Kim, Chungnam National University, South Korea This study begins from Biesta's (2011) view of citizenship as "being" and "doing," positioning young children as citizens who currently live and enact citizenship through play and relationships, rather than merely preparing for future citizenship. Building on this view, the study draws on the operational definition of early childhood global citizenship as a civic way of being in which young children feel connected to themselves, others, and the world through play and daily life, respect differences of gender, culture, language, and race, and practice responsible attitudes as community members (Kim & Kim, 2025), and examines how this is reflected in Korea's 2019 Revised Nuri Curriculum. Methodologically, this study employs qualitative content analysis, examining both the manifest content and the latent meanings underlying it across the curriculum's five domains—Physical Exercise and Health, Communication, Social Relationships, Artistic Experience, and Nature Exploration. Objective and content statements in each domain were iteratively interpreted and categorized using the three components of early childhood global citizenship—understanding, respecting, and collaborating—as analytic categories. The analysis found that Social Relationships most comprehensively integrated all three components, with Nature Exploration foregrounding collaborating, Artistic Experience foregrounding respecting, and Communication foregrounding understanding, while Physical Exercise and Health reflected global citizenship elements only implicitly. By showing that early childhood global citizenship is embedded differently across curriculum domains, this study contributes to early childhood education, curriculum studies, and global citizenship education.

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16:40-17:40 | Hall G (Level -2)

Friday Poster Session 109845 | Human Rights in Motion Through Speech and Silence: A Day in the Life of a University Human Rights Practitioner Yunjin Cho, Chungnam National University, South Korea Changsoo Hur, Chungnam National University, South Korea This study examines how human rights education in universities is enacted in everyday practice beyond the framework of institutional management. Adopting a narrative inquiry approach, the research focuses on a practitioner who has worked for over ten years at a university human rights center. Data was collected over a three-month period from October to December 2025 through in-depth interviews and field observations. The participant voluntarily consented in writing in accordance with research ethics procedures, and the data were triangulated to enhance credibility. Drawing on bell hooks’ theories of liberatory education and border crossing, the study explores how human rights are practiced, negotiated, and embodied in institutional contexts. The findings suggest that human rights in universities do not function automatically as formal regulations or declarations; rather, they are enacted through the complex and often invisible work of counseling, education, administration, and mediation. These practices are shaped by the practitioner’s situated judgments and embodied engagement. Furthermore, human rights education is revealed not as the implementation of a fixed plan but as an emergent practice continually reconfigured through relationships, contingencies, and events. It also involves the ongoing construction of a public sphere in which discomfort is negotiated and voices can be articulated. By presenting a micro-narrative of "a day in the life of a human rights practitioner", this study calls for a rethinking of both the institutional limitations and the emancipatory possibilities of human rights education in higher education. 114188 | Passage-Level Prefrontal Hemodynamic Responses and Academic Performance During English Narrative Reading Asami Nakayama, Gifu University of Medical Science, Japan Kunihiko Tanaka, Gifu University of Medical Science, Japan Akihiro Sugiura, Gifu University of Medical Science, Japan Chika Nakayama, Gifu University of Medical Science, Japan Yuta Umeda, GIfu University of Mecial Science, Japan Yuna Takagi, Gifu University of Medical Science, Japan Reading a narrative in a second language is both a linguistic and interpretive act: readers must build meaning by integrating characters, events, and causal relations as a text unfolds. Academic scores indicate aspects of learners’ knowledge but cannot reveal how they engage with successive passages in real time. Linking language and cognition, this correlational study examined whether academic performance was associated with passage-level prefrontal hemodynamic responses during English narrative reading by Japanese university students. Thirty-three participants read a 521-word, CEFR A2-level English narrative divided into ten passages. Each passage was displayed for 32 seconds, followed by a 16-second interval. Bilateral prefrontal activity was recorded using near-infrared spectroscopy. Analyses focused on total hemoglobin responses corrected for superficial blood-flow contributions and linear drift. Mean responses during each passage were correlated with scores on a test administered after university enrolment using Pearson correlations. Correlations were calculated for the left and right prefrontal areas across the ten passages, and false-discovery-rate correction was applied to the resulting 20 tests. Recording quality was assessed before the correlation analyses. No association remained statistically significant after correction. The strongest uncorrected finding occurred in Passage 8: higher scores were associated with lower corrected total hemoglobin in the left prefrontal area (r = −.465, p = .0065, q = .129). Passage-level physiological measures may thus generate hypotheses about how learners construct narrative meaning, while the null corrected results underscore the need for transparent signal processing, multiple-comparison correction, and replication before localized patterns are interpreted as stable differences in second-language processing.

Cultural and Media Studies 104625 | Loneliness in the Link Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Doomscrolling Among Men from Generations X, Y, Z Maya Kagan, Ariel University, Israel Sabina Lissitsa, Ariel University, Israel Doomscrolling refers to the compulsive consumption of negative or distressing news content through continuous scrolling on digital platforms, particularly social media. Guided by Compensatory and Compulsory Internet Use Theories, Media System Dependency Theory and Generational Cohort Theory, the study examines the role of loneliness in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and doomscrolling among men across cohorts that grew up within different media environments and masculine norms. The study sample comprised 570 men representing three generational cohorts: Generation X (born 1965–1980), Generation Y (born 1981–1996), and Generation Z (born 1997– 2006, aged over 18 at the time of the survey). Data collection was conducted using various online channels, including outreach through social media platforms. Findings show that among Generation X, adverse childhood experiences are related to loneliness but not to doomscrolling. Among Generation Y, adverse childhood experiences predict doomscrolling directly without a mediating role of loneliness. Among Generation Z, loneliness mediates the association between adverse childhood experiences and doomscrolling. These patterns highlight meaningful generational differences in the emotional processes associated with doomscrolling and suggest that cohort specific masculine socialization may contribute to the ways some men relate to past adversity and to the digital practices through which distress may be managed.

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16:40-17:40 | Hall G (Level -2)

Friday Poster Session Environmental and Health Sciences 112479 | Evaluating the Quality of EIA Reports for Filling Stations in Gauteng, South Africa Kgothatso Mmokele Malaka, North West University, South Africa Leandri Kruger, North West University, South Africa Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is the most recognised and widely utilised tool for identifying and assessing the possible impacts of proposed developments on the environment. Through the compilation of Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs), the EIA process encourages informed decision-making and promotes sustainable development by integrating the three pillars of sustainability (social, economic, and environment). Filling station developments are an essential part of the growing South African economy, which accounts for close to 40% of the country’s retail fuel demand, and hosts more than 1,700 filling stations. Despite their economic significance, filling stations are associated with potential environmental impacts, particularly water and soil contamination. These impacts can lead to increased healthcare costs, and extensive socio-economic consequences. Therefore, the EIA process is essential to ensure that such impacts are identified and mitigated. Hence, the quality of EIRs conducted for filling station developments is critical for ensuring sustainable development. This study aimed to review the quality of EIA reports conducted for filling stations in the Gauteng Province. A qualitative research approach was followed, applying a modified Lee and Colley review package and document analysis to a sample of 30 EIA reports. Review Area 1 (Description of the development) achieved the highest performance (100%), followed by Review Area 4 (Communication of results) (97%), while Review Area 3 (Alternatives and mitigation of impacts) was the weakest performing area. The overall findings on the quality of the reports were that 97% were satisfactory (A-C), while 3% were deemed unsatisfactory (D-F).

Politics, Public Policy, Law & Criminology 111444 | EU Digital Governance in the Western Balkans: Policy Alignment and Its Limits Suljo Ćorsulić, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies have intensified the need for new regulatory frameworks across Europe. The Western Balkans, as a region strongly shaped by European Union (EU) norms and accession conditionality, has been a rather slow developer in EU-alignment of policies, marking digital and AI policy as a new challenge in this field. This study examines the extent to which the six Western Balkan states (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Albania) have aligned their national digital and AI policy frameworks with key EU regulatory instruments, namely the AI Act, Digital Services Act (DSA), and Digital Markets Act (DMA). Drawing on research on Europeanisation and policy diffusion, the paper investigates the relationship between formal alignment with EU digital policy and substantive governance outcomes, asking whether regulatory alignment necessarily translates into corresponding institutional and policy developments. Using qualitative comparative policy analysis and directed qualitative content analysis, the study systematically examines policy alignment across key dimensions derived from EU digital regulations, including risk-based AI governance, transparency requirements, platform regulation, and market competition rules. Furthermore, the paper explores variation in policy alignment across the six states and considers what this reveals about the reach of EU regulatory influence. The study contributes to debates on Europeanisation and EU regulatory influence in the context of digital and AI governance. More broadly, it assesses whether the EU continues to shape policy development in candidate and potential candidate states in a contested field that is increasingly shaping contemporary international politics and governance.

Social Work 111963 | The Relationship with the Other from the Perspective of Probation Officers Working with Foreigners in Poland Łukasz Wirkus, University of Gdańsk, Poland Anna Babicka-Wirkus, Pomeranian University in Slupsk, Poland The influx of foreigners into Poland has been steadily increasing over the last few years, a result of the country becoming a more attractive place to work, study and live. The war in Ukraine has also played a significant role in this situation. However, some foreigners come into conflict with the law and may be placed under the supervision of a probation officer. Working with foreigners requires particular sensitivity to cultural, linguistic, social, and normative differences, which may affect the quality of the helping relationship and the effectiveness of rehabilitation measures. The aim of the study was to explore the specific nature of probation officers’ work with foreigners and to identify the problems and resources emerging in the probation officer–client relationship. This relationship was understood as an encounter with the “Other,” requiring dialogue, openness, and readiness to overcome cultural barriers. The study falls within the fields of intercultural pedagogy and cultural criminology. A qualitative approach was applied, using semi-structured interviews conducted with 15 probation officers working in Polish urban areas with the highest numbers of foreigners. The analysis of the research material was based on three dimensions of the relationship with the “Other”: axiological, praxeological, and epistemological. The findings indicate numerous barriers in working with foreigners, especially linguistic, cultural, institutional, and legal ones. The importance of probation officers’ intercultural competences, an individualized approach to the client, cooperation with the local community, and a system of specialized training was also emphasized. Effective work with foreigners requires knowledge, flexibility, commitment, and the development of a relationship based on trust and dialogue.

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16:40-17:40 | Hall G (Level -2)

Friday Poster Session 112931 | How Do People with Alcohol Use Disorder Move Toward Abstinence? A Qualitative Study of Recovery Facility Directors on the Contemplation-to-Action Transition Koki Hashizume, Ritsumeikan University, Japan Recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD) involves a complex, multi-stage process in which individuals move from recognizing a problem to taking action. Drawing on the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) and the Life Model of social work practice, this qualitative study examines factors associated with the transition from the contemplation stage to the action stage among individuals in AUD recovery. Semi-structured interviews (50–70 minutes each) were conducted with five directors of addiction recovery support facilities in Japan, and data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2025). Analysis generated 56 codes organized into six themes: two facilitating factors — "being placed in an abstinence-normative environment" and "peer connections and roles" — and three inhibiting factors — "rigid defenses and inability to surrender," "difficulty engaging authentically," and "background difficulties requiring individualized support." A sixth theme described the transitional process itself: "defenses gradually dissolving through peer interaction." Findings suggest that the contemplation-to-action transition occurs not through deliberate resolve, but through person-environment interactions within recovery communities, often without the individual's conscious awareness. These results highlight the centrality of environmental structuring, peer modeling, role provision, and authentic relationship-building as mechanisms of change — insights directly applicable to social work practice with individuals experiencing AUD. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Ritsumeikan University (Approval No. ERHSS-2025-10-2.).

Sociology 113073 | Crowd Psychology and Loss Aversion in an Enclosed Theme Park Soji Lee, Tokai University, Japan Managing friction among diverse visitor segments in spatially constrained tourist facilities remains a critical challenge in modern social science and destination management. This study focuses on Sanrio Puroland, a prominent indoor theme park in Japan that serves as a representative hub for "Oshi" (enthusiastic fandom) culture. Extending the analytical methodologies from our research on tourist consciousness and hindering factors, we employed text mining and sentiment analysis to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate 300 visitor reviews. Our analysis reveals profound socio-spatial conflicts between passionate adult fans engaging in intensive "Oshi-katsu" (such as claiming prime spots for parades or queuing extensively for character greetings) and families with young children. Because these two segments possess entirely divergent reference points and spatial needs, operational frictions are perceived as severe psychological "losses" that fall far below their artificially inflated initial expectations. According to Prospect Theory, this loss aversion significantly and non-linearly degrades overall visitor satisfaction. However, the study demonstrates that introducing a strategic "choice architecture"—such as low-cost priority passes (PUROPASS) and transparent prior information disclosure regarding crowding—functions as a highly effective "nudge." This approach recalibrates visitors' reference points to realistic, manageable levels, thereby preemptively mitigating dissatisfaction. Ultimately, this research demonstrates that strategically optimizing reference points based on Prospect Theory, rather than merely maximizing visual expectations, provides a robust framework for alleviating inter-segment conflicts and achieving sustainable crowd management in highdensity, heterogeneous social spaces.

Teaching and Learning 114062 | Beyond Knowledge Transmission: Taiwanese Science Teachers’ Conceptions of Teaching for Self-Regulated Learning with ICT Tzu-Chiang Lin, National Kaohsiung Normal University, Taiwan Self-regulated learning (SRL) is widely recognized as essential to students’ capacity to plan, monitor, and regulate their learning. However, less is known about how science teachers conceptualize teaching that fosters SRL and how information and communication technology (ICT) is integrated into such teaching. This study proceeded in two phases. First, in-depth interviews with Taiwanese secondary science teachers were analyzed using a phenomenographic approach to construct conceptions of teaching for self-regulated learning (COTSRL) and conceptions of teaching for self-regulated learning with ICT (COTSRL-ICT). Second, two corresponding instruments were developed and examined using 362 questionnaire responses, principal component analysis, and varimax rotation. The qualitative findings showed that COTSRL extended from knowledge transmission to stimulating motivation, enhancing self-efficacy, developing metacognition, and cultivating learning strategies. COTSRL-ICT extended from technology-assisted learning and virtual experimentation to collaboration, immediate feedback and assessment, and individualized learning. Quantitatively, the 27-item COTSRL scale retained five factors, explaining 72.13% of the variance, with an overall Cronbach’s alpha of .93. The 32-item COTSRL-ICT scale yielded four factors, explaining 70.00% of the variance, with an overall alpha of .95. These analyses provided preliminary support for the proposed factor structures and internal consistency of the two instruments. The qualitative findings further revealed a conceptual range extending beyond knowledge transmission, while also indicating that transmissionoriented and instrumental views remained part of that range. Teacher education should therefore help teachers translate these broader conceptions into systematic classroom practices that support students’ self-regulation.

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16:40-17:40 | Hall G (Level -2)

Friday Poster Session 111986 | Effectiveness of Course Registration Systems in Higher Education: Perspectives of Academic Support Staff in the Context of Digital Universities Randa Rujichinnawong, Mahidol University, Thailand Kawin Mongkolprapa, Mahidol University, Thailand The transition toward digital universities has increased the importance of educational information systems in supporting academic administration and service delivery. Among these systems, course registration systems play a critical role in connecting students, faculty members, and academic staff. This study aimed to explore users’ experiences and perspectives regarding course registration systems, examine factors influencing system effectiveness, and propose recommendations for system improvement in the context of digital universities. A qualitative research approach was employed using Focus Group Discussion. Eight key informants who were directly involved in the operation and utilization of the course registration system participated in the study. Data were collected through semi-structured interview questions and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings indicated that the effectiveness of course registration systems was influenced by six key dimensions: system quality, information quality, perceived ease of use, service quality, user experience, and process efficiency. Participants expressed confidence in the accuracy and usefulness of system information for supporting academic operations. However, challenges remained regarding system stability during peak registration periods, the absence of proactive notification functions, and limited decision-support tools. In addition, service support and user experience were identified as important factors affecting perceptions of system effectiveness. The study concludes that the effectiveness of course registration systems is not determined solely by technical performance but by the integration of system quality, information quality, service quality, and user experience. The findings provide practical insights for improving course registration systems and supporting the transformation of higher education institutions toward user-centered digital universities. 113828 | Teaching Practical Laboratory-Based Chemistry in Grade 12 Advanced Classes in the UAE: Challenges and Opportunities Alya Alshehhi, United Arab Emirates University, United Arab Emirates Shaikha Alzaabi, United Arab Emirates University, United Arab Emirates Practical laboratory work is essential for developing students’ scientific understanding and science-process skills. However, research specifically examining the challenges and opportunities associated with Grade 12 Advanced Chemistry practical laboratory teaching and learning in UAE public schools remains limited. Addressing this gap, this study aimed to identify challenges experienced by students and teachers and explore opportunities for improving practical Chemistry education. Given the context-specific scope of the study, a mixedmethods approach was selected to provide complementary perspectives from students and teachers directly involved in practical Chemistry learning and teaching. Quantitative data were first collected through a researcher-developed questionnaire administered to 39 Grade 12 Advanced Chemistry students in Abu Dhabi public schools, followed by semi-structured interviews with 10 Chemistry teachers. Quantitative data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics, employing descriptive statistics, including frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations. Qualitative interview data were analyzed using content analysis and compared with the quantitative findings. Results identified key challenges related to laboratory facilities, availability of materials and equipment, limited laboratory time, curriculum demands, students’ foundational Chemistry knowledge, and instructional guidance. Students also reported that practical laboratory sessions supported the development of science-process skills. Findings highlight opportunities for improvement through enhanced laboratory resources, increased time and opportunities for practical work, clearer instructional guidance, and stronger foundational Chemistry preparation. Although contextspecific, the study provides evidence-based practical insights for Chemistry teachers, school leaders, curriculum developers, and policymakers seeking to strengthen practical Chemistry education in similar educational settings.

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Notes

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Saturday, November 14 10:40-12:20 | Onsite Parallel Session 1 12:35-13:50 | Onsite Parallel Session 2 15:20-17:00 | Onsite Parallel Session 3 All times are Central European Time (UTC+1) Abstracts appear as originally submitted by the author. Any spelling, grammatical, or typographical errors are those of the author.

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10:40-12:20 | Room -2.32 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCSS2026 | Psychology and Social Psychology Session Chair: Krisana Chotratanakamol 10:40-11:05 113527 | Mobilising Community Assets: Exploring the Impact of Community Engagement to Improve the Holistic Wellbeing of People Who Have Experienced Homelessness Fleur Riley, Northumbria University, United Kingdom Monique Lhussier, Northumbria University, United Kingdom Chris Cooper, Northumbria University, United Kingdom Tom Astley, Northumbria University, United Kingdom Alex Kirton, Northumbria University, United Kingdom People who have experienced homelessness (PEH) have often experienced pervasive trauma, stigmatisation and social isolation. Resettlement after homelessness can be a complex process, complicated by mental health and addiction issues, and low trust in services. Furthermore, maintaining stable housing may necessitate a transition away from existing social relationships within the homeless community, further isolating individuals in need of social connection. Engaging in community and group-based activities can improve the holistic health and wellbeing of people who have experienced homelessness, providing opportunities to develop and nurture positive identities and reduce selfstigmatisation. This paper draws on evidence from a four-year research project exploring creative health approaches with people who have experienced homelessness and complex trauma. Co-produced with PEH throughout, the See Me North project aimed to connect and mobilise community assets to improve access to community-based creative activities for PEH. We describe the mechanisms by which relationships between PEH and community-based organisations were established, and the resources required to maintain and grow these networks. We also explore the impact of community engagement from the perspectives of PEH, service providers and community practitioners, considering how creative co-participation can create equitable spaces in which PEH can foster identities beyond homelessness and exclusion.

11:05-11:30 114106 | Care, Affection, and Emotional Labour: What Artificial Intelligence Cannot Replicate, According to Costa Rican Caregiver Melany Franchesca Lizano Oconitrillo, Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica Steisy Fiorella Madriz Jimenez, Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica Keylin Rashell Garro Fallas, Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence has reopened debates about which human tasks can be automated, including caregiving for dependent persons. While abundant technical literature addresses AI capabilities in health and assistance contexts, few studies capture the perspective of those who perform care work daily, and existing debates are largely produced from technocentric, Global North perspectives that overlook the situated knowledge of caregivers themselves. This study examines how Costa Rican caregivers conceive of the limits of artificial intelligence in relation to the care work they perform. Its main objective is to identify which dimensions of care, including affective, bodily, and relational aspects, caregivers consider irreplaceable by technology. The research follows a qualitative design based on semistructured interviews with caregivers in institutional and informal settings in Costa Rica, analyzed through thematic content analysis. The findings point to care not being reducible to executable tasks, but instead involving a relational and affective dimension that caregivers consider constitutive of their work. The study offers a sociological reading of care and artificial intelligence from Costa Rica and Central America, contributing to feminist scholarship on emotional labour and to global discussions on the conceptual limits of artificial intelligence, and on what "intelligence" means when applied to human care.

11:30-11:55 114236 | I Just Became a Caregiver: Life Narratives of Siblings Becoming Primary Caregivers in Families Providing Long-Term Care Yi-Hung Pan, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan In Taiwan, long-term care for family members with disabilities has remained primarily a family responsibility, shaped by family relationships and cultural expectations. Previous studies have mainly focused on caregiver burden, psychological adjustment, and future care planning, while relatively little attention has been paid to how siblings became primary caregivers. This study explored how adult siblings became primary caregivers in families providing long-term care and how this process reshaped their identities, family roles, and life meanings within Taiwan's sociocultural context. Using narrative inquiry, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six adult siblings aged 30–60 who had provided long-term care for siblings with intellectual, developmental, or physical disabilities. Each interview lasted approximately 60 minutes. Narrative analysis was used to examine how caregiving responsibilities developed and were interpreted across participants' life courses. The findings revealed that becoming a primary caregiver was a gradual process of identity formation rather than a single transfer of caregiving responsibility. Participants initially became involved through routine family assistance. As parents aged, their caregiving capacity declined, and critical family events occurred, participants gradually assumed increasing caregiving responsibilities. Over time, caregiving shifted from an externally assigned obligation to an internalized commitment that became central to their identities. This transformation also reshaped their future plans, family relationships, and understandings of responsibility, while filial values and expectations of family continuity influenced how they interpreted and accepted their caregiving roles. This study suggested that becoming a primary caregiver was a culturally embedded process of identity formation. By foregrounding life narratives within Taiwan's sociocultural context, the findings contributed a culturally grounded Taiwanese perspective to narrative psychology and broadened current understandings of caregiver identity formation in long-term family care.

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10:40-12:20 | Room -2.32 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCSS2026 | Psychology and Social Psychology Session Chair: Krisana Chotratanakamol 11:55-12:20 111795 | Household Health Capability in Thai Communities: A Structural Model of Self-Efficacy, Social Support, Health Behavior, and Health Status Across Health Krisana Chotratanakamol, Thammasat University, Thailand In Thai society, health inequality is often framed through the discourse of “ignorance, poverty, and illness.” Although health literacy is increasingly recognised as an important factor associated with this inequality, evidence remains limited on whether its relationships with psychosocial and behavioural factors are stable across health-status groups. This study examined a household health capability model linking health literacy, self-efficacy, social support, health behaviour, and health status in Thai communities. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 506 community residents in central Thailand. Data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling and permutation-based multigroup analysis in SmartPLS. Participants were divided into good-health and poor-health groups. The results showed that the model was structurally stable across both groups, with no significant between-group differences in path coefficients. In the overall model, health literacy positively influenced health behaviour (β = 0.113, p = .035), self-efficacy (β = 0.432, p < .001), and social support (β = 0.444, p < .001). Self-efficacy positively influenced health behaviour (β = 0.534, p < .001) and health status (β = 0.371, p < .001), while social support positively affected self-efficacy (β = 0.301, p < .001) and health behaviour (β = 0.099, p = .041). Health behaviour also positively affected health status (β = 0.313, p < .001). These findings indicate that health literacy and social support jointly strengthen self-efficacy, supporting healthier behaviours and better health status. In Thailand, reducing health inequality may require integrated action through mutual support and shared health learning at the individual, household,

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10:40-12:20 | Room -2.33 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCAH2026 | Humanities - Teaching and Learning Session Chair: Kata Springinzeisz 10:40-11:05 105784 | Culture as Curriculum, Assessment as Leadership: Indigenous Women Reimagining Education Karley Alleyn, University of Victoria, Canada This paper presents a narrative inquiry grounded in Indigenous research, drawing on Shawn Wilson’s Research Is Ceremony to centre relational accountability, respect, and reciprocity as both methodology and ethical stance. The study amplifies the voices of eight Indigenous women, all preservice teachers completing their degrees in the Hul’qumi’num language program, from the Stz’uminus Nation on Vancouver Island. Through story, participants share their respective educational journeys shaped by systemic barriers within colonial schooling, focusing particularly on assessment practices that communicated deficit, exclusion, and constrained learner identity. Rather than positioning these experiences as individual failure, the narratives reveal how assessment functioned as a colonial mechanism that ultimately disrupted belonging and voice. In response, the women articulate a reclaiming of assessment as a relational, identity-affirming practice rooted in care, clarity, and growth. Assessment is framed as celebration. Throughout the paper, leadership emerges as responsibility inherited through Elders, ancestors, and community. Elders are understood as active leaders whose teachings guide participants’ understandings of learning and assessment. In this framing, assessment becomes a site of decolonization; an enactment of leadership that resists gatekeeping and instead nurtures safety, dignity, and possibility for learners. Honouring Wilson’s assertion that research is relational and ceremonial, this inquiry positions storytelling as both knowledge generation and resurgence. The preserivce teachers’ commitment to returning to the Stz’uminus community as certified teachers reflects leadership enacted through service, continuity, and intergenerational responsibility. This paper argues that Elder-guided narrative inquiry offers a powerful decolonizing lens for reimagining assessment, equity, and leadership in teacher education.

11:05-11:30 109136 | Scenario-Driven Theoretical Synthesis (SDTS): A Doctoral Pedagogical Framework for Epistemic Development Shamim Ali, Riphah International University, Pakistan Doctoral pedagogy has consistently been governed by a transmission model in which research paradigms are introduced to PhD researchers as fundamental canons to be utilized and can be ultimately implemented thereafter. This study establishes the Scenario-Driven Theoretical Synthesis (SDTS) Framework, a primary doctoral-level pedagogical model designed by me. SDTS opposes the validity of transmission framework by framing the case not as an interpretative tool but as a cognitive inquiry that stimulates researchers to investigate, stress-test, and consequently modify parallel theoretical frameworks. The framework is grounded in six validated academic conventions; abductive inference, inquiry -based pedagogy, scholarly immersion, dialectical learning, reflective practice, and theoretical pluralism and hence operationalised through a six-stage recursive process. This paper analyses the framework's conceptual underpinnings, pedagogical construction, evaluation approach and ramification for doctoral programmes. It posits that SDTS indicates a significant progress in doctoral pedagogy by transitioning a novel theoretical thinking into methodical, performative checks from the commencement of doctoral study rather than a postponed motivation of the dissertation phase

11:30-11:55 111279 | Developing a Sustainable UAE Cinema Ecosystem: A UAE–India Initiative Supported by the Zayed Education Foundation Sara Almaleki, UAE University, United Arab Emirates This study explores the development of a sustainable cinematic ecosystem in the United Arab Emirates through the integration of film education, industry-oriented training, cultural exchange, and international collaboration. Supported by the Zayed Education Foundation, the initiative is informed by academic and cultural engagement with India, focusing on its cinematic traditions, production systems, and the role of cinema in shaping cultural identity, soft power, and creative industry development. Methodologically, the study employs a qualitative meta-analysis of existing literature on global film education models, cinematic industry development, and international best practices in creative sector growth. The findings are applied to the UAE film sector to identify strategies for building a sustainable cinematic ecosystem in collaboration with experienced Indian film professionals. This is complemented by primary audience research conducted through a structured survey across the United Arab Emirates. The survey primarily targets Emirati audiences, with a particular focus on Generation Z, the highest film and digital media consumption group. This group is selected as it represents both the principal audience and the future creative workforce of the UAE film industry. The survey examines viewing behaviours, cultural expectations, and content reception among Emiratis who aspire to see their national cinema achieve greater local and international success. The study proposes the establishment of a dedicated cinematic institution in the United Arab Emirates in strategic collaboration with Indian film professionals. This model emphasizes knowledge transfer, technical training, creative mentorship, and experiential, practice-based learning for sustainable industry development.

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10:40-12:20 | Room -2.33 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCAH2026 | Humanities - Teaching and Learning Session Chair: Kata Springinzeisz 11:55-12:20 106079 | How Museums Contribute to the Formation of Students’ Citizenship Education: A Systematic Literature Review Kata Springinzeisz, University of Gabriela Mistral, Chile Macarena Morales, Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, Chile Paula Ascorra, Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, Chile Karen Cárdenas, Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, Chile Josefina Fredes, Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, Chile Nowadays, democratic societies face diverse challenges, which should be addressed through citizenship education both in formal and nonformal educational settings. Therefore, regarding the relevance of the theme, this literature review seeks to analyze how museums can contribute to developing and improving students’ citizenship education. Two main questions guide the study, namely, (1) what knowledge and skills students acquire through collaborative initiatives between schools and museums and (2) how schools and museums can work together to promote citizenship education. In relation to the first research question, the results show that students gain principally (1) disciplinary and cultural knowledge, (2) interpersonal skills, (3) critical skills, and (4) social principles through the collaboration of museums and schools. Regarding the second research question, the findings demonstrate that museums and schools cooperate in (1) museum visits, (2) universityschool-traveling exhibitions, (3) museum-school joint programs, and (4) collaboration between teachers and museum educators. Lastly, the results of this literature review reveal that museums offer non-formal educational spaces with potential and relevant opportunities to improve citizenship education oriented towards active participation and social justice (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004). Furthermore, the findings of the analysed articles indicate the stimulation of cognitive, affective, and sociopolitical aspects; the expansion of the boundaries of traditional school-based teaching; and the enhancement of citizenship education.

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10:40-12:20 | Room -2.43 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCSS2026 | AI and Psychology in Education Session Chair: Tal Levy 10:40-11:05 105086 | Korea’s AI Fast-Track Textbook Policy: Risk Society, Algorithmic Governance, and Educational Inequality Seri Yoon, Waseda University, Japan In 2025, South Korea began introducing AI-powered digital textbooks for grades 3–4 and middle and high school students in English, mathematics, informatics, and Korean for special education, following the approval of 76 titles in late 2024. While this fast-track policy aims to enhance personalized learning and skills, the long-term effects of embedding AI systems in classrooms remain uncertain. Without adequate risk governance and algorithmic accountability, burdens may be shifted onto schools, teachers, and students, especially those with weaker digital infrastructure. This may undermine the quality and equity of learning environments and limit students' capacity to develop digital literacy. Drawing on Ulrich Beck's theory of the risk society, this research examines how Korea's AI fast-track textbook policy generates and redistributes educational risk, asking who is exposed to errors, bias, and system failure, and who is protected. Informed by work on algorithmic governance, the study uses verification, monitoring, and accountability to analyze how policy documents define safety, allocate responsibility, and address infrastructural inequality. Using document analysis, it reviews government plans, guidelines, parliamentary debates, pilot descriptions, vendor requirements, and media reports to trace how AI textbooks are framed as solutions to skills gaps and sources of new risk. This study offers insights for countries considering large-scale AI in schools as they seek to balance innovation with the distribution of risk. The analysis underscores the need to embed verification mechanisms, targeted support for disadvantaged schools, and responsibility into AI education policy so that digital reforms advance skills and SDG 4.4 without deepening existing inequalities.

11:05-11:30 113580 | Understanding User Experiences of Students with ChatGPT: A Qualitative Exploration of human-AI Interaction Chakshu Sang, NMIMS Deemed-to-be University, India Deepti Puranik, NMIMS Deemed-to-be University, India Background: The increased use of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, in academic and personal life has raised important questions about trust, emotional reliance, and cognitive engagement with these technologies. The aim of these qualitative interviews was to explore how university students experience and engage with ChatGPT. Method: Semi-structured interviews were used with 13 undergraduate psychology students to identify patterns in their user behaviour and perceptions. Findings: Four central themes emerged from the analysis: (a) Instrumental utility vs human limitations; (b) emotional relationships with AI; (c) erosion of cognitive agency; and (d) epistemic trust and ethical ambiguity. Participants considered it an essential academic tool but expressed a growing reliance on it, accompanied by diminished critical-thinking abilities and concerns about fake or unreliable information. They expressed mixed perspectives, with some considering it an emotionally intelligent tool while others expressed ambivalence about its potential influence. While they expressed a lack of trust in the tool, the participants appeared to express trust in using it for certain important tasks. Conclusion: These findings highlight the interplay between convenience and cognitive cost, trust and skepticism and autonomy and automation in the everyday interactions of the students with AI. Implications are discussed in the light of AI literacy, educational policy and the psychological impact of human-AI interaction.

11:30-11:55 114232 | Leadership Education in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: Future Competencies for Ethical Leadership Mirjana Glusac, Ethical Minds Academy, Italy Artificial intelligence (AI) is undeniably affecting the environment and processes in which future leaders will make decisions, communicate, and create value. As higher education institutions increasingly implement AI systems, we are invited to redesign leadership education and develop competences for future leaders, preparing them for ethical leadership in AI-enabled organizations. This paper argues that leadership education should cultivate leaders capable of exercising ethical judgment, preserving human agency, and governing AI responsibly in complex organizational environments. Reviewing current research on leadership education, ethical leadership, AI governance, and human-centered technology, this paper aims to identify some of the key competencies needed for ethical leadership in the AI era, such as ethical reasoning, AI proficiency, critical thinking, human-centered decision-making, and reflective leadership. These competencies enable leaders to evaluate AIgenerated insights critically, preserve human agency, exercise accountability, and balance technological innovation with ethical responsibility. The paper further discusses how these competencies can be implemented in higher education by prioritizing ethical judgment alongside digital capability. Rather than simply relying on artificial intelligence as a substitute for human decision-making, leadership education should prepare graduates to collaborate responsibly with AI and exercise ethical judgment, while maintaining human agency, transparency, integrity, and public trust. By positioning ethical leadership as a central educational objective in the AI era, this paper contributes to ongoing discussions on leadership education and offers a foundation for rethinking how universities prepare future leaders for increasingly complex technological and societal environments.

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10:40-12:20 | Room -2.43 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCSS2026 | AI and Psychology in Education Session Chair: Tal Levy 11:55-12:20 105034 | Leveraging AI for Inclusive Excellence: A Longitudinal Study of MagniLearn in Higher Education as AI Reshapes Education, Instructors are Leveraging Tal Levy, Ruppin Academic College, Israel As AI reshapes education, instructors are leveraging adaptive technologies to foster inclusive, globally oriented environments. This presentation examines the pedagogical impact of MagniLearn (ML), an AI-powered platform, through a five-year longitudinal study (2020–2025) involving 100 learners in a pre-academic setting. The study pursued three primary objectives: 1. To evaluate how ML’s personalized learning paths adapt to individual student pace and goals. 2. To assess the impact of micro-adaptive "nano-learning" on student motivation. 3. To identify strategies for integrating AI-driven data into hybrid teaching models. Methodology: Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, quantitative data were gathered through ML’s engine, which analyzed performance metrics and real-time curriculum adjustments. Qualitative insights were collected through student interviews on the effectiveness of personalized feedback loops compared to traditional instruction. Findings: Results indicate that ML’s hyper-personalized approach significantly narrowed achievement gaps. By tailoring content to individual linguistic needs in real time, the platform fostered greater autonomy and rapid progress. Participants reported higher engagement due to the relevancy of the material, while the hybrid model enabled instructors to provide targeted, data-informed interventions. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that AI-driven personalized learning, when combined with human pedagogy, improves outcomes and promotes equity. This talk offers practical integration strategies that contribute to the future of inclusive, technology-enhanced education. My presentation will unfold the above findings alongside the demonstration of how the tool was used, and its role in the overall study path. I will share students' and instructors’ feedback.

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10:40-12:20 | Room -2.62 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCSS2026 | Economics and Management Session Chair: Hideyuki Sugawara 10:40-11:05 114234 | Workplace Narratives as Identity-Forming Mechanisms in Organizational Behavior Veronika Nagy, Széchenyi István University, Hungary Anikó Makkos, Széchenyi István University, Hungary This study examines whether companies use narrative and metaphorical language in their publicly available communication to shape meanings of organizational identity, employee community, and organizational behavior. In contemporary organizations, external communication is not only informational but also symbolic, as it conveys values, expectations, and interpretive frames that influence how the organization is perceived as an employer and as a social community. The analysis focuses on corporate websites, career pages, and the Social pillar sections of ESG and sustainability reports, since these channels are closely linked to employee well-being, inclusion, development and retention. The objective is identifying whether selected companies employ linguistic constructions to communicate employer identity, belonging, care, safety, development opportunities, and an inclusive organizational culture. The research is based on an exploratory qualitative document analysis of publicly available corporate texts. It does not aim to measure the direct behavioral impact of these narratives on employees; rather, it investigates how they are discursively constructed and what communicative functions they may serve. The expected findings suggest that Social pillar communication contains recurring narrative patterns that can contribute to employer attractiveness, organizational identification, and employee retention. The main implication is that narrative and metaphorical language should be treated as a key element of employer communication, as it shapes the interpretive frameworks through which employees and potential applicants understand the organization. The paper is positioned as a preliminary study for a later empirical project that will use interviews to explore how corporate narratives and metaphors appear in employees’ experiences, interpretations, and organizational behavior.

11:05-11:30 113997 | Inclusive Leadership and Breakthrough Innovation Among Expatriate Employees: A Knowledge Based Approach Jayesh Pandey, "Tribhuvan" Sahkari University, India Yusuf Hassan, Heriot-Watt University, United Arab Emirates This study investigates how inclusive leadership influences breakthrough innovation among expatriate employees through the mediating role of knowledge quality and the moderating role of knowledge application. Drawing on the knowledge-based view of the firm, this study develops and tests a conceptual model using survey data collected from 273 expatriate employees across multiple industries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Structural equation modeling and moderation analysis were used to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that inclusive leadership positively affects breakthrough innovation through enhanced knowledge quality. Furthermore, knowledge application strengthens the indirect relationship between inclusive leadership and innovation, suggesting that the conversion of high-quality knowledge into innovation is more effective when knowledge is actively applied in organizational processes. This study contributes to leadership and knowledge management research by identifying knowledge quality as a key mechanism and knowledge application as a boundary condition in the inclusive leadership–innovation link, particularly in the context of globally mobile talent.

11:30-11:55 112116 | AI-Human Capital Complementarity in Workplace Decision-Making Voraprapa Nakavachara, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand Yishuang Xu, University of Manchester, United Kingdom Artificial intelligence is diffusing rapidly into workplaces, yet its benefits are unevenly distributed: many workers report AI-enhanced performance, but far fewer report that AI assists their decision-making. This paper asks whether these two outcomes depend on different worker characteristics, drawing on an AI–human capital complementarity framework — the idea that AI's value is amplified by workers' existing human capital (education, training) and organisational authority (supervisory role), rather than uniform across users. We further distinguish the speed and quality dimensions of decision-making. Using probit models with marginal effects on 2,134 AI-using workers in manufacturing and financial services across seven OECD countries (OECD, 2023), we find a clear divide: motivational factors (AI enthusiasm, being born after 1980) predict performance gains, while human-capital and authority factors (higher education, supervisory status) predict decision-making gains — consistent with complementarity theory. This generational advantage in performance disappears for decision-making, suggesting younger workers' comfort with AI does not translate into better decisions without complementary human capital. Formal AI training predicts both outcomes but more strongly decision-making, underscoring its role in converting AI use into judgment quality rather than mere output. These findings show that complementarity operates selectively — shaping decision quality but not necessarily speed — implying that policies for inclusive AI-driven decision-making should pair motivational engagement with structured human-capital investment.

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10:40-12:20 | Room -2.62 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCSS2026 | Economics and Management Session Chair: Hideyuki Sugawara 11:55-12:20 111420 | Exploring Continuous Coaching-Driven Leadership Development for Executives of a Long-Established Department Store in Japan Hideyuki Sugawara, Hokkai-Gakuen University, Japan This study examines the effects of a sustained coaching-based leadership development program—twelve three-hour sessions—on executives’ inner transformation, behavioral change, and organizational culture change. Participants were eight board-level executives of a department store with more than 150 years of corporate history. An exploratory longitudinal mixed-methods design was employed, informed by Mezirow’s transformative learning theory, Edmondson’s psychological safety framework, and Goleman’s emotional intelligence model. In Phase 1 (Sessions 1–6), thematic analysis of participants’ final presentations revealed a preliminary transformation sequence: Inner Transformation (Being) → Behavioral Change (Doing) → Organizational Culture Change (Becoming). Early acquisition of validation, active listening, and questioning skills enhanced perceptions of psychological safety, suggesting that cycles of gratitude and affirmation may diffuse outward and contribute to emergent cultural shifts. In Phase 2 (Sessions 7–12), pre- and post-phase self-assessments were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analyses. Validation skills improved substantially across all participants (+95.5%) and were strongly associated with leadership scores and team engagement (r = 0.84). Questioning skills showed the highest growth rate (+180%) yet displayed short-term plateaus, indicating a non-linear, U-shaped learning trajectory. Improvements in emotional regulation were most pronounced among senior executives, suggesting that EQ functions as a foundational capability supporting the durability of leadership behavior. Crossphase integration further elaborated the Being → Doing → Becoming sequence, identifying validation as the proximal catalyst, questioning as a distal autonomy-enhancing mechanism, and EQ as the underlying capacity enabling long-term behavioral stability.

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10:40-12:20 | Room -2.63 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCSS2026 | Politics and Public Policy Session Chair: Rayyan Cheong Tian Ming Abdullah 10:40-11:05 111453 | Hope, Utopia, and Politics: An Overlooked Bond Sümeyye Zeynep Kırbaşoğlu Bozan, Istanbul Technical University, Türkiye This article focused on the connection between hope, utopia, and politics, a relationship that political thought has long struggled to take seriously, accused of being idealistic, infeasible, and unfit for rigorous theoretical inquiry. Yet hope remained an indispensable source of motivation for political action at both individual and collective levels. The article argued that political hope and utopia were not merely adjacent but fundamentally intertwined. Political hope was the affective and motivational core of utopian thinking, while utopia provided hope with its orientation toward an alternative future. Stripped of this connection, hope risked collapsing into passive optimism; severed from hope, utopia hardened into an abstract blueprint with no grip on political life. Identifying hope with naive utopianism was therefore a reductive misreading: political hope was better understood as the dynamic force that kept unrealized possibilities alive as genuine political orientations. The article explored the constructive and conflictual dimensions of hope across individual and collective registers. Individual hope pointed to the subject's capacity to act in the face of uncertainty, while collective hope formed the ground for solidarity practices organized around shared political ends. The tension between these two registers was analyzed as the defining dynamic of political hope's distinctive moral and practical value. The article concluded that hope deserved a more central place in political theory — not as a utopian escape from reality, but as a transformative political stance that acknowledged the limits of the present while refusing to be bound by them.

11:05-11:30 112384 | The Unfinished Promise of Workplace Dignity: Sexual Harassment Law, Institutional Failure, and Gender Justice in India Himakshi Alaria, OP Jindal Global University, India The enactment of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 marked a significant milestone in India’s efforts to fulfil its obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). While the legislation institutionalized protections against workplace sexual harassment and translated the principles established in CEDAW and landmark judgments of the Indian Supreme Court into a statute, questions remain regarding its effectiveness in achieving substantive gender equality. The paper critically examines the effectiveness of the statute in upholding women’s rights to life, dignity, and equality at work through a socio-legal lens, focusing on the gap between enacted laws and workplace enforcement realities. Employing a qualitative socio-legal methodology, the study analyses legislative provisions, judicial precedents, international human rights standards, and scholarly literature to evaluate the extent to which the Act advances CEDAW’s objectives. The findings reveal that despite a progressive legal framework, persistent institutional and socio-cultural barriers continue to undermine effective implementation. Deficiencies in the functioning of Internal Complaints Committees, low awareness levels, and widespread under-reporting of complaints limit access to meaningful redress. These challenges are further reinforced by entrenched patriarchal norms, workplace hierarchies, and fears of retaliation. The paper argues that legal compliance alone is insufficient to achieve workplace gender justice. By situating India’s experience within broader debates on gender governance, policy implementation, and human rights enforcement, the study contributes to contemporary social science scholarship on the relationship between law, institutions, and substantive gender equality in the workplace.

11:30-11:55 112680 | State Governance and Implementation of Women’s Welfare Schemes in Sikkim Since 2019: An Analytical Study Diki Bhutia, Nar Bahadur Bhandari Governemnt College, India The advancement of women’s well-being in society is closely associated with effective state governance. This study examines the frameworks instituted by the Sikkim government to deliver welfare schemes to women, analysing state policies and the governance model. Qualitative methods, including thematic analysis, are used to assess how government actions and policies have promoted women’s empowerment in economic participation, health, and public representation through flagship programs such as the Sikkim Aama Sashaktikaran Yojana (SASY), Sikkim Unmarried Women Pension Scheme (SUnWPS), Bahini Scheme, and Vatsalya Scheme. Quantitative data from departments, including the Women and Child Welfare, Education, Health, and the Chief Minister’s Office, were analysed using Excel. Preliminary data reveal that while women’s development initiatives existed before 2019, the formation of the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) government in 2019 led to the introduction of several new initiatives, leading to more effective empowerment. The evidence suggests that leadership change has significantly advanced women’s development in Sikkim. The study offers insights into state governance and gender policy, using Sikkim as a case study. Its findings may help policymakers and researchers develop more effective strategies for women’s empowerment in other regions of India.

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10:40-12:20 | Room -2.63 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCSS2026 | Politics and Public Policy Session Chair: Rayyan Cheong Tian Ming Abdullah 11:55-12:20 110885 | Enhancing Interoperability Among Government Agencies Within the Whole of Government Approach: A Systematic Literature Review Rayyan Cheong Tian Ming Abdullah, Natonal Defence University of Malaysia, Malaysia Liley Afzani Saidi, National Defence University of Malaysia, Malaysia Nur Haffiza Rahaman, National Defence University of Malaysia, Malaysia Interoperability among government agencies has become a critical requirement for effective policy implementation, service integration, and resilience within the Whole-of-Government (WoG) approach. As governments confront increasingly complex societal challenges, fragmented institutional structures and siloed information systems continue to constrain coordinated action across sectors. This systematic literature review examines how interoperability is conceptualised, operationalised, and evaluated within WoG frameworks, with particular attention to governance, digital mechanisms, and crisis-oriented coordination. An advanced and inclusive search strategy was conducted using the Scopus and WoS databases.The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework guided the identification, screening, and eligibility processes, resulting in a final dataset of 30 peer-reviewed articles for in-depth analysis. The findings were synthesised through thematic analysis, yielding three dominant themes. The first theme highlights WoG governance, coordination, and policy integration, emphasising institutional design, inter-agency collaboration, and multi-level coordination as foundational enablers of interoperability. The second theme focuses on digital government and interoperability mechanisms, underscoring the role of shared architectures, data standards, platforms, and socio-technical capabilities in supporting cross-agency integration. The third theme addresses crisis management, risk governance, and national resilience, demonstrating how interoperability becomes most visible and consequential under conditions of disruption, uncertainty, and systemic stress. Overall, the review suggests that effective interoperability necessitates alignment among governance arrangements, digital infrastructures, and crisis-responsive coordination capacities. The study contributes to the WoG literature by offering an integrated synthesis of interoperability pathways and identifying directions for future research on institutional capacity, digital readiness, and resilience-oriented governance.

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12:35-13:50 | Room -2.32 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 2 VCSS2026 | Psychology Session Chair: Fusun Akdag 12:35-13:00 108591 | Adolescent Well-Being and the Actualisation of Positive Psychology in Education: A Mixed Methods Approach Mejianer Alcaraz Bekaert, Neurodiversity Belgium, Belgium This study examined the relationship between Seligman's PERMA model and positive psychology in education at an international school in Belgium, focusing on adolescent well-being. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods, the study aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the topic. The quantitative analysis revealed a positive correlation between all PERMA dimensions and school satisfaction. Regression analysis showed that all five dimensions predicted school satisfaction, with engagement being the strongest predictor. The study emphasised the importance of each PERMA dimension in shaping adolescent well-being and school satisfaction. Qualitative analysis explored the experiences of participants. Positive emotions were manifested through self-empowerment and recognition of intrinsic values. Engagement was evident in utilising character strengths, integrating meaningful routines, and experiencing flow. Positive relationships included engaging and nurturing relationships, creating better connections, building trust, and embracing differences. Meaning was found through personal values, self-discovery, and future aspirations. Accomplishments were reflected in reflecting on achievements, well being as a goal, perseverance, and cultivating accomplishments. Overall, the study demonstrated the successful implementation of positive psychology in education in an international school setting. The focus on social connectivity and school satisfaction highlighted the effectiveness of these implementations. The commitment to high quality education, integration of positive psychology principles, and enhanced learning opportunities contributed to students' satisfaction and well-being. These findings support the transformative impact of positive education and highlight the school's role in nurturing student well-being and fostering a positive environment.

13:00-13:25 109976 | Navigating Digital Landscapes: the Influence of Social Media on Adolescents’ Psychosocial Well-Being Safia King, The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago There is growing concern among scholars and the public regarding the amount the time adolescents spend on social media platforms, their online activities, and the potential adverse effects on their psychosocial wellbeing. While youth in the Global North have been the focus of extensive studies, the challenges faced by youth in the Southern Caribbean remain understudied. This qualitative study employs a multiple case study design with a descriptive phenomenological approach, aiming to explore the complexities of adolescents’ lives in the digital age. Flyers were distributed online and sent to youth NGOs. Purposive sampling techniques were used to obtain 24 participants from different backgrounds, representing six regional corporations in Trinidad and Charlotteville, Tobago. Data saturation was reached after the twelfth participant, as no new data or themes emerged. Interview guides were developed to focus on self-esteem, social connectedness, and emotions, among other factors, in accordance with Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development framework. This framework outlines child development in the twentieth century and emphasizes how children navigate their early years. In analyzing the findings, the study indicates that online platforms function both as tools for empowerment and as mechanisms of social control. The dynamics between participants and social media indicate that these platform promote relief and sense of control from challenges adolescents face during their developmental stages, while also leading to state of hyper-reality and dependency. This active engagement highlights the important of understanding how young people relate to these platforms in their pursuit of connection, belonging, and self-identification.

13:25-13:50 113117 | The Relationship Between Social Media Addiction and Sleep Quality Among University Students Fusun Akdag, Uskudar Unversity, Türkiye Ozge Kutlu, Independent Scholar, Türkiye This study was conducted to examine the relationship between social media addiction and sleep quality of university students. Within the scope of the research, 455 undergraduate students aged 18-21 studying at state and foundation universities in Turkey participated in the study. Participants were administered a demographic form, a 5-item Social Media Addiction questionnaire developed by Fatih Çömlekçi and Oğuz Başok and 7-item Sleep Quality Index (originally Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index) which is adopted to Turkish by Demirhan and et.al. The study was conducted based on the principle of confidentiality and in accordance with ethical rules. The study examined thr relationship between two variables , therefore, a correlational survey model was used. Data were collected online via Google Forms and all results were analyzed using the SPSS program. A statistically significant negative relationship was found between social media addiction and sleep quality, indicating that as social media addiction increases, sleep quality decreases.The result of the study shows that addiction to social media makes a difference on sleep quality by factors gender, age, academic year and living environment. It is recommended that universities prepare awareness-based education programs on the subject and conduct awareness-raising activities and training for students.

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12:35-13:50 | Room -2.33 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 2 VCAH2026 | Humanities - Teaching, Learning and Praxis Session Chair: Ungsinun Intarakamhang 12:35-13:00 114465 | Integrating Holistic and Interdisciplinary Practice into Advanced Social Work Education: an Innovative Mental Health Curriculum Kar Choi Chan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Traditional clinical social work education is often delivered within siloed psychosocial frameworks that overlook the critical interplay between physical wellness and mental health. To bridge this gap, this paper introduces an innovative mental health elective for postgraduate social work students. The curriculum is designed to promote holistic care by integrating a medical paradigm with biopsychosocial determinants and evidence-supported wellness practices. A unique feature of this curriculum is its interdisciplinary delivery. In addition to social work-based mental health practice, students engage with diverse perspectives through guest lectures from a registered dietitian, a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner, and a mindfulness educator. This integrative approach exposes students to the "body-mind" connection, covering topics such as the gut-brain axis, physical activity interventions (PAI) for mental health, and Eastern body constitutions. The curriculum accentuates experiential learning and student-led pedagogical activities. Students take active roles in research and facilitation through group projects that simulate non-pharmacological interventions or wellness modalities – ranging from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to Therapeutic Forest Walks. A design-thinking framework that empowers students to synthesize self-initiated research reviews with lived application is a key pedagogical component. This culminates in the development of highly individualized holistic mental wellness plans for themselves or a selected subject. Initial feedback highlights the effectiveness of this holistic approach in fostering client empowerment, selfefficacy, and collaborative recovery-oriented care. This presentation also discusses how such an experiential model can be adapted across diverse educational contexts to foster integrative, strength-based and multi-disciplinary collaborations.

13:00-13:25 111773 | Enabling Business Students to Achieve Academic and Personal Success: A Case Study in the Transformative Role of Student Feedback Literacy Troy Sarina, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia Tracey Walmsley, University of Technology Sydney, Australia In an era where the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been found to result in “cognitive atrophy” (Loble & Lodge, 2026), this study explores the role that feedback literacy can play in helping business students to identify the value of owning, rather than ‘outsourcing’ the learning process undertaken at university to AI. This study also identifies the impact feedback literacy can have on knowledge development, retention and application. Using the seminal feedback literacy framework developed by Carless and Boud (2018), this study explores how appreciating, making judgements, managing the effect and finally acting on feedback received by educators and peers has impacted the academic and personal success of undergraduate business students at an Australian University. In highlighting the crucial role that feedback literacy plays in aiding student success, this study also identifies how reducing the outsourcing of the learning process to AI can help with cognitive development of students by providing a more emotional, communal and sensory process of learning. This reflects the key drivers of effective learning identified in the educational neuroscience literature (Rogers & Thomas, 2022). Ultimately, this study identifies how high levels of feedback literacy demonstrated by students enables feedback provided by educators and peers to deliver an emotive, memorable and transformative learning experience. This study also identifies strategies that educators can use to help deliver success in both the academic and personal endeavours undertaken by students. Something which the increased outsourcing of the learning and feedback process to AI continues to struggle to produce.

13:25-13:50 112108 | Validity of Entrepreneurial Literacy and Social Entrepreneurial Orientation Behavior Among Thai Students: Cross-sectional Study Ungsinun Intarakamhang, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand This cross-sectional study aimed to develop scales measuring entrepreneurial literacy, social entrepreneurial intention, and social entrepreneurial orientation behavior (SEOB). The study was conducted between August 2024 and February 2025, collecting data from 315 undergraduate students who were studying in their third or fourth year in Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship majors. Stratified random sampling was used to obtain 168 students from a public university and 147 of a private university. The data were accessed through the heads of departments and student leaders with the respondents’ consent. All scales were trialed out with 50 students who were not study samples, yielding item-total correlations and Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients ranging from 0.36 to 0.84 and 0.68 to 0.93, respectively. The data were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results: 1) Most students were female (66.03%), in their fourth year of study (56.19%), majoring in Social Enterprise (55.24%), and interested in starting their own business (39.05%). 2) All measurement models were consistent with the empirical data, indicating construct validity. The factor loadings are as follows: 0.41-0.87 for the 13-item SEOB scale, 0.70-0.91 for the 6-item social entrepreneurial intention scale, and 0.60-0.85 for the 7-item entrepreneurial literacy scale. In conclusion, all measurement models demonstrated sufficient quality to be effectively used by academic professionals or educators in assessing competencies and behaviors that predict next-generation social entrepreneurship.

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12:35-13:50 | Room -2.43 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 2 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Language Teaching and Learning Session Chair: Mutsumi Iijima 12:35-13:00 106972 | Less Drill, More Thrill: Creativity and Collaboration in Tertiary EFL Classrooms Lara Promnitz-Hayashi, Keiai University, Japan Creative thinking and collaboration are widely recognized as key competencies in 21st-century education; however, their pedagogical value in tertiary English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts requires clearer empirical grounding. Collaborative learning environments increase opportunities for interaction, negotiation of meaning, and peer scaffolding, while fostering inclusivity among learners with diverse linguistic backgrounds and proficiency levels. Integrating creativity and collaboration also supports learner-centered instruction and the development of transferable skills such as communication, cooperation, adaptability, and technology skills. This presentation presents examples of successful collaborative classroom activities alongside findings from two project-based activities, conducted during the second semester of 2 yearlong freshman English courses at a private university in Japan (n = 76). Across the semester, students engaged in structured collaborative projects designed to promote higher-order thinking, meaningful language use and interdependent collaboration. The study examines how creative and collaborative tasks support learner engagement and language development. In one project, students produced a commercial involving script-writing, recording, narration, captioning, background music, and basic video editing in groups. In another, students wrote an original story and presented it as a digital picture book using simple presentation software in groups. Data were drawn from samples of student work, instructor observation notes, post-task written reflection reports, and semi-structured student interviews. Qualitative analysis revealed increased willingness to use English, enhanced participation across proficiency levels, reduced language anxiety, and strengthened peer scaffolding and motivation. The presentation concludes with practical classroom strategies and implications for curriculum design and teacher practice in tertiary EFL contexts.

13:00-13:25 112863 | Affirming Translanguaging, Practising with Caution: Tutors’ Experiences and Stance at a South African University Mampoi Mabena, University of Johannesburg, South Africa Brian Sibanda, University of Johannesburg, South Africa A plethora of research on translanguaging has been conducted worldwide, and translanguaging has been affirmed as an effective pedagogical approach for teaching multilingual students. However, in South African higher education, monolingual instruction remains dominant despite policies advocating multilingualism. This article examines academic literacy tutors’ experiences of translanguaging and their stance toward its use in tutoring at a South African university. Ten academic literacy tutors with at least 3 years’ tutoring experience participated in semistructured interviews. Data was analysed thematically and interpreted through a decolonial lens, with particular attention to the coloniality of language. Four main themes emerged. First, tutors experienced translanguaging in their own early schooling as a valuable scaffold for comprehension, especially in conceptually dense subjects and assessment contexts. Second, tutors described a sharp transition from multilingual schooling practices to English-only university spaces, often accompanied by linguistic and affective strain. Third, tutors reported using translanguaging cautiously and sparingly in multilingual tutorial groups but more freely in one-on-one consultations where exclusion risks are reduced. Fourth, tutors’ prevailing stance is a cautious equity logic. Although they recognise the benefits of translanguaging for understanding, they worry that using specific African languages in superdiverse tutorial groups may exclude students who do not speak them.

13:25-13:50 113973 | Assessing English Learning Abilities on Restarting English Studies: A Study of Japanese High School Students Mutsumi Iijima, Gunma University, Japan In Japan, high school admissions rely heavily on entrance exams, where English is a critical determining factor. Japanese high schools are tiered by academic ranking, resulting in lower-tiered schools having a high concentration of students who struggle with English—many of whom have underlying learning difficulties or developmental disorders. Because educators and students often lack insight into how neurodiverse traits affect language acquisition, these students frequently repeat middle school struggles, leading to increased frustration and eventual disengagement. To break this negative cycle, this study evaluated an intervention strategy using a simplified assessment administered in April to incoming first-year high schoolers. The assessment measured Japanese and English phonological awareness, auditory and visual short-term memory, and writing skills. Based on the results, targeted in-class activities were designed to identify and address the root causes of their learning hurdles. The study involved 49 first-year students at an academically challenged high school, including four diagnosed with ADHD and three with special education backgrounds. After two months of tailored, intensive instruction, students with standard general intelligence—including those with ADHD—demonstrated significant progress in phonemic awareness. Additionally, they reported feeling less overwhelmed by English and displayed a noticeably more proactive attitude toward learning. Ultimately, the research highlights that assessing students during school transitions is vital for detecting previously unrecognized neurodiversity. Customizing instruction based on these insights is essential for mitigating negative learning experiences and fostering long-term educational success.

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12:35-13:50 | Room -2.62 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 2 VCSS2026 | Comparative Economic Analyses Session Chair: Filip Chybalski 12:35-13:00 111755 | Trade Share Reallocation, Not Just Trade Decline: Sanctions Intensity and the Shift in Russia’s Trade Partners Paulina Kašėtienė, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania Vaida Pilinkienė, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania This study examines whether partner-country sanctions intensity is associated not only with lower trade volumes, but also with the reallocation of Russia’s bilateral trade composition following the 2022 escalation of sanctions. Combining IMF bilateral trade data with a partner-year sanctions intensity measure derived from the Global Sanctions Data Base (GSDB), Release 4, the study analyzes a selected sample of 25 trade partners that together account for the majority of Russia’s external trade. The main outcomes are partner shares in Russia’s total exports and imports, allowing the analysis to trace changes in partners’ relative importance rather than focusing only on aggregate trade contraction. Empirically, the study estimates panel fixed-effects models for trade shares and PPML gravity models for bilateral trade values. The descriptive evidence shows a marked post-2022 shift away from sanctioning partners and toward a smaller set of non-sanctioning or weakly sanctioning countries. Russia’s trade structure also became more concentrated, with China emerging as the dominant trade partner. The econometric results confirm this pattern most clearly for exports: higher sanctions intensity is associated with lower partner shares in Russian exports and lower bilateral export volumes. For imports, the estimated relationships are also negative, although less precisely estimated. Overall, the study contributes to the sanctions literature by moving beyond aggregate trade decline and showing how sanctions intensity is associated with a measurable reorganization of trade-partner importance within the sanctioned country’s trade structure, with broader implications for international economic policy and global economic governance.

13:00-13:25 113805 | Beyond Aggregate Comparisons: Accounting for Generational Differences in Cross-Country Socio-Economic Analysis Edyta Marcinkiewicz, Lodz University of Technology, Poland Filip Chybalski, Lodz University of Technology, Poland Various socio-economic phenomena related to welfare outcomes observed at the national level are strongly influenced by demographic conditions, particularly differences in population age structures. Despite their importance, intergenerational differences are rarely integrated into cross-country analyses, being either overlooked, reduced to a secondary role, or examined independently of comparative international research. Such an approach may result in misleading conclusions, as the position of age groups within societies can substantially affect aggregate outcomes and the interpretation of cross-country differences. This paper highlights methodological challenges associated with incorporating an intergenerational perspective into comparative research and proposes a framework designed to address them. The approach is based on a two-stage process of relative assessment. First, the position of a given generation is evaluated in comparison with other generations within the same country. Second, these internally defined relative positions are compared across countries. By focusing on relative generational standing rather than directly comparing aggregate indicators, the framework enables more meaningful international analyses while accounting for demographic diversity. The proposed methodology is applicable to a broad range of socio-economic domains, including labour-market participation, income distribution, living conditions, social wellbeing, and access to public resources. Its flexibility also allows for application at different territorial levels, from countries to regions. By placing intergenerational differences at the centre of comparative analysis, the framework offers a more nuanced understanding of how demographic structures shape observed cross-national patterns and provides a valuable tool for advancing comparative social research.

13:25-13:50 113804 | How European Countries Cope with Economic Crises in the 21st Century: A Comparative Cross-Country Study Filip Chybalski, Lodz University of Technology, Poland Edyta Marcinkiewicz, Lodz University of Technology, Poland The first 25 years of the 21st century have been characterized by a series of economic crises, including the Dot-Com bubble, the Great Recession, the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the global energy and inflation crisis triggered by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. These downturns have adversely affected employment, incomes, and living standards, placing significant pressure on welfare states. Countries face a fundamental dilemma during crises: while the demand for social protection increases, the financial resources available to fund welfare provisions often decline. Although a substantial body of literature examines welfare state responses to individual crises particularly the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic - comparative analyses across different crises and countries remain limited. The research gap addressed in this presentation is the lack of a systematic understanding of how different types of economic crises shape welfare state responses and outcomes across European countries. To address this gap, we aim to develop a comprehensive comparative framework linking crisis characteristics with policy responses and socio-economic outcomes. Specifically, the study compares responses to four major crises: the Great Recession, the Eurozone debt crisis, the COVID-19 crisis, and the energy and inflation crisis. Twenty-three European countries are examined over the period 2005-2025 in terms of the dynamics of key economic conditions, state responses, and policy outcomes related to social protection during economic downturns. In this way, we seek to identify similarities and differences in how European welfare states cope with economic crises.

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12:35-13:50 | Room -2.63 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 2 VCSS2026 | International Relations and Politics Session Chair: Noëlie Frix 12:35-13:00 113076 | Mapping the Unknown Pillar of European Comprehensive Defence: Private Sector in Psychological Resilience Building. Evidence from Latvia (2019–2025) Lita Juberte-Krūmiņa, Riga Stradiņš University, Latvia The Russia’s war in Ukraine, increasing hybrid threats and polarization has made many European countries to change the thinking around trust and psychological resilience of societies, realizing that official institutions will not reach goals alone. Thus, this research addresses a little-studied direction focusing on the role of the private sector (businesses) in strengthening psychological resilience. Employing a sociological institutionalism lens, the author develops a research framework to evaluate companies from different industries in Latvia and tests their capabilities and motivations towards psychological resilience strengthening. For the empirical study, semi-structured interviews are used to explore motivation of companies. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of activities, as well as analysis of public communication of companies, are used to explore their contribution towards psychological resilience. Additionally, the study examined strategic documents of Latvian defence sector to provide a deeper insight in the institutional environment. The study outlines that a) majority of companies possess and implement institutionalization practices that contribute to strengthening psychological resilience b) motivation to act most often is a choice grounded in strategic business ambitions and internal values rather than deliberate involvement in achieving national defence goals. The study finds that the private sector in many cases can be a valuable contributor – businesses can establish norms, create values, and provide bonds that unite people - aspects that are crucial in psychological resilience building. The analysis opens the discussion on the need for a strategic shift regarding how national countries engage stakeholders to boost psychological resilience within the comprehensive defence framework.

13:00-13:25 114281 | Creating Team Europe: Narrative and the Reconfiguration of Development Diplomacy Matondo Charlotte Bechert, Humboldt-University Berlin, Germany In 2020 the European Union launched "Team Europe," consolidating EU institutions, member states, implementing agencies and financial institutions into a single collective actor in international cooperation. Framed as a response to the EU's perceived geopolitical decline and to strained relations with African partners, Team Europe supplants a historically plural field of parallel national and institutional voices with a deliberately singular one, a "voice of one" now setting the strategic direction of development negotiations. This article treats Team Europe Initiatives (TEIs) as a paradiplomatic assemblage and asks what this convergence of state and supra-state actors does to diplomatic relations in the partner countries where TEIs unfold. Against accounts of a fragmenting, multipolar diplomacy crowded with proliferating non-state and private actors, the article foregrounds Team Europe as a countervailing project of centralisation, tracing how it reshapes diplomatic authority, representation and legitimacy across a multi-level setting. It asks: how TEIs reconfigure the multi-layered development apparatus; how narratives of Europeanisation and "Europeanness" are articulated and reproduced in everyday cross-continental encounters; and how established diplomatic relationships are recast. A recurring tension organises the analysis: the strategic ambiguity cultivated by Team Europe's unifying narrative sits uneasily alongside an involuntary ambiguity born of the apparatus's own procedural convolution, and the article traces how practitioners navigate this gap between rhetorical coherence and administrative opacity.

13:25-13:50 112490 | Human Trafficking, International Law, and Democratic Backsliding: Current Hurdles and Prospects for Anti-Trafficking Efforts and Reforms Noëlie Frix, Morehead State University, United States This research begins by establishing key components of the existing international framework designed to tackle trafficking in persons (TIP), namely the UN’s Palermo Protocol, which has been instrumental to the process of anti-trafficking norm diffusion. Adopting an intersectional and interdisciplinary approach, the paper critiques this current system and proposes reforms aligned with expanded human rights, including improved protections for sex workers and migrants. The research then delves into how global democratic backsliding threatens not only the prospects for such reforms, but the very foundation of anti-trafficking international law which, while flawed, matters. The article highlights the particular role played by the United States in initially pushing for and now undermining anti-trafficking international law. It examines how the Trump Administration’s domestic and foreign policy decisions, in the midst of the U.S.’s general slide into far-right populism, contribute to the instability of the post-war international order and the weakening of international norms. Although the article highlights the somewhat bleak prospects for effective anti-trafficking reforms and international law implementation in the short-term, it concludes by discussing reasons for hope and possible avenues for change, highlighting what can be done to advance the anti-trafficking cause.

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Notes

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15:20-17:00 | Room -2.32 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Social Psychology Session Chair: Jichan Kim 15:20-15:45 112701 | AI- Mediated Digital Platforms and Psychosocial Support Among Indian First-time Mothers: An Exploratory Study Pavana Sivakumar, Union Christian College, India Vidhya Ravindranadan, Union Christian College, India Motherhood has been a highly valued yet understated role especially in Indian contexts. Research suggests that a significant number of women experience psychological distress during the perinatal period underscoring the importance of psychosocial support in making this transition easier. Limited availability of professional midwives and difficulty in reaching out to a gynaecologist have led the educated mothers to increasingly rely on online communities, AI chatbots and applications to navigate conflicting information during this period. This exploratory mixed- methods study examines the usage of AI-mediated and digital platforms by first time mothers and their role in addressing gaps in traditional support systems. The quantitative phase was conducted with 125 first time mothers aged 25 to 38 using purposive sampling and a researcher developed social media and AI checklist. This was followed by a semi- structured interview among 23 mothers, from the initial sample who regularly used digital and AI mediated platforms; interviews continued until theoretical saturation occurred. Data were analysed using Jamovi and thematic analysis respectively.The findings illustrated that 78% of mothers were active users of online communities, social media platforms or parenting applications while 83% reported that online platforms were more accessible than health professionals for resolving concerns. Four major themes and ten sub-themes emerged from the qualitative interview: virtual support and real connection, accessibility and immediacy of support, emotional realities of motherhood, and gendered expectations of motherhood. The study highlights the need for an integrated psychosocial approach that combines accessibility of digital tools with social connections and support.

15:45-16:10 111119 | Compensatory Imagination: the Green Screen, Pleasure and Self-Censorship in Video Games Shuang Zhao, Royal College of Art, United Kingdom This practice-based PhD explores visual censorship in video games not simply as the removal or alteration of images, but as a process that unfolds within perception itself. Rather than remaining external, censorship becomes internalised through the player’s attempt to sustain coherence, immersion, and pleasure in the presence of visual absence. While existing discussions often focus on regulation and content control, this research shifts attention toward lived experience and perceptual participation. At the centre of the project is the concept of compensatory imagination, developed as the study’s main theoretical contribution. It describes the cognitive and affective process through which players mentally reconstruct censored or missing content in order to maintain narrative continuity and pleasurable experience. In doing so, players unknowingly participate in the operation of censorship itself. The research draws on visual culture theory, psychopolitics, and predictive processing to examine how visibility, desire, and perception become intertwined. Methodologically, the project adopts a Practice as Research approach, using installation and moving-image works to materialise these otherwise invisible processes. Within this framework, the green screen functions as both metaphor and method: a visible surface through which acts of substitution, smoothing, and perceptual completion are exposed. The project ultimately reframes censorship as a dynamic relation between image, subject, and system.

16:10-16:35 105726 | Family Functioning, Parent-child Relationships, and Online Game Addiction Among Malaysian Young Adolescents: A Qualitative Study Cai Lian Tam, Monash University Malaysia, Malaysia Su Cheng Tan, Monash University Malaysia, Malaysia Amudha Kardivelu, Monash University Malaysia, Malaysia This research hopes to understand better Malaysian young adolescents’ online gaming profiles (i.e., family environment, lifestyles, and gaming habits) and explore parents’ views and challenges in dealing with online gaming in their children’s lives. Five hundred Malaysian young adolescents, male and female, between age 10 to 14 years has been recruited for study 1 whereas study 2 used a qualitative structured interviews approach with 20 Malaysian parents via individual “Zoom” interviews. Themes were generated from interview data using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach to explore participants ‘lived experiences. Findings suggest that mothers significantly influenced their child’s well-being and daily care. The results show a correlation between the family quality of life, mother-child relationships and the level of gaming addiction in adolescents. “Laissez-faire” parenting style was most common, seemingly inconsistent with indications of parent-child conflict resulting from underlying parental expectations of child obedience versus children’s desire for autonomy. It is possible that the laissez-faire parenting style is the default condition for parents to resolve parent-child conflict. Overall, there was a sense of parents either accepting the presence of online games in their child’s life and supporting the growing gaming usage (perhaps by rationalizing its use by appealing to putative benefits of gaming activities) or being compelled to agree to it, apprehensively and reluctantly, to minimize potential parent-child relationship conflict. Generally, there was agreement that whatever parental views are, digital games are now the new norm of entertainment and are part of their children’s regular social networking and connectedness activities.

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15:20-17:00 | Room -2.32 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Social Psychology Session Chair: Jichan Kim 16:35-17:00 111343 | Promoting Self-Care Through a Forgiveness Bibliotherapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial with Counselors-in-Training Jichan Kim, Liberty University, United States The aim of this study was to examine a forgiveness bibliotherapy program as a self-care strategy for counseling students. Self-care requires close attention as part of professional development for competent counselors because counselors are likely to be exposed to vicarious trauma, endure a high level of stress, and experience burnout and compassion fatigue. It is crucial for them to be able to navigate their own emotions, pain, and hurt as well as find strategies to cope with both personal and professional issues that they may encounter. Especially, forgiveness programs have been empirically supported to be effective for improving both psychological and relational well-being when dealing with a kind of hurt that involves relational conflicts. In this study, a randomized pretest-posttest control group design was used to examine the effect of an 8-week forgiveness bibliotherapy on symptoms of emotional distress (anger, anxiety, and depression), forgiveness (forgiveness of others and the self), counseling-related self-care outcomes (compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress) among counselors-in-training at a large university in Central Virginia. At posttest, the experimental group, while controlling for baselines scores at pretest, had higher forgiveness of others and lower emotional distress and burnout compared to the control group, and such differences maintained at a one-month follow-up. Implications for counselor self-care and counselor education are discussed.

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15:20-17:00 | Room -2.33 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCAH2026 | Humanities - Teaching and Learning Methods Session Chair: Jorge Pereira 15:20-15:45 112585 | Project-Based Learning in Parenting Course: Evidence from Graduate Students Mukti Amini, Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia This study examines the effectiveness of project-based learning in a "Parenting" course for 32 graduate students specializing in Early Childhood Education in Indonesia. The course integrates three primary assignments: podcast production, scholarly article review, and psychological scale development. A mixed-methods approach was employed, using questionnaire data comprising both Likert-scale responses and open-ended questions. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (means and percentages), and qualitative responses were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that most students reported a positive learning experience, with mean scores exceeding 4.0 across most assessment items, suggesting a high level of perceived effectiveness. The podcast assignment enhanced students' communication skills, creativity, and self-confidence, while the article review activity significantly improved critical thinking abilities and scientific literacy. Meanwhile, the psychological scale development assignment, though considered the most challenging, substantially contributed to students' analytical and research competencies. Identified challenges included limited technical skills in media production, difficulties in accessing and interpreting academic literature, and the conceptual complexity involved in constructing valid and reliable measurement instruments. Qualitative feedback also revealed that time management, digital skills, and limited prior experience influenced the completion of the assignments. This study concludes that project-based learning is a meaningful and effective pedagogical approach in higher education, particularly for fostering holistic competencies among prospective early childhood educators. The findings highlight the need for enhanced instructional support, access to academic resources, and targeted training to optimize student learning outcomes.

15:45-16:10 111661 | Between Partnership and Conflict: Novice Teachers’ Professional Identity in Parent-Teacher Relations Iris Loewenschuss Erlich, Levinsky-Wingate Academic Center, Israel Marcela Liperman Atar, Levinsky-Wingate Academic Center, Israel Extensive research highlights the importance of positive parent teacher partnerships for students’ academic achievement and socio emotional wellbeing. Parent teacher relations frequently involve tensions, power dynamics, and conflicts that challenge teachers’ professional autonomy and emotional resilience. The digitalization of school family communication has reshaped parent teacher relations, and made conflicts more immediate, emotionally intensified, and structurally complex. These dynamics are particularly salient for novice teachers, whose professional identity is still in formation. This research examine how novice teachers cope with conflicts involving parents and how these encounters shape their emerging professional identity. A narrative study of 30 first year teachers Participants described specific conflictual events and reflected on their responses. Narrative analysis revealed distinct coping positions ranging from independent handling of conflicts to reliance on management, overprotection, or collaborative engagement. Teachers who experienced supported autonomy leading the process while receiving institutional backing, reported greater professional growth and strengthened self efficacy. The findings are discussed within the framework of the U theory and the onion model as a framework for guiding beginning teachers. The application of U Theory in supporting novice teachers facilitates a shift from reactive response to a state of "presencing", allowing them to connect with their inner source of knowing and professional mission. Integrating the Onion Model helps align these inner dimensions of identity. From this, the research can help redefine how to guide and support beginning teachers.

16:10-16:35 114086 | Analysis of the Skills and Needs Early Childhood Educators in Organizing Inclusive Learning Sri Tatminingsih, Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia Dony Darma Sagita, Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia This study aims to identify the competencies required by early childhood education (ECE) teachers to effectively implement inclusive learning. The research forms the first stage of a research and development project focused on developing an inclusive learning service model in open and distance learning and an AR/VR-based interactive video to enhance competencies in supporting children with special needs. Inclusive learning promotes equitable educational opportunities for all children, including those with disabilities, within the same learning environment. Using the Borg and Gall research and development framework, this initial stage focuses on needs assessment and competency identification. Data were collected through questionnaires administered to 200 ECE teachers and interviews with 30 teachers across 10 provinces in Indonesia. Data were analyzed using descriptive and simple quantitative techniques. Ethical considerations were maintained through informed consent, anonymity, secure data management, and participants’ right to withdraw. The findings indicate that successful implementation of inclusive learning requires three core domains of teacher competence: knowledge, practical skills, and professional dispositions. Teachers are expected to identify diverse learning needs, plan and implement appropriate instructional strategies, and evaluate learning outcomes for each child. While teachers are not expected to function as therapists, they play a critical role in facilitating the development and participation of children with disabilities. These competencies should be systematically integrated into both the theoretical and practical components of ECE teacher education curricula.

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15:20-17:00 | Room -2.33 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCAH2026 | Humanities - Teaching and Learning Methods Session Chair: Jorge Pereira 16:35-17:00 111588 | Epistemologies of Co-Creation: AI, Aesthetics, and the Reconfiguration of Design Knowledge Jorge Pereira, Polytechnic University of Cávado and Ave, Portugal The rapid incorporation of generative artificial intelligence into artistic and design practices challenges established notions of creativity, authorship, and aesthetic judgment. Rather than understanding AI as a mere instrument in the creative process, this paper examines how generative systems participate in the production of meaning and aesthetic value. Drawing on critical theory, philosophy of technology, and media studies—particularly relational and sociotechnical approaches to agency—the paper argues that creativity emerges through interactions among human actors, algorithms, datasets, interfaces, and institutional contexts. Through a theoretical analysis of contemporary debates on AI-generated art and design, the paper explores how aesthetic value cannot be separated from the technical, social, and political conditions that shape generative systems. Particular attention is given to the opacity of algorithmic processes, and the ethical implications of delegating creative decisions to computational systems. The paper proposes a shift from the question of whether AI can be creative to a broader examination of how creativity itself is being reconfigured within human–machine assemblages. By framing design as a site where aesthetic, ethical, and epistemological concerns intersect, the paper contributes to ongoing discussions on the critical evaluation of AI-mediated creative practices and the evolving role of human agency in computational cultures.

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15:20-17:00 | Room -2.43 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCSS2026 | Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age Session Chair: Charito Ong 15:20-15:45 113134 | Ethical Use of AI in Design: Perspectives of Students, Faculty and Industry Shweta Joon, National Institute of Fashion Technology, India The rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in design education and practice has reshaped creative workflows, while also raising questions concerning authorship, originality, data privacy and skill development. Underlying the concerns is a fundamental gap: There is no clear, standardized framework or defined boundaries about the use of AI in the design field, and students are especially vulnerable as they push through real-world expectations. This quantitative study aims to examine awareness and knowledge of ethical use of AI in design by studying and comparing the perceptions of three key stakeholder groups: students, faculty and industry professionals. A structured questionnaire was distributed to 200 respondents comprising 100 design students, 50 faculty/educators and 50 industry professionals via convenience and snowball sampling methods. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques, including mean comparisons, correlation analysis, and ANOVA, to identify significant differences and relationships across groups. The research explores knowledge, ethical issues, and perceptions of AI-aided creativity with particular reference to the gap between academic expectations and industry norms of what constitutes acceptable AI use. The outcomes will suggest that how the three groups differ in the level of ethical awareness and concern regarding AI use. Also in the absence of a framework with common viewpoints, students are often confused and find practices inconsistent because they receive conflicting guidance from faculty and industry. The findings of this research provide empirical evidence to develop standardised guidelines to help establish a common and correct understanding of AI use across the three stakeholders.

15:45-16:10 111431 | Preservice Teachers’ Digital Competence Development Through AI-Integrated Training Program for Learning Management Pongwat Fongkanta, Lampang Rajabhat University, Thailand Fisik Sean Buakanok, Lampang Rajabhat University, Thailand This study investigates how a digital technology and artificial intelligence training program affects preservice teachers’ digital competence and to compare the digital competence of preservice teachers among different academic majors after participating in the program.The research method is deemed as one-group posttest experimental design which a treatment is implemented into group of preservice teachers and digital competence as a dependent variable is measured after the treatment is implemented. The research involved 144 preservice teachers participating in the teacher training program at Lampang Rajabhat university that were drawn by using simple random sampling technique. The digital technology and artificial intelligence training program was developed through the FAIR Plus framework. Data were collected by using the digital competence scale include five domains. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze preservice teachers’ digital competence. Also, a one-way ANOVA that used to determine if there is a significant difference among three different academic majors. Results revealed that preservice teachers have shown high level in digital competence that reached the criterion of 70 percentage. The digital competence was significant difference among different academic majors, F(2, 142) = 7.56, p < .001).

16:10-16:35 110805 | The DRIVE Model: Supporting Classroom Technology Integration Through Evidence-Informed Faculty Development Charito Ong, University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines, Philippines The effective integration of digital technologies in undergraduate classrooms remains a persistent challenge despite growing investments in faculty professional development. Many instructors encounter difficulties translating training experiences into pedagogically meaningful classroom practices that enhance student engagement and instructional effectiveness. This study presents the DRIVE Model, an evidenceinformed framework designed to support classroom technology integration through structured faculty development. Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected from 35 undergraduate instructors across mixed disciplines who participated in blended professional development activities. Data sources included surveys, open-ended reflections, focus group discussions, post-training evaluations, and teaching artifacts. Findings indicate that faculty implemented a range of technology-supported instructional strategies, including digital assessments, collaborative tools, multimedia resources, flipped classroom elements, online discussions, and formative digital feedback. Faculty reported improved student engagement, increased classroom interaction, better lesson organization, more efficient assessment practices, and enhanced confidence in teaching with technology. The DRIVE Model articulates five interconnected stages—Diagnostic Needs Analysis, Responsive Planning, Instructional Validation, Verification, and Evaluation—that emphasize classroom implementation and reflective instructional practice. The study contributes a practical framework for bridging faculty development and classroom technology integration in higher education.

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Notes

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15:20-17:00 | Room -2.62 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCSS2026 | Sociology and Psychology in Economics, Management, and Public Policy Session Chair: Bongiwe Kavi-Penisi 15:20-15:45 112839 | Consumer Attention to Restaurant Price Changes and Dining-Out Expenditure: Evidence from Korea Yeona Hong, Kongju National University, South Korea Jungwook Ahn, Seoul National University, South Korea Post-pandemic changes in dietary patterns and persistent food price inflation have altered consumers' dining-out behavior. This study examines the determinants of consumer attention to restaurant price changes and changes in dining-out expenditure and investigates whether consumer attention to restaurant price changes is associated with changes in dining-out expenditure. Using survey data collected by the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) from 1,000 consumers nationwide in September 2023, this study employs an ordered logit model to identify the determinants of consumer attention to restaurant price changes and changes in dining-out expenditure. The results show that consumers living in the Seoul metropolitan area, those with lower household income, those with greater health consciousness, and those with higher average grocery expenditure per shopping trip are more likely to pay greater attention to restaurant price changes. In contrast, changes in dining-out expenditure are primarily explained by consumers' spending behaviors, including the frequency of online grocery shopping and household spending on food and dining out. These findings indicate that greater attention to restaurant price changes does not necessarily correspond to changes in actual dining-out expenditure. The results highlight the importance of distinguishing between consumer attention to restaurant price changes and actual spending behavior in understanding consumer responses to restaurant price changes and informing food and restaurant price policies.

15:45-16:10 112840 | The Impact of Contactless Service Adoption on Business Performance and Employment: Evidence from Korean Restaurant Businesses Wonjoo Cho, Chungbuk National University, South Korea Tae Young Kim, Kongju National University, South Korea Restaurants are rapidly adopting contactless technologies to cope with rising food and labor costs. Whether these technologies actually improve profitability, however, remains an open question: labor-saving gains may be offset by upfront equipment investments and platform commission fees. This study examines how four types of contactless services—self-service kiosks, tablet-based ordering, in-store QR ordering on customers' own smartphones, and delivery apps—affect the business performance and employment of restaurant businesses in Korea, where consecutive minimum wage increases have accelerated adoption. Using establishment-level data on 6,334 restaurants from the 2024 and 2025 waves of an official government survey, we estimate multiple regression models with heteroskedasticity-robust standard errors. We find that the effects vary substantially across service types. In-store QR ordering is associated with an increase in operating profit of approximately KRW 11 million (about USD 8,000), while the other service types show no significant profit effects. Employment effects also diverge. Tablet ordering and kiosk adoption are associated with staffing increases of about 1.5 and 1.8 employees, respectively. In contrast, QR ordering and delivery app use are associated with decreases of about 0.6 and 0.4 employees. These findings caution against one-size-fitsall technology promotion and suggest that restaurateurs' adoption decisions and government support programs alike should be tailored to service type and business characteristics.

16:10-16:35 107557 | The Impact of Living Away from Home for Work on the Health of Male Employees in Japan Mamiko Takeuchi, Aichigakuin University, Japan In Japan, tanshin-funin refers to a work arrangement in which employees are required to live away from their families due to internal job transfers. Introduced widely in the 1960s by large corporations, this system has played an important role in supporting firm flexibility and longterm employment. At the same time, separation from family members has raised concerns about workers’ health and well-being. This study examines how tanshin-funin is associated with health outcomes among male employees, using pooled microdata from the 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2022 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions in Japan. Because employees assigned to live away from home tend to differ systematically from others (for example, in education, job position, and firm size), we compare them with men who have similar characteristics but live with their spouses or families. The results reveal a mixed pattern. Men under tanshin-funin report better physical health indicators, including higher self-rated health, sufficient sleep, more frequent exercise, and fewer physical complaints. In contrast, they are more likely to experience psychological stress, irregular eating habits, and slightly higher levels of smoking and alcohol consumption. Importantly, reported sources of stress are primarily related to family separation, caring responsibilities for parents, and concerns about children’s education. These findings suggest that policies addressing tanshin-funin should go beyond financial compensation and include mental health support, familyrelated counseling, and preventive health measures. More broadly, the findings may be informative for countries where internal migration and labor mobility require workers to live apart from their families.

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15:20-17:00 | Room -2.62 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCSS2026 | Sociology and Psychology in Economics, Management, and Public Policy Session Chair: Bongiwe Kavi-Penisi 16:35-17:00 111978 | Repositioning Lived Experience in Public Healthcare: Structural Inequality and Employee Wellbeing in South Africa Bongiwe Kavi, Rhodes University, South Africa Dominant theories of employee wellbeing are largely derived from Global North contexts, often overlooking the structural and historical conditions shaping work in the Global South. In South Africa’s public healthcare sector, persistent inequalities, institutional constraints, and resource scarcity intensify work-family conflict and perceived work overload, with significant implications for psychological wellbeing. This study examines the relationship between work-family conflict, perceived work overload, and psychological wellbeing among healthcare professionals while critically considering the contextual relevance of dominant wellbeing frameworks. A convergent mixed-methods design was employed, integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches. Data were collected from 415 healthcare professionals across primary and secondary healthcare facilities in the Amathole District. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS and AMOS, while qualitative data were analysed through thematic analysis in NVivo. The findings indicate that work-family conflict and perceived work overload significantly undermine psychological wellbeing, with work overload amplifying these negative effects. Qualitative findings further reveal how chronic understaffing, systemic inequality, and socio-economic precarity shape employees’ experiences and wellbeing outcomes. The study demonstrates that organisational and structural interventions are likely to be more effective than individualised wellbeing programmes in improving employee wellbeing. Recommendations include supportive supervisory practices, realistic workload allocation, and equitable resource distribution. By foregrounding the lived experiences of healthcare professionals, this study advances epistemic justice and contributes to more inclusive, contextually grounded understandings of employee wellbeing in resource-constrained settings.

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15:20-17:00 | Room -2.63 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Sociology Session Chair: May Olaug Horverak 15:20-15:45 111367 | A Systematic Approach to Identifying Career Management Skills and Facilitating Empowerment in the Introduction Programme for Refugees Marianne Fredrikke Henriksen, Birkenes Learning Centre, Norway May Olaug Horverak, NORCE Research, Norway Ingrid Bårdsdatter Bakke, University of Inland, Norway Stein Amundsen, University of Inland, Norway This study examines how the use of a systematic method to build mastery, participation and motivation can empower and help participants in the introduction programme for refugees to identify career management skills. Data have been collected in two phases to investigate this, first, through collecting evaluations from 30 participants, with closed and open questions, and second, through semi-structured interviews with five participants. The framework for data collection was an inter-municipal project, where a five-step method for mastery, participation, and motivation was implemented as an empowering approach in conversations individually and in groups, when preparing an integration plan. The purpose of using this method has been to strengthen participants' understanding of and involvement in formulating short-term goals in the introductory programme, as well as long-term career and future life goals in Norway. Through thematic analysis, four main themes were identified: the experience of autonomy, competence, meaning and relatedness. The participants mainly described how they felt ownership of their integration plan, that they felt seen and heard, that they were allowed to decide on the content of the integration plan, that the five-step method helped them identify career management skills, and that the five-step method was a work tool they could use for several areas of life.

15:45-16:10 113813 | Henrietta Cerf: The Intersectional and Scientific World of a Nineteenth Century Botanist Melsia Tomlin-Kraftner, University of Bristol, United Kingdom Henrietta Cerf (1810–1877) was a Jamaican born mixed-heritage botanist whose life bridges continents, cultures, scientific traditions, and how she navigated the patriarchal world of Botany. Although she published nine botanical articles—an unusually high number for a woman in the mid nineteenth century—her name faded from historical memory soon after her death. Yet her story is rich, stretching from the slavery plantations of St Elizabeth, Jamaica, to the botanical circles of London and Brussels. Her work, her travels, and her collaborations reveal a woman who although she was not university educated, pursued scientific knowledge with determination, curiosity, and independence at a time when women were rarely welcomed into formal scientific communities (Crépin, 1877; Britten, 1922). Using social, anthropological, historical qualitative research data, vignettes, and a case study, this presentation introduces Henrietta Cerf’s life through critical and analytical gendered lenses, thus offering academic depth using an intersectional theoretical framework to highlight scholarly work. It explores her family background, her botanical interests, her publications, and the networks that shaped her scientific career, and how women navigated this scientific patriarchal world. It also considers why her contributions were forgotten and why they matter today, in a world still struggling to manoeuvre a patriarchal order in various disciplines.

16:10-16:35 111271 | Taiwan’s Chinese Nazis: Mapping Their Myth and Crisis Daniel Gombos, National Chengchi University, Taiwan Political symbology in Taiwan has recently seen the emergence of explicit Nazi imagery within mainstream political movements. While described as benign, Nazi symbols abound in Taiwan and the recent 2025 Recall Movement served as the platform for supporters of both major parties to utilize these symbols for explicit political expression. This thesis focuses on a specific group of self-ascribed Chinese National Socialists who opperate primarily through a Telegram community of over 5,000 subscribers. Challenging the prevailing "ignorance" narrative, I argue that these actors are well aware of Nazi history but superscribe its symbols to fit a local, Chinese-centric political project. The research is framed by Roger Griffin’s theory of palingenetic ultra-nationalism and Prasenjit Duara’s "regime of authenticity," examining how the group constructs a myth of national rebirth in response to a perceived crisis of authority. Using a mixed-methods approach including discourse analysis of Telegram posts, ethnographic fieldwork, and qualitative interviews I investigate how this group navigates the ruptures of Taiwanese identity. Specifically, the study asks how they reconcile "waishengren" (mainlander) identity trauma and the push for "Taiwanization" with a National Socialist framework. Ultimately, this work contributes to the understudied field of East Asian Nazisms by mapping the static and fluid elements of this unique fascist expression. In addition to furthering our understanding of contemporary Nazisms I aim to challenge existing assumptions in relevant theory and put findings in conversation with theory on modern Nazism.

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15:20-17:00 | Room -2.63 (Level -2)

Saturday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Sociology Session Chair: May Olaug Horverak 16:35-17:00 112171 | Supporting Immigrant Women to Employment: Experiences from Collaboration Between the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration and Immigrant Organizations May Olaug Horverak, NORCE Research AS, Norway It is an explicit goal in the Norwegian Integration Act that all immigrants should be supported to economic independence and integration in society and working life. Achieving this goal is, however, difficult. Particularly many immigrant women end up outside of working life, depending on their husbands’ income. To mitigate this challenge, the Norwegian Directorate of Integration and Diversity has developed a programme called “The work chance” – where the local labour admimistrations receive financing to support immigrant women who are not in education, employment of training to be prepared for work and to find and get work practice, while receiving a salary. Despite good intentions, recruitment is a challenge. The current study presents experiences from a project where a model has been developed for collaboration between the local labour administration and local immigrant organizations to recruit immigrant women to the programme “The work chance”. Possible success factors and barriers to succeeding with the programme have been investigated. Two focus group interviews with representatives from the immigrant organizations have been carried out, and eight individual interviews with participants. Preliminary findings show that some of the barriers to succeeding with the programme are limited Norwegian language skills, the fact that not all women wish to work, restrictions in the programme, as only full-time work is accepted, and misunderstandings concerning payments, or low salary. However, those who participate in the programme express gratitude that they are supported to find work practice and employment to achieve financial independence.

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Notes

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Sunday, November 15 09:30-11:10 | Onsite Parallel Session 1 12:40-13:55 | Onsite Parallel Session 2 14:10-15:50 | Onsite Parallel Session 3 16:05-17:45 | Onsite Parallel Session 4 All times are Central European Time (UTC+1) Abstracts appear as originally submitted by the author. Any spelling, grammatical, or typographical errors are those of the author.

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09:30-11:10 | Room -2.32 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Sustainability Issues in Cultural and International Studies Session Chair: Najwa A. Nadia Abdullah 09:30-09:55 109777 | The Enforceability of the Right to Adequate Food Anna Jackowska, University of Warsaw, Poland Food-related issues constitute one of the most pressing challenges of our time—over 2 billion people worldwide experience moderate or severe food insecurity [The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI), FAO, 2025, p. 12]. This situation reveals a significant paradox in international law. Although international legal instruments recognise not only the right to freedom from hunger but also the broader right to adequate food, a substantial gap persists between the formal recognition of this right and its effective implementation. Using doctrinal-legal and comparative methods, this presentation examines the definition of the right to adequate food and the extent to which it can be claimed or enforced within international and domestic legal systems. Particular attention is given to the relationship between the right to adequate food and other fundamental human rights, especially the rights to life, health, human dignity, and social security. The analysis demonstrates that the practical enforceability of the right to adequate food remains limited. This results primarily from the programmatic nature of many international provisions, relatively weak monitoring mechanisms within international human rights frameworks, and the absence of binding accountability procedures capable of ensuring state compliance. The presentation argues that improving the implementation of this right requires a multi-level approach combining stronger domestic legal guarantees with enhanced international cooperation and monitoring. Without transforming the right to adequate food into a genuinely enforceable legal entitlement, international law risks recognising hunger as a violation of human rights while lacking effective tools to prevent it.

09:55-10:20 111171 | Media Framing of Sustainable Food Consumption in British and American News Discourse Palina Salei, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania The influence of news media on the public perception of socially relevant issues is undeniable. One of such issues is food sustainability, as its meanings are constructed through language and communicated in different news sources. In this sense, news articles become a crucial space where different actors negotiate what is considered “sustainable” food, which forms of food consumption are considered desirable, and who is responsible for enabling and/or obstructing more sustainable food systems. The focus on American and British quality online news sources is therefore important, as they both shape public understandings within their national contexts and circulate influential narratives related to the topic of food sustainability worldwide. To conduct the study, two online news outlets were selected: an American source, The New York Times, and a British one, The Guardian. Given that the topic of sustainability is broad, as it is observed in various fields, such as economics or ecology, the focus is merely on the news articles of food sustainability discourse. The articles from January 2020 till August 2025 from the dedicated sections on both online news sources are selected for the analysis. In terms of methodology, the study relies on Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough 1995, Wodak and Meyer 2009) to examine the representation of social actors, the attribution of responsibility, and the discursive construction of legitimacy within food sustainability online news articles. The analysis depicts that both online news sources frame food sustainability as a socially necessary transition, yet there are noticeable differences in how they construct.

10:20-10:45 111708 | The Social and Affective Life of Organic Waste: Disgust, Decomposition, and Community Participation in Urban Waste-to-Food Systems in Indonesia Angga Dwiartama, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia Yenyen Sally Rahayu, Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional, Indonesia Fictor Ferdinand, Yaksa Pelestari Bumi Berkelanjutan, Indonesia Endang Hernawan, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia Yooce Yustiana, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia Heri Rahman, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia Circular economy and urban waste management initiatives frequently assume that organic waste can be transformed into productive resources through technological innovation and behavioral change. However, such approaches often treat waste as a neutral material flow while overlooking the social and affective relations through which waste becomes manageable. Drawing on an ethnographic study of a community-based Black Soldier Fly (BSF) waste-to-food initiative in Bandung, Indonesia, this article examines how organic waste acquires social meanings and emotional intensities that shape community participation. This study combined participant observation, interviews with 30 households, waste workers, local government actors, and community facilitators, alongside observations of waste-processing practices, to explore how residents encounter and negotiate decomposition in everyday life. Our findings suggest that participation in organic waste management is influenced not only by environmental awareness or economic incentives, but also by sensory and affective responses including disgust, perceptions of contamination, fear of insects, and concerns surrounding cleanliness and domestic order. These responses vary across different social contexts and are mediated by neighborhood relationships, trust in waste institutions, and perceived material benefits. We argue that circular urban systems depend not only on the circulation of materials but also on the reconfiguration of affective relations between humans and decomposing matter. By conceptualizing organic waste as possessing a social and affective life, the study contributes to debates in discard studies, urban political ecology, and more-than-human approaches to sustainability transitions.

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09:30-11:10 | Room -2.32 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Sustainability Issues in Cultural and International Studies Session Chair: Najwa A. Nadia Abdullah 10:45-11:10 114173 | Mediating Climate Change Through Everyday Religiosity: Urban Muslim Mothers and Changing Media Ecologies in Indonesia Najwa A. Nadia Abdullah, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands This presentation examines how climate change has become a crucible for rethinking the relationship between religion, media, and environmental care in Indonesia. Focusing on urban middle-class contexts, it asks how environmental responsibility is navigated across religious, domestic, and social life, and how environmental commitments may reshape media practices and material relations. It therefore highlights the constitutive and recursive relationship between media and environmental practices. The study combines discourse analysis of social media content with ethnographic insights from participant observation and in-depth interviews conducted during fieldwork between 2025 and 2026 across the three interconnected cities of Jakarta, Depok, and Bogor. The findings highlight how Muslim mothers at the centre of this research translate climate awareness and action into everyday experience, a process whereby religion as an ethical repertoire and motherhood as a domain of ethical practice become key sites of negotiation. Familiar Islamic values and temporal ethics acquire renewed ecological meaning through their convergence with minimalism and contemporary trends of sustainable living. In family settings, these mothers connect environmental crises with crises of attention, perception, and mediation. They intervene in children’s sensory and media environments, reorganising the sequences and settings through which children learn to perceive and inhabit the world—from book reading to market-going. I argue that these practices constitute an alternative media ecology that promotes attentiveness, sufficiency, and stewardship while suspending capitalist temporalities centred on accumulation, efficiency, and productivity. Ultimately, this article shows how new environmental relations occur as an effect of changing media ecologies, temporal ethics, and everyday rituals.

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09:30-11:10 | Room -2.33 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCAH2026 | Humanities - Teaching and Learning with AI Session Chair: Kiran Padmaraju 09:30-09:55 114111 | Student Learning Experience in Using Artificial Intelligence: A Systematic Literature Review Ida Zubaidah, Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia Dessy Mayasari, Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to address some of the most pressing challenges in contemporary education while transforming teaching and learning practices. However, the rapid advancement and widespread adoption of AI technologies have also introduced a range of pedagogical, ethical, and social challenges. This systematic literature review synthesizes empirical evidence on students' experiences with AI in educational settings. Following the PRISMA guidelines, a systematic search of the Scopus and ERIC databases identified 117 eligible studies, which were subsequently analyzed using SciSpace. The findings indicate that students' experiences with AI, particularly Generative AI (GenAI), are multifaceted, encompassing academic, cognitive, emotional, social, and personalized learning dimensions. Overall, students report predominantly positive experiences, highlighting increased learning engagement, enhanced self-regulated learning, improved academic productivity, timely learning support, and more personalized learning experiences. At the same time, the review identifies several recurring concerns, including threats to academic integrity, reduced critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, ethical and social challenges, plagiarism and misuse, privacy and data security risks, and increasing dependence on AI technologies. These findings suggest that although AI represents a valuable tool for supporting student learning, its educational benefits should be balanced with appropriate pedagogical strategies and institutional policies to minimize potential risks and promote its responsible and effective use in higher education.

09:55-10:20 110519 | Empowering Learners Through a Community-University Digital Media Literacy Intervention Project Ndamulelo Innocentia Mabidi, University of South Africa, South Africa Digital media has become an essential part of high school learners’ lives, with communication increasing at an unprecedented rate in the digital age, as they are constantly connected to their peers to share aspects of their lives online. However, research states that these learners do not always know how to use digital media safely. This study reports on a community-university partnership that sought to improve teaching, learning, and research in select secondary (high) schools in South Africa, while also addressing critical societal issues. To achieve the aim of the project, the following objectives were developed: raise digital media literacy awareness among learners, empower learners on the appropriate use of digital technology in their day-to-day lives, help learners become responsible and ethical digital citizens, and address critical social issues that arise as a result of digital media. Data were collected through focus group discussions with teachers and learners, semi-structured interviews with learners, and questionnaires completed by learners and their parents/guardians. The study recommends integrated media literacy education programmes, stricter school device-use policies, and parental involvement in the use and management of learner devices.

10:20-10:45 109716 | Effects of AI-Avatar Speaking Practice in Low-Immersion VR and Study Abroad on Japanese EFL Learners’ Speaking Development Yukie Saito, Chuo University, Japan Japanese EFL learners preparing for study abroad often have limited opportunities for authentic speaking practice. This study investigated the effects of speaking practice with AI avatars in low-immersion VR (LiVR), delivered via standard computer displays, the effects of a one-month study abroad program, and the exploratory role of VR as pre-departure preparation in Japanese EFL learners’ speaking development. Speaking performance was tracked at three time points: pre-VR, post-VR, and post-study-abroad. Versant scores for Fluency, Pronunciation, Sentence Mastery, Vocabulary, Overall, and Intelligibility were analyzed using paired-samples t tests to examine changes across the intervention and study abroad period. Comparisons between pre-VR and post-VR included 11 participants, whereas comparisons involving study abroad included 10 due to one missing case. Results showed that Vocabulary was the only measure to improve significantly from pre-VR to post-VR, suggesting that the most immediate effect of LiVR-based speaking practice was on lexical development. No significant differences were found between post-VR and post-study-abroad scores. However, from pre-VR to post-study-abroad, significant gains were found in both Vocabulary and Overall scores. These findings indicate that speaking practice with AI avatars in LiVR may support early gains in vocabulary, while broader speaking development may emerge more gradually over time. Overall, the results suggest that LiVR may serve as a useful form of pre-departure speaking practice that helps prepare learners for subsequent study abroad experience.

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09:30-11:10 | Room -2.33 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCAH2026 | Humanities - Teaching and Learning with AI Session Chair: Kiran Padmaraju 10:45-11:10 109128 | Short-term Study Abroad Programs, Lasting Impact: Lessons from Two Universities Kiran Padmaraju, Eastern Illinois University, United States Queen Ogbomo, Tennessee Technological University, United States Short-term study abroad (STSA) programs have become one of the fastest-growing forms of international education in higher education. Typically lasting two to three weeks, these faculty-led programs are designed to provide students with meaningful global learning experiences within a limited timeframe. While research often highlights the benefits of longer-term immersion, emerging scholarship suggests that wellstructured short-term programs can also contribute to students’ intercultural competence, global awareness, and personal development (Iskhakova & Bradly, 2021). This presentation examines short-term study abroad through a comparative analysis of two faculty-led programs at two midwestern U.S. universities. One case explores a program that took students from Tennessee to Ghana, West Africa, while the second presenter will share a comparable program organized through their institution from Illinois to India. Using faculty reflections, program design documentation, and student reflections collected after, this session analyzes key elements that shape the impact of short-term international experiences. Attention will be given to program goals, pre-departure preparation, faculty supervision during the experience, and structured reflection activities afterwards. Guided by scholarship on experiential learning and intercultural development, this comparative discussion highlights how intentional program design can maximize learning outcomes even within brief international experiences. The presenters will also consider how short-term programs provide access to global engagement for students who may be unable to participate in longer study abroad opportunities, particularly those traveling outside the United States for the first time. By comparing two institutional approaches, this session offers practical strategies for designing impactful short-term programs that promote intercultural and global competencies.

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09:30-11:10 | Room -2.43 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCAH2026 | Humanities - Language/Linguistics Session Chair: Wenhua Hsu 09:30-09:55 112581 | Phonological Challenges in Learning Egyptian Colloquial Arabic: Insights from Non-Native Speakers Pakenam Shiha, Effat University, Saudi Arabia Most research on Arabic as a foreign language has focused on Modern Standard Arabic, and few studies have systematically described how English-speaking learners actually produce the sounds of Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA), or tested whether their errors match what contrastive analysis would predict. This study fills that gap. It examines the phonological system of 15 American learners of ECA (10 male, 5 female; aged 20–28) studying in the Flagship Arabic Program at the TAFL Center, Alexandria University, at beginner, intermediate, and highintermediate levels. All were native English speakers; eleven also knew Spanish as a second language, while the rest spoke Hindi, Dutch, or French. Data were collected through individual interviews designed to elicit spontaneous speech, along with observation of participants speaking Arabic with peers, native speakers, and the researcher. The recordings were phonetically transcribed and rated by three independent observers on 24 consonants, 12 vowels, 7 syllabic structures, and 7 phonological processes. Ratings were analyzed using means and standard deviations, and a one-sample t-test (alpha = 0.05) tested whether learner production differed significantly from target norms. Beginners struggled most with vowels despite regular class exposure, while intermediate learners produced the ECA phonemes correctly but still carried over L1 stress patterns. Long vowels in monosyllabic words were easier for everyone than short vowels, and assimilation proved harder than elision across the board. The results support contrastive-analysis predictions about L1 transfer and point to a need for pronunciation instruction that targets each learner’s specific L1 interference in stress and vowel length.

09:55-10:20 114246 | Fostering Global Citizenship Through Experiential Learning in the Arabic Language Program: A Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Study Reham Aly, The Pennsylvania State University, United States As higher education increasingly emphasizes the development of globally engaged graduates, foreign language programs are well positioned to cultivate the linguistic, intercultural, and critical competencies that support global citizenship. This presentation reports on a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) study examining how experiential learning across an Arabic language program contributes to student learning and global citizenship development. The study investigates students' perceptions of three primary learning outcomes: Arabic language proficiency, intercultural competence, and the perceived relevance of Arabic language study. The program integrates experiential learning throughout the curriculum through community-engaged learning, project-based instruction, virtual collaboration with university partners across the Arab world through Penn State's Experiential Digital Global Engagement (EDGE) initiative, cultural events, and authentic communication tasks. These experiences position intercultural learning and global engagement as integral components of language development from the introductory through advanced levels. Grounded in experiential learning, intercultural communicative competence, and global citizenship education, the study uses surveys and student reflections to assess how these experiences influence language development, intercultural understanding, and students' perceptions of Arabic's value and applicability. Preliminary findings suggest that experiential learning increases students' confidence using Arabic in authentic contexts, strengthens their ability to engage with diverse perspectives, and deepens their appreciation of the cultural, social, and professional significance of Arabic. By sharing both the pedagogical approach and evidence of student learning, this presentation offers a model for integrating global citizenship education into language programs and contributes to broader discussions on preparing students for meaningful engagement in an interconnected world.

10:20-10:45 113070 | Frequent Non-compositional Multiword Expressions in English Subtitles of Military and War Dramas Wenhua Hsu, I-Shou University, Taiwan The popularity of television drama series has grown alongside the rapid expansion of over-the-top (OTT) streaming services and Internetconnected mobile devices. The researcher-teacher has observed that some male college students in Taiwan frequently binge-watch military and war dramas. Given the prevalence of binge-watching in a context where Mandarin is an official language and English is taught as a compulsory foreign language (EFL), this study explores the potential for English lexical development if learners switch from Mandarin to English subtitles. Although all Taiwanese men are required to complete compulsory military service, students' interest in military and war dramas is not necessarily related to this obligation. Nevertheless, the genre may encourage sustained viewing with English subtitles, providing an additional source of extensive language exposure beyond the graded readers commonly used in EFL instruction. Military English differs from general English in its lexical and phraseological features, containing numerous technical terms, formulaic expressions, and semantically non-compositional multiword expressions (MWEs) that are underrepresented in general EFL materials. As a result, learners with adequate general English proficiency may still struggle to comprehend military-themed audiovisual content. To address this gap, this study developed a pedagogically useful list of frequent semantically non-compositional MWEs for EFL learners interested in military and war dramas. A corpus of over 10 million words was compiled from the English subtitles of 100 military and war drama series. Applying six selection criteria, 200 opaque MWEs consisting of two to six words were identified. Most are composed of words from the most frequent 3,000 English word families, providing a practical resource for self-directed learning and improved comprehension of military-themed audiovisual materials.

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Notes

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09:30-11:10 | Room -2.62 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCAH2026 | Social Wellbeing Session Chair: Tsogzolmaa Nyamaa 09:30-09:55 114241 | Tacit Sensation & Tangible Expression: Performative Design Thinking for Adolescents with Chronic Pain Julia Fromm, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria Practical approaches to capture non-verbal expressions among adolescents with chronic pain are exiguous. Affecting a third of the age group, it compounds depression, anxiety and isolation. While Social Prescribing and artistic interventions improve well-being, their mechanisms remain poorly substantiated. This study investigates how Performative Design Thinking, grounded in embodied cognition, can mediate nonverbal communication through tangible expression. Employing a qualitative approach within an art-based research paradigm, this research combines framework analysis of eight semi-structured expert interviews and two workshops involving 22 participants from art education and performance art. A Performative Design Thinking Model was developed, adapting Applied Design Thinking through embodied tacit knowledge. Across the intersubjective perception, material exploration and deep listening phases to foster resonance, workshop participants engaged with fractal Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) sound impulses and tactile artefacts. Findings revealed chronic pain disrupting subjective perception and favouring sensory exploration over verbal description. Material artefacts with sound shaped gesture dialogues facilitated empathetic exchange through deep listening. Interactions constructed shared narratives, transforming isolated bodily states into communal understanding. Bodily cues, including micro-movements, sensory-mediated interactions and emergent emotional resonance, conveyed tangible messages that were co-interpreted to build shared narratives. This research made bodily knowledge visible by strengthening self-efficacy, empowering participants' progression from passive subjects to active co-designers. It offers empirically-grounded design patterns bridging internal sensation and external expression, with applications in healthcare education and Social Prescribing programmes.

09:55-10:20 111337 | Intellectual Disability in Indian Cinema: Inclusion and the Politics of Normalisation in Sitaare Zameen Par (2025) Sijo Jose C, Christ (Deemed to Be) University, India Deepa v K, Christ (Deemed to Be) University, India Indian cinema has long played an important role in shaping public attitudes toward disability, especially through the wide cultural influence of Bollywood films. Earlier Hindi films often portrayed persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities through pity, dependency, or the idea of “fixing” disability in order to achieve a socially accepted “normal” life. Researchers such as Harsh Mahaseth (2018) observe that films like Koi… Mil Gaya (2003) reflected this perspective by associating disability with abnormality that required external intervention to restore “normalcy.” Later films, including Main Aisa Hi Hoon (2005), gradually shifted toward more rights-based discussions by engaging with dignity, legal protection, and social acceptance. Within this broader transition, Sitaare Zameen Par (2025) represents a contemporary attempt to reframe intellectual disability through inclusion, participation, and everyday social belonging. This paper critically examines how this film negotiates the “inclusion and politics of normalisation” in its representation of intellectual disability. Drawing from Simpson’s (2018) discussion on normalization and equality, along with Foucault’s concept of disciplinary normality discussed by Jha (2024), the study analyses how the film balances inclusion with wider societal expectations of acceptable behaviour, independence, and productivity through connecting the film with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), which advocates inclusive for all. By increasing the visibility and social participation of persons with intellectual disabilities, Sitaare Zameen Par contributes to disability awareness, cultural inclusion, and broader economic discussions surrounding education, employment, caregiving, and social integration in contemporary Indian society.

10:20-10:45 113932 | Social Return on Investment of a Holistic Well-being Program for an Aging Society in Thailand’s Digital Era Kanchana Pattrawiwat, Behavioral Science Research Institute, Thailand Thailand has entered a complete aged society, highlighting the need to promote older adults’ well-being across physical, mental, intellectual, social, and spiritual dimensions. Digital technology can support learning, information access, and social participation. Social Return on Investment (SROI) assessment provides an approach for demonstrating the economic, social, and quality-of-life value generated by communitybased programs. This study aimed to: 1) examine the outcomes of the Holistic Well-being Program for an Aging Society in the Digital Era in promoting older adults’ holistic well-being through creative activities and digital platforms; and 2) assess the program’s SROI. The study employed an experimental research design combined with evaluation research. Participants included 37 older adults from the Dong Lakhon Subdistrict School for Older Adults, Nakhon Nayok Province, and 20 stakeholders, including older adults, the President of the Subdistrict Administrative Organization, community development officers, community leaders, and village health volunteers. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, observations, and questionnaires. Data were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and the SROI ratio. The results showed that overall holistic well-being was at a high level, particularly in the intellectual and mental dimensions. The SROI ratio was 4.16, indicating that every THB 1 invested generated an estimated social value of THB 4.16. The value generated comprised 76.96% innovation, 18.75% quality of life, and 4.29% social dimensions. The findings indicate that the program provides a worthwhile social return on investment and has potential to promote holistic well-being and sustainable aging society development at the community level.

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09:30-11:10 | Room -2.62 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCAH2026 | Social Wellbeing Session Chair: Tsogzolmaa Nyamaa 10:45-11:10 113467 | The Phenomenon of ‘Silent Pain’ in Peer Bullying: an Integrative Theoretical Synthesis and Rationale for an Intervention Model Tsogzolmaa Nyamaa, Mongolian National University of Education, Mongolia Byambajav Idesh, Central Hospital, Mongolia Peer bullying is a socio-psychological phenomenon that occurs widely in school environments across the world and carries serious negative consequences for children's psychological wellbeing and educational outcomes. However, research in this area has predominantly focused on visible, overt forms of bullying, and relatively little attention has been paid to the internalized suffering that victimized children endure while outwardly appearing unaffected, without disclosing it to others. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by theoretically conceptualizing silent pain and situating it within an integrated framework of five internationally recognized theoretical paradigms. Methodologically, the paper employs an integrative theoretical synthesis and comparatively analyzes established international intervention programs (OBPP, KiVa). Here, an intervention model is understood not merely as a theoretical explanation but as a system of practical implementation steps that specifies which role each stakeholder, namely students, teachers, parents, and administration, plays, what actions such as establishing rules, conducting training, and providing psychological support are to be carried out, and how and in what sequence and stages these are to be implemented. Based on this conceptualization, the findings present an intervention model aligned with the Mongolian socio-historical context, particularly the traditional triadic-participation practice of student, teacher, and parent. The findings of this paper are expected to provide a theoretical foundation for the subsequent development of measurement instruments and the implementation of pilot intervention programs.

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09:30-11:10 | Room -2.63 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCSS2026 | Globalisation and Internationalisation Session Chair: Kate Warner 09:30-09:55 109101 | A Structural Model of Global Citizenship Competence and Peacebuilding in Multicultural Digital Societies Chunipha Poedloknimit, Western University, Thailand In an increasingly interconnected world characterized by digital transformation and cultural diversity, the development of global citizenship competence has become essential for fostering peaceful coexistence and social harmony. This study aims to examine the level of global citizenship competence in multicultural digital societies and to develop a structural model explaining the relationships between global citizenship competence and peacebuilding in digital environments. The research focuses on undergraduate students studying in culturally diverse universities in Thailand, representing various cultural, religious, and regional backgrounds. A quantitative research design was employed to collect data through a structured questionnaire. The study investigates key factors including global citizenship competence, digital citizenship responsibility, and intercultural understanding, while online civic engagement is examined as a mediating factor influencing peacebuilding in digital societies. The findings indicate that the level of global citizenship competence among students is at a moderate to high level. Structural equation modeling results demonstrate that global citizenship competence, digital citizenship responsibility, and intercultural understanding significantly influence online civic engagement. In turn, online civic engagement plays an important mediating role in promoting peacebuilding, social harmony, and respect for diversity in digital societies. The proposed structural model shows a good fit with the empirical data. The findings highlight the importance of developing global citizenship competence as a key factor in strengthening peaceful interactions and constructive participation in multicultural digital societies.

09:55-10:20 112013 | Migration Literacy: Digital Media Driven Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes Towards Migration to Europe from the Horn of Africa Muluken Asegidew Chekol, Northumbria University, United Kingdom As European and UK border regimes tighten, digital platforms have become vital yet volatile knowledge infrastructures for prospective migrants. This study investigates "migration literacy" - the intersection of knowledge, skills, and attitudes - among young people in the Horn of Africa. Utilizing a convergent mixed-methods design in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the research integrates survey data from 403 participants (aged 20–40) with 25 qualitative in-depth interviews. Findings reveal a decisive preference for peer-led, audio-visual, and real-time platforms - specifically TikTok, YouTube, and Telegram - over official institutional sources. This digital reliance creates a "literacy paradox"; while 47.4% of respondents feel motivated by online aspirational storytelling, 35.9% rarely cross-check information, leaving them vulnerable to digital precarity, misinformation, and trafficking. Ultimately, this asymmetry highlights a critical gap between procedural survival knowledge and structural legal awareness. To foster safer mobility, governance and educational actors must move beyond rigid institutional communication. Instead, they should integrate migration literacy into local curricula and counter exploitative broker narratives by embedding humanized, peerled, audio-visual campaigns directly within the digital spaces young people relay on.

10:20-10:45 114198 | The Contemporary Identity of Bulgarian Citizens as a Hybrid Construct – Between the National, the European, the Ethnic and the Local Albena Nakova, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria Valentina Milenkova, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria Karamfil Manolov, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria The contemporary world is one of increasingly intense interactions between ethnic, national and cultural communities, a world of global social change, which calls into question identities built up over centuries, whilst at the same time making the formation and assertion of one’s own identity – both at the individual and collective levels – a value of the highest rank. It is the collective identity of contemporary Bulgarian citizens, that is the focus of this publication. The results presented are based on a nationally representative sociological survey conducted in 2023 amongst Bulgarian citizens aged 18 and over. It was carried out using a two-stage cluster sample of 1,014 people, selected by simple random sampling, stratified by place of residence, with respondents selected using a modified Leslie Kish method (nearest date of birth). Data was also drawn from in-depth interviews and focus groups conducted in 2026 as part of the project ‘The Contemporary Identity of Bulgarian Citizens in the Context of Global Challenges and Crises’, funded by the National Science Fund. The results show that the contemporary identity of Bulgarian citizens is characterised by a hybrid nature, combining elements of national, supranational, ethnic and local identity, which occupy different positions and are represented by different shares in the overall structure of identity. National identity leads with the largest share; supranational identity, represented primarily by European identity, ranks second; third is local/regional identity; and ethnic identity, as the identity of those belonging to ethnic groups other than the Bulgarian one, represents the smallest share.

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09:30-11:10 | Room -2.63 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCSS2026 | Globalisation and Internationalisation Session Chair: Kate Warner 10:45-11:10 111070 | A Relational Vision for Teaching the Value of Diversity Kate Warner, Valdosta State University, United States This presentation argues that authentic appreciation for diversity cannot be mandated through compliance-based training alone. While required workshops and policies may raise awareness, they often produce resistance or performance rather than meaningful transformation. The challenge for educators is how to cultivate genuine engagement with difference. Valuing diversity is not simply a professional expectation, but a human attribute tied to empathy, global citizenship, and peaceful coexistence. When otherness is viewed as valuable rather than problematic, opportunities emerge for deeper understanding and connection. Rather than reporting a formal research study, this presentation draws from nearly two decades of applied teaching practice within a clinical training program for family therapists. Using the Public Conversations Project (PCP) model, small student groups engage in structured dialogue around difficult and often divisive issues. Students examine how personal experiences shape their own beliefs as well as those of peers with opposing viewpoints. These reflective conversations shift the goal from persuasion to understanding and foster empathy, curiosity, trust, and a secure identity—conditions essential for authentic learning and engaged global citizenship. Through illustrative examples, participants will learn practical strategies they can adapt to their own educational settings, including dialogue structures, reflective prompts, and facilitation techniques. Challenges such as resistance, uneven power dynamics, and the limits of dialogue in addressing systemic inequities will also be acknowledged. Ultimately, this work reframes diversity from compliance to curiosity-driven connection and offers approaches for helping students value difference as an essential component of learning, citizenship, and peace.

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12:40-13:55 | Room -2.32 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 2 VCAH2026 | From Awareness to Acceptance: Reframing Disability (Workshop) Session Chair: Kerry Magro 12:40-13:30 109303 | From Awareness to Acceptance: Reframing Disability and My Work on an Emmy-Nominated Children’s TV Show Kerry Magro, Independent Scholar, United States I grew up as an autistic kid who didn’t “look” disabled to most people, and that gap between what others see and what we feel shows up early in the stories we tell children. Drawing on my experience as an episode writer for PBS KIDS’ and on school programs I lead with students and educators, this workshop explores how children’s media can move audiences from awareness to acceptance. We briefly analyze ageappropriate examples—e.g., Arthur’s “When Carl Met George,” Sesame Street’s Julia, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood social stories, and inclusion cues in shows like Hero Elementary and Alma’s Way—to spot three common frames: deficit, inspiration, and agency. Then we translate those insights into a simple, practical approach for classrooms and youth media: Environment (sensory-considerate layouts, predictable routines), Communication (plain-language, visual previews, captions), and Expectation (dignity-first participation norms that normalize regulation and support needs). Two quick, hands-on activities anchor the session: 1. A representation audit of a short clip, and 2. A micro-redesign that adds clear language, timing cues, and access signals. Participants will 1. Analyze frames in kids’ media, 2. Apply an Environment/Communication/ Expectation checklist, and 3. Leave with templates for lessons and events.

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12:40-13:55 | Room -2.33 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 2 VCAH2026 | Cultivating Lifelong Writers Through Reflective and Creative Practice (Workshop) Session Chair: Syuzanna Torosyan 12:40-13:30 113063 | Beyond Academic Writing: Cultivating Lifelong Writers Through Reflective and Creative Practice Syuzanna Torosyan, American University of Armenia, Armenia Academic writing is generally viewed as a university requirement; however, writing itself is a lifelong reflective practice that goes far beyond academic assessment. As a cognitive activity, writing encompasses shaping ideas, organizing thoughts, evaluating meaning and revising understanding through constant reflection and self-regulation. Leaning on the discussion of academic writing as a base for lifelong success, this follow-up workshop investigates how incorporating cognitive, dialogic and creative writing activities can enhance students’ long-term development as writers, thinkers and professionals. This session builds on recent research in foreign language writing, reflection-based pedagogy and writing instruction (Hyland 2019; Graham et al., 20216; Lee, 2017), offering hand-on classroom activities that transform writing from a product-oriented task into an interactive process of inquiry and discovery. Participants will be provided with engaging activities, such as journals, persuasive writing activities, narrative exercise, poetry-based tasks, collaborative brainstorming and creative instructional writing. The proposed simple yet thought-provoking activities foster writing fluency, imagination, metacognitive awareness, critical thinking, student autonomy and meaningful teacher-student dialogue while simultaneously decreasing writing anxiety. Overall, intended for educators across disciplines, the workshop showcases practical strategies that are targeted to develop both academic competence and transferable communication skills.

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12:40-13:55 | Room -2.43 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 2 VCSS2026 | Special Topics in the Social Sciences Session Chair: Freeman Munisi Mateko 12:40-13:05 113942 | Micro-credentials and Skill-based Learning as Pathways to Future Workforce Preparedness for Adult Learners in Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria Nneka Augustina Umezulike, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Nigeria Ogechi Roseline Obiozor, Michael Okpara UNiversity of Agriculture, Nigeria The evolving nature of the global labour market has increased the demand for flexible, competency-based learning approaches that equip individuals with job-relevant skills. Micro-credentials and skill-based learning have emerged as innovative pathways for promoting lifelong learning and enhancing workforce readiness among adult learners. However, their adoption and perceived effectiveness within Nigerian higher education remain underexplored. This study examined micro-credentials and skill-based learning as pathways to future workforce preparedness among adult learners in Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey research design was employed. The study targeted adult learners enrolled in Adult and Continuing Education programmes in selected higher education institutions in Umuahia. A sample of 230 respondents was selected through a multistage sampling technique. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire titled MicroCredentials and Skill-Based Learning for Workforce Preparedness Questionnaire (MSLWPQ). The instrument was validated by experts in Adult Education and Measurement and Evaluation and demonstrated good reliability with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.85. Data were analysed using mean and standard deviation. Findings indicated that adult learners perceived micro-credentials and skill-based learning as effective in improving employability skills, digital competence, adaptability, and lifelong learning. Inadequate awareness, limited institutional support, and insufficient access to accredited micro-credential programmes were identified as major barriers to implementation. Based on the finding, the study recommends increased institutional investment, industry partnerships, and policy support to expand access to quality micro-credential programmes for adult learners in Nigeria.

13:05-13:30 114094 | Women as Catalysts of Community Empowerment: Leadership, Cultural Heritage, and Rural Innovation in Odisha’s Ikat Weaving Clusters Supriya Munda, National Institute of Fashion Technology, India Shilpa Jena, National Institute of Fashion technology, India Historically, women have had an important role in the maintenance of India’s handloom practices, but their participation in leadership roles, entrepreneurship, and community engagement has not been very well documented. The research focuses on women’s leadership in different capacities as artisans, designers, entrepreneurs, and community leaders within the two ikat weaving clusters of Nuapatna and Maniabandha in Odisha state. Using Kabeer’s Women’s Empowerment Framework, Transformational Leadership Theory, and Social Capital Theory, it shows how women mobilize resources, create collective agency, preserve cultural heritage, and promote innovations in their traditional communities. The method used is a convergent mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative research methods together with a structured survey for the study of the economic, social, cultural, and entrepreneurial aspect of women’s leadership. The research conclusions show that the role of women leaders is crucial for the diversification of livelihoods, preservation of cultural heritage,; design innovations; entrepreneurship; and the use of different digital platforms for expansion of marketing capabilities. The leadership of women also helps make connections in the community and enhance the resilience of artisan families. Despite their contributions, women continue facing obstacles in the form of social rules, lack of representation, and access to financial and digital resources, continuing to constrain their leadership potential. The study contributes to debates on gender, community leadership, and cultural sustainability by positioning women as key drivers of inclusive rural development and resilient cultural economies, while offering policy insights for strengthening women-led artisan ecosystems in India.

13:30-13:55 114118 | The Role of Economic Infrastructure Investment in Enhancing Trade Flows: Evidence from Morocco (1990–2024) Freeman Munisi Mateko, University of South Africa, South Africa Despite the recognized importance of economic infrastructure in facilitating trade, many regions continue to experience inadequate or poorly developed systems that hinder the efficient flow of goods and services. How does economic infrastructure investment impact trade flows trends in Morocco? This study answers the above research question with the use of autoregressive distributed lag econometric model. Data was sourced from the World Bank portal from 1990-2024. Two separate models were estimated to capture different dimensions of trade: Model 1 focuses on exports while Model 2 analyzes imports in the short run and long run. Findings indicated that economic infrastructure investment exerted a statistically significant negative effect on exports but a positive effect on imports in both the short and long run, indicating asymmetric effects on Morocco's trade flows. Human capital positively influenced exports while reducing import dependence in the long run. Trade openness consistently promoted trade by stimulating both exports and imports, whereas exchange rate effects differed across the two models. The study concludes that economic infrastructure investment plays a significant role in shaping Morocco's trade flows, although its benefits are more pronounced in facilitating imports than promoting exports. Policymakers should complement infrastructure investment with strategies that strengthen domestic productive capacity, promote value-added manufacturing, invest in human capital and innovation, and enhance export competitiveness to achieve balanced and sustainable trade growth.

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12:40-13:55 | Room -2.62 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 2 VCSS2026 | Psychoanalytic and Literary Framework for Recognizing Resistance to Healing (Workshop) Session Chair: Simona Trifu 12:40-13:30 113694 | When the Wound Becomes Identity: A Psychoanalytic and Literary Framework for Recognizing Resistance to Healing Ioana Georgiana Dragomir, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Romania Simona Corina Trifu, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Romania Violeta Mancaș, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Romania Ioana Raluca Petru, Fundația Generația, Romania Description. This workshop examines a clinical paradox: patients who unconsciously resist healing because the wound has become their identity. Drawing on Freud's melancholia, Abraham and Torok's psychic crypt, Kohut's narcissistic rage, and Fleury's "misplaced fidelity" to suffering, we present an ongoing 14-year clinical case in which chronic suicidal ideation functions not as pathology alone, but as the patient's sole reliable companion since childhood. Notably, the patient repeatedly requests that the therapist help end her life, reframing this request as a "good deed" the other should perform — a demand illuminating how the wound recruits others into its structure. We place this clinical material in dialogue with two canonical literary strategies of wound-idolization: silent conservation of the wound versus performative confession as power. Participants will examine countertransference as diagnostic tool, following the therapist's own recognition of narcissistic collusion with the patient. Learning Objectives. Participants will: (1) distinguish mourning from melancholic fixation; (2) recognize wound-idolization markers across clinical and literary registers; (3) analyze how psychic wounds "recruit" others, clinically and narratively; (4) apply this framework to their own disciplinary material. Target Audience. Psychologists, psychotherapists, literary scholars, and doctoral researchers; no clinical background required. Workshop Structure. Clinical fragment reading and free association (10 min); case presentation with countertransference focus (15 min); literary parallels (15 min); group application (10 min).

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12:40-13:55 | Room -2.63 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 2 VCAH2026 | The Lived Poetics of Color (Workshop) Session Chair: Arian Vincent Gallegos 12:40-13:30 111009 | The Lived Poetics of Color: a Collaborative Workshop on Community-based Chromatic Translation Arian Vincent Gallegos, De La Salle - College of Saint Benilde, Philippines This workshop, grounded in Louise Rosenblatt’s transactional theory of reading, examines how color naming systems, also known as chromonyms, shape meaning-making through lived cultural and linguistic contexts. It challenges the universalization and dominance of foreign-derived color vocabularies in educational contexts and explores how the localization of chromonyms functions as mechanisms of indigenization, ecological recall, and cultural continuance. Using excerpts from the children’s illustrated storybook, Kaya’s Colourful Bahags, its original English text, and its translations in Malay, Tamil, and Central Bikol, participants will engage in collaborative translation activities that foreground communal understandings of color. Attendees will reinterpret select chromonyms through their own linguistic and cultural perspectives, drawing from personal experiences rooted in proximity, material understanding, geography, and memory. The workshop moves away from views of color as universally fixed and positions chromonyms as negotiated expressions shaped by shared spaces and histories. A post-activity reflection demonstrates how localized color names enrich cultural knowledge, resist colonial perspectives, and influence literacy and pedagogical practices. Workshop participants will further examine their own outputs vis-à-vis the original text and other participants to distinguish nuances between standardization and lived experiences across different communities. Intended for individuals with a keen interest in participatory linguistic workshops, the workshop promotes decolonial approaches to deeper meaning-making through chromatic translation.

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Notes

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14:10-15:50 | Room -2.32 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Digital Humanities Session Chair: Eslam Abdelraouf 14:10-14:35 110911 | Digital Orphanhood: A Systematic Review of the Landscape of Digital Citizenship and Civic Outcomes in Latin America Guillermo Samuel Zaracho Mármol, University of Bath, United Kingdom Emilián González-Rubalcaba, Universidad de Autónoma de Aguascalientes, Mexico Andrés Sandoval-Hernández, University of Bath, United Kingdom Eliana Osorio-Saez, University of Bath, United Kingdom The relationship between digital citizenship and civic outcomes remains understudied in the Latin American context. This gap is often attributed to the persistent digital divide across the region, where essential digital literacy skills are unevenly developed. This systematic literature review examines the relationship between digital literacy skills and citizenship in Latin America and its relationship to civic outcomes. The study followed the PRISMA 2020 protocol for research methods, and databases such as Scopus, EBSCO, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, ERIC, SciELO, Redalyc, and Latindex were used to retrieve studies published between 2000 and 2025. This process led to the selection of 63 studies. After a thematic analysis, studies were organised into three themes according to their main analytical focus: the relationship between digital divide and literacy skills (theme 1); the relationship between literacy skills and digital citizenship (theme 2); and the relationship between digital citizenship and civic outcomes (theme 3). The results indicate that the digital divide remains a persistent issue directly affecting the development of digital literacy skills across the region. This situation became more evident after the COVID-19 pandemic. A lack of digital literacy skills consequently negatively affects digital citizenship and civic outcomes. The Latin American context faces a scenario of “digital orphanhood,” a condition in which individuals lack meaningful guidance from government, institutions and other agents for critical and purposeful digital inclusion and engagement. The findings suggest an urgent need for holistic and interdisciplinary action by governments, institutions, and other stakeholders to foster effective action across the region.

14:35-15:00 112342 | Simulated Bonds, Real Revenue: Virtual Influencer Monetization Sivakumari Supramaniam, Higher Colleges of Technology, United Arab Emirates Oktay Guzel, Higher Colleges of Technology, United Arab Emirates Marisse Aranas, Higher Colleges of Technology, United Arab Emirates Influencer marketing centers on the relationships human influencers develop with brands through sponsored content. As Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly used to generate content for Virtual Influencers (VIs), their role in marketing is evolving from a promotional intermediary to a direct actor in the digital economy, generating value for audiences. This paper investigates how VIs can build relationships with audiences that brands can monetize. Two cases were studied in detail: Lil Miquela, a fully computer-generated, human-like Virtual Influencer, and CarynAI, an AI-powered voice-clone companion created on top of a human influencer’s persona and existing brand. Applying the frameworks of behavioral and relational agency, two distinct logics of value creation and audience engagement were uncovered for the two cases. The study finds that VIs are increasingly serving as digital business partners for brands and therefore need to be managed differently from human influencers. The paper therefore introduces the term “relationship monetization” and discusses its implications for platform economies, marketing, and AI-powered consumer engagement. From a managerial perspective, the study provides brand managers and marketers with practical insights into working with VIs and optimizing their AI-powered audience engagement. It also highlights key challenges for brands regarding transparency, consumer trust, and ethical disclosure in AI-mediated relationships.

15:00-15:25 114215 | Design and Application of the “SCP²” Integrated Framework for Digital Humanities Education Xiaoshuang Jia, Renmin University of China, China Li Niu, Renmin University of China, China Jingyi Zeng, Renmin University of China, China Yongjun Xu, Renmin University of China, China With the growing recognition of Digital Humanities (DH) as an academic field, DH education has developed rapidly in universities in China and abroad. The interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of DH, however, poses new requirements for conventional disciplinary and coursebased education. Drawing on the teaching practice of Digital Humanities courses at Renmin University of China, this study examines the core concepts and characteristics of DH and reflects on the organization and implementation of DH education. Based on this analysis, it develops the SCP² Digital Humanities Education Framework, in which S refers to Student-centered pedagogy, C encompasses Collaboration and Courses, and P² denotes Platform and Projects. Student-centered pedagogy serves as the educational philosophy of the framework; Collaboration and Platform provide the organizational and technical foundations; and Courses and Projects constitute the main settings in which teaching, research, and practice are integrated. The application of the framework in DH teaching at Renmin University of China further illustrates how these elements work together in curriculum development, collaborative learning, and project-based practice. The study shows that DH education involves not simply adding digital methods or courses to existing curricula, but reorganizing teaching around interdisciplinary collaboration, shared platforms, and research-oriented projects. The SCP² framework provides a practical approach to DH education and a reference for universities seeking to develop interdisciplinary DH programs and talent cultivation.

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14:10-15:50 | Room -2.32 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Digital Humanities Session Chair: Eslam Abdelraouf 15:25-15:50 110803 | Cultural Dynamics of Instagram Self-Presentation Among Omani Youth Eslam Abdelraouf, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman Ahmed Shehata, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman Moza Al Rawahi, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman This paper examines how Omani youth negotiate self-presentation on Instagram within a cultural context where visibility is shaped not only by platform affordances but also by modesty, reputation, family expectations and sensitivity to public controversy. While studies of Instagram self-presentation often emphasize individual expression, impression management and influencer cultures, less attention has been paid to how these practices are culturally regulated in Gulf societies. Drawing on Goffman’s dramaturgical model, the imagined audience perspective and cultural values theory, the study conceptualizes Instagram self-presentation as a relational performance addressed to multiple, overlapping audiences. The study is based on a cross-sectional survey of 366 Omani Instagram users aged 18–29. It measures self-presentation practices alongside cultural dynamics, defined here as perceived social norms, modesty and value expectations, reputational concerns, family influence and avoidance of public controversy. The findings show that modesty and value expectations exert the strongest perceived cultural influence, followed by avoidance of controversy. Social norms and reputation are the strongest predictors of overall self-presentation. Hierarchical regression analysis further shows that cultural dynamics explain an additional 33.3% of variance in self-presentation beyond demographic and account-related variables. The paper argues that Instagram self-presentation among Omani youth is best understood as culturally regulated visibility management rather than unrestricted individual display. By foregrounding Oman, the study contributes to debates on platform cultures, digital identity and non-Western forms of networked self-presentation.

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14:10-15:50 | Room -2.33 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCAH2026 | Humanities - Teaching and Learning Session Chair: Katherine Maxwell 14:10-14:35 96446 | Professional Ethics in Education Talar Oumoudian, University St. Joseph, Lebanon With the challenges of the 21st century, teacher professionalization is considered a priority in education. To meet quality standards and improve teaching effectiveness, developing teacher skills is essential (Le Boterf, G., 2010). Similarly, the quest for ethics is aimed at solving everyday problems and explicitly identifying teachers' professional ethics. Our study formulates a benchmark for teachers' professional ethics competencies (Desaulniers, M.P. & Jutras, F., 2016). It is based on behaviors of respect, recognition of others (Ricœur, P., 2004), professional responsibility, and ethical deliberation (Legault, G., 2003). We identify several criteria for teaching effectiveness, such as classroom climate, student motivation, collaboration, and teacher reflexivity. The field study was conducted in public schools in Lebanon. Following our qualitative and quantitative study, we identified interesting results that addressed the hypotheses stated at the outset. Our study helped us understand the importance of teachers' skills and behaviors on the effectiveness and professionalization of teaching (Dumay, X. & Dupriez, V., 2009). Finally, ethical concerns place teachers at the center of today's decisions to build and improve tomorrow's world.

14:35-15:00 114168 | Becoming Teachers Through Place, Culture, and Community: An Arts-Based Comparative Inquiry in Alabama and Hawaiʻi Crista Banks, University of Alabama, United States Monica Gonzalez-Smith, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, United States As teacher education continues to respond to advances in technology, it remains essential to prepare teachers through experiences that foster identity development, cultural understanding, and meaningful engagement with communities. Teacher identity develops not only through coursework but also through interactions with the people, places, cultures, and languages that shape future educators' understandings of teaching and learning. Guided by the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity (DSMRI), Place-Based Education, and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, this comparative qualitative study explored how 25 preservice teachers from the University of Alabama and 23 preservice teachers from the University of Hawaiʻi made meaning of their emerging teacher identities within two culturally and geographically distinct contexts. Participants created visual artifacts, including community maps, photovoice projects, and reflective narratives, illustrating how local histories, linguistic diversity, cultural experiences, and community relationships influenced their developing identities as teachers. Visual and written data were analyzed thematically using the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity(DSMRI) as an interpretive lens. Initial analysis revealed three themes: (1) relationships with communities, (2) awareness of cultural and linguistic diversity, and (3) the influence of place on emerging teacher identity. Across both contexts, preservice teachers connected their developing teacher identities to community relationships, cultural and linguistic experiences, and the places in which they were learning to teach. These preliminary findings suggest that arts-based inquiry can reveal dimensions of teacher identity often difficult to capture through traditional research methods and offer insight into preparing educators for culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

15:00-15:25 111767 | Developing Soft Skills Among American Pre-Service Teachers: Preparing Future Educators for the Relational Demands of Teaching Forrest Parker, Valdosta State University, United States J. T. Cox, Valdosta State University, United States Teacher preparation programs are increasingly confronted with concerns regarding the decline of soft skills among college students entering the education profession. While pre-service teachers often demonstrate adequate pedagogical knowledge, many struggle with interpersonal communication, professionalism, conflict resolution, initiative-taking, and audience awareness—skills essential for effective classroom instruction and collaboration (Robles, 2012; Rosenberg et al., 2012). As teaching is fundamentally relational in nature, deficiencies in these areas may negatively influence classroom management, student engagement, and professional success. This presentation explores findings from an ongoing line of research examining the development of soft skills among undergraduate education majors at a regional public university in the southeastern United States. Drawing on survey data, observational measures, reflective narratives, and performance assessments, the study investigates how intentional instructional experiences within teacher preparation coursework can strengthen professional communication and interpersonal competencies. Findings suggest that structured opportunities for collaboration, reflective practice, oral presentation, and authentic classroom engagement positively support the development of teamwork, professional demeanor, and communication skills. However, challenges related to initiative-taking and conflict resolution persist for many candidates. This work builds upon Parker and Cox’s (2025) investigation into communication coursework and soft skill development among pre-service teachers and aligns with broader research connecting social-emotional competencies to educator effectiveness and professional readiness (Collie et al., 2012; Zins et al., 2004). Practical implications for teacher educators will be discussed, including strategies for embedding soft skill instruction intentionally within coursework, field experiences, and classroom management preparation.

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14:10-15:50 | Room -2.33 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCAH2026 | Humanities - Teaching and Learning Session Chair: Katherine Maxwell 15:25-15:50 112076 | Cultivating Collaborative Professionalism and Critical Reflexivity in a VUCA World: Transformative Leadership for Teaching, Learning, and Social Justice Katherine Maxwell, University of Manitoba, Canada In an era characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA), educators and school leaders face increasing challenges in creating equitable, responsive learning environments. This study examines how transformative school leadership can support teaching and learning through the implementation of a VUCA Critical Reflexivity Framework in Canadian schools. Using an action research approach, school leaders and educators collaboratively engaged in cycles of inquiry, reflection, and action to address challenges, strengthen professional practice, and improve student learning experiences. Grounded in critical social justice and transformational leadership theories, the framework emphasizes critical reflexivity, collaborative professionalism, and shared responsibility for fostering inclusive learning environments. Through reflective dialogue and collective problem-solving, educators examined instructional practices, challenged systemic barriers to student success, and co-constructed strategies that promoted equity, belonging, and engagement. Findings suggest that the VUCA Critical Reflexivity Framework supports teaching and learning by fostering professional inquiry, strengthening collaborative relationships, and enhancing educators’ capacity to respond to complex educational contexts. Participants reported shifts in instructional decision-making, increased confidence in addressing diverse learner needs, and stronger alignment between praxis and commitments to equity and social justice. The framework enabled school communities to navigate complexity by replacing volatility with voice, uncertainty with understanding, complexity with moral clarity, and ambiguity with accountability. This study contributes to conversations within the humanities by highlighting the importance of reflection, dialogue, relationships, and ethical leadership in educational practice. The findings suggest that critical reflexivity and collaborative professionalism are essential for cultivating learning environments that respond to needs of students and school communities.

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14:10-15:50 | Room -2.43 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Teaching and Learning Session Chair: Mei-Ying Liao 14:10-14:35 110139 | The 2026 K-12 Technology Benchmarking Report: A Longitudinal Study of Canadian Independent Schools Peter Holowka, West Point Grey Academy, Canada Jim LaPlante, Canadian Accredited Independent Schools, Canada Charles Fowler, Royal St. George's College, Canada This presentation will provide a comprehensive analysis of the evolving information technology landscape within the Canadian Accredited Independent Schools (CAIS) network. Informed by both longitudinal data and a recent national survey of CAIS schools in 2026, the findings detail a strategic shift toward integrated pedagogical tools, security, and the institutionalization of artificial intelligence. As technology continues to transform society and education, this presentation will provide a timely overview of the current Canadian approaches. A significant portion of the data addresses the rise of Generative AI (GenAI), revealing a transition from reactionary policy-making to the deep integration of AI within both teaching frameworks and administrative operations. The findings emphasize heightened institutional risk management, evidenced by the rigorous adoption of privacy impact assessments, cyber insurance, and cloud-based security audits. Key operational findings highlight IT staffing ratios, outsourcing strategies, and the formalization of reporting structures for technology leadership. In terms of infrastructure, schools are increasingly prioritizing redundancy and sophisticated AV configurations to support multi-modal learning environments. Collectively, these results illustrate the balancing of the demands of digital innovation with the necessity of robust data governance and cybersecurity. This research was conducted as part of a national CAIS initiative encompassing seven Canadian provinces and sixty-one schools. This initiative began in 2014, with the 2026 survey representing the sixth edition of this national study of high-performing Canadian independent schools. The longitudinal nature of this research adds context to the evolving landscape of educational technology in Canada and globally.

14:35-15:00 112917 | Culture as Strategy: Reimagining University Transformation Antonia Appel, University of Pretoria, South Africa Universities are responding to artificial intelligence and geopolitical and societal uncertainty through strategies centred on technology, innovation and competitiveness. The problem addressed in this paper is not these priorities themselves, but the tendency to treat transformation as a portfolio of technical initiatives while relegating culture to the context in which strategy is implemented. The paper argues that culture is itself a strategic capability: the collective institutional capacity, expressed through shared and contested values, norms, interpretive frames and routines, that shapes how a university makes decisions, collaborates across disciplinary boundaries, exercises ethical judgement and adapts to change. Using a theory-synthesis approach, the paper integrates foundational and recent scholarship selected for its direct relevance to three intersecting fields: institutional culture in higher education, strategic capabilities and organisational adaptation, and Humanities scholarship on interpretation, ethics and public purpose. It develops a framework that operationalises culture through four interrelated capabilities: interpretive, relational, ethical and adaptive. These provide analytical dimensions through which culture can be examined in institutional decision-making, interdisciplinary collaboration, responses to technological change and the enactment of public purpose. Unlike existing work that primarily describes institutional culture or identifies the conditions for mindful innovation, the framework explains how culture generates institution-level capacity for strategic action. Artificial intelligence serves as a critical test case for repositioning culture as part of the strategic infrastructure through which universities navigate transformation.

15:00-15:25 111523 | Reimagining Knowledge: Arts-Based Assemblages and the Performative Turn in Humanities Research Guruvasagie (Daisy) Pillay, University Of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Inbanathan Naicker, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa This paper explores the transformative potential of arts-based educational research (ABER) in reconfiguring understandings of knowledge production within the humanities. Drawing upon assemblage theory as articulated by Deleuze and Guattari (1994), we argue that knowledge emerges not from isolated entities but through dynamic intra-actions among heterogeneous human and non-human elements. ABER offers an imagination space for such assemblage thinking, where embodied, sensory, and affective engagements challenge the linearity and hierarchical logics of traditional epistemologies. Through reflective analysis of two recent arts-based studies, “Becoming Academic Differently” (Müller et al., 2026) and “The Multisensorial, Embodied Self” (Meskin et al., 2026), we demonstrate how artistic modes of knowing enact knowledge as a performative, material, and emergent process. Our contribution emphasizes how ABER functions as a site of knowledge co-production, where selves, mediums, and worlds intra-act and co-become (Barad,2007). By embracing non-representational and performative thought, arts-based educational research offers fresh pathways to reimagine knowledge creation in the Humanities, through advocating for slow scholarship and embodied care.

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14:10-15:50 | Room -2.43 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Teaching and Learning Session Chair: Mei-Ying Liao 15:25-15:50 110932 | Creating an Aesthetic and Music Learning Environment in a Preschool Through the Use of Trees in Public Spaces Lee-Chen Chen, National Taipei University of Education, Taiwan Mei-Ying Liao, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taiwan Po-Ya Huang, Sunny Garden Preschool in Hsinchu County, Taiwan This study explored the integration of trees into preschool public spaces to develop an aesthetic and musical learning environment. Using a case study approach, it investigated the process and outcomes of a project in a private preschool in northern Taiwan. Supported by the Ministry of Education and the National Science and Technology Council, the initiative reimagined the campus by combining mature trees with musical elements to create an enriched learning atmosphere. Teachers and children collaboratively transformed the space using the trees’ natural features. Interactive sound installations—such as strings for hanging listening maps and handmade instruments—were created to visualize musical concepts. Loose parts were attached to trunks to invite sound exploration, while areas beneath trees were flexibly arranged as music zones or creative corners for interdisciplinary play. Consequently, the natural environment became a sensory learning field blending music, aesthetics, and nature. Over three years, three classes (lower, middle, and upper age groups) engaged with different trees for musicrelated activities. Data were collected through observations, interviews, and document analysis. Results showed highly positive responses from teachers, children, and parents. The principal noted enhanced aesthetic appeal, while teachers observed increased engagement and joy. Children expressed pride in decorating the trees and sharing their creations. The tree-shaded environment encouraged free artistic participation, with “listening maps” specifically inspiring curiosity and aesthetic awareness. This case study offers practical insights for preschools seeking to redesign their environments through aesthetic education.

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14:10-15:50 | Room -2.62 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCSS2026 | Education and Social Welfare Session Chair: Gunay Imanguliyeva 14:10-14:35 111281 | Community-Based Educational Rehabilitation Through Decentralized Welfare Institutions: Evidence from the BUDS Initiative for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities in Kerala Sijo Jose C, Christ (Deemed to Be) University, India Deepa v K, Christ (Deemed to Be) University, India The BUDS Initiative in Kerala represents a decentralized welfare-based rehabilitation model functioning under local self-government institutions through the Kudumbashree mission and Panchayati Raj system. Established for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, BUDS Schools and BUDS Rehabilitation Centres (BRCs) provide community-level educational rehabilitation, therapeutic support, vocational training, and caregiver assistance. Unlike centralized institutional models, the BUDS system operates through Gram Panchayats, Municipalities, and local welfare bodies, thereby strengthening localized and participatory disability rehabilitation mechanisms (Rosna Vincent, 2024). The initiative reflects a transition from charity-oriented disability care toward right based decentralized welfare governance and community-based rehabilitation. The relevance of the study emerges within the framework of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), which emphasizes inclusive and equitable quality education for all. Despite policy attention toward inclusive education, individuals with intellectual disabilities continue to experience barriers in accessing meaningful educational rehabilitation, particularly in rural and economically marginalized settings. In this context, BUDS institutions provide an alternative community-based educational rehabilitation framework integrating education, therapy, social support, and caregiver participation. Existing literature has largely focused on special schools, inclusive education, and institutional rehabilitation systems. However, limited research has examined local government-run special education institutions and their connection with decentralized welfare governance and SDG-oriented inclusion. The study adopts a mixed methodology using survey and in-depth interviews with caregivers and stakeholders associated with BUDS institutions in Kerala. The findings indicate that BUDS institutions contribute not only to educational rehabilitation but also to caregiver relief, emotional support, social participation, community interaction, and institutional trust among families.

14:35-15:00 111676 | How Do Parents Shape Children’s Emotions? A Network Approach of Parental Meta-Emotion Philosophy and Children Emotion Regulation Gabriela Gujan, Babs-Bolyai University, Romania Anca Dobrean, Babeș-Bolyai University, Romania Stelian Florean, Babeș-Bolyai University, Romania Adolescence is marked by increased vulnerabilities, with many psychological disorders onsetting during this period. Emotion regulation represents a risk factor in psychopathology, having a pervasive and persistent nature, and is considered the mechanism that can explain individual differences and the psychological consequences of stressful events on human functioning. The first important socialization context where children learn about the norms of emotional expression, moderation, and inhibition is the family. Despite the known link between parenting styles and children's emotion regulation strategies, the specific mechanisms through which parents influence the acquisition of these strategies remain unclear. The present study aims to analyze the complex dynamics between parental meta-emotion philosophy and children's emotion regulation from the perspective of adolescents, using network analysis. Unlike classical approaches, this research captures the association between the two constructs from a new and promising perspective, starting from the premise that psychological variables are no longer interpreted as the results of a latent factor, but rather arise from the interaction of their constituent parts. The research design is correlational and aims to estimate the central nodes within the analyzed variable networks, as well as the components that connect them (bridge nodes). This research was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Babeș-Bolyai University and was conducted in Cluj-Napoca on a sample of 450 children and adolescents aged between 11 and 19 years (M=14.48, SD=2.15). The results of this study have the potential to complement existing parenting guides and enrich prevention programs for psychological disorders among children and adolescents.

15:00-15:25 114027 | Mapping Collective Care Practices for Social Workers in the Philippines Grant Warren Lu, Mindanao State University, Philippines This paper maps existing collective care practices among social workers in the Philippines and examines how these practices respond to the profession's growing emotional, organizational, and occupational demands. Drawing on an Institutional Mapping Framework for Collective Care, the study argues that while self-care remains important, the well-being of social workers also requires shared, relational, and institutionally supported forms of care. Using a descriptive and exploratory mixed-methods design, the study collected data through an online survey of 56 social workers from multiple regions of the Philippines, complemented by five follow-up individual interviews to deepen contextual understanding. Findings reveal that social workers experience heavy workloads, emotional exhaustion, conflict exposure, and inadequate institutional support, underscoring the need for collective care. Existing practices include debriefing sessions, peer support and buddy systems, mental health support, supportive supervision, workload management, safety measures, wellness activities, recognition programs, protected time for rest, capacity-building initiatives, team meetings, and culturally grounded forms of spiritual care. Many of these practices, however, remain informal, unevenly implemented, and highly dependent on workplace culture rather than institutional policy. The paper concludes that strengthening and institutionalizing collective care through gender-responsive and rights-based organizational mechanisms is essential for sustaining both the well-being of social workers and the quality of social welfare services in the Philippines.

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14:10-15:50 | Room -2.62 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCSS2026 | Education and Social Welfare Session Chair: Gunay Imanguliyeva 15:25-15:50 112752 | Exploring the Relationship Between Interpersonal Stress, Morning Fatigue, and Burnout Among Faculty: Case of Azerbaijan Vafa Yunusova, ADA University, Azerbaijan Gunay Imanguliyeva, Khazar University, Azerbaijan Oluwaseyi Olubunmi Sodiya, Khazar University, Azerbaijan Faculty’s increasing workload, emotional demands, and institutional pressures have made occupational burnout one of the most concerning issues in academia, including Azerbaijani higher education institutions (HEIs). This study investigates the relationships between interpersonal stressors, morning fatigue, and burnout dimensions among faculty and is guided by Maslach’s Burnout Theory, which conceptualizes burnout through emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. Burnout among faculty in HEIs in Azerbaijan was measured using selected Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) items. The study employs a quantitative design with data collected from 258 faculty using snowball sampling through a structured questionnaire. Descriptive analyses indicated moderately high burnout levels among faculty, with work-related frustration showing the highest mean score (M = 5.15), followed by feeling burned out (M = 5.09) and social interaction stress (M = 5.00). Burnout dimensions were strongly interrelated (p < .001), with work-related frustration emerging as the strongest correlate of burnout, suggesting that faculty burnout is driven by both emotional exhaustion and physical fatigue. Analyses necessitate making interventions focusing on workload, recovery, and interpersonal work conditions. Leadership of HEIs and policymakers can reduce burnout by promoting supportive workplace relationships, managing workloads more effectively, and ensuring that faculty have adequate time and opportunities for rest and recovery. Overall, the study highlights the importance of addressing both workplace relationships and daily fatigue as key factors in reducing burnout and improving teacher well-being in higher education.

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14:10-15:50 | Room -2.63 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCSS2026 | Sociology and Sustainability Session Chair: Azizah Ismail 14:10-14:35 114192 | Reimagining Industrial Landscapes Through Urban Agroforestry for Nature-Positive Development Dewi Permatasari, Independent Scholar, Indonesia Nadya Afrisahandani, Dahana Corporation, Indonesia Safira Aulia Rinanda, Dahana Corporation, Indonesia Danny Armeidian, Dahana Corporation, Indonesia Ivan Angga Maulana, Dahana Corporation, Indonesia Dewi Kurniaty, Dahana Corporation, Indonesia Hary Irmawan, Dahana Corporation, Indonesia Industrial landscapes are increasingly expected to contribute not only to economic productivity but also to biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, and community well-being. However, limited research has explored how urban agroforestry can transform industrial landscapes into nature-positive systems while generating integrated environmental, social, and organizational value. This paper examines an urban agroforestry programme implemented by PT DAHANA, an Indonesian industrial company, through an evidence-based longitudinal case study. The study draws on programme documentation, field observations, environmental monitoring, impact assessment findings, stakeholder engagement records, and Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis covering the programme's implementation from 2022 to 2026. The findings show that underutilized industrial green spaces were transformed into multifunctional landscapes through the integration of community-based agroforestry, circular resource management, water and energy innovations, environmental education, and collaborative stakeholder engagement. The programme generated measurable environmental improvements, strengthened organizational sustainability performance, and delivered the company's highest Social Return on Investment (SROI = 3.60). The study demonstrates that urban agroforestry extends beyond conventional greening initiatives by providing a practical pathway towards nature-positive development in industrial settings. It proposes an evidence-based model for integrating ecological restoration, corporate sustainability, and stakeholder collaboration to create long-term environmental and social value.

14:35-15:00 112667 | The Death of Distance and the Birth of Proximity: Hybrid Work and the Reconfiguration of Urban Sociality Anshetta Nanda, Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom One of the most major sociological impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic is seen in British peoples change of priorities. Hybrid work models have been a catalyst to this change, especially as their widespread adoption has changed the spatial relationship between employees and their organisations. Existing research has focused on the impact of hybrid work for productivity and organisational culture. Less attention has been paid to its effects on employees' relationships with their local communities. My research addresses that gap by examining how hybrid work impacts social interactions, belonging, and social support within the neighbourhood context. Drawing on Goffman's (1959) dramaturgical framework, my research conceptualises hybrid work as a collapse of traditional spatial boundaries between 'frontstage' professional performance and 'backstage' private life. My research method is constructivist grounded theory, and my data will be collected through semi-structured interviews and participant generated drawings. Pilot interviews were conducted in sub-urban and urban cities, and they revealed conflicting results. There was an increased visibility amongst neighbours and an increase in local activity participation but only in suburban areas with community infrastructure. These findings showed the need to refine sampling criteria towards areas where there is stronger community infrastructure to better align with my research focus on local community dynamics. My research centres the voices of workers themselves, exploring where they work, how they live, who they see, and where they truly feel belonging.

15:00-15:25 111234 | Contributing Resilience: A Qualitative Inquiry in the Kaira Looro Nursery School Competition (2025) Case Pinar Di ̇nç Kalayci, Gazi University, Türkiye The study examines how the broad term resilience is translated into competitor narratives and spatial strategies in architectural design competitions by focusing on the Kaira Looro Nursery School Competition (2025). As the design field has recently begun to incorporate resilience, expectations from competitions have also grown, yet the question of how to approach and assess resilience remains unclear. This study is the first to enable an integrated reading of discourse and design; using a qualitative case study, 15 awarded projects were analyzed through inductive coding of competitor reports and competition boards in NVivo. Findings indicate that psychological well-being (security, sensory stimulation, and biophilia) and physiological well-being (cognition, comfort, nutrition, and sanitation) were operationalized to support children and their learning, as these, together with social concerns (sense of belonging, community, and identity-symbolization), also sought to promote the locals' overall resilience; therefore, resilience implicitly co-occurred with/as well-being. These goals were achieved through the designs' environmental performance, material-construction logic, spatial organization, and spatial quality/use strategies. Considering the existing resilience literature, the inquiry indicated that competitors used resilience to reason their spatial strategy; few delved into the broader meanings of the term. In addition, the narration-design relationship patterns indicated that the most frequently occurring concern was community, which was mostly addressed through material-construction logic (e.g., structure, phased construction, use of local natural materials). Thus, the competition primarily contributed to the community-technicality pattern. The study proposes a replicable qualitative framework for deriving resilience-relevant design knowledge from competition materials, with potential implications for evidence-informed design evaluation.

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Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 3 VCSS2026 | Sociology and Sustainability Session Chair: Azizah Ismail 15:25-15:50 112930 | From Cultural Preservation to Community Empowerment: Developing a Multi-Stakeholder Framework for Sustainable CommunityBased Tourism Azizah Ismail, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia Hairul Nizam Ismail, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia Community-Based Tourism (CBT) has emerged as a sustainable tourism model that integrates cultural heritage preservation with local socio-economic development. In Malaysia, the Malaysia Homestay Experience Programme (MHEP), coordinated by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Cultural (MOTAC), represents the country's flagship CBT initiative. Since its origins in the early 1970s, MHEP has evolved beyond accommodation provision into an experiential tourism model that showcases authentic rural lifestyles, cultural traditions, and community participation. Despite its contribution to rural development, many MHEP destinations continue to encounter challenges related to fragmented stakeholder collaboration, uneven community participation, and limited governance mechanisms that constrain long-term sustainability. Existing studies predominantly evaluate socio-cultural sustainability indicators independently, offering limited understanding of the causal relationships that underpin community empowerment. This study addresses this gap by developing a multi-stakeholder framework for sustainable CBT using the Fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (Fuzzy DEMATEL) method. Expert judgements were obtained from 40 stakeholders comprising government agencies, tourism practitioners, homestay operators, local communities, and academics. The findings identify community participation, leadership, collaboration, training and education, and planning as the principal causal drivers of socio-cultural sustainability, while technology, effective communication, stakeholder engagement, local control, community well-being, socioequity, knowledge sharing, and infrastructure emerge as dependent outcomes. These empirical relationships underpin a multi-stakeholder framework that repositions cultural preservation as a catalyst for community empowerment through collaborative governance. The proposed framework contributes to sustainable tourism literature by advancing a systems-based governance perspective and provides practical guidance for policymakers seeking to strengthen the long-term resilience of CBT destinations.

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Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 4 VCAH2026 | Ethnicity, Difference, Identity Session Chair: Jamelyn Palattao 16:05-16:30 106783 | Between Two Cultures: Language, Family, and the Formation of Identity in Indonesian Interethnic Homes Angga Ahmad Hasim, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI), Indonesia Dadang S. Anshori, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Indonesia Nuri Annisa, Universitas Langlanbuana, Indonesia Tofan Stofiana, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Indonesia Interethnic families constitute intimate cultural spaces where identities, values, and everyday practices are continuously formed and negotiated. In the Indonesian context, families with parents from different ethnic backgrounds offer a distinctive lens for understanding language not merely as a tool of communication, but as a lived cultural practice that shapes identity. While existing studies on language and identity have largely focused on institutional, educational, or public domains, limited attention has been given to everyday language practices within interethnic family life as a formative cultural space. This paper addresses this gap by examining how language operates within Indonesian interethnic homes and contributes to the formation of identity. Rather than approaching language as a skill to be taught or assessed, this study positions language as an experiential and relational practice embedded in daily family interactions. Bahasa Indonesia functions as a shared medium through which family members navigate cultural differences, express care, convey values, and negotiate belonging. Through everyday conversations, advice, humor, and moments of disagreement, language becomes a site where cultural meanings from different traditions intersect and are continuously reinterpreted. Using a qualitative, humanities-oriented approach, this paper draws on reflective narratives of individuals raised in Indonesian interethnic families. The analysis demonstrates that identity is not inherited as a fixed cultural category but emerges through ongoing interaction and lived experience within the family. By reframing the home as a central cultural site, this study contributes to arts and humanities discourse by highlighting language.

16:30-16:55 111559 | Race, Caste and Refugee Subjectivity in Bengali Dalit Autobiographies: A Study of Manohar Mouli Biswas and Manoranjan Byapari Subhra Chakraborty, University of Mumbai, India The paper explores the intersections of immigration, refugeehood, race and nation in the autobiographies of two prominent Bengali Dalit writers – Manohar Mouli Biswas and Manoranjan Byapari. Biswas's Surviving in My World: Growing Up Dalit in Bengal (2015) and Byapari's Interrogating My Chandal Life: An Autobiography of a Dalit (2018), foreground marginalised voices often excluded from dominant Brahminical literary narratives. Focusing on Bengali Dalit autobiographies with cross-border histories of displacement, particularly those shaped by Partition of India in 1947, migration and caste-based exclusion – the study reveals how these autobiographies challenge and interrogate the upper caste Brahminical literary and social hegemony and function as counter-archives of lived, painful experiences of displacement and helplessness. These autobiographies critically describe understandings of the "refugee" by demonstrating how caste-oppression persists across borders and within the nation-state, challenging the common notion that migration ensures dignity. The paper argues that Bengali Dalit autobiographies articulate through caste a form of embodied difference, structuring access to rights, resources and recognition. The autobiographies serve not only as personal testimony but as a testimony of the collective community of the oppressed. This is also an act of resistance in literary, cultural and social discourses. Adopting a qualitative methodology in analysing the autobiographies, the study demonstrates how memory, trauma and resistance are woven into narratives that contest dominant historiographies. The paper also positions Bengali Dalit autobiographies as critical sites for rethinking concepts of nation, identity and justice, emphasising the need to incorporate marginal perspectives into discussions of migration and refugee studies.

16:55-17:20 113989 | Uncovering Hidden Personality Traits Among Laotian Migrant Workers in Bangkok: A Grounded Theory Approach Hanvedes Daovisan, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand Personality shapes migrant workers’ adaptation to new social, economic, and cultural environments; nevertheless, several understudied employability traits remain insufficiently explored in migration research. The primary purpose of this study is to explore the hidden personality traits of Laotian migrant workers in Bangkok, Thailand. A grounded theory approach was employed with 30 key informants drawn from 13 occupational groups representing the 50 districts of Bangkok. All in-depth interview transcripts were analysed using open, axial, and selective coding to identify categories and themes, with the analysis conducted using the ATLAS.ti 2026 programme. The findings demonstrated that openness strengthened conscientiousness, fostering agreeableness while enhancing adaptation, cooperation, and resilience among Lao migrant workers in Thailand. Grounded theory analysis revealed that extraversion and neuroticism formed a negative migration axis, contributing to increased vulnerability, emotional strain, and workplace resettlement. The study concluded that openness migration represents a dynamic adaptability process within agreeableness, thereby enhancing resilience, optimism, and independence as traits that support employability traits in Thailand. The findings offer valuable insights for researchers, service providers, and policymakers aiming to promote migrant employability traits, strengthen labour protection, and inform cross-border well-being migration policies.

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Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 4 VCAH2026 | Ethnicity, Difference, Identity Session Chair: Jamelyn Palattao 17:20-17:45 109125 | The Living Classroom: Iligan’s Chinese Diaspora Community and the Question of AI-Augmented Global Citizenship Education Jamelyn Palattao, Mindanao State University, Philippines This research examines the Chinese community of Iligan City as a "living classroom" for understanding Global Citizenship Education (GCE). Instead of learning about global citizenship and peace through a formal curriculum, they cultivated it themselves. Their experiences of coexistence, resilience, identity negotiation, and people-to-people diplomacy embody a community-built curriculum for the making of a good global citizen. This ongoing study employs a mixed-methods design (archival work on personal and institutional documents; semi-structured interviews with community members and leaders, and systematic review of scholarly literature), with thematic and narrative analysis applied. Preliminary findings show that pedagogical infrastructure can be gleaned in their clan relations, religious practices, intercultural marriages, commercial networks, and community involvements, especially as "lived lessons" in belonging and peaceful coexistence. These micro-level trends have meaningfully shaped Philippine-China relations from the ground up, repositioning the diaspora as an active author of peace. The paper then turns to interrogate AI's emerging role in GCE. While AI promises new avenues for intercultural learning, this study draws on community narratives in actively exploring the possible perils when opting for AI such as algorithmic bias, cultural flattening, and the erosion of human-centered knowledge. It therefore proposes a diaspora-centered, humanities-led framework for AI-augmented GCE with living communities as primary texts and AI as a mediated tool.

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16:05-17:45 | Room -2.33 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 4 VCSS2026 | Teaching and Learning Experiences Session Chair: May Olaug Horverak 16:05-16:30 111071 | From Receiving to Acting: Using the C.A.R.E.R. Framework to Strengthen Students’ Use of Feedback Daphne Rachel Ong, Ministry of Education, Singapore Renuka Thankak Krishnah, Ministry of Education, Singapore Feedback is most powerful when students are able to interpret its relevance, evaluate its applicability, and act upon it meaningfully. Yet students frequently engage with feedback passively, regardless of whether it originates from teachers, peers, or AI-generated tools. Preliminary observations and dialogues with primary and secondary school teachers in Singapore indicate that students consistently struggle to determine how feedback can be purposefully used to improve their work. This presentation reports on a design intervention aimed at cultivating more active and discerning feedback engagement through the C.A.R.E.R. framework (Check, Analyse, Reach out, Edit/Enhance, and Reflect), a structured approach developed by the research team to guide students in responding meaningfully to feedback. The framework provides a scaffold for students to check the feedback received, analyse its usefulness, seek clarification where necessary, enhance their responses, and reflect on how feedback has contributed to their improvement. The intervention, involving three teachers and approximately one hundred students, was designed to build feedback-processing habits progressively. It began with teacher and peer feedback, contexts in which meaning can be negotiated through dialogue and interaction. Students were subsequently guided to apply the same framework to AI-generated feedback, developing the capacity to question, adapt, or seek further support rather than accepting AI suggestions uncritically. Preliminary findings suggest that the C.A.R.E.R. framework supports a meaningful shift towards more thoughtful feedback processing. Students demonstrated a more active engagement in clarifying and acting on feedback, transforming feedback from a unidirectional transmission into an active dialogic process.

16:30-16:55 110924 | Playful Approaches to Pedagogy in Universities, Colleges, and Polytechnics Harrison Campbell, St. Mary's University, Canada Stephanie Baer, Southeast Community College, United States Sonja Johnston, The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Canada Across higher education, active learning is being recognized as a valuable instructional approach focused on fostering engagement, creativity, meaning-making, and critical thinking across disciplines. We see playful approaches to pedagogy as the ways in which an active learning approach to teaching and learning can be actualized within the post-secondary classroom for instructors. Over the past year, we have been working with fifty-two educators, from five different countries, teaching across seventeen academic disciplines spread across a range of universities, colleges, and polytechnics to better understand the playful ways that they are taking up content. We are also deeply interested in the learning process of play and the impact that playful instruction is having on students. Within this presentation we will present playful case studies that highlight imaginative, and process-driven, teaching and learning practices that move instructors and students beyond passivity towards increased participation and critical thinking. These case studies will help to bridge theory and practice acting as a valuable reference guide for other instructors in a variety of disciplines. The case studies will each include: an overview of the playful practice, a summary of the teaching and learning context, reflections from the instructor, and resources and suggestions, shared digitally with attendees, so that they can take up similar moments of play inside of their own teaching practices. Our hope is to make playful pedagogies a more approachable and sustained practice for any educator interested in highlighting play and engagement within their post-secondary context.

16:55-17:20 114029 | Spatial Hierarchy as a Framework for Promoting Human Development Kristi Gaines, Texas Tech University, United States Children naturally create spatial layers to claim as their own within larger environments. These self-defined spaces support sensory regulation, reduce stress, and foster autonomy, confidence, imagination, and social development. While some spaces encourage collaboration and play, others provide privacy, refuge, and emotional restoration. Research has shown that outdoor, nature-based learning environments offer greater flexibility and sensory diversity than traditional classrooms, benefiting children's social, physical, and cognitive development while supporting learners with diverse sensory and neurodevelopmental profiles (Gaines, 2026). This study introduces a design framework of Spatial Hierarchy to guide the inclusive design of indoor and outdoor learning environments. Using a grounded theory approach, this study synthesized findings from IRB-approved research, including interviews, site observations of 20 learning environments, surveys, a comprehensive literature review, and professional design practice. Data were coded and triangulated to identify recurring themes. Six spatial design strategies emerged: Zones of Connectivity, Social Circles, Retreat/Secret Spaces, Parallel Spaces, Visual Screening, and Cocooning. Together, these strategies support sensory regulation, autonomy, social participation, and emotional well-being while reducing sensory overload. The proposed framework offers practical, evidence-based guidance for designing inclusive learning environments that balance social engagement with opportunities for retreat, enabling meaningful participation for children with diverse sensory and developmental needs.

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16:05-17:45 | Room -2.33 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 4 VCSS2026 | Teaching and Learning Experiences Session Chair: May Olaug Horverak 17:20-17:45 112170 | A Co-creation Process on Planning How to Measure the Effects of a Music Intervention in Upper Secondary Schools May Olaug Horverak, NORCE Research AS, Norway Viggo Krüger, University of Bergen, Norway Nora Wiium, University of Bergen, Norway Nathalie Laure Karine Ponroy, Bergen Katedralskole, Norway Christian Gold, NORCE Research AS, Norway Due to challenges among youth in Norway regarding school drop-out and mental health issues, a project has been initiated that uses music activities in upper secondary schools to enhance a sense of belonging and participation. The project aims to investigate how music-based activities may affect youth development, empowerment, participation, belonging, and well-being, and to explore theoretical implications of the findings. These are done at the intersection of concepts such as mattering, self-determination, positive youth development, sense of coherence, and self-efficacy. Through co-creation processes with students, teachers, music therapists, and researchers, a Music Activity Plan (MAP) was developed to prepare for an effect study across 10 upper secondary schools, in addition to a plan to measure effects. Several scales were considered and discussed through a series of workshops with stakeholders and end-users from upper secondary schools and a national network for music therapy, Polyfon, as well as continuous consultations with a broader research team. In total, 11 teachers and 24 students between 16 and 18 years were involved in the process, of which 13 were vocational studies students, and 11 general studies students (seven males and 17 females). The focus of the presentation will be on the process of selecting and adjusting scales, reducing from 11 potential scales to five - Healthy Music Scale, Generalized Resistance Resources in School, Warwick’s Wellbeing Scale, Positive Youth Development scale, and the three-item version of the Loneliness Scale - through the co-creation process.

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16:05-17:45 | Room -2.43 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 4 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Cultural and Media Studies Session Chair: Supriya M 16:05-16:30 114126 | ‘All Life Is Yoga’: Reinterpreting Sri Aurobindo’ Doctrine as a Bridge Between Subjective and Collective Consciousness Monisha Mukherjee, Indian Institute of Technology, India This article reinterprets Sri Aurobindo's 'The Synthesis of Yoga' as a philosophical bridge between subjective liberation and collective consciousness. It argues that Sri Aurobindo's yoga departs from classical yogic traditions in three significant ways. First, it incorporates the Tantric concept of the ‘Divine Mother’ (Ishwari Shakti), the creative force of the universe, thereby affirming creation rather than denying it in favour of transcendental reality alone. Second, it adopts the Upanishadic doctrine of the five sheaths (pañca kośas), particularly from the Taittirīya Upanishad, a framework absent from earlier yogic texts. Third, it introduces the descent of the supramental consciousness as the highest stage of spiritual evolution. Although previous scholarship has examined either Sri Aurobindo's Vedāntic or Tantric influences, this article highlights the creative synthesis of these two traditions as the distinctive feature of his philosophy of yoga. It further emphasises the central theodical role of ‘Ishwari Shakti’ as the dynamic principle of creation and demonstrates how the equal affirmation of Brahman and Shakti enables a twofold vision of yoga as both individual liberation and collective transformation, an aspect largely overlooked in existing studies. Finally, the article argues that the concept of supramental descent offers a novel response to the problem of evil while inspiring a transformative path to liberation. It concludes by suggesting that Aurobindo's thought provides valuable conceptual resources for addressing the psychological challenges in the contemporary world.

16:30-16:55 106425 | Echoes of Peak Experiences and Flow States in Slow and Meditative Screendance Filmmaking Zhenia Mahdi, University of Brighton, United Kingdom Abraham Maslow's peak-experiences and Csikszentmihalyi's state of flow are generally regarded in psychology as altered states of consciousness. They are characterised by particularly intense absorption and a temporary loss of the sense of self and time. While examined in several studies, focus has predominantly remained on understanding the phenomena through external observations, cognition and representational discourses in language which have generally overlooked the notion of embodied mind and sensory experiences in consciousness. Yet as David Chalmers has argued, the 'hard problem' (Chalmers, 2007) of consciousness requires methods beyond cognitive and neurosciences to understand the complexity and subjective nature of an experience. In fact, Maslow's studies demonstrated that expressions of peak-experiences are often poetic, mythical and rhapsodic and may be found in creative practices (Maslow, 1962). A phenomenological study of these states in a practice such as Screendance may assist in expanding their understanding. As a hybrid film genre, Screendance explores the flow of movement in body and form through choreocinematic processes which some Screendance filmmakers have utilised to evoke immersive and trancelike states in viewers. But what do these works reveal about their creators' experiences? Through the lens of a transpersonal practice-based research in experimental Screendance filmmaking, Deleuzian and feminist philosophies, Barad's agential intra-actions and Susan Stuart’s enkinaesthetic entanglements, this study proposes that peak-experiences and flow states are also embodied and relationa. It aims thereby to offer a more expanded view of the phenomena during some Screendance practices and indicate potential new avenues of creative exploration in other artforms as well as in viewership.

16:55-17:20 113086 | Handblock Printing of Pipad: Driving Sustainability Through Economic Empowerment Shikha Gupta, National Institute of Fashion Technology, India Handblock printing from Pipad (Rajasthan), India represents a timeless artisanal craft rooted in traditional techniques using natural dyes and wooden blocks, yet it faces existential threats from mechanized production and market globalization. This case study investigates how revitalizing Pipad's handblock printing can drive economic growth while advancing sustainability across environmental, social, and economic dimensions. Through ethnographic fieldwork, stakeholder interviews with 30 artisans and local entrepreneurs, and economic impact analysis, the research reveals that targeted interventions—such as skill training programs, eco-friendly dye innovations, and fair-trade supply chains— have boosted artisan incomes by 35% over three years, preserved indigenous knowledge, and reduced water usage via sustainable practices. Findings underscore a symbiotic model where economic empowerment fosters resource conservation: cluster-based cooperatives increased export revenues, creating jobs for 200+ women while minimizing chemical waste. Challenges like supply chain disruptions and skill gaps are addressed through policy recommendations, including government subsidies and digital marketing platforms. Ultimately, Pipad's hand block printing exemplifies how cultural heritage can fuel inclusive growth, offering a scalable blueprint for rural economies in India to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production).

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16:05-17:45 | Room -2.43 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 4 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Cultural and Media Studies Session Chair: Supriya M 17:20-17:45 110751 | Cultural Continuity and Media Representation in Tibetan Identity Through Cinema and Digital Platforms in South Indian Contexts Supriya M, The Dalai Lama Institute for Higher Education, India The Tibetan community, known for its profound spiritual, cultural, and historical traditions, has faced persistent challenges in safeguarding its identity due to displacement, political exile, and the lack of a sovereign homeland. In this context, cinema and digital media have become vital channels for cultural expression and continuity. These mediums not only preserve Tibetan language, rituals, and values but also offer a space for political commentary and global outreach. Particularly in South India, where large Tibetan settlements like Bylakuppe and Mundgod exist, there is growing scope for regional cinema and digital storytelling to play a role in documenting and reflecting Tibetan life in exile. This paper examines how Tibetan identity is represented through selected films, documentaries, and digital content, with a specific focus on South Indian media landscapes. While mainstream South Indian cinema has largely overlooked Tibetan narratives, localized documentaries and regional digital content have begun capturing fragments of Tibetan cultural and spiritual life. The study uses qualitative content analysis to explore representations of identity, resistance, and belonging across visual media formats. It also highlights the role of diaspora-led digital platforms in sustaining cultural memory and fostering transnational connections. Furthermore, the research critically engages with questions of authenticity, marginalization, and cultural appropriation within Indian media portrayals of Tibet. This exploration contributes to the broader discourse on media, identity, and cultural survival among displaced communities, especially in the diverse and pluralistic context of South India.

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16:05-17:45 | Room -2.62 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 4 VCAH2026 | Arts - Media Arts Practices Session Chair: Kar Yue Chan 16:05-16:30 111436 | Time-Signal: Visual Legibility and Sonic Audibility in Shared-Data Audiovisual Practice Xinyue Sun, Royal College of Art, United Kingdom This paper examines Time-Signal, a digital audiovisual artwork that transforms real-time clock values into shared binary material for visualisation and sonification. Informed by shared-data audiovisualisation and procedural approaches to sound–image relations, the work uses clock data not as a study of time, but as a stable, everyday and computable material for exploring a specific problem in media arts practice: how can an artist compose a sound–image relation when the same data becomes visible and audible in unequal ways? The paper focuses on two related prototypes. 1-bit Bitplane organises binary values as a spatial grid of switching black-and-white cells, while 1-bit Sampling reorganises the same values as a temporal stream, scrolling buffer and 1-bit square-wave pattern. Through comparative prototyping and reflective analysis of the making process, the paper shows that shared data functions only as a starting condition. Technical equivalence does not produce perceptual equivalence; audiovisual relation emerges through artistic decisions about organisation, sampling, screen refresh, audio buffering, filtering and perceptual tuning. Time-Signal therefore does not aim to produce identical correspondence between sound and image. Instead, it composes with their perceptual asymmetry, turning the gap between visual legibility and sonic audibility into the central material of the work. The paper contributes a practice-based account of how shared-data audiovisual art can generate comparable, rather than identical, relations across media-specific conditions.

16:30-16:55 114432 | Sounds into Words: Lexicalization of Auditory Perception in Malayalam Adithi EP, University of Hyderabad, India This paper explores the lexicalization of sound-perception vocabulary in Malayalam and its cultural significance within Kerala's linguistic and ritual context. The study uses componential analysis of sixteen auditory lexemes across different semantic domains. The data reveal four recurring patterns. First, diglossic layering exists between colloquial terms (e.g., occa 'noise') and Sanskritic or literary alternatives (e.g., dhvani, nādam). Second, polysemy extends from acoustic perception into discourse, as seen in dhvani (sound → connotation) and mantraṇam (whisper → secretive talk). Third, semantic encoding of intensity appears, exemplified by the compound cekiṭaḍappikkunna 'ear-blocking' for "deafening". Fourth, cross-modal metaphor draws vocabulary from touch and taste into the auditory domain, as in madhuraśabdam 'sweetsounding' and mr̥dulamāya śabdam 'soft voice'. This directionality aligns with established modality hierarchies where touch and taste donate metaphors to audition rather than the reverse (Sreekumar & Prema, 2020). The reduplicative form karakara 'grating sound' further situates Malayalam within the broader typology of ideophones and expressives documented for South Asian languages. Together, these patterns show that Malayalam's sound-perception vocabulary forms a structured linguistic system shaped by register, embodiment, and cultural ecology, not an incidental descriptive inventory. This offers a case study for cross-linguistic and cross-modal approaches to sensory lexicalization.

16:55-17:20 111058 | Cartographer of Feelings: Mapping the Unexpected Resonance of Cantopop in Northeast China Shutong Huo, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong This paper offers a closer look at the unexpected cultural resonance of Hong Kong Cantonese pop music (Cantopop) among listeners in China’s Northeast. Using an auto-ethnographic methodology that weaves personal stories, on-the-ground observations, and informal interviews, it draws on Raymond Williams’s “structure of feeling” to illuminate how Cantopop’s themes of resilience, hope, and identity speak powerfully to a post-industrial environment, bridging linguistic and geographic boundaries. Although its roots lie in Hong Kong’s colonial past, Cantopop nevertheless resonates with Northeastern communities dealing with economic decline and shifting social structures, fostering what Kay Kaufman Shelemay terms a “musical community of affinity”. Following Stuart Hall’s notion of “negotiated decodings”, these listeners adapt the music’s original anxieties and ideals to fit their own experiences of uncertainty and longing. By sharing and reinterpreting these songs, a translocal scene emerges, intertwining personal emotions with broader historical and cultural narratives. Ultimately, this research shows how a transregional musical phenomenon can serve as both a map of collective feeling and a channel for empathy, identity formation, and solidarity across distant communities.

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16:05-17:45 | Room -2.62 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 4 VCAH2026 | Arts - Media Arts Practices Session Chair: Kar Yue Chan 17:20-17:45 109068 | Gender Stereotyping: the Metamorphosis of Female Roles in Cantonese Opera Plays Kelly Kar Yue Chan, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong Gender dynamics are a complex yet interesting topic in the study of Cantonese opera, which has a rich heritage as a traditional art form in China. Gender representations in Cantonese opera often appear in differentiated forms, such as cross-dressing and cross-gender performances and the common practice of male and female actors playing roles of the opposite gender. It is important to meticulously investigate the issues of gender representation and gender stereotyping when analyzing female roles in Cantonese opera. Traditional female roles often embody virtues such as being faithful, submissive and chaste, while male roles are stereotyped as dominant, heroic and wise. However, some contemporary productions challenge traditional gender roles (for example by including female leaders and warriors), with the aim of creating more varied and intricate characters and breaking away from over-emphasized gender stereotypes. In such cases, female roles can be depicted as self-determining and even resistant, while male roles can be more vulnerable and fainthearted. The gender boundary has been made more fluid by societal, cultural and symbolic influences. Analyzing the metamorphosis of gender dynamics is critical in scrutinizing gender issues in Cantonese opera performances, which are multifaceted and evolving. In this chapter, female roles in Women Generals of the Yang Family, Liang Hongyu Beats the War Drum to Retreat the Jin Army and Scent of a Lady are analyzed. The concepts of “progressive metamorphosis” and “impetuous metamorphosis” are introduced to show the essential differences between these characters and those in the traditional Cantonese opera plays The Flower Princess.

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16:05-17:45 | Room -2.63 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 4 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Special Topics in Education and Social Sciences Session Chair: Goitseone Emelda Leburu 16:05-16:30 113553 | Exploration of Adult Education Teaching and Learning Programs for Conflict Resolution and Institutional Cohesion at Mouau Abia State, Nigeria Nneka Augustina Umezulike, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Nigeria Conflict and institutional disunity remain persistent challenges in Nigerian tertiary institutions, often undermining the peaceful coexistence and productivity of staff and students. This study therefore explored adult education teaching and learning programs for conflict resolution and institutional cohesion at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria. Four research questions guided the study. The population comprised 20 respondents, made up of 10 adult educators and 10 adult education students at MOUAU. The entire population was studied without sampling. A structured questionnaire, rated on a 4-point scale was used to collect data from respondents. The instrument was validated by experts in Adult Education and Measurement and Evaluation, and its reliability was established using Cronbach Alpha statistics. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation, with a decision criterion of 2.50. Findings revealed that adult education teaching and learning programs available for conflict resolution and institutional cohesion at MOUAU include dialogue-based workshops, peer mediation training, and value-orientation seminars, among others. Findings further revealed that these programs contributed to conflict resolution and institutional cohesion to a high extent. It was concluded that adult education teaching and learning programs are effective tools for promoting conflict resolution and institutional cohesion at MOUAU. It was recommended, among others, that the university institutionalize structured adult education programs targeted at conflict resolution and the promotion of unity among staff and students.

16:30-16:55 113820 | Weaving Identity: Gender, Labour, and Livelihood in Handloom Craft Communities- Special Reference to Weaving Cooperative Societies in Kannur, Kerala, India Abhilash Balan Paleri, National Institute of Fashion Technology, India Traditional craft communities in the Global South serve as repositories of cultural heritage. At the same time, they face a common paradox of confronting labour shortages, demographic ageing and persistent gender inequalities. The handloom weaving cooperative societies in Kannur, Kerala, India, serve as a significant case for examining these interconnected challenges. This paper specifically investigates the gendered organisation of labour and livelihoods within all active weaving cooperatives in the Kannur region. The paper examines the workforce composition and analyses the broader transformations in traditional craft economies. The paper adopts a mixed methodology, a quantitative analysis of workforce data and qualitative evidence through ethnography. The statistical analyses are complemented by qualitative interpretations to understand the embedding of demographic patterns and labour organisations within the social and institutional dynamics of cooperative weaving. The findings from the study reveal substantial female participation in the weaving workforce and the ageing of the artisans. The study also indicates variations in remuneration and gendered patterns in the organisation of labour. Even during precarity, the cooperatives remain as a significant mechanism for employment and livelihood, leading to further discussions on sustainability and craft continuity. Through the integration of quantitative evidence along with qualitative insights, the paper contributes to the ongoing international discussions on gendered labour and sustainable livelihoods of craft communities. The arguments presented by the studies point towards policies that recognise the cultural and economic dimensions of artisanal labour across traditional craft economies in diverse cultural contexts.

16:55-17:20 113079 | Understanding the Spectrum of Theological and Practical Responses of Gender Based Violence Among Faith Based Leaders in South Africa Goitseone Leburu, University of South Africa, South Africa Rebecca Skhosana, University of South Africa, South Africa Kgashane Malesa, University of South Africa, South Africa Noxolo Zwane, University of South Africa, South Africa Gender-based violence remains pervasive in South Africa despite progressive legal frameworks. Faith-based leaders play influential roles in shaping community responses, yet their perspectives remain complex and understudied. This qualitative study explores how sixteen Christian faith leaders from Gauteng and North West provinces understand and respond to GBV. Guided by social construction theory and institutional betrayal theory, semi-structured interviews reveal that faith leaders’ attitudes exist along a continuum. Social constructionism shows how theological interpretations produce diverse understandings of GBV, while institutional betrayal theory exposes how churches may fail survivors through silence and minimisation. Findings demonstrate that religious institutions can both challenge and reinforce harmful gender norms, with institutional structures mediating the translation of beliefs into practice. The study concludes that transforming faith-based responses requires both cultural and institutional change.

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16:05-17:45 | Room -2.63 (Level -2)

Sunday Onsite Parallel Session 4 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Special Topics in Education and Social Sciences Session Chair: Goitseone Emelda Leburu 17:20-17:45 111530 | Plural Masculinities in African Contexts: Rethinking Hegemonic Scripts Nobantu Seleoane, University of South Africa, South Africa Masculinity may traditionally be defined as a hegemony that creates masculine identity based on their status as dominant and breadwinners. However, in South Africa, the traditional hegemonic models are challenged due to economic precarity, colonial legacy, and communal personhood, challenging Western-based definitions of masculinity. This study examines South African masculinities from an interpretive epistemology and draws on multiple disciplines, synthesising qualitative research on masculinities, including narratives of unemployment, initiation rites and postcolonial identity formation. The study is situated in South Africa, focusing on township communities, and draws on qualitative data from semi structured interviews and textual analysis of cultural narratives. Data were analysed using interpretive phenomenological approaches to capture lived experience and meaning making. The theoretical framework combines Hegemonic Masculinity Theory, African Psychology and the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, providing insight into how men navigate identity during periods of economic stress. Findings indicated that the breadwinner role is destabilised under unemployment, prompting alternative masculinity identities through community leadership and symbolic fatherhood, thereby gaining ritual legitimacy. Overall, findings indicate that masculinities are historically located, plural and contextualised. The study draws on relational ontology to show how masculinities in South Africa rework dominant scripts and feed into global gender conversations. The interdisciplinary approach nurtures inclusive frameworks for scholarship, policy and social justice, emphasising the need to localise gender theory to varied socio-cultural realities.

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Notes

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Monday, November 16 09:30-11:10 | Onsite Parallel Session 1 11:40-12:55 | Onsite Parallel Session 2 All times are Central European Time (UTC+1) Abstracts appear as originally submitted by the author. Any spelling, grammatical, or typographical errors are those of the author.

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09:30-11:10 | Room -2.32 (Level -2)

Monday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Sexuality, Gender, Families Session Chair: Sanita Rai 09:30-09:55 113879 | The Trouble with Visibility: Ballroom Between Subversion and Submission Izabella Tyborowicz, University of Warsaw, Poland This paper examines ballroom culture as a site marked by tensions between visibility, desire and normativity. Originating in the United States within Black and Latinx queer communities, ballroom has become a global cultural practice that creates spaces where dominant constructions of gender, class and race are questioned, parodied and resisted. I argue that ballroom simultaneously produces and negotiates queer visibility while remaining deeply ambivalent. Although ballroom offers a relatively safe environment for experimenting with identity and belonging, its aesthetics frequently rely on appropriating images of beauty and success rooted in dominant culture. Critics such as bell hooks have therefore argued that ballroom may reproduce hegemonic, often white and class-privileged aesthetic norms rather than subvert them. Taking this ambivalence as a starting point, the paper asks whether ballroom reproduces normative regimes or instead transforms them through performative practice. Does the pursuit of realness reinforce dominant ideals, or does it queer them through exaggeration and destabilization? Methodologically, the paper combines theoretical analysis with qualitative analysis of original empirical material drawn from semi-structured interviews conducted with members of the ballroom community, bringing theoretical perspectives into dialogue with participants' lived experiences. Drawing on Jonathan Flatley, I examine how the re-signification of popular cultural images functions both as social critique and as a strategy for claiming visibility within dominant representational codes. Ultimately, the paper argues that ballroom offers a critical lens through which to examine how marginalized communities negotiate visibility, belonging, and recognition within contemporary societies.

09:55-10:20 114134 | The Undead and the Greedy: How Men in Chinese Digital Manospheres Use Self-Deprecating Jokes to Legitimize Unacceptable Indices of Desire Gabriel Zhang, Independent Scholar, China Academic and public-sphere commentators have argued that there is a rise in the Chinese Digital Manosphere (CDM), which gained authority among men as a reaction against feminist discourses and against their economic inability to fulfill traditional hegemonic ideals of manhood. However, existing commentaries and analyses tend to treat the CDM as a clearly bounded, ideologically uniform space defined by men’s expressions of deprecation or denial of desire for women, thereby simplifying the variety of discursive and other semiotic activities that occur across platforms. This paper argues instead that the manosphere is not a place or group, but a mode of legitimation of social action through language. It focuses on spaces that serve as prototypical centers that commentators and users generally agree are locations of manosphere activity: Bilibili’s Dance Channel, Cosplay Channel, and Gacha Games Channel. In these spaces, participants perform a range of acceptable and unacceptable figures of personhood that anchor the activities later typified as the manosphere. I begin by analyzing how acceptable figures like the Undead and the Greedy legitimize unacceptable positions via self-deprecating jokes. Threads from the comments section of the relevant Bilibili Channels are analyzed using digital conversation analysis to compare how acceptable and unacceptable figures are enacted and taken up by participants to enable this transformation. This research highlights the ongoing importance of attending to local performances of identities and hegemonic masculinities in the CDM that exceed dominant discourses or expectations, and shows how it is never a totalizing arena of social action.

10:20-10:45 107171 | Gender, Power, and Everyday Negotiation: Rethinking Leadership in Rural Haryana Manisha Rathee, University of Delhi, India Leadership is commonly understood as a formal and visible domain associated with institutional authority, official positions, or recognized political actors. This paper rethinks leadership through the everyday practices of women farmers in Jhajjar district, Haryana, India. The study draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in three villages in the district between May and December 2025. Using participant observation, in-depth interviews, and sustained engagement with women’s collectives, the paper examines how leadership emerges through everyday negotiations of labour, care, and collective decision-making. Women exercise influence by mediating access to state schemes, coordinating agricultural work, organizing group activities, and sustaining household and farm continuity under conditions of structural constraint. In one of the villages, a small group of women, despite holding no formal positions, have mobilized over twenty-five self-help groups and now act as key intermediaries between the state and the village, regularly contacted by both residents and extension workers. Rather than being rooted in formal authority, these practices constitute dispersed and relational forms of leadership grounded in interdependence, moral responsibility, and resilience. The paper adopts a relational and practice-based understanding of leadership, showing how authority and influence are produced through everyday labour, social relations, and ethical accountability within unequal agrarian and development contexts. By foregrounding women’s lived experiences, the study challenges hierarchical and masculinized models of leadership and contributes to anthropological debates on gender, power, and development by demonstrating how leadership is continuously negotiated, enacted, and often rendered invisible in everyday life.

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09:30-11:10 | Room -2.32 (Level -2)

Monday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Sexuality, Gender, Families Session Chair: Sanita Rai 10:45-11:10 112852 | Women and Politics in Sikkim: Exploring the Perspectives and Limits of Institutional Aspects of Women’s Political Representation Sanita Rai, Sikkim Univeristy, India Gender inequality is a global issue in terms of women’s representation in politics. The report by the Association for Democratic Reforms shows that only 14% of India’s 49% female population is in a parliamentary position, while the Inter-Parliamentary Union says women occupy only 27.5% of parliamentary seats globally in 2026. Women were under-represented in the 2024 election for the 11th Sikkim Legislative Assembly. This figure makes evident that although women play a crucial role in politics, men have long been at the forefront. The study tries to analyse the legislative and constitutional provisions of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts, which allow women to participate in local self-government by allocating 50% and one-third of seats. These reforms have changed grassroots governance, challenged patriarchal norms, and made it possible for women to enter politics. It aims to explore the recent policy framework, debates on representation in state legislatures and parliaments, and bridge the gap between their gender disparities. The research employs an exploratory technique based on primary and secondary sources, concludes that deep research on the lived experiences of women's representatives in the state is conspicuously lacking, and finds that local self-government quotas have received far more attention in the literature than upward mobility in higher political tiers. The finding is women’s political empowerment not only depends on reservation and numerical inclusion but also on their participation in decision-making, authority and access to real political power in the political institutions of Sikkim. Keywords: disparities, gender inequality, political empowerment, Sikkim.

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09:30-11:10 | Room -2.43 (Level -2)

Monday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Humanities - History/Historiography Session Chair: Ran Kamiyama 09:55-10:20 111298 | Chinese Porcelain and the Visual Culture of Luxury in Dutch Golden Age Painting Supriya Choudhary, Fudan University, China This paper examines the representation of Chinese export porcelain, particularly Kraak ware, in seventeenth-century Dutch Golden Age painting. Imported into the Dutch Republic through expanding maritime trade networks associated with the Dutch East India Company, Chinese porcelain became increasingly visible within Dutch domestic and mercantile culture. While existing scholarship has frequently approached Chinese porcelain through histories of trade and cultural influence, this paper focuses instead on how Dutch painters constructed meanings around porcelain within visual culture. Through selected still-life paintings by Willem Kalf and Pieter de Ring, alongside comparative examples from Jan Steen and Johannes Vermeer, this study analyses how porcelain appears within carefully arranged environments of material abundance and elite consumption. Rather than functioning merely as decorative utensils or background objects, Chinese porcelain was integrated into a broader visual language of refinement, global access, and cultivated taste. Frequently depicted alongside imported fruits, precious metalware, glass vessels, textiles, and other luxury commodities, porcelain contributed to the performance of mercantile prosperity and cosmopolitan identity in Dutch visual culture. By combining visual analysis with material culture studies and histories of early modern trade, this paper argues that Dutch paintings transformed Chinese porcelain into a meaningful symbol of global consumption and social aspiration. In doing so, these artworks reveal how imported objects from China became embedded within the visual and domestic culture of the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic.

10:20-10:45 110160 | Painting Between Blocs: Reportage Art, the Korean War, and Japan’s Forgotten Socialist Avant-Garde Ni Na Camellia Ng, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong Kong This study reexamines Japan’s postwar avant garde by centering the Reportage painting movement, a socialist realist practice that emerged in direct response to US militarization and the Korean War. Moving beyond dominant narratives of Gutai and Mono ha, it argues that Reportage artists developed a locally specific “field” (Bourdieu) of socialist aesthetics, shaped not by Soviet or Chinese models alone but by Japan’s precarious position as a US ally with a contested sovereignty. Particular attention is paid to first, how the 1953 Panmunjom Truce revitalized Japanese socialist discourse; second, stylistic divergences from orthodox socialist realism; and third, the overlooked role of Hong Kong as a conduit for transnational ideological exchange. The study challenges binary Cold War frameworks and repositions Japan as a site of autonomous, critical socialist artistic innovation rather than a mere anti communist proxy.

10:45-11:10 111364 | Landscapes Generated by Landscape Paintings: A Case Study of Japanese Landscape Prints in the Edo Period Ran Kamiyama, Toyo University, Japan Landscape painting is one of the forms of representation through which human beings have perceived and conceptualized their surrounding environment as “landscape.” In general, landscape paintings are understood as works created through artists’ observation of actual scenery, thereby presupposing the existence of the real landscapes depicted by the painters. In this sense, it can be understood that, within a given historical period, a certain correspondence existed between actual landscapes and landscape paintings, and that the two were integrated in a mutually constitutive relationship. However, while actual landscapes may change or disappear over time, landscape paintings alone may continue to survive. Consequently, a discrepancy emerges between the real landscape and its pictorial representation. In some cases, the existence of landscape paintings and the recognition of their cultural and aesthetic value function as catalysts for the restoration or reconstruction of landscapes that once existed. This study defines such landscapes, generated or restored through landscape paintings, as “landscapes generated by landscape paintings,” and aims to clarify the processes through which they are constituted. The early Edo period marked the formative stage of Japanese landscape prints, whereas the late Edo period represented a period of flourishing production, during which landscape paintings such as ukiyo-e and meisho-zu (illustrated guides to famous places) were extensively created. Accordingly, this study focuses on landscape prints of the Edo period.

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Notes

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09:30-11:10 | Room -2.62 (Level -2)

Monday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Perspectives on Societal Changes Session Chair: Hsin-Lun Li 09:30-09:55 111438 | Data as Mater: Subjective and Visceral Approaches in Artists’ Use of Urban Datasets: Reflections on a City Data Art Residency Ruth Oppenheim, Israel Institute of Technolog, Israel Raz Wienr, University of Music and Performing Art, Austria Eliyahu Keller, Israel Institute of Technology, Israel In spring 2023, we issued an open call for artists and creative professionals to participate in the City Data Art Residency (2023–24) — a unique residency organized by a municipality and centered on urban data. This paper reflects on the process and selected outcomes of what became a hands-on, practice-led testing ground for treating data as raw material for artistic practice in and of the city. As data visualization increasingly shapes how we understand the world, the residency interrogated what artistic practice can do that design and information graphics cannot — or would not — and what is gained, or lost, when data is approached from the legitimized subjective perspective of an artist. We comparatively examine two residency projects: one by architects, the other by artists, retracing the distinct challenges each team encountered in working through data's peculiar non-materiality — an immaterial substance resistant to physical form. The first moves away from the didactic, linear narrative of the historical archive toward a physical installation that invites a complex, embodied encounter with data. The second attempts to reclaim data as visceral and experiential, operationalizing custom-made objects within an elaborate participatory environment. Through these contrasting approaches, we explore the possibilities of data-mediating artistic practice: its capacity to generate ambiguity, embodiment, and affect, alongside the challenge of working without a fixed or tangible material. Rather than presenting data as fact, both projects reframe it as something felt, contested, and open-ended — contributing to an ongoing conversation at the intersection of art, design, technology.

09:55-10:20 111433 | Intercultural Negotiation Through Over-Tourism Tensions in Kyoto’s Trains and Buses Zijin Meng, Doshisha University, Japan Over-tourism has become a globally discussed issue, and Kyoto has emerged as one of the most prominent examples, particularly in relation to tensions between visitors and local residents within public transportation systems. Existing discussions surrounding these issues have largely focused on policy responses, technical management, and economic control measures from a top-down perspective. In contrast, comparatively little attention has been paid to how these situations are experienced, negotiated, and interpreted by the actual participants involved, especially foreign tourists themselves. This research argues that intercultural tensions associated with over-tourism should not be understood solely as the result of crowding or a simple lack of manners, but also as the product of differing perceptions, behavioral expectations, and situational knowledge between perceived locals and outsiders within shared public transportation spaces. Drawing on Erving Goffman’s theoretical framework of social performance and interaction, the study examines passenger behaviors and reactions within Kyoto’s urban railway and bus systems through onsite ethnography, digital ethnography, and analysis of online discourse. By combining onsite observations with online discussions, the research explores how encounters within public transportation spaces contribute to broader intercultural perceptions and stereotype formation. The significance of this research lies in its attempt to understand how over-tourism influences intercultural negotiation, perception, and stereotype formation in everyday public spaces by focusing on the micro-level dynamics of social interaction rather than institutional responses, this study contributes a cultural studies perspective that remains comparatively underexplored within existing over-tourism research and may provide comparative insights for other regions facing similar challenges.

10:20-10:45 109997 | Educating the Postmodern Hero: Narrative, Kalayaan, and Global Citizenship in an Age of Conflict Michelle Ylaya, Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines This paper examines how contemporary global conflict is shaped by competing narrative frameworks and considers the implications of these frameworks for global citizenship and education for peace. Drawing on Hayden White’s theory of narrativization, Northrop Frye’s fictional modes, and Linda Hutcheon’s concept of postmodern irony, it argues that geopolitical tensions—particularly those involving the United States, Iran, and Israel—continue to be structured by mythic, romantic, realist, and ironic modes of narration. While these modes historically enabled the articulation of nationalist and ideological movements, their persistence in a globalized context produces fragmentation, contradiction, and instability. Engaging the concept of freedom through the lens of kalayaan—understood in Philippine anti-colonial discourse as both liberation and collective unity—the paper critiques the endurance of grand narratives that privilege purity, cohesion, and ideological absolutism. Such narratives often frame freedom as separation or the fulfillment of a singular historical destiny, limiting the possibility of coexistence in an interconnected world. Reinterpreting kalayaan within a global framework, the paper proposes a shift from freedom as separation toward freedom as interdependence. In response, the study advances the figure of the postmodern hero as a model for global citizenship and education for peace. This figure sustains plurality, negotiates difference, and enables interdependence. The paper argues that education for peace must cultivate critical awareness of narrativization, emphasizing interpretive capacity, ethical reflexivity, and dialogic engagement in forming global citizens.

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09:30-11:10 | Room -2.62 (Level -2)

Monday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Perspectives on Societal Changes Session Chair: Hsin-Lun Li 10:45-11:10 108891 | Pairwise Attraction-Repulsion Dynamics and Persistent Polarization in Multilayer Social Systems Hsin-Lun Li, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan Contemporary societies are characterized by individuals interacting across multiple overlapping networks, including family ties, professional environments, and online platforms. These multilayer structures create complex pathways through which opinions evolve. While classical consensus models assume uniformly attractive interactions, empirical evidence suggests that many social ties are repulsive—driven by ideological opposition, identity conflict, or distrust. This study develops a theoretical framework for pairwise attraction–repulsion dynamics on multilayer social networks. Each layer represents a distinct social context, within which individuals adjust their attitudes through local interactions that may either reduce or amplify disagreement. We demonstrate that even when each layer is internally connected and the union of interactions spans the entire population, persistent polarization can arise endogenously from the coexistence of attractive and repulsive influences. Our results provide a structural explanation for how societies may remain globally connected yet fail to achieve consensus. The framework offers implications for understanding political fragmentation, online echo chambers, and the limits of cross-group dialogue initiatives. By linking multilayer network topology with interaction asymmetry, the study contributes a theoretical foundation for analyzing durable disagreement in contemporary social systems.

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09:30-11:10 | Room -2.63 (Level -2)

Monday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Literature, Media and Identities Session Chair: Man Chi Lo 09:30-09:55 107168 | Itinerant Kanshi Poet Hara Saihin in Edo Japan – Confucianism and Expression of a Woman in a Male Dominated Literary Kikue Kotani, Nihon University, Japan This study examines how Hara Saihin achieved national prominence as a Chinese poetry (kanshi) poet in Edo-period Japan (1604–1867), despite formidable gender barriers in the feudal social structure. Throughout her 62-year life, Saihin remained unmarried and traveled extensively across Japan, supporting herself financially while pursuing recognition in a profession traditionally reserved for men. This paper analyzes the strategies through which she successfully overcame these obstacles to establish her reputation nationwide. Saihin's travel diaries, composed entirely in Chinese poetry, serve as the primary sources for this investigation, rendering her travel narratives synonymous with kanshi collections. Through close textual analysis of over 700 extant poems, this study reconstructs Saihin's life experiences and innermost thoughts. The findings reveal that despite the perceived impossibility of women undertaking nationwide travel and persistent social censure of female celibacy during the Edo period, Saihin maintained her unmarried status, competed successfully with male kanshi poets as an equal, and secured national recognition. Central to her success was her father's profound ambition for her achievement. Kosho, himself a Confucian scholar and renowned kanshi poet, recognized Saihin's talent and provided her with an education equal to that of men from childhood. His deathbed injunction -” Do not return home until you have succeeded"—remained with Saihin throughout her travels. This study argues that the Confucian principle of filial piety (kō孝), paramount in Edo society, fundamentally governed Saihin's life and career trajectory.

09:55-10:20 110311 | Bare Life, Traumatic Memory, and a Reclaimed Identity: Re-thinking Holocaust Second-Generation Otherness in Louise Kehoe’s In This Dark House Sruthy C Balakrishnan, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, India Aparna Nandha, Indian Institution of Technology Ropar, India This paper examines Louise Kehoe’s In This Dark House as a second-generation Holocaust memoir that explores inherited trauma, contested belonging, and reconstructed identities. It foregrounds otherness as a condition produced within familial and historical structures that continue to bear the imprint of Holocaust violence. Drawing on Giorgio Agamben’s concepts of bare life, homo sacer, and the state of exception, this paper examines how some post-Holocaust survivor families may function as a closed system that reproduces the logic of exception, thereby shaping second-generation subjectivities through silencing, control, and the abuse of vulnerability. Kehoe’s childhood growing up on a cattle farm under the authoritarian surveillance of her father, Berthold Lubetkin, is read as a domestic extension of camp logic. Denied access to her Jewish heritage, Kehoe and her siblings experience an epistemic deprivation regarding their own past, consequently inhabiting a position of otherness within the family. This condition resembles Agamben’s homo sacer, a bare existence maintained within the structure yet deprived of agency and authority. By narrating gaps and silences in memory and confronting the camp logic of her upbringing, Kehoe resists the continuation of the state of exception in her adulthood. Through bringing Agamben’s theories into conversation with Holocaust second-generation discourse, this paper rethinks otherness as a dynamic space where exclusion and resilience interact. In doing so, this study contributes to ongoing discourses on how trauma, silence, and the possibility of agency coexist within marginalized subjectivities.

10:20-10:45 111471 | Vanishing Mediators and Typological Form: The Allegorical Schema of the Nation in Joyce’s Ulysses Raunak Kumar, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India James Joyce’s Ulysses is read as a triumph of transnational cosmopolitanism, this framework obscures the novel's deeply contested ideological topography. Because critics frequently retreat to biographical reductions or individualistic psychological splits, the novel's complex engagement with the competing nationalisms of 1904 Dublin remains under-examined. To map this uneven terrain, this paper argues that Joyce rejects the closed, unifying consolations of "symbolic form" in favor of a radical, modernist allegorical schematism that preserves the temporal dissonance of the colonial state. I argue against reading Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom as mere psychological embodiments. Instead, drawing on Fredric Jameson and Paul de Man, I position them as "vanishing mediators" locked in a process of tropological substitution. Stephen embodies the anti-colonial ressentiment of provincial nationalism, while Bloom represents the unfulfilled promises of liberal capitalism. Through a close reading of the "Aeolus," "Cyclops," and "Ithaca" episodes, I demonstrate how Joyce deploys characterological mapping and disjunctive allegoresis to critique providential-synchronic narrative structures. The ultimate failure of Stephen and Bloom to synthesize reflects the narrative improbability of either collective imaginary progressing beyond its present historical impasse. Ultimately, this analysis reveals how Joyce utilizes the structural irresolution of protagonicity to transfigure the setting of the novel. Dublin on 16 June 1904 functions not merely as a realistic geographical coordinate, but as a typological figura—an indexical emblem of Ireland's suppressed history. By suspending his characters in this allegorical plane, Joyce translates the paralyzed historical horizon into a negative utopia, anticipating the emergence of marginalism.

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09:30-11:10 | Room -2.63 (Level -2)

Monday Onsite Parallel Session 1 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Literature, Media and Identities Session Chair: Man Chi Lo 10:45-11:10 111313 | Sino-Japanese Literary Exchanges in 1920s Shanghai: A Case Study of Maedakawa Hiroichirō’s Travels in Shanghai and His Reception in China Man Chi Lo, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong In the 1920s, many Japanese writers traveled to Shanghai and engaged in close interactions with Chinese writers in the city, creating a wave of “Shanghai fever.” Yet this intensive cultural exchange—where Japanese modernity and cosmopolitanism intertwined within the context of modern China—has long been obscured in historical narratives. The Japanese proletarian writer Maedakawa Hiroichirō (1888–1957) visited Shanghai between 1928 and 1929, during which time he became acquainted with modern Chinese writers such as Lu Xun, Yu Dafu, Tian Han, Zheng Boqi, and Zhang Ruogu. His works were also translated into Chinese, but both he and his activities have attracted little attention in Chinese scholarship. Using Maedakawa as a case study, this article explores how Japanese proletarian writers perceived Shanghai and its literary scene at the time, as well as the friendships and conflicts between left-wing writers in China and Japan. It further examines the translation and reception of Maedakawa’s works in China.

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11:40-12:55 | Room -2.32 (Level -2)

Monday Onsite Parallel Session 2 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Cultural Studies and Practice Session Chair: Li Niu 11:40-12:05 107157 | The UBuciko BamaZulu aKwaZulu Exhibition as a Pedagogical Platform for Curatorial Learning Lindelwa Pepu, University of Zululand, South Africa Phumelele Mhlongo, University of Zululand, South Africa The uBuciko BamaZulu aKwaZulu exhibition served as a teaching and learning platform for the 2025 final year visual art students interested in museum studies, at the University of Zululand’s (UNIZULU), Department of Creative Arts. The primary aim of this initiative was to provide a hands-on opportunity for students to be actively involved in exhibition preparation, learning the practical principles of hanging, handling, and display. The objective was to enhance their educational experience in visual arts by encouraging a deeper appreciation for the cultural heritage within the community. This study employed a Qualitative, Arts-Based Research (ABR) approach, utilising participant observation and a student reflection based on the hands-on installation process at the Empangeni Arts and Cultural History Museum. This participatory framework allowed for the documentation of "on-the-floor" decision-making and the evolution and exposure to curatorial practice. Findings reveal that the initiative successfully transitioned students from passive observers to make independent decisions on tasks, gaining invaluable insights into both the artistic process and the importance of cultural preservation. The study concludes that the practical experience of exhibition preparation impacted on students gaining additional knowledge. This exhibition ultimately helped students get a broader understanding of another aspect within the art industry.

12:05-12:30 112812 | Traces of Folklore in Creative Media: The Folktale Influence on Editorial Cartoons with Reference to Selected Salient Features Sizwe Dlamini, University of Johannesburg, South Africa There is a close relationship between folklore and cartoons, yet this connection has received relatively limited scholarly attention. This paper seeks to explore the proximity between these two forms of expression by examining the influence of folktales on editorial cartoons. The study is grounded primarily in intertextuality theory, which provides a framework for understanding how texts borrow from other texts. Employing textual analysis as a qualitative research method, the study collects and interprets data from Mqapheli Mngadi’s isiZulu editorial cartoons, published daily in Isolezwe, one of South Africa’s two leading isiZulu newspapers. These cartoons are analysed alongside the isiZulu folktale collection Phinda Ungixoxele to identify shared features. The findings reveal that editorial cartoons are significantly influenced by folktales, as demonstrated through the use of anthropomorphised or animated characters, representations of magical or supernatural elements, and satire as a means of exposing and condemning social and moral wrongdoing. Furthermore, the study highlights that editorial cartoons, much like folktales, perform dual functions of educating and entertaining audiences while preserving cultural values, encouraging moral reflection, and providing social commentary on contemporary issues. These findings contribute to a broader understanding of the intertextual relationship between folklore and visual satire. They demonstrate that editorial cartoons continue to draw upon traditional storytelling conventions to communicate effectively with modern audiences.

12:30-12:55 114214 | “PDU” Model for Innovative Archival Development and Utilization from the Perspective of Digital Memory Niu Li, Renmin University of China, China Xiaoshuang Jia, Renmin University of China, China Yongjun Xu, Renmin University of China, China Jingyi Zeng, Nankai University, China Digital memory initiatives increasingly seek to move archival resources beyond digital preservation toward knowledge-based organization and use. However, digitization, knowledge organization, and visualization are often implemented as separate processes, and how they can be integrated throughout the digital memory lifecycle remains insufficiently explored. To address this problem, this study develops a Preservation–Development–Utilization (PDU) Model and examines its application through a case study of the Suzhou Silk Archives. Drawing on the digital memory lifecycle, the model conceptualizes archival development as a progressive process: P preserves and structures archival resources as digital memory objects; D develops archival knowledge through entity identification and semantic association; and U supports contextualized use through multidimensional visualization and interactive narratives. Case analysis and archival knowledge organization were used to examine the transformation of silk archives across these stages. The findings show that the PDU process connects dispersed information on people, places, institutions, techniques, and production activities across archival records, enabling historical relationships and silk-production networks that are difficult to identify through document-level organization to be reconstructed and presented. Unlike workflows that simply combine digitization, knowledge graphs, and visualization, the PDU Model organizes these activities as interdependent stages linking resource preservation, knowledge reconstruction, and contextualized use. It thus provides a lifecycle-oriented framework for transforming preserved archival resources into interconnected and interpretable knowledge that supports discovery, understanding, and broader use.

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11:40-12:55 | Room -2.43 (Level -2)

Monday Onsite Parallel Session 2 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Urban Studies and Design Session Chair: Ruth Mateus-Berr 11:40-12:05 113941 | ‘Clumsy’ Heuristics for Wicked Urban Redevelopment Challenges: A Practical Tool to Engage Stakeholder Pluralism Inclusively Zheng Renjie, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore Singapore's land scarcity has challenged its urban planners over the last decade with a series of public pushback against redevelopment, particularly in infrastructure and housing encroachment into heritage and nature assets. This presentation will share a study that inquired: Why, despite the state demonstrably learning from one redevelopment controversy to the next, resistance keeps resurfacing? Existing accounts attribute these recurrences to insufficient or belated stakeholder consultation. However, this framing cannot explain why some stakeholder preferences are absorbed into planning outcomes while those from other affected parties are consistently not. To investigate this wicked stakeholder challenge, Mary Douglas’s Grid-Group Typology was deployed to scaffold a sequential retrospective analysis of five redevelopment controversies. The typology’s utility in simplifying the pluralism of preferences stakeholders to four mutually-exclusive but jointly-exhaustive rationalities equipped the study to practically compare the cases chronologically to trace whether planning responses and the underlying causal mechanism of resistance recurred across time. The findings offer a systematic account of how, while institutional-learning from precedent cases improved engagement with organized stakeholders, a consultation process built primarily to listen for organized voices will inadvertently spur disgruntled non-organized stakeholders to resist via public channels. In response, through two new case studies, the presentation will discuss how an emerging tool of ‘Clumsy’ Heuristics can equip state agents to uncover and engage marginalized stakeholder voices by shifting the burden of discovery from the stakeholder to the planner. By offering a practical tool, this presentation hopes to contribute towards a more inclusive urban redevelopment endeavour.

12:05-12:30 110783 | The Impact of Modern Urbanism on the Historic City Concept of Kandy, Sri Lanka Kudawawe Somananda Thero, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany Kandy has been designated as a World Cultural Heritage site under UNESCO since 1988. For many centuries until 1815, it was the capital of the last kingdom of Sri Lanka. The city contains the Temple of the Tooth Relic, the royal palace, the site of an annual procession and the artificial lake. This paper examines how contemporary urban development collides with the historic spatial principles and cosmological orientations, such as ritual pathways, water bodies and the temple axis. The research methodology draws on GIS-based morphological analysis, historical cartography, and comparative urban study of early urban paradigms. Kandy has been historically conceptualized as a cosmic city enclosed by natural landscapes. But the city is in a critical situation today because of the rapid modern urbanization and unplanned developments. This development hinders the sacred and indigenous spatial order, elements of the natural landscape, and the historic urban fabric. Present day planning frameworks and development projects in the ancient South Asian cities, including the city of Kandy, must preserve their historical urban plans, architectural structures, and traditional city concepts. The preservation of ancestral planning principles should also be considered since they represent a significant aspect of the historical development towards a sustainable city. In conclusion, this study identifies critical challenges for heritage management in the sacred city of Kandy.

12:30-12:55 114814 | The Skin of the Viennese Coffeehouse: Haptic and Olfactory Design, Patina, and Social Atmosphere Ruth Mateus-Berr, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria The Viennese coffeehouse is represented through visual icons—marble tables, Thonet chairs, mirrors, chandeliers and upholstered benches. Yet its identity is experienced through the whole body. This paper revisits an interdisciplinary design-research study conducted in seven Viennese coffeehouses in 2007–2008, asking how haptic, olfactory, acoustic and kinaesthetic qualities generate atmosphere, memory, informal learning and social belonging. The research combined field observation, "thinking aloud", expert interviews, bodystorming, haptic material analysis, and interpretation with students, designers and architects. The findings challenge the idea of an exportable coffeehouse prototype. Instead, Viennese coffeehouse culture emerges from a constellation of worn wood, cool marble, velvet and leather; coffee, pastries and, historically, tobacco smoke; clattering dishes, murmured conversation and turning newspaper pages; slow service, spatial niches, social heterogeneity and visible traces of use. Patina functions as a silent layer of knowledge, recording encounters between bodies, objects and time. Staged nostalgia and "pseudo-patina", by contrast, risk reducing a living social space to a tourist image. The project translated these findings into the installation Zen oder die Kunst des Kaffeetrinkens in Wien (Zen, or the Art of Drinking Coffee in Vienna), exploring how art can synthesize sensory data without claiming to reproduce experience. The paper argues that safeguarding coffeehouse culture requires attention not only to architectural heritage, but also to embodied, multisensory and socially produced knowledge. It proposes sensory design research as a method for understanding cultural spaces as environments shaped by material memory, human interaction and change.

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11:40-12:55 | Room -2.62 (Level -2)

Monday Onsite Parallel Session 2 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Sociology Session Chair: Kelly Hickey 11:40-12:05 109167 | Contested Surveillance: Gendered Citizenship and Political Participation in Egypt and Lebanon Mohamad Alzarif, The American University in Cairo, Egypt While the 2011 Arab Uprisings were famously framed by the utopian narrative of a ‘Facebook Revolution’, this view has given way to a dystopian reality where digital infrastructures facilitate authoritarian retrenchment. This thesis interrogates how precarious working-class youth navigate this "Architecture of Control" in Cairo and Beirut. Using a comparative qualitative design with purposive and snowball sampling, this research integrates digital ethnography and fourteen interviews with sixteen participants (nine female, seven male) to capture the lived experiences of surveilled youth. The study yields three primary findings. First, urban mobility is governed by spatial fragmentation, requiring youth to evade state checkpoints (Egypt) or decentralized sectarian watchers (Lebanon). Second, this architecture is profoundly gendered. The digital sphere relies on "lateral surveillance" (Andrejevic, 2005), where vigilant audiences police moral boundaries, subjecting young women to online harassment that severely curtails their public participation (Trottier, 2017). Third, youth agency has migrated from the politics of the square to tactical evasion (Bayat, 2013). By navigating blind spots and curating digital selves, the precariat engages in redress rather than open revolt. Ultimately, youth experience surveillance not merely as institutional policy, but as an inescapable atmosphere (Standing, 2021). Consequently, citizenship mutates into a gendered "performative tactic" (Isin, 2008; Bayat, 2013): a daily negotiation of perceived visibility to sustain physical and social survival (Sobhy & Abdalla, 2024). Illuminating these tactics shows the need for rights-based privacy policies and spatial interventions to safeguard civic life for marginalized Middle Eastern youth.

12:05-12:30 111372 | Why People Obey: Identity Group Theory and the Sociology of Voluntary Regulation Derek Barker-Ciganik, University of Vienna, Austria Why do individuals comply with social expectations even in the absence of overt coercion? Classical sociology has approached this question through norms, legitimacy, discipline, communicative rationality, symbolic power, and recognition. Yet these approaches frequently leave unresolved the mechanism through which external expectations become internal commitments. This paper proposes Identity Group Theory (IGT) as a sociological framework for explaining voluntary regulation as an identity-mediated process. Rather than treating obedience as the outcome of force, strategic calculation, or simple normative conformity, IGT argues that individuals participate in identity economies in which recognition, legitimacy, renown, and access to material and symbolic resources are unevenly distributed. Individuals therefore regulate themselves not merely because they are constrained but because identities themselves become sites of allocation, investment, and value production. The paper develops this argument through a theoretical dialogue with Michel Foucault, Jürgen Habermas, Pierre Bourdieu, and Axel Honneth. From discipline and communicative legitimacy to symbolic capital and recognition, each provides a partial account of compliance. IGT synthesises and extends these traditions by proposing that regulation operates through participation in identity structures that make obedience appear meaningful, desirable, and legitimate. The paper concludes by suggesting that voluntary regulation constitutes one of the central mechanisms through which modern societies reproduce order while minimising visible coercion.

12:30-12:55 114097 | Bringing the Far-Right Near: Developing a Theatre of Compassion Kelly Hickey, Dublin City Council, Ireland This paper explores the escalation of European far-right ideologies, examining how arts-for-development initiatives deliver innovative interventions. It introduces the “Theatre of Compassion”, a novel, experimental artistic praxis for civic integration, contrasting it with clinical rehabilitation by using collaborative fictional narratives to unpack polarising political themes. The paper interrogates how neoliberalism creates a poverty trap for lower socioeconomic status (SES) groups, rendering them vulnerable to far-right radicalisation due to their economic status. This dynamic is evaluated through the empirical lens of Ireland’s recent anti-immigration and ethnonationalist mobilisations, wherein systemic deficits in social infrastructure and housing are weaponised to catalyse collective anxiety. Combining evolutionary psychology with macroeconomic theory, it positions this trap as a dual crisis of structural economic enclosure and a profound biological threat state. Central to this study is Paul Gilbert’s model of the “old brain” and “new brain,” which elucidates how systemic deprivation triggers chronic threat-processing. Drawing on Rutger Bregman's work on resource scarcity and Gary Stevenson on asset concentration, the paper analyses how this enclosure intensifies collective vulnerability. Mapping these economic realities onto Gilbert’s affect regulation systems, it explores class interstices where unmet basic needs amplify structural anxiety, rendering lower SES groups susceptible to xenophobic narratives. Synthesising Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed within fictional spaces, this paper navigates the internal psychology of the “other” without individual demonisation. Ultimately, it presents a framework to deactivate evolutionary threat states and foster community resilience, offering a paradigm for a Theatre of Compassion that aims to bring the far right near.

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11:40-12:55 | Room -2.63 (Level -2)

Monday Onsite Parallel Session 2 VCSS2026 | Journalism and Communication Session Chair: Hamza Saad 11:40-12:05 110859 | Contending Media Models, Divergent Concerns: Press Coverage of the Strait of Hormuz Crisis by the BBC, Deutsche Welle, and AlJazeera Bjorn Koolen, Independent Researcher, Germany Accounting for 35% of global crude oil, 20% of natural gas, and 30% of agricultural inputs, the Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most precarious maritime choke points. The blockade of the strait by the USA and Iran has resulted in what the International Energy Agency has labeled to be the "largest supply disruption in history". While the international community observes the situation and the state of supply crisis that has developed from it, regional reporting reveals divergent public concerns regarding its impact on daily life. This paper investigates how the BBC, Deutsche Welle, and Al-Jazeera - being the three main regional public broadcasters with significant transnational appeal - frame the blockade and its systemic fallout. Employing a dual-method approach of quantitative frequency analysis and qualitative framing evaluation, the research identifies a critical temporal shift: as the blockade transitioned from a "temporary" military event to a "permanent" state of instability, reporting frequency declined yet they provided more in-depth coverage of the blockade's consequences. Furthermore, this paper tests hypotheses grounded in regional media models. It argues that the BBC adopts a liberal lens focusing on Global North consumer indices and inflation; DW aligns with German political discourse regarding macro-economic stability and deindustrialization; and Al-Jazeera prioritizes the human cost to the Global South, including food inflation and the stranded seafarers. By comparing these divergent models, this research contributes to our understanding how regional media framing dictates public discourse and economic concerns.

12:05-12:30 113286 | Mediatization of Social Media in Indonesian Local Online Media Irsanti Widuri Asih, Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia Aryo Subarkah Eddyono, Universitas Bakrie, Indonesia Social media is increasingly displacing traditional platforms of information dissemination, including mainstream media. This study investigates how local online newsrooms in Indonesia adapt to social media logic and the transformations that follow. The research focuses on four outlets—Bandung Bergerak, Lampungpro, KatongNTT, and Beritajatim—which operate at the local level with small-scale business structures and limited capital. Guided by Hepp’s perspective of deep mediatization, particularly the concept of re-figuration, data were collected through in-depth interviews with newsroom managers, observations of social media adaptation practices, and document analysis. Findings reveal that the mediatization of social media in local Indonesian media is uneven, shaped by organizational capacity, local politicaleconomic ecosystems, and established newsroom cultures. Bandung Bergerak and Beritajatim demonstrate the most institutionalized forms of mediatization, positioning social media as the central infrastructure of communication operations. Dedicated teams, content strategies, algorithm training, and editorial adjustments—from posting rhythms to visual aesthetics—reflect their adaptation, while journalistic values remain actively negotiated against platform logic. Lampungpro exhibits an even more advanced stage of mediatization, where audience feedback influences news angles, visual preferences reshape writing structures, and digital analytics guide editorial decisions. In contrast, KatongNTT’s engagement remains superficial and non-institutionalized due to fragile organizational structures, resulting in minimal and unstrategic use of social media. Ultimately, the re-figuration of communication practices through social media mediatization in local media is highly context-dependent. Nevertheless, local online outlets are acutely aware that social media is reshaping newsroom dynamics and redefining journalistic practices.

12:30-12:55 111877 | Artificial Intelligence as an Algorithmic Actor: Transforming Knowledge, Power, and Public Relations Practice (2020-2025) Hamza Saad, Zayed University, United Arab Emirates Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly become one of the most powerful technologies shaping contemporary society (Duckett and Westrick, 2024). Across a wide variety of activities, AI is changing how organisations operate, make decisions, and communicate with the public. In the field of public relations (PR), AI-powered tools are progressively being used to improve effectiveness, support strategic communication efforts, and create more personalized interactions with stakeholders (López Jiménez & Outreach, 2020). This development raises a significant question: are public relations professionals still fully leading these processes, or are algorithms gradually shaping them? To examine this question, the current study investigates 200 academic publications on artificial intelligence and public relations published between 2020 and 2025. The analysis is complemented by interviews with academics, public relations practitioners, communication managers, and AI specialists. Rather than focusing solely on AI's technological capabilities, the study examines how scholarly discussions have evolved. It traces a shift from viewing AI primarily as a tool for efficiency and automation to broader concerns about trust, governance, ethics, and the growing influence of algorithms in communication environments. The results reveal a clear difference between Arabic and Western scholarship. While much of the Arabic literature continues to view AI mainly as a means of enhancing organisational performance and improving communication practices, international research increasingly treats AI as an active participant in communication processes rather than a passive tool. This changing perspective is encouraging scholars and practitioners to rethink traditional assumptions about communication, influence, and institutional relationships in an increasingly algorithm-driven world.

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Notes

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Tuesday, November 17 10:20-12:00 | Online Parallel Session 1 12:10-13:25 | Online Parallel Session 2 13:35-14:50 | Online Parallel Session 3 All times are Central European Time (UTC+1) Abstracts appear as originally submitted by the author. Any spelling, grammatical, or typographical errors are those of the author.

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10:20-12:00 | Live-Stream Room 1

Tuesday Online Parallel Session 1 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Social, Political and Community Agenda Session Chair: Maria Sarbu 10:20-10:45 106106 | Identity Crisis among Taiwanese Intellectuals: Orphan of Asia as a Case Study Jinghong Zhang, Independent Scholar, China Yuhong Li, Nanjing Normal University, China This paper adopts text analysis (Zhuoliu Wu’s novel Orphan of Asia) and recognition theory to analyze the identity crisis of Taiwanese intellectuals during the Taiwan under Japanese rule. Taiming Hu, as a Taiwanese intellectual described by Zhuoliu Wu, faced the dual influence of mainland China and Japan during the Taiwan under Japanese rule. His identity crisis stems from the lack of mutual recognition, which is specifically manifested in the lack of natural identity and the lack of legal identity. Other Taiwanese intellectuals in the novel adopt technical paths and political activities to overcome their identity crisis, which presents three characteristics as a whole: the tension of multiple identities, the strengthening of motherland consciousness, and the assertion of anti-coloniality. In addition, on the one hand, this paper criticizes the literary Taiwan independence, diversified democracy, and cultural pluralism advocated by some scholars based on realistic possibilities. On the other hand, it starts from historical facts and lists the gradual strengthening of Chinese consciousness in the process of governance of Taiwan by successive governments in modern Chinese history. Finally, we conclude that only by basing ourselves on Chinese consciousness can we further resolve Taiwanese intellectuals’ identity issues.

10:45-11:10 110531 | Remembering Revolution Through Literature: Representation, Memory, and Afterlives of the Cultural Revolution in Chinese Fiction Supradip Das, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India This paper argues that post-Mao Chinese literary representations of the Cultural Revolution function not merely as reflections of historical trauma but as evolving modes of ethical and mnemonic negotiation shaped by generational position and shifting socio-political constraints. Focusing on three representative textual moments—works of Scar literature of the late 1970s, Wang Xiaobo’s The Golden Age, and Yu Hua’s Brothers—the paper traces how themes of disillusionment, alienation, and self-exploration are reconfigured across successive literary generations. The central argument is that while early Scar literature works construct trauma through a moral framework of victimhood and emotional restitution, later works displace this ethical clarity through irony, bodily excess, and narrative absurdity. In The Golden Age, Wang Xiaobo mobilizes sexuality and satire to resist both revolutionary dogma and post-Mao moral orthodoxy, thereby unsettling sanctioned modes of remembering. Yu Hua’s Brothers further radicalizes this shift by embedding Cultural Revolution memory within a post-socialist economy of spectacle, commodification, and grotesque humour, exposing the fragmentation and dilution of historical responsibility. The stakes of this analysis lie in reassessing literature’s role in shaping collective memory under conditions of political sensitivity and marketization. Rather than offering closure or reconciliation, these texts reveal memory as unstable, contested, and ethically unresolved. Drawing on close textual analysis situated within debates in trauma studies and memory theory, the paper demonstrates how literature mediates between lived experience, generational distance, and the limits of historical narration in contemporary China.

11:10-11:35 114141 | From Private Inquiry to Public Infrastructure: the Director’s Notebook Archive as a Case of Doctoral Research Becoming Cultural Heritage Practice Marius-Alexandru Teodorescu, Învață De Mic NGO, Romania Doctoral research on theatre practice rarely leaves the university. Even when it documents living practitioners, it typically ends as a bound thesis, read by a handful of examiners. This paper takes as its case study a doctoral inquiry into the director's notebook as a working document of theatrical authorship in Romanian theatre, tracing how that inquiry became structurally different: publicly funded, publicly accessible cultural heritage infrastructure. Arhiva Regizorală (The Director's Notebook Archive), funded by Romania's National Cultural Fund Administration (AFCN) and led by the NGO Asociația Învață de Mic, digitises director's notebooks spanning pre-communist, communist-era, and contemporary Romanian theatre practice — including material produced abroad by directors who emigrated — alongside filmed interviews with currently active directors. Its methodology descends directly from doctoral research completed in 2024, but the transition from thesis to archive required decisions doctoral research does not: what counts as a publishable unit outside an examination context, how to meet a funding authority’s expectation of public reach, and how to build university partnerships so individual research becomes shared curriculum rather than a personal archive. The paper treats this transition as its object of study, not an afterthought to "real" research. It asks what is lost and gained when a private scholarly method, developed for examiners, is redesigned for students, practitioners, and the public — and what obligations a researcher takes on when private inquiry becomes infrastructure others depend on. We argue this boundary deserves attention as an underexamined feature of arts and humanities research.

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10:20-12:00 | Live-Stream Room 1

Tuesday Online Parallel Session 1 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Social, Political and Community Agenda Session Chair: Maria Sarbu 11:35-12:00 112480 | Escaping the East: The 1969-1971 Correspondence of Two Romanian Artists in Transit Maria Sarbu, West University of Timișoara, Romania This article is based on the exchange of letters from 1969 to 1971 between Paul Neagu (1938–2004) and Roman Cotoșman (1935–2006), two major artists of the Romanian Neo-Avant-Garde. They left communist Romania around the same time, after having participated in exhibitions abroad. Roman Cotoșman took part in the Constructivist Biennial in Nürnberg in 1969. He stayed there for about half a year, after which he emigrated to the United States, spending several months in New York and Washington, and then settling permanently in Philadelphia. Paul Neagu was invited by gallerist Richard Demarco to the Edinburgh Festival for the first time in 1969. He returned to Romania after nine months in Scotland and additional short trips to France and Germany. His next trip abroad, in 1970, during which he participated in exhibitions in Vienna, Edinburgh, and London, would mark his definitive departure from Romania. He eventually settled in London, where he began collaborations with various galleries and institutions. Thus, the years 1969–1971 represented for both artists a period of transition, relocation, and uncertainty. All these inner struggles, as well as important information regarding their artistic work and exhibition projects, emerge from the correspondence they exchanged during those three years.

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10:20-12:00 | Live-Stream Room 2

Tuesday Online Parallel Session 1 VCSS2026 | Politics and Public Policy Session Chair: Blerta Drenofci 10:20-10:45 112372 | From Common Good to Economic Asset: Basic Sanitation Governance in Brazil Through Ostrom’s IAD Framework Antonio Maciel, Caixa Economica Federal, Brazil Suely Araújo, Instituto Brasileiro de Ensino, Desenvolvimento e Pesquisa, Brazil Brazil’s New Legal Framework for Basic Sanitation (Law No. 14,026/2020; BRASIL, 2020) represents a landmark institutional shift in the Global South, attempting to reconcile the nature of sanitation as a human right with market-driven universalization strategies. This essay investigates the implications of this transition for sector governance, utilizing Elinor Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) Framework (OSTROM, 1990). Framing sanitation as a Common-Pool Resource (CPR), the study analyzes the new institutional arrangements designed to attract private capital (BRL 700 billion) following decades of public underinvestment. By examining empirical evidence from recent concessions in Alagoas, Rio de Janeiro, and Amapá as complex 'action arenas', the research identifies how boundary and collectivechoice rules are being reshaped to accommodate private actors. The analysis reveals that while regionalization aims to foster polycentric and multilevel governance, significant risks of 'cherry-picking'—the exclusion of low-profitability areas—and coordination failures between municipal and state levels persist. Furthermore, it discusses the paradoxical role of the National Water and Sanitation Agency (ANA) as a centralizing regulatory node that may inadvertently stifle local autonomy, a core requirement for resilient polycentric systems. The findings suggest that achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 6 and 11) depends on institutional designs that ensure financial solidarity and robust monitoring to mitigate private opportunism. Ultimately, the Brazilian case offers critical lessons for the global governance of essential commons, highlighting the delicate balance between regulatory standardization, local self-organization, and the pressures of increasing financialization in public infrastructure (KLINK et al., 2023).

10:45-11:10 111081 | Assessment of Macro-Plastics in Rivers and Coastal Waters in Selected Barangays of San Lorenzo, Guimaras Tommy Artajo, Guimaras State University, Philippines Joebert Diane Ramos, Guimaras State University, Philippines Vivian Segobre, Guimaras State University, Philippines Plastic pollution has become a major environmental concern affecting marine and freshwater ecosystems worldwide. This study assessed the presence and characteristics of macroplastics in the rivers and coastal waters of selected barangays in San Lorenzo, Guimaras, specifically Cabano, M. Chavez, San Enrique, and Suclaran. The study aimed to determine the physical characteristics of macroplastics, including type, color, category, density, dominance, and distribution across the study sites. A descriptive research design was employed, and data were gathered through field sampling using 100-meter transect lines established along riverbanks and coastal areas. Collected macroplastics were identified and classified according to type, color, and density. Statistical analyses, including the Student-Newman-Keuls (SNK) test and ANOVA, were used to evaluate variations in plastic accumulation across seasons and barangays. Results revealed that Styrofoam, PET bottles, LDPE, and Polystyrene were the most common macroplastics collected, while white and colorless plastics dominated the samples. Suclaran recorded the highest waste accumulation, whereas M. Chavez showed the lowest. Statistical findings indicated no significant seasonal differences in macroplastic accumulation (p-values: 0.461–0.734), suggesting that human activities and waste disposal practices exert a greater influence on plastic distribution than seasonal factors. ANOVA results further confirmed relatively uniform waste accumulation patterns among barangays (p = 0.4262). The findings highlight the persistent and widespread occurrence of macroplastic pollution in rivers and coastal waters, emphasizing the need for coordinated waste management strategies, recycling initiatives, and stricter environmental policy enforcement to mitigate plastic pollution.

11:10-11:35 112345 | Strategic Planning and Institutional Resilience in National Emergency Management Systems: Empirical Evidence from Nigeria Emenike Umesi, African University of Science and Technology, Nigeria The accelerating frequency, intensity, and complexity of disaster risks in the twenty-first century have sharpened the urgency for resilient national emergency management systems, particularly across developing-country settings characterised by institutional fragility, governance deficits, and chronic resource limitations. This study examines the relationship between strategic planning and institutional resilience within Nigeria's emergency management architecture, with focused attention on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and its multilevel coordinating structures. Drawing on an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, the study integrates quantitative survey data from 82 emergency management professionals with qualitative evidence from 12 key informant interviews and systematic documentary analysis of policy instruments, operational frameworks, and planning documents. The findings reveal a statistically significant, substantively robust, and directionally consistent relationship between strategic planning and institutional resilience (β = 0.62, p < 0.05), with inter-agency coordination (β = 0.54) and preparedness (β = 0.49) operating as critical mediating pathways. Crucially, the study demonstrates that governance processes and institutional design — rather than resource availability alone — exert the most decisive influence on resilience outcomes. In doing so, the research challenges prevailing resource-centric narratives in disaster risk scholarship and advances a governance-centred alternative. The study proposes an original Strategic–Adaptive Resilience Model (SARM) that conceptualises strategic planning as a ‘resilience multiplier’ and offers a theoretically grounded, empirically validated framework for policy reform. The findings carry significant implications for disaster governance reform across sub-Saharan Africa and the broader developing world.

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10:20-12:00 | Live-Stream Room 2

Tuesday Online Parallel Session 1 VCSS2026 | Politics and Public Policy Session Chair: Blerta Drenofci 11:35-12:00 111511 | Reforming Non-Contributory Disability Assessment in Albania: Historical Transformation, Bio-Psycho-Social Evaluation, and Stakeholder Perspectives Blerta Drenofci, LOGOS University College, Albania Reforming disability assessment systems has become a priority in contemporary social protection policy, particularly in countries transitioning from medically oriented welfare systems toward rights-based approaches. This study examines the historical transformation of disability assessment within Albania’s non-contributory disability scheme and analyses stakeholder perceptions of the implementation of a bio-psychosocial disability assessment model informed by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. The reform represents a significant institutional effort to align disability governance with the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the European Disability Rights Strategy 2021–2030, and Albania’s broader social protection reform agenda. The study employs a qualitative policy case study design informed by documentary analysis and stakeholder-based empirical evidence. Data were drawn from policy and legal documents, implementation reports, and structured questionnaires administered to physicians (n = 195), multidisciplinary disability assessment teams (n=22), and beneficiaries of disability-related benefits (n=55). The results indicate progress toward a more transparent, function-oriented, and participatory disability assessment framework. However, implementation remains characterized by tensions between diagnosis-based and functional understandings of disability, uneven professional adaptation, and persistent institutional fragmentation. While beneficiaries generally reported more positive experiences compared to the previous system, concerns related to procedural accessibility and coordination remain. The Albanian case contributes to broader debates on disability governance and highlights the challenges of translating bio-psycho-social and rights-based disability principles.

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10:20-12:00 | Live-Stream Room 3

Tuesday Online Parallel Session 1 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Media Studies Session Chair: Hiroko Kinoshita 10:20-10:45 111349 | Shared Moral Foundation Under Antagonism: The Mitigation of Polarization in Digital Game Reviews Wen Hsiu Wu, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan Guan-Ze Liao, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) suggests that polarization originates from differing rankings of moral foundations. However, focusing on a controversial game, this study reveals that highly polarized groups exhibit congruent moral concerns. Grounded in this unexpected finding, we explore the plausible mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. Focusing on a highly polarized game on Metacritic (The Last of Us Part II), we filtered 17,538 English reviews containing value judgments, using the MFT as a framework and the extended Moral Foundations Dictionary (eMFD) for quantitative analysis. This study aims to deepen existing accounts of polarization by examining how the emotion–rating–feedback mediation pathway may be attenuated by shared moral structures. Based on the text analysis using the eMFD, the results indicate that players at opposite rating extremes share a highly uniform distribution of moral focus. Both groups anchor their discourse in the Care foundation and display an emotional orientation toward positive Loyalty (covenant with the protagonist) and negative Care (suffering and protection). Based on these findings, we propose a Shared Moral Context model. Rather than conflicting with MFT, this framework demonstrates that congruent moral rankings can coexist with polarization. This echoes previous research suggesting that similarity in discourse provides polarized communities with a baseline for mutual understanding. Identifying this shared framework may serve as a potential starting point for mitigating digital polarization and reconstructing dialogue within the public sphere. However, as this study is based on a single case, the generalizability of the findings remains limited.

10:45-11:10 113125 | Determining the Law Applicable to Cloud Computing Contracts: A Comparative Analysis of Turkish and EU Private International Law Aynaz Uğur, Inonu University, Türkiye The rapid expansion of cloud computing has transformed data storage, processing, and software services into inherently cross-border activities, raising important questions concerning the law applicable to cloud computing contracts. Despite their growing economic significance, the conflict-of-laws implications of their complex and frequently mixed contractual structure remain insufficiently examined, particularly from a comparative perspective. This study examines whether existing conflict-of-laws rules provide sufficient legal certainty for cloud computing contracts by comparing Turkish law with European Union law, with particular reference to Austria as an EU Member State. It employs a doctrinal and comparative legal methodology based on the Rome I Regulation, the Turkish Act on Private International and Procedural Law No. 5718, and relevant Turkish, Austrian, and European legal doctrine and case law. The analysis demonstrates that both Turkish and EU private international law recognize party autonomy as the primary principle for determining the applicable law, providing considerable predictability where a valid choice-of-law clause exists. However, uncertainty arises in the absence of such a choice, particularly because cloud contracts may combine elements of services, licensing, and data storage. Consumer protection, data protection requirements, and overriding mandatory provisions may further restrict party autonomy. The study concludes that existing conflict-of-laws mechanisms can generally accommodate cloud computing contracts but require a consistent approach to contractual characterization, thereby enhancing legal certainty for practitioners, service providers, and cross-border users.

11:10-11:35 111344 | Top Spenders and Hierarchies in the Thai Boys’ Love (BL) Drama Fandom: Inclusion, Exclusion, and the Politics of Visibility Hiroko Kinoshita, Kyushu University, Japan This study examines the role of “top spenders” (high-spending fans) in transnational Boys’ Love (BL) drama fandoms, employing a digital ethnographic approach to analyze the mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion within these communities. Drawing on participant observation in online fan communities across Asia, as well as interviews with fans, the study investigates practices such as bulk purchasing, crowdfunding, and high-value gifting. The findings indicate that top spenders acquire a form of ambivalent visibility and symbolic authority within fandom spaces. While they are recognized as central figures and develop a strong sense of belonging, their prominence also contributes to the formation of implicit hierarchies based on economic capital, which can marginalize other participants. In some online communities and social networking platforms, the total amount of spending functions as a marker of legitimacy, voice, and authority. At the same time, top spenders themselves remain highly sensitive to criticism from both within and outside the community. When criticism intensifies, they tend to delete their accounts and re-emerge under new identities, resuming their activities. These dynamics reveal an ambivalent relationship between conspicuous consumption as a form of self-display and the desire for inclusion within the fandom community.

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12:10-13:25 | Live-Stream Room 1

Tuesday Online Parallel Session 2 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Education and Social Welfare Session Chair: Sachiko Morita 12:10-12:35 111911 | Live and Let Live: Remodeling the Education Scenario for Sustainable and Peaceful Future Sumbul Khan, AbuDhabi University, United Arab Emirates In an era marked by rising global conflict and entrenched poverty, education must be urgently reimagined to prepare citizens for a peaceful and equitable future. This article argues for a transformative shift in curriculum and pedagogy to address the intersecting global challenges of war and poverty. Over 100 participants from diverse countries and professions, were chosen to investigate perceptions on moral education, empathy, global awareness, and peacebuilding. Mixed methods were employed, where multiple-choice questions were used, with responses quantified and subsequently illustrated via pie charts. To augment these statistical findings, the survey included open-ended questions to capture nuanced, qualitative responses, which were subjected to thematic analysis, thus providing contextual depth to the numerical data. The study is guided by three main questions: 1. What is the knowledge base of the common people about war and poverty? 2. What people think about the curriculum today? 3. How can we transform the curriculum to deal with war and poverty? Findings exhibited strong support for curricular integration of ethics, global awareness, and peace education. While systemic gaps in curriculum design, institutional support, and policy commitment remained substantial. Finally, in results it proposes an integrative curricular model rooted in ethical, social, and environmental consciousness to foster compassionate, critical, and solution-oriented global citizens for sustainable society. The study uniquely relates the two issues with education, and lays down an inspirational starting point for the researchers to focus on the elements of content and experiential pedagogy to craft citizens ready to deal with war and poverty.

12:35-13:00 112135 | Socioeconomic Vulnerability and the Role of School: A Gendered Regional Analysis of 15-Year-Olds in Eastern Europe Ana-Maria Teleoaca, National Scientific Research Institute for Labour and Social Protection, Romania Andreea-Denisa Trascan, National Scientific Research Institute for Labour and Social Protection, Romania Early school leaving remains a persistent concern across European education systems and policies, disproportionately affecting socioeconomically disadvantaged groups and frequently associated with broader, and often gendered, patterns of risk behaviours in adolescence. Despite sustained policy efforts to reduce educational inequalities, significant gaps persist, particularly for children and young people growing up in vulnerable family backgrounds. This paper examines the intersection of gender and socioeconomic vulnerability in shaping the school experience of 15-year-old adolescents, employing a regional comparative approach focused on Eastern European countries (e.g., Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland). The study combines a targeted literature review with exploratory quantitative analysis, integrating macro-level data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study and Eurostat indicators of material deprivation. The literature review maps existing evidence on the role of school environments in the region, examining how socioeconomic disadvantage and associated risk behaviours are currently addressed and where existing responses remain insufficient in responding to gender-specific needs. The quantitative component explores associations between national poverty indicators, gender, and dimensions of adolescents' school experience (e.g., school satisfaction, academic pressure) and risk behaviour. The findings aim to contribute to a better understanding of how socioeconomic background and gender intersect to shape educational trajectories within this specific regional context, and of the conditions under which school environments may act as tailored protective factors for vulnerable groups, and to inform policy responses aimed at reducing educational inequalities in the region.

13:00-13:25 113131 | Communities of Practice as Sites of Transformative Learning for Working Professionals: A Text Mining Study of University-Led Programs in Japan Sachiko Morita, Utsunomiya University, Japan As careers become less bound to single organizations, communities of practice (CoPs) have drawn growing attention as sites where professionals learn, develop careers, and construct professional identity beyond the employing firm. However, CoPs led by universities for working professionals remain little studied. What kinds of change, then, do professionals actually undergo through participation in such communities? To address this question, free-text responses describing changes experienced before and after the program were collected from 206 participants in three CoP-based programs operated by a national university in Japan between 2021 and 2025: leadership development, management, and data science and digital transformation (DX). Hoggan's (2016) typology of six transformative outcomes—worldview, self, epistemology, ontology, behavior, and capacity—served as the analytical framework, and the responses were analyzed using KH Coder, combining exploratory text mining with theory-driven coding. Each program showed a distinct profile of transformation: DX participants most frequently expressed epistemological and capacity-related change; management participants, change in self; and leadership participants, a balanced profile across self, worldview, and epistemology. Notably, all three programs elicited multi-dimensional accounts of change: what differed was not whether transformation was articulated, but which dimensions were foregrounded. The presentation will explore what these differences reveal about how program content shapes the transformative learning participants report, and will discuss the role universities can play in supporting working professionals across sectors.

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12:10-13:25 | Live-Stream Room 2

Tuesday Online Parallel Session 2 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Humanities - Cyberspace, Technology, and Education Session Chair: Nesrin Neslihan Kocuk 12:10-12:35 110212 | Taste, Automated: Listening in the Age of AI Farhan Bin Amjad, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, United States This article asks how artificial intelligence, through both recommendation and generation, reorganizes the conditions under which musical taste is formed. It defines taste not as a fixed catalog of likes but as a socially patterned, embodied practice: a learned choreography of attention, sensation, and participation cultivated through bodily technique, social hierarchy, and the spaces and rituals in which listening occurs. From this foundation, the article traces a three-part infrastructural shift. First, platforms translate listening into data via machine listening, extracting sonic features and behavioral traces to make taste computationally legible. Second, recommendation systems extend this legibility into formation: personalization curates patterned exposure that increasingly substitutes for the pedagogical work once done by scenes, institutions, and everyday social life, producing an automated habitus. Third, generative models supply an algorithmic voice by converting the musical archive into an active producer of new sound, closing a recursive circuit in which listening data helps generate the very materials that generate further listening data. Drawing on emerging empirical studies of listener perception, the article argues that rather than erasing musical taste, AI reconfigures its governance across datasets, platforms, and models, transforming the ways musical value is learned, circulated, and maintained.

12:35-13:00 113931 | AI-Driven Microlearning for Enhancing Student Engagement and Academic Success in Higher Education: A Data-Informed Approach Ifeoma Okechukwu-Uzoechi, Stadio School of Education, South Africa Enhancing student experience, engagement, and academic success is an essential focus in the changing landscape in higher education. The potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and microlearning as a novel instructional method to meet the challenges posed by learner motivation as well as retention and performance has not yet been explored. Using data from online learning platforms, the study illustrates how microlearning environments powered by AI can personalize content delivery, provide real-time feedback to learners and support adaptive learning pathways. Using a quantitative research approach, data were collected from 315 undergraduate participants across diverse academic fields to examine the correlations between AI-assisted learning behaviors, engagement, and academic performance. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations and multiple linear regression were performed. Results indicated positive significant relationships between engagement measures and academic success with time spent interaction being moderately related to final grades (r =.42, p <.01). Regression analyses indicated that personalised interventions were significantly predictive of increased engagement (β = .38, p < .001) and were associated with lower cognitive load and higher learning autonomy. AI also plays a role in creating meaningful learning experiences. Importantly, as this study examines correlations, these findings do not demonstrate causality. This study seeks to contribute to the expanding research on artificial intelligence in education by proposing a scalable model designed to foster student-centered learning. It outlines prospective avenues for consideration by educators and institutions investigating novel technologies, with the goal of optimizing student achievement within digitally mediated learning environments.

13:00-13:25 113567 | Cross-Cultural Assessment of AI Literacy: A Turkish Adaptation of the Critical Thinking in Generative AI Use Scale Nesrin Neslihan Kocuk, Istanbul Nisantasi University, Türkiye Arzu Kuzu, University of Yıldız Technical University, Türkiye Bülent Alcı, University of Yıldız Technical University, Türkiye As generative artificial intelligence reshapes educational paradigms, the intersection of technology integration and cognitive skill development has become a critical focal point. Addressing this, this study adapted the "Critical Thinking in Generative AI Use Scale" into Turkish to measure students' cognitive filters in artificial intelligence-supported environments. Data from 444 higher education students across Türkiye were systematically split for Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA, n = 208) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA, n = 236). Results confirmed a 13-item, 3-factor structure explaining 79.15% of the total variance, with excellent model fit indices (CFI = 0.970, TLI = 0.962, SRMR = 0.042) and strong internal consistency ($alpha$ = .93, AVE > .50). A notable cross-cultural finding revealed that the Turkish cohort prioritized ethical awareness ,reflecting on artificial intelligence responsibility, over technical curiosity (motivation to understand artificial intelligence), thereby swapping the hierarchy of the second and third factors. Philosophically rooted in the necessity of active cognitive engagement, this study argues that generative artificial intelligence integration is not merely a technical adoption but a pedagogical transformation. Students must learn to treat artificial intelligence outputs as testable hypotheses rather than absolute truths. Ultimately, this validated scale provides educators and instructional designers with a robust psychometric tool to assess artificial intelligence literacy, monitor cognitive engagement through pre- and post-tests, and ensure that rapid information access does not eclipse the critical need for human verification in modern education.

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12:10-13:25 | Live-Stream Room 3

Tuesday Online Parallel Session 2 VCAH2026 | Religion and Spirituality Session Chair: Dionysia Chatzi 12:10-12:35 111582 | Ritual Performance and Spiritual Pursuit in Taiwanese Daoism Tsung Pei Yeh, National Chengchi University, Taiwan This paper explores the relationship between ritual performance and spiritual pursuit in Taiwanese Daoism. Drawing upon fieldwork and observations of temple rituals in Taiwan, the study examines how ritual practices function not only as religious ceremonies but also as embodied spiritual experiences for participants and devotees. Through chanting, talismanic rites, spirit mediumship, and communal worship, believers construct connections with deities and seek spiritual protection, moral guidance, and emotional comfort in everyday life. The paper argues that Taiwanese Daoist rituals should be understood as dynamic forms of lived religion in which performance, sensory experience, and sacred space interact to shape individual and collective spirituality. By focusing on ritual embodiment and religious experience, this study highlights the cultural and spiritual significance of folk Daoist practices in contemporary Taiwanese society.

12:35-13:00 108546 | Liminal Space and the Openness to the Other in Theo Angelopoulos’ Eternity and a Day: A Theological Reading Dionysia Chatzi, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece In this paper, we examine Theo Angelopoulos' film "Eternity and a Day" (1998) exploring the different forms of spatiality within the inner world of its protagonists. Although Angelopoulos is widely known as the director of History, his films from the "Voyage to Cythera" (1986) onwards become more sensitive and existential, shifting from grand historical narratives to the internal aspects of the protagonists, without neglecting, however, the socio-political foreground. The protagonist of the "Eternity and a Day," an accomplished writer, inhabits a liminal space between life and death, memory and presence, as he prepares for his final departure. His memories confront him with his profound inability to love - that is, to open himself to the Other - an internal wound that constantly erodes his identity. His encounter with a street child, a young refugee living in social and existential liminality, opens up for him a new possibility to reconstruct himself in this transitional moment. Through this encounter, the protagonist gradually moves from isolation toward openness and communion. Angelopoulos' humane images penetrate the surface of events and reveal the characters’ deeper world, enabling the exploration of the inner spatialities people create in order to accommodate the Other, especially the vulnerable one. In this context, the film engages in dialogue with Christian anthropology and the distinctive place that the human person holds within it. Through our presentation, we analyze the two protagonists’ itineraries and transitions across the external and internal spaces through cinematic imagery, highlighting their religious and philosophical implications.

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13:35-14:50 | Live-Stream Room 1

Tuesday Online Parallel Session 3 VCAH/VCSS2026 | Sexuality, Gender, Families Session Chair: Demet Evrenosoglu 13:35-14:00 113789 | The Body Between Two Languages: The Emotional Labor of Translation in the Postpartum Period Among Migrant Women Flávia Lima Motta, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia This paper theorizes the postpartum period as a labor of emotional translation for women in migratory condition, drawing on an ongoing doctoral ethnography with Brazilian migrant mothers in Colombia. Rather than treating postpartum care as a neutral clinical encounter, this paper argues that the migrant woman's body becomes the site where two incompatible emotional languages, the affective norms of the host country's biomedical system and the embodied cultural scripts she carries from home, must be actively translated, often alone and without an interpreter, at the exact moment her body is most exhausted. Using autoethnography, in-depth interviews, and body mapping as methodological devices, the paper draws on Hochschild's concept of emotional labor and Sara Ahmed's work on affect and orientation to theorize what happens when the "feeling rules" of two cultures collide inside a single, recently-birthed body. Particular attention is given to moments of untranslatability — feelings, gestures, and expectations from the mother's culture of origin, such as the Brazilian practice of resguardo, that have no equivalent in the host medical system and are met with silence, confusion, or correction. Rather than framing these moments as communication failures, the paper reframes them as constitutive of the migrant postpartum experience itself. In doing so, it contributes an embodied, gender-centered theory of emotional translation as migrant labor, situating the postpartum body as a key and largely overlooked site of gendered migration studies.

14:00-14:25 114018 | An Organic Crisis of Capitalist Life-Making: “Cost of Living Crisis” as a Crisis of Social Reproduction Demet Evrenosoglu, York University, Canada Isabella Bakker, York University, Canada Feminist social reproduction theorists point to a central contradiction between the growing power of capital and the provisioning of stable conditions for social reproduction. Moving beyond notions of “polycrisis”, we explore this crisis through the neoliberal governance of reproductive sectors, often resulting in depletion through social reproduction and its human costs. We argue that this is an organic crisis of capitalist life-making rooted in the neoliberal social reproduction regime. Specifically, we examine the “cost-of-living crisis”, escalating across the Global South and the affluent core countries such as the UK and Canada. Often used as a buzzword, it is broadly defined as the fall in real disposable incomes or as a situation in which the cost of essentials rises faster than household incomes. Instead, we propose that this deeply gendered crisis must be understood as an organic crisis of capitalist life-making rather than merely rising prices or economic disruptions. Drawing on global data, we show a deepening crisis solidifying as a new normal, a permanent crisis, so to speak, for impoverished populations. This underscores the urgent need to transcend neoliberal governance frameworks. Finally, we explore Statistics Canada's timeuse surveys, the UNDP Africa Care Economy Index that assesses state support for care work, and the CareBoard at the University of Kansas, which evaluates the economic impact of care, all framed by Diane Elson’s 3R strategy: recognition, reduction, and redistribution of care work.

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13:35-14:50 | Live-Stream Room 2

Tuesday Online Parallel Session 3 VCAH2026 | Arts Practice, Policy, Management and Advocacy Session Chair: Angela Meleca 13:35-14:00 109935 | Why the Arts Remain Underfunded: A Classification Failure in Cultural Governance Angela Meleca, Miami University, United States Across arts and cultural sectors, measurable human outcomes such as empathy, belonging, and resilience are increasingly documented, yet the arts remain structurally underfunded and inconsistently integrated into policy, funding, and governance systems. This paper argues that the central issue is not a lack of impact or insufficient measurement, but a failure of classification. Institutional decision-making systems allocate resources based on categories of recognized value, yet arts outcomes, while measurable, are rarely classified within these frameworks in ways that align with policy priorities. This conceptual paper, informed by public value and institutional governance perspectives, introduces a framework for translating human outcomes from creative engagement into institutional categories that inform funding, policy alignment, and long-term sector stability. Rather than introducing another measurement tool, the paper reframes the role of measurement as a precursor to classification, positioning classification as the critical mechanism through which value becomes actionable within systems. The framework is grounded in applied fieldwork from the Collaborative Arts Impact Initiative (CAII), a cohort of twenty organizations using validated outcome measures across multiple contexts. This fieldwork is presented as an illustrative application of how human outcomes can be translated into decision-making frameworks, rather than as a formal experimental study. By shifting the focus from measurement to classification, this paper contributes a new lens for cultural governance, establishing a pathway for aligning the arts with institutional priorities in policy, funding, and cross-sector systems.

14:00-14:25 111498 | Cyber-experimentalism About Alfred Jarry Aslı Tekgül, Dokuz Eylul University, Türkiye Today, artificial intelligence is actively present in mainstream and sectoral environments. In addition to the creation of artistic content using artificial intelligence, such as paintings, photographs, and illustrations, text generation is also possible. This includes the creation of literary and artistic texts, including poetry. Lev Manovich associates the avant-garde with software, and today, the assessment and generation of art through artificial intelligence and posthumanist aesthetics are considered when creatively referencing Alfred Jarry’s style as a source of inspiration. Alfred Jarry is the founder of the concept of 'pataphysics, which is defined as the study of possibilities beyond reality, blending philosophical and literary elements, making him the master of style. As a pioneer, he employs a poetic style that is eccentric, symbolic, satirical, and disruptive. The concept of ‘pataphysics and Alfred Jarry’s style have influenced avant-garde movements and act as a foundation for Dadaism, Surrealism, Futurism, and Oulipo. There is a philosophical engagement with thinkers like Gilles Deleuze, Henri Bergson, and Ihab Hassan, situating Jarry within epistemological and postmodern discourse. Intertextuality has taken on a new dimension through artificial intelligence mechanisms. There is data in databases on specific authors’ styles, and AI is used to generate poetic text in Jarry’s literary style, enabling co-creative work between humans and machines. Through machinery, writing’s metatext emerges as mnemonic poetry.

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13:35-14:50 | Live-Stream Room 3

Tuesday Online Parallel Session 3 VCAH2026 | Creative Thinking in Secondary Education Session Chair: Emil Gaul 13:35-14:00 114285 | Developing Creative Thinking in High School: Can Creative Thinking Be Assessed Through Student Artefacts? Regina Berkó, University of Szeged, Hungary Creative thinking is increasingly recognised as a key educational outcome, yet assessing it in authentic classroom contexts remains a significant challenge (OECD, 2024). Rather than viewing creativity solely as an internal cognitive process or evaluating only the originality of final ideas, this study explores how creative thinking becomes visible through student artefacts produced during a design thinking project. The research draws on a secondary school intervention implemented in two Hungarian schools to prepare students for the SDGs Design International Awards 2025. Sixty-one students aged 15–17 followed the five-stage Stanford Design Thinking process to develop visual solutions addressing sustainability-related challenges (Auernhammer & Roth, 2021). Eleven group posters submitted to the international competition were evaluated independently by three raters using an analytic rubric assessing both conceptual quality and visual communication (Avotina & Froloviceva, 2023). The findings revealed considerable variation in students' ability to communicate creative ideas through visual representations. While several groups produced highly original and well-articulated solutions, others struggled to externalise promising ideas in ways that made their thinking clearly interpretable. The study argues that student artefacts provide valuable evidence of creative thinking, but that visual communication plays a crucial role in making creative thinking visible and assessable in design-based learning environments.

14:00-14:25 114218 | Developing Creative Thinking in High School: Institutional Support Through the Hungarian Education Through Art Network Judit Szepesi, Hungarian Academy of Arts Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology, Hungary As education is increasingly shaped by digital technologies and artificial intelligence, human capacities – imagination, interpretation, reflective judgment and creative problem solving – require conscious development. This presentation examines how an art education institution and professional network can create a sustainable environment for this development. It introduces the Hungarian Art Education Network, established in 2023 and coordinated by the Research Institute for Art Theory and Methodology of the Hungarian Academy of Arts (HAA RIATM). Based on the program documentation and a reflexive institutional case study, the presentation identifies three interrelated functions: making effective art pedagogical practices visible; connecting teachers, art educators, researchers, schools and cultural institutions; and enabling knowledge transfer through conferences, professional learning, digital resources and publications. The international research programme "Developing the Arts, Developing Arts Education" is presented as an example of this institutional model. The HAA RIATM provides the organisational and professional framework for the programme and connects international research, Hungarian school experimentation and dissemination of results. The following three lectures deal with the research itself and its implementation in the classroom. (Emil Gaul, Regina Berko, Zsófia Dévai) Together, the three lectures form a coherent series: institutional ecosystem, research design and school-level practice. The lecture argues that arts education is not a peripheral enrichment, but an infrastructure for the enhancement of human capabilities by machine intelligence, connecting research, professional communities and educational practice.

14:25-14:50 114021 | Developing Creative Thinking in High School: In Connection with an International Design Competition Emil Gaul, Hungarian Academy of Arts, Hungary Creativity as a human trait became a well-known area of research in psychology around 80 years ago, mainly through the work of Guilford (1950). Based on the research of I. A. Taylor (1975), we can also determine levels of creativity based on the product. Unlike creativity, which cannot be developed, creative thinking can be developed with well-targeted tools. The OECD PISA (2024) research has drawn attention to the importance of creative thinking in schools by working for years to include it in its list of competencies. The aim of the international comparative research project entitled “Developing Art, Developing Art Education” is to develop practical teaching methods and assessment tools for the development of creative thinking. To this end, in the fall of 2025, students from two Hungarian high schools participating in the pilot program took part in an international design competition, the SDGs Design Award 2025 (Kyushu, Japan). The theme of the 2025 competition was selected from the UN Sustainable Development Goals: • Living Together in an Era of Conflict: “Societal Design Transcending Boundaries” • Designing for peace • Designing with Marginalized Voices • Living between Virtual and Real Worlds Researchers chose the SDGs Design Award 2025 as a topic because it does not involve traditional object design tasks and provides opportunities for social design, as well as the use of not only visual but also verbal tools, all of which encourage creative thinking. The presentation will also include some particularly interesting, award-winning entries to the competition to show how the idea can be put into practice.

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Virtual Poster Presentations Abstracts appear as originally submitted by the author. Any spelling, grammatical, or typographical errors are those of the author.

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Virtual Poster Presentations Arts - Other Arts 109115 | Exploring the Artistic Beauty of Fractals Through Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence Ramona Baima, Aurora University, United States Regina Rahn, Aurora University, United States Michael Baima, Aurora University, United States In this project undergraduate students in Applied Geometry investigated the deep interplay between artistic expression and mathematical structure through the study of fractals. By combining mathematical analysis with AI-assisted technology, Python-based modeling, and 3D printing technologies, the project demonstrates how fractal geometry serves as a bridge between creative practice and computational thinking. Students explored the mathematical foundations of self-similarity and recursion, implemented algorithms to generate fractal forms, and used AI tools to extend these patterns into unique artistic designs in their class final project. The resulting digital and physical artworks ranging from computer programed images to 3D-printed fractal sculptures, highlighting how art, mathematics, and computer science can converge to support both aesthetic innovation and conceptual understanding. This presentation will demonstrate the value of interdisciplinary approaches in undergraduate education, illustrating how computational creativity can brighten the beauty and complexity of mathematical ideas exemplified in the beautiful artistical world of fractals.

Humanities - Other Humanities 111026 | Approachable Parasocial Relationship: The New Form of Parasocial Relationship that Developed Under the Facilitation of Social Media Yau Tsang, University of Lancaster, United Kingdom A new form of parasocial relationship, the “Approachable Parasocial Relationship (APR)” is blurring the boundaries between idol and fans. This paper explores this new dynamic of APRs under a combination of media and cultural studies with psychological frameworks. Historically, parasocial relationships were defined by a strict, distancing boundary between media figures and fans. However, in modern East Asian fandom cultures (including Hong Kong, China, Thai etc.) this traditional boundary has collapsed. Facilitated by digital platforms, modern idols build the illusion of being “approachable”, by directly interacting with fans online and offline, such as replying to stories or liking posts. This dynamic establishes what this paper terms the "Approachable Parasocial Relationship" (APR)—a newly engineered bond that feels increasingly personal and reciprocal. In its ideal form, this boundary collapse functions as a mechanism of bi-directional empowerment, providing mutual support and inspiration. Yet, the illusion of boundless access frequently acts as a psychological trap. Two psychological theories are adopted to elaborate the transitioning. These dynamics can lead to profound emotional exhaustion and burnout, which is increasingly documented in the fandom communities, and on social media of fans (specifically X, threads, and Instagram). Furthermore, the lack of clear structural limits precipitates a toxic turn, rendering fans susceptible to addiction-like obsession and systemic exploitation.

Humanities - Philosophy/Ethics/Consciousness 111068 | Integrating Counseling Psychology into Intuitive Interspecies Communication: A Structured Protocol for Human-Animal Relational Mediation Meng-Yin Huang, Taiwan Animal Communication Center, Taiwan Bo-Cheng Peng, Taiwan Animal Communication Center, Taiwan In the emerging paradigm of anthrozoology, addressing animal welfare requires methodologies that recognize animals as active participants. This study presents a structured, multiphase protocol that integrates professional counseling psychology frameworks into Intuitive Interspecies Communication (IIC). The objective is to evaluate a rigorous intervention model designed to facilitate behavioral adaptation, resolve multispecies conflicts, and repair human-animal relationships while minimizing cognitive bias. The protocol consists of three sequential phases. First, a pre-appointment orientation establishes a minimalist data baseline to eliminate cold-reading options. Second, an asynchronous remote information reception phase is conducted prior to live engagement, allowing the practitioner to gather non-deducible data directly from the animal. Third, a triadic counseling consultation is executed via a live validation process: verifying pre-gathered specific facts with the owner, delivering substantive subjective data, and applying counseling frameworks to collaborate on systemic relational adjustments. A retrospective qualitative analysis of implemented cases indicates that this protocol yields high social validity. The multi-tiered verification process successfully filters out anthropomorphic projections. Feedback from caretakers demonstrates a qualitative decrease in animal behavioral tension, accelerated environmental adaptation, and a significant reduction in caregiver stress. This study demonstrates that IIC can be systematically operationalized as an empirically verifiable, quality-controlled cognitive skill when anchored within professional counseling psychology, providing a replicable mediation framework bridging anthrozoological theory and clinical care practices.

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Virtual Poster Presentations Humanities - Teaching and Learning 112671 | Integrating Social and Emotional Learning with Multimodal Learning Approaches for Global Competence Amy Van Buren, Montreat College, United States This presentation provides an overview of the author's research related to the integration of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) with Multimodal Learning Approaches (MLA) to enhance educational experiences and develop global competencies. Emphasizing the interconnectedness between Social and Emotional Learning, Multimodal Learning Approaches, and global competencies, including emotional literacies, media literacy, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and global citizenship education, this poster presentation provides an interactive demonstration of the concepts and related competencies including the Connected Arc Framework (Van Buren, 2026), a visual representation of the interrelatedness between SEL, MLA, and global competence. Additionally, current research, practical applications in educational settings, and the far-reaching benefits of SEL and MLA integration are outlined.

Psychology & Social Psychology 109182 | A Study of Organizational Management by Middle Management for Newcomers in a Collaborative Childcare Group with Low Turnover Kumiko Yoshitake, Nagasaki Junshin Catholic University, Japan Maori Urakawa, Nagasaki Junshin Catholic University, Japan In Japan, childcare workers have a high turnover rate within three years, leading to a severe shortage of childcare providers. Until now, research has focused on why newcomers leave, examining the individual side. However, a small number of groups exist that maintain low turnover rates even as various newcomers join. This means examining turnover factors requires a comprehensive look at group dynamics, not just individuals—specifically, the movements of the three layers within the same group: the experienced layer, the mid-level layer, and the newcomer layer. This study examines groups where newcomers do not leave, focusing on the dynamics of the mid-level group. Method: Extracted childcare groups with a turnover rate below 5% and average tenure ranking within the top 5. Conducted semi-structured interviews with one leader (director), one mid-level staff member (12 years of experience), and one newcomer (less than 1 year) from these groups. Results: Analyzed using M-GTA. Newcomers initially expressed anxiety that their lack of skill might burden others, preventing them from requesting assistance even when issues arose with children or parents. In contrast, the unconscious actions of the mid-level staff influenced the newcomers. For example, the experienced mid-level staff themselves disclosed minor information—both positive and negative—to all three layers without restriction by location or time. This indirectly reduced the newcomers' concerns about how requesting assistance might be evaluated. Discussion: Based on the actions of the middle layer within a group with low turnover, we discuss effective group management strategies for reducing turnover rates.

Psychology & Social Psychology 114155 | South African Police Service Officers’ Narratives of Experiences of Tertiary Trauma Post Exposure to Secondary Victims’ Plight: Explorative Case Studies Masefako Gumani, University of South Africa, South Africa Tertiary trauma in the field of psychological counselling refers to peripheral or moderated trauma because it is outside the immediate experiential field of the victim. Its impact is softened by the existence of buffering factors between the primary and the third victims (Jett, 2015). While research calls for a holistic understanding of trauma because it takes various forms, most current studies on trauma among operational police officers globally, including South Africa, still focus on post-traumatic stress disorder and vicarious trauma to the exclusion of tertiary trauma. What should be categorized as tertiary trauma is still regarded as secondary traumatic stress or vicarious trauma, thus affecting conceptual clarity. This makes research on this phenomenon limited. The study combined the qualitative approach with the case study and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) research designs to explore tertiary trauma among South African Police Service officers and to generate inductive themes. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants. Data were analyzed following the IPA data analysis guidelines for participants’ idiographic experiences and sense-making. The findings contribute knowledge to organizational psychology and law enforcement in terms of identifying secondary victims like perpetrators of violent crimes, family members, and community members; secondary cases that cause tertiary trauma among police officers as third victims; and showing the distinction between the manifestations of vicarious trauma and tertiary trauma. The findings also explain pathways of trauma transmission from the victims to the police officers and, thus, support the development of relevant policy and contextual interventions for affected police officers.

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Virtual Poster Presentations Sociology 114108 | Evidence-Based Policy Recommendations for Infant and Maternal Health Promotion: Solutions for Diaper Need Tanyathorn Hauwadhanasuk, Saint Louis University, United States Priyal Vinodbhai Patel, Saint Louis University, United States Lisa Saville, Saint Louis University, United States Divya Date, Saint Louis University, United States Thelma Tari, Saint Louis University, United States Hisako Matsuo, Saint Louis University, United States Background: Diaper need, defined as difficulty affording an adequate supply of clean diapers, affects nearly half of U.S. families with young children and is associated with caregiver stress, poorer maternal well-being, and adverse child health outcomes. Although Missouri recently exempted diapers and related hygiene products from state and local sales taxes, diapers remain excluded from SNAP and WIC. Objectives: This study examined differences in outcomes between guardians who obtained additional diapers through social or community resources and those who did not; the relationship between diaper need frequency and infant diaper-related distress; and associations between public assistance enrollment and guardian and infant health outcomes. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with caregivers aged ≥18 years caring for children aged 0–4 years through partner organizations of seven Missouri diaper banks. Of 757 survey initiators, 477 completed responses were analyzed. Measures included child and caregiver health, perceived stress, diaper-related infant distress, diaper need frequency, coping strategies, and government assistance enrollment. Analyses included nonparametric tests, correlations, and multivariable regression. Results: Preliminary findings indicate that diaper need remains a significant concern and may be associated with caregiver stress, adverse child health outcomes, and greater reliance on community resources. Additional analyses are examining outcomes by access to supplemental diaper resources and public assistance enrollment. Conclusions: Diaper need may adversely affect family wellbeing and represents an important social determinant of health. Findings will inform public health interventions, diaper assistance programs, and policy strategies to improve maternal and child health and reduce diaper insecurity.

Urban Studies 111035 | Access and Action: Third Spaces as Everyday Preventive Health Infrastructure in Urban Wellbeing Julia Wong, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore LeiYa Wong, Independent Researcher, Singapore Rabi’atul Adawiyah Binte Zainol, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore Hannah Tan, Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore Third places are informal everyday environments such as void decks, community hubs, cafés, and public gathering areas that support social interaction and well-being (Oldenburg, 1989). However, their health value depends not merely on physical access, but whether people can actively use, occupy, and participate in these spaces meaningfully. This scoping review examines third places as forms of preventive health infrastructure embedded within everyday urban life and their effects on the mental wellbeing of youths and older adults. It includes empirical studies published within the past decade and excludes non-empirical theoretical works. Findings from interdisciplinary literature spanning urban studies in global high-density countries, public health, environmental psychology, and ageing research identifies five conditions enabling action: accessibility, affordability, environmental comfort, perceived safety, and social acceptance. These factors influence whether individuals across diverse age groups and social backgrounds can comfortably gather, interact, and express themselves in shared environments. Third places with such conditions support physical activity, social connectedness, and emotional resilience, contributing to improved mental and social well-being. Older adults benefit from proximity, walkability, and familiar environments that support active ageing and reduce social isolation, while younger individuals seek flexibility, autonomy, and psychologically safe settings for social expression. Conversely, physical, environmental, or social barriers limit participation, diminishing health-promoting potential of third spaces. Bridging urban studies, environmental perspectives, and public health, we argue that enabling action is critical to unlocking the preventive health value of third places. Urban planners and policymakers should move beyond providing access alone toward designing inclusive environments supporting meaningful participation.

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Pre-Recorded Virtual Presentations Abstracts appear as originally submitted by the author. Any spelling, grammatical, or typographical errors are those of the author.

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VCAH Pre-Recorded Virtual Presentations Arts - Arts Theory and Criticism 113360 | From Gallery to Feed: Analysing Social Media Contents as Contemporary Artworks Tabassum Fariha, Independent Scholar, United Kingdom Art entered the paradigm of post-internet art after Amalia Ulman’s Instagram performance (2014). Yet, there remains no evaluative parameter for social media (SM) content. Therefore, this study is asking: ‘what is the parameter to evaluate SM content as artworks?’ Inspired by Danto’s (1997) pluralistic concept, I have adapted Bell’s (1914) and Fry’s (1920) Formalism, Tolstoy’s (1897) Expressionism and Bourriaud’s (1998) Relational Aesthetics as a three-dimensional framework to distinguish and evaluate some SM content as artworks. The content’s formal quality determines the work-medium relationship within the SM platform. Moreover, the content’s ‘expression’ will help evaluate the creator-audience relationship. Finally, the work’s ability to foster ‘collective meaning’ will help establish its audience and its impact within that audience community. Hence, this study vouches for any SM content as artwork that can successfully navigate through the proposed threedimensional-framework. Rather than establishing consistency among radically different SM content, the framework provides an evaluative parameter to identify some SM content as artwork. To determine where SM artworks deviate from other content, I later applied the proposed parameter to analyse Megan Jayne Crabbe and Sara Shakeel’s Instagram content against some business, educational & entertainment content as examples. Instead of claiming all SM content to be art, this research demonstrates how only certain posts meet the standards of both aesthetic and philosophical requirements for artistic accreditation. In doing so, the research contributes to debates in aesthetics, postinternet art, and digital culture while proposing a practical framework for future scholarship on art in the age of social media.

Arts - Teaching and Learning the Arts 114036 | Neither Too Close nor Too Far: Students’ Distance from Generative AI in Lower-Secondary Art Miwa Sato, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan Shinobu Hasegawa, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan Generative AI can produce polished images. However, AI use and the elements remaining in a finished work do not show how students interpreted its suggestions and reworked them into their expression. To analyze this gap, we propose the concept of Distance, which describes how students adjust their relationship with AI-generated images while translating text into visual form. This study examines a cross-curricular unit connecting Japanese language classes and art education at a Japanese public lower-secondary school (four classes, n=120). The students had used generative AI in art education for one year, and were therefore not first-time users. In Japanese language classes, they write short reflective essays inspired by classical Japanese prose. In art education, they create visual artworks from those essays. Generative AI is an optional support alongside drawing and dialogue. The study has received institutional ethics approval. Distance is examined through two axes: amount of use and degree of adoption. Amount of use refers to how much students generate and refer to AI images. Degree of adoption refers to how far elements of those images remain in the final work in relation to the essay's meaning and expressive intentions. Students may adopt, adapt, develop, or reject these elements. These are not ranked stages, but relationships that may change during art-making. Visual similarity is treated as supporting evidence of adoption. The analysis compares essays, prompts, selected and non-selected images, sketches, process records, final works, and reflective writing, and examines which meanings students retain, change, add, or move away from.

Humanities - Globalisation 114058 | The Split Urban Identity: A Theoretical Framework on the Tension Between the “Built City” and the “Represented City” Under Reglobalisation Sacide Akin, Istanbul Ticaret University, Türkiye As a powerful dynamic reshaping urban morphology, tourism operates beyond a mere city activity; it serves as a multifaceted phenomenon driven by globalization and the culture economy. In the contemporary era of post-2010 'reglobalisation'—as conceptualized by Ashworth (2011)—the focus of urban tourism has shifted from cultural heritage conservation to strategic image management. Consequently, this process forces historic urban landscapes to adapt to global strategies, introducing a critical tension between the 'built city'—the material reality inhabited and shaped by living community practices—and the 'represented city'—the curated, commodified architectural identity reproduced through cinema, literature, artificial intelligence, and media for global consumption. While globalization and tourism-led development provide economic capital for structural conservation, they simultaneously risk hollowing out the intangible cultural heritage and local identities that give these buildings meaning. Integrating the 13 industrial branches of the culture economy and their spatial implications, this paper critiques how top-down urban planning policies in developing contexts often accelerate spatial homogenization to satisfy this imagined urban identity. Through an interdisciplinary critique combining architectural theory, cultural sociology, and urban planning, the research investigates the dual effect of tourism: fostering intercultural communication while threatening local cultural identity with homogenization. Ultimately, this research argues that sustainable urban conservation depends on bridging the gap between the built and the represented city, advocating for an integrated, humanities-based planning framework that balances economic cultural branding with the continuity of local cultural identity.

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VCAH Pre-Recorded Virtual Presentations Humanities - Knowledge 111622 | Epistemology Politicized: The Natural Sciences as a Project for Epistemological Rejection of the Humanities Aleksandra Zlatanova, Independent Scholar, Austria Why do the humanities and the natural sciences exist? Does the human not provide computational continuity within nature? Where does the borderline between the epistemic sectors lie? The study originated from the investigation of the relationship between aesthetics and neuroaesthetics in terms of epistemic validity, and was triggered by the following: aesthetics and neuroaesthetics are functionally incompatible (Zlatanova 2025), but the neuroaesthetic discourse conceptualizes its research as naturalization of aesthetic experience, often suggested or stated as performed by the sector. Naturalization is thus conceptualized as performed by a discipline of the sciences, onto a discipline of the humanities. The paper traces those claims back to their constitutive epistemological a priori. The conclusion is that the apparatus of the natural sciences is so constructed, that it doesn’t allow for epistemic collaboration with the humanities – it was constituted to reject them. This is normatively done through a term: “empirical data” – values, external to the mind. Meanwhile, for the humanities the empirical is already mediated through the interpretation. Thus aesthetics as a discipline is rejected by the sciences. How are “nature” and “empirical” in a closed epistemological system to function? How is epistemology reachable from within? A study through set theory concludes: ontology is relative – reality is currently inaccessible – but internal translatability processing can improve this (Quine 1968). However, through the exclusion of the humanities, the system excludes from the internal translational apparatus the only perspective, allowing testing of a view, in which the mind is not a product. 111621 | The Humanities and the Sciences Don’t Differ Methodologically, but Ontologically: An Epistemological Reconfiguration Aleksandra Zlatanova, Independent Scholar, Austria The divide between the humanities and the natural sciences has been conceptualized as “methodological”. I argue this conceptualization is epistemically misleading: the difference between the sectors is ontological. The divergence between the sectors arises from the two incompatible definitions of “empirical data” (external to a shared interpretive protocol vs. mediated by it), utilized by the sciences and the humanities, each of which generates a corresponding abstract-mathematical space (space in which computation is envisioned), where the information processing models develop. I thus argue that the scientific method of any researcher is always one: “functional analysis and reduction”. “Functional analysis” can be understood as “investigation of variables” (perceived changes); “reduction” – as “terminological choice assigned to the registered variables”. But stepping onto the two functionally incompatible definitions of “empirical data”, the sectors apply a crucial, mutually exclusive definition: what is “information” (subsequently, “object” and “system”). Because if an object (a concept) in the humanities is described simultaneously as the result of presence and absence of relations (the role of the context), and if in the sciences the object is the doer, then “information” is treated as: interface (because the object functions as both a product and a doer in a shared mathematical universe), vs. as something among things in a universe without a shared computational ground. The study addresses the problem of creating a domain-agnostic protocol, fit for assessing the epistemic validity of conceptual work in the humanities and sciences without applying structural changes to the theoretical archives based on a priori.

Humanities - Language/Linguistics 111587 | Experiencing Subjective-Passive in the Sinhala Language Prabathbuddhika Kanduboda, Ritsumeikan University, Japan Passive constructions in some languages exhibit complex linguistic constraints and pose practical difficulties. Examining the passive constructions across varied languages offers valuable insights into linguistic research and language learning. This study examined Sinhalalanguage passive constructions in relation to practical use. Sinhala, as one of the Indo-Aryan languages, demonstrates uniqueness in both linguistic constraints and practical usage. In particular, many studies report that colloquial Sinhala lacks passive constructions. Discovering the details of this phenomenon can reveal different passive uses. However, empirical evidence on how Sinhala native speakers react to passivelike situations has not been examined to date, leaving a linguistic perspective lacking. Notably, how native speakers react to passive actions when given different positions remains unclear. Therefore, this study examined Sinhala passive constructions, seeking to understand how different stances affect their expression. The research question was to determine whether native Sinhala speakers use passive constructions to express passive actions. The survey focused on 52 Sinhala language native speakers in Sri Lanka, affiliated with a national university, ranging from freshmen to seniors. The survey questions were delivered via an online questionnaire, with four images in which the reader is assigned to two different positions to express the same action. The results indicate that active constructions dominate the expressions in all four images, contributing empirical evidence to the field in addition to previous literature. Thus, in conclusion, this study finds that Sinhala native speakers tend to favor active over passive expressions regardless of position. However, further investigation is required with a wider population.

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VCAH Pre-Recorded Virtual Presentations 111505 | Idioms Through the Lens of Modality Anahit Hovhannisyan, Shirak State University, Armenia Language can never be “neutral” because it bridges personal and social worlds. Modality is one of the multilateral linguistic phenomena influenced by logical, semantic, and psycholinguistic factors. Modality is introduced as the way of realization of world perception, in which a unit operates as a speaker’s cognitive and emotive attitude to an object. This research examines the interplay between modality and idioms and asks how idioms entailing evaluation of attitudinal stance can be positioned within the semantic-functional field of modality. The two systems are placed in comparative alignment through the lens of field theory. The concept of modality is portrayed as a field-designed pattern embracing the lexico-grammatical inventory of each language. In English, modality is expressed through modal verbs, modal words, modal conjunctions, and the category of mood. The semantic-functional field of modality has an architecture consisting of a centre and peripheries. The category of mood is located in the centre, whereas modal verbs, modal words, and modal conjunctions construct subfields, finding different positions in relation to the centre. The functional approach examines idioms to illuminate their evaluative functions: idioms entail evaluations of attitudinal stance with positive, negative, and dual overtones. The findings suggest that modality overlaps with lexicogrammatical subsystems encoding modal evaluation of objects and phenomena of reality. The boundaries among these subfields are not rigid but are grounded on the axis of horizontal and vertical relations. The research reinforces the idea that idioms entailing evaluation of attitudinal stance construct a new subfield within the semantic-functional field of modality.

Humanities - Literature/Literary Studies 111915 | Surveillance, Exhibitionism, and the Child Persona: A Critical Analysis of Kids Run the Show Rasha Osman Abdel Haliem, The Higher Technological Institute & AUC, Egypt Delphine de Vigan’s novel Kids Run the Show (2021) offers a chilling, multifaceted critique of the digital landscape by examining the intersection of surveillance culture, the commodification of childhood, and the insatiable societal hunger for online exhibitionism. This paper analyzes how the narrative—structured as a dual-perspective investigation into the disappearance of young social media star Kimmy Diore— exposes the profound ethical crises inherent in the sharenting phenomenon and the rise of child influencers. By juxtaposing the protagonist Mélanie Claux, a mother who weaponizes her children’s images to satisfy her own desperate need for validation, with Clara Roussel, the hyper-observant police investigator tasked with solving the case, the novel explores the permeability between the private self and the digital persona. Drawing on sociological frameworks regarding reality television and algorithmic surveillance, this study argues that De Vigan captures a transformative cultural shift: the transition from the voyeuristic consumption of televised reality to the active, recursive production of one’s own life as a commodity. The novel posits that this regime of pervasive visibility fundamentally rewrites the parent-child contract, transforming intimacy into content and childhood innocence into a marketable asset. Through its suspenseful, procedural lens, Kids Run the Show acts as a cautionary artifact, reflecting the precarious reality of a generation whose formative years are irrevocably archived, exposed, and vulnerable within the digitized panopticon. 113065 | Samuel, Clemente and Quaderna: The Triad of Historical Counter-Narrative in Romance d’A Pedra Do Reino Sebastião Oliveira, Instituto Federal de Educação, Brazil This paper examines the interactions among the characters Samuel, Clemente, and Quaderna—triad through which Ariano Suassuna’s Romance d’A Pedra do Reino (The Romance of the Kingdom’s Stone) constructs a historical counter-narrative—and investigates how these interactions challenge the epistemological assumptions underlying official historiography. It argues that the novel develops a poetics of historical counter-narrative that resonates with Édouard Glissant’s Introduction to a Poetics of Diversity and Malcolm Ferdinand’s A Decolonial Ecology: Thinking from the Caribbean World by proposing alternative understandings of history and its multiple temporalities. The analysis focuses on Folheto XXXII, A trágica desaventura do rei Zumbi dos Palmares [The Tragic Misadventure of King Zumbi of Palmares], and Folheto LXXIX, O emissário do cordão encarnado [The Emissary of the Crimson Cord]. It examines how the perspectives articulated by Samuel, Clemente, and Quaderna operate as a narrative device that contests both the epistemological status and the linear temporality of official historiography. Methodologically, the paper combines literary analysis with theories of historical counter-narrative while engaging with the historiographical interpretations of Gilberto Freyre, Paulo Prado, and Sérgio Buarque de Holanda. It argues that Romance d’A Pedra do Reino contributes to contemporary debates on the construction of the past, decoloniality, and historical epistemologies.

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VCAH Pre-Recorded Virtual Presentations Humanities - Philosophy/Ethics/Consciousness 113168 | Language as Lived Integration: An Existential–Wittgensteinian Analysis of Immigrant Women’s Professional Belonging in Quebec’s Early Childhood Sector Fatma Abuareaf, Independent Scholar, Canada In May 2022, Quebec introduced French-language proficiency requirements through Law 14, extending mandatory evaluation to students enrolled in English-language AEC programs, including Early Childhood Education. This shift created tension for immigrant women who study in English but work in French, revealing a lived linguistic gap that shapes their professional belonging. This paper offers an expanded and more analytically grounded version of the study first presented at WCE2026, advancing the argument by clarifying its methodological basis and its combined existential–Wittgensteinian framework. Methodologically, the paper adopts a theoretical–analytical approach grounded in two sources: (1) qualitative observations drawn from continuing education programs in the early childhood sector, and (2) a conceptual analysis of institutional discourse surrounding language, legitimacy, and professional identity. Although not based on formal interviews, the study engages with lived experience through documented program practices, participant interactions, and recurring patterns of linguistic negotiation intensified by Law 14. Theoretically, the paper integrates existential phenomenology—to illuminate how women experience belonging, anxiety, and self-reconstruction—with Wittgenstein’s language games and forms of life, which clarify how institutional rules shape competent participation. French proficiency emerges as symbolic capital and as a rule-governed practice embedded in the intercultural model. This analysis draws on biographical insights into Wittgenstein’s intellectual development, illuminating his view of language as a lived, embodied, and ethical practice. By showing how linguistic thresholds, workplace norms, and institutional expectations intersect with women’s existential efforts to build professional identity, the paper advances the original study and proposes a refined model of lived integration. 113693 | The Church and Corruption: Laity’s Perception of the Priests of Anglican Diocese of Enugu Onyeyilichukwu Onwuama, University of South Africa, South Africa Corruption has become deeply entrenched in Nigeria, permeating the church and its altars in a manner that shows unwavering audacity and commitment on the part of the perpetrators. The present study focuses on corruption in the church, particularly among the Priests of the Anglican Diocese of Enugu (henceforth, PADE). The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design within a qualitative approach to investigate the research problem and address the study objectives. The theoretical background was anchored in Attribution Theory (AT), which provided the analytical lens for interpreting participants’ perceptions of clerical corruption. Using a multistage simple random sampling, four archdeaconries were selected, from which four churches were chosen, one from each archdeaconry. Within each selected church, purposive sampling was used to recruit two lay members and one clergyman who possessed sufficient knowledge and experience relevant to the phenomenon under investigation, yielding a total sample of twelve (12) participants. Data were collected through in-depth interviews (IDIs) conducted by the researcher. The findings revealed that the laity’s perception of corruption in the church, particularly among priests and pastors, is high. The study also showed that financial mismanagement is the most prevalent aspect of corruption in the church. This study recommends, inter alia, the establishment of an oversight and monitoring committee, composed of uncompromising men and women of integrity and impeccable character, who would serve as a supervisory body for the activities of the church and her workers. Employing a strong disciplinary posture and measures by the church leadership against corrupt or erring clergymen.

Humanities - Political Science/Politics 110764 | Cultural Diplomacy as a Vector of European Integration: The Case of Romanian Cultural Diplomacy Within the European Union Madalina Iacob, West University of Timișoara, Romania This paper examines cultural diplomacy as a strategic instrument for strengthening the European diplomatic framework, focusing on Romania’s role in fostering a shared European diplomatic identity. It investigates how national cultural diplomacy can move beyond state-centered objectives to support the European Union’s normative, symbolic, and relational cohesion. Guided by two key research questions—regarding the complementary function of cultural diplomacy to traditional diplomacy and Romania’s contribution to a European diplomatic space—the study adopts a qualitative methodology combining document analysis, discourse analysis, and a case study approach. The analysis draws on European cultural strategies, national policy frameworks, and institutional practices, with particular attention to initiatives implemented by Romanian cultural institutions and EU-level programs. Findings indicate that Romanian cultural diplomacy, especially through heritage promotion, artistic mobility, and transnational cooperation, contributes to the articulation of shared European values such as cultural diversity, pluralism, and symbolic solidarity. The paper argues that cultural diplomacy operates as a normative and relational bridge between national and supranational levels, enhancing trust, dialogue, and mutual recognition among EU member states. Consequently, Romanian cultural diplomacy is positioned as an active vector in shaping a more coherent and culturally grounded European diplomatic practice.

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VCAH Pre-Recorded Virtual Presentations Humanities - Science, Environment and the Humanities 114183 | Indigenous Peoples and Just Transition: Human Rights Perspectives on Low-Carbon Development in East Kalimantan Carolina Irene Andalia, Mulawarman University, Indonesia Rizki Septin Amalia, Mulawarman University, Indonesia Melati Ning Maghfiroh, Mulawarman University, Indonesia Muhammad Rasyid Ridho, Mulawarman University, Indonesia Muhammad Faisal Aziz, Mulawarman University, Indonesia Arnold Arswenda Kusuma, Mulawarman University, indonesia Indonesia's low-carbon transition is accelerating structural transformation in East Kalimantan, the country's largest coal-producing province, where coal mining contributes approximately 35% of Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) and an estimated 16,900 coal-related jobs may disappear by 2050. The relocation of Indonesia's new capital (IKN) further intensifies pressures for decarbonisation, economic diversification, and territorial development, creating overlapping challenges for Indigenous Peoples whose customary territories intersect with these transformations. Although the concept of just transition increasingly emphasises social justice and inclusion, existing scholarship has paid limited attention to how human rights principles can guide governance in resource-dependent regions undergoing simultaneous energy transition and capital relocation. Using qualitative document analysis of government policies, international organisation reports, civil society publications, and recent academic literature, this study examines how Indigenous rights are recognised and protected within East Kalimantan's low-carbon transition. The analysis finds that recognising customary land rights, Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), meaningful participation, and equitable benefit-sharing are essential conditions for achieving a just transition. Where these rights are respected, some Indigenous communities demonstrate conditional support for low-carbon initiatives; where they are overlooked, communities respond through advocacy, counter-mapping, and legal mobilisation. This paper argues that a just transition requires rights-based governance that institutionalises these principles as core components of low-carbon development, strengthening both the legitimacy and long-term sustainability of transition processes in resource-dependent regions.

Humanities - Teaching and Learning 106135 | Linking Adjunct Faculty Development to Student Success in Online Writing Instruction Hazar Shehadeh, University of Arizona Global Campus, United States Professional development (PD) is frequently mandated for adjunct faculty in online programs, yet institutions rarely evaluate whether these requirements result in measurable instructional improvements or enhanced student outcomes. This oversight is particularly impactful in online first-year writing courses, which play a critical role in students’ academic momentum and are predominantly delivered by adjunct instructors. This presentation examines a quantitative quasi-experimental study that assessed the influence of structured PD webinars on adjunct English instructors’ teaching practices and student performance in online first-year writing courses during the 2025–2026 academic year. The study employed a within-instructor comparison model, analyzing course sections taught before and after instructors’ participation in their first PD webinar. Student success was measured using course completion and progression outcomes, while instructional change was evaluated through indicators directly tied to teaching practice, including the timeliness and quality of feedback and levels of instructor– student interaction. Statistical analyses were conducted to determine whether participation in PD was associated with meaningful differences in instructional behaviors or student success measures. Results from this study provide data-driven insights into the effectiveness of targeted professional development for adjunct faculty in online learning contexts and inform institutional strategies for implementing scalable professional development initiatives that support student success.

Humanities - Teaching and Learning 111586 | Student Perception in EFL All-Online Group Works Prabath Buddhika Kanduboda, Ritsumeikan University, Japan This study reports on how students experience all-online group work in university curricular courses. Generally, group work fosters students’ cooperative skills from different perspectives, which in turn play an important role in students’ future career development. Previous studies on onsite activities suggest that group work helps students gain academic knowledge, improve socialization, and enhance intercultural understanding. However, research on all-online group work is limited. Especially, research evidence on students’ learning outcomes and challenges, along with pedagogical scaffolding, is needed to confirm whether all-online courses can offer students outcomes as identical as those of onsite courses. Therefore, this study examined students’ all-online course experience in relation to group work. The research question is to determine the students’ learning outcomes and challenges in all-online group work. The survey focused on Japanese university students (n=157) learning English as a foreign language (EFL). The survey questionnaire consisted of four sections that required free-productive written answers: A) learning outcomes, B) learner challenges, C) course learning outcomes, and D) future learning. The text data were analyzed using qualitative analysis methods. Results indicated that students' learning outcomes and challenges can be grouped into four categories in descending order: interaction > project work > language learning > others. In conclusion, this study argues that all-online group work in foreign language classrooms can be beneficial from both academic and non-academic perspectives when pedagogical scaffolding is adequate. However, further examination is needed to confirm the similarities and differences across content-based courses and the mixture of onsite and online instruction.

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VCSS Pre-Recorded Virtual Presentations Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences 108749 | Elements of Sensory Integration in Clients with Neurodevelopmental Disorders from the Perspective of a Speech and Language Therapist Kateřina Richterová, Masaryk University, Czech Republic The number of young children diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders is steadily increasing. Recent studies from the United States indicate that approximately one in six children (around 17%) aged 3 to 17 years has at least one developmental disability (Zablotsky et al., 2019). Data from the Czech Republic show comparable prevalence and incidence rates, consistent with international findings (Pospíšilová, 2018). Sensory processing disorders are frequently associated with these conditions (Isbell & Isbell, 2007; Mulligan et al., 2021; Zimmer et al., 2012) and may significantly impede the development of speech and language skills, thereby affecting the effectiveness of speech therapy interventions. Despite this, there is a notable lack of publications in Czech professional literature addressing sensory processing disorders and their intervention. Given the variability of research objectives and the individualized nature of participant responses, the study employed a reactive action research according to Susman's model with a preliminary questionnaire survey. Structured observation, direct diagnostic and therapeutic work was conducted with 63 clients, also including analysis of video recordings, as well as anamnestic and medical data from selected participants. The inclusion of sensory integration elements led to improved comprehension to one and two-word instructions in 87% of the sample and enhanced functional nonverbal communication in 76% of participants. Results were further supported by a control group. These findings suggest that sensory integration approaches are important for the effective delivery of speech therapy in this population.

Economics and Management 111908 | Tensions with China and Philippine Structural Upgrading Tina Clemente, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines Maritime conflict with China has resulted in continued concerns about economic repercussions on the Philippines. Many analysts lambast how the country pales in comparison with regional peers regarding capitalizing economic opportunities with China. The usual accompaniment to this critique is the enumeration of possible areas of bilateral cooperation that the Philippines is depicted to be ignoring due to an overemphasis on geopolitics. This rhetoric glosses over internal structural issues that not only impede the level of relations, for instance, in trade and investment, but also determine the quality of relations. In other words, structural weaknesses undermine potential areas of connectivity even amidst conciliatory diplomacy the height of which was during the Duterte administration, rendering the incessant exhortation of economic cooperation potential as obstinate naivete. Using the tensions with China as a driving context, this essay elucidates how improving Philippine resilience in the asymmetric relationship begins with domestic upgrading. This paper also inquires on whether the institutional and strategic disconnect between the security and economic sectors prevents the former from translating its threat assessment of economic coercion risk into a strategic industrial mandate.

Environmental and Health Sciences 111786 | DIY Testing the Relationship Between the Price of Ready-to-Eat Vegetable Salad and the Safety Level from Pesticide Residue in Laksi Ravipan Saleepon, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand Nattaya Prapaipanich, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand Tipwimol Wongrattanachai, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand Aotip Ratniyom, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand Sivalap Sukpaiboonwat, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand Sutida Plyngam, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand This study was conducted to determine the unit selling price of ready-to-eat (RTE) salad products in Laksi District, Bangkok, as a reliable indicator of the safety of pesticide residues. Many consumers believe that more expensive food items are safer and of higher quality, especially when it comes to pesticide contamination. You do it yourself (DIY): An MJPK cholinesterase inhibition test kit for the detection of organophosphate and carbamate pesticides with 85% accuracy and 100% sensitivity was used to estimate the pesticide residual levels in fifty ready-to-eat salad samples collected by convenience sampling in 2025. A binary logistic regression was performed to investigate whether price predicted safety categorization (0 = not safe, 1 = safe). The logistic regression model explained less than 1% of the variation in safety outcomes and was not statistically significant. The results of the study show that price was not a significant predictor of pesticide safety. The odds ratio showed a negligible correlation. The model reached 74 % classification accuracy, but it misclassified all the " not safe" samples as "safe." This means that the model is not predictive , but the dataset is imbalanced. These results suggest that the safety of pesticide residues in ready-to-eat salad items is not significantly related to price. The results show we need better labeling, robust monitoring systems, and consumer education because price alone is not enough to guarantee food safety. Future research should consider adding more product characteristics and using more sampling to help prediction accuracy.

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VCSS Pre-Recorded Virtual Presentations 110420 | Understanding Diabetes Risk and Healthy Living Awareness Among Myanmar Merchant Seafarers Min Min Tun, International Executive School, France Zaw Htut Aung, International Executive School, France Jimmy Naipaul, Rajiv Gandhi University of Science and Technology, Guyana Merchant seafarers constitute an occupationally distinct population at significantly elevated risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. The nature of maritime work, characterised by prolonged physical inactivity, shift-based schedules, nutritionally restricted diets, and limited access to healthcare, creates conditions in which diabetes risk can accumulate largely undetected. Despite this, the health behaviours and diabetes risk profile of Myanmar merchant seafarers remain largely unexamined, despite Myanmar being a substantial contributor to the Southeast Asian maritime labour market. This qualitative study explored how Myanmar merchant seafarers understand and experience diabetes risk, and the extent to which healthy living awareness shapes their health behaviours at sea. Twenty participants were recruited through purposive sampling across deck and engine departments and crewing management roles, and engaged through semi-structured one-to-one interviews conducted via Microsoft Teams. Data were analysed thematically following Braun and Clarke's six-phase framework, from which three interconnected themes emerged. The first, limited awareness and knowledge of diabetes risk, captured participants' lack of understanding of glycaemic monitoring and early warning signs, even where personal or family histories of diabetes were present. The second, structural barriers to healthy living at sea, reflected how the onboard environment constrains health behaviours through restricted food provision, irregular schedules, and insufficient opportunity for physical activity. The third, unaddressed genetic and familial vulnerability, highlighted the significant prevalence of inherited diabetes risk and the absence of any systematic response to it. These findings underscore the need for targeted education, routine screening, and structured lifestyle support within Myanmar's merchant maritime sector.

Immigration, Refugees, Race, Nation 110809 | Nepal-Japan Migration Intentions Among Young Nepalese: Aspirations, Economic Pressures, and Awareness: A Pilot Study Shahadave Shrestha, Higashi Nippon International University, Japan Nepal remains one of Asia's most migration-dependent economies. Japan's emergence as a significant destination, driven by its Specified Skilled Worker (SSW) and Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) schemes, presents an underexplored context for examining how economic vulnerability, migratory aspiration, and information access converge in shaping young people's cross-border decisions. This study presents a pilot study based on a structured questionnaire survey conducted in early 2026 with 56 Nepalese respondents (aged 18–35) who expressed intentions to migrate to Japan. Using descriptive and frequency analysis, the study explores three interconnected dimensions: the economic conditions driving migration, visa pathway preferences and perceptions, and the information ecosystems through which respondents form their migration plans. Given the exploratory and pilot nature of the study, findings are treated as preliminary patterns intended to inform future large-scale research rather than as generalizable conclusions. Preliminary findings suggest that most respondents come from agriculturedependent households with modest incomes, and that debt repayment and family welfare are primary remittance motivations — situating Japan-bound migration within a poverty-reduction logic. Tentative patterns indicate that 48% plan to depart within six months while 59% have never taken a Japanese language exam, pointing to a potential gap between aspiration and preparedness. Notably, the SSW program receives the highest perceived benefit rating (4.38/5) yet remains the second-choice visa pathway, and social media serves as the dominant information source for 70% of respondents. These preliminary insights illuminate structural vulnerabilities in Nepal's outmigration landscape and contribute to broader conversations on human agency and global mobility. 112172 | Mentor as a Catalyst for Onboarding in the Health Sector: A Case-study from Integration Work in Norway May Olaug Horverak, NORCE Research AS, Norway The Norwegian Integration Act ensures immigrants education in the Norwegian language and social science, as well as necessary qualification for work in accordance with background, competence and skills. However, succeeding with integration work, supporting immigrants to become financially independent and adapting to individual needs, has over time proven to be a challenge. With the increase of immigrants due to the war in Ukraine, this has become an urgent matter. Reports point to working practice in ordinary jobs as a good measure to succeed with integration, but experience and individual follow-up vary, which again influences whether this is a success. The study presented here reports from a project investigating: How can a mentor-arrangement contribute to supporting immigrants to become qualified health care workers, and what are possible obstacles? The candidates involved participate in work practice at health care institutions about four days a week and have Norwegian classes one day a week. Five candidates and their mentors have been interviewed, and data analyzed. Preliminary findings show that mentors provide safety and predictability for the candidates, as they can give answers to all questions concerning work, such as routines, procedures and equipment, and they also support the learning of Norwegian. Possible obstacles to success are language barriers and lack of contact points due to different shifts. In addition, motivation is pointed to as a crucial condition to succeed with supporting immigrants to become health care workers through this type of arrangement.

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VCSS Pre-Recorded Virtual Presentations Linguistics 109867 | Gender Differences in Children’s German Language Skills: Medical vs. Sociodemographic Influencing Variables Eugen Zaretsky, Marburg University Hospital, Germany Christiane Hey, Marburg University Hospital, Germany Numerous studies demonstrated that girls tend to outperform boys in language tests in the first years of life. The question is whether girls’ advanced language skills result from their sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., longer kindergarten attendance), or better health, or both. In the present study, a large sample of German kindergarten children was analysed regarding differences between girls and boys in their linguistic, sociodemographic, and medical characteristics. German language skills of 2,697 four- to five-year-old kindergarten children were assessed by the language test “Kindersprachscreening” (KiSS.2: speech comprehension, vocabulary, articulation, grammar, phonological short-term memory). Sociodemographic and medical characteristics of children and their families were documented in KiSS.2 questionnaires for parents and kindergarten teachers. Boys and girls did not differ regarding age and distribution of bi-/multilinguals. Girls slightly outperformed boys in KiSS.2. Girls played with other children and spoke out when playing more often than boys. Girls had less often hearing disorders, “language(-related) impairments and disorders”, late language onset, and motor disorders (associated with some language-related disorders). Girls underwent less often speech-language therapies and attended less often German language courses. There were no differences in sociodemographic characteristics of boys and girls related to the quality and quantity of the German language input. Girls’ German language skills are slightly better than those of boys because (a) girls are more sociable, (b) girls have less often language(related) impairments and disorders. Boys and girls grow up under similar sociodemographic conditions, that is, these conditions do not explain differences in the language competence. 104064 | Why We Need Large-scale Language Screening Programs for Pre-schoolers, Exemplified by the German “Kindersprachscreening” (KiSS) Eugen Zaretsky, Marburg University, Germany Benjamin P. Lange, IU International University of Applied Sciences, Germany Christiane Hey, Marburg University, Germany Introduction. Due to the snowballing migration crisis, most Western-European countries face the challenge of integrating immigrant children. However, since some children acquire community languages from their peers and speak them age-appropriately, it is important to detect those who still need assistance in the language acquisition. Although almost all pre-schoolers attend kindergartens in Germany, it is questionable whether one can rely on judgements of kindergarten teachers regarding children’s German language skills. In the current study, such judgements were compared with results of a validated language screening, “Kindersprachscreening” (KiSS.2). Methods. A total of 2,500 fourand five-year-old kindergarten children were tested with KiSS.2. Dichotomized KiSS.2 results were compared with judgements of kindergarten teachers regarding children’s German language competence, separately for monolingual Germans (MG, n = 961) and bi-/multilingual children (BM, n = 1,539). Results. Among children whose German language competence was described as age-appropriate by kindergarten teachers, 19% of MG and 68% of BM failed in KiSS.2. Even among children with most severe deficits (those needing language(-related) therapies according to KiSS.2), 14% of children, both MG and BM, were described as speaking German age-appropriately. German language skills of MG were judged predominantly on the basis of their articulation, those of BM on the basis of grammar. Discussion. Kindergarten teachers overestimate children’s German language competence. It is not recommendable to rely on their choice of children who should participate in German language courses (offered by most German kindergartens). Instead, validated, standardized screening tools should be used in largescale screening programs for kindergarten children.

Politics, Public Policy, Law & Criminology 110305 | Local Violence, Global Crime: Multilevel Governance and State Capacity in Ecuador’s Security Crisis Dayana León, Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Ecuador This paper analyzes Ecuador’s current security crisis from a public administration and governance perspective. It argues that the recent escalation of violence cannot be understood as an isolated or linear phenomenon, but rather as the result of complex structural transformations. Drawing on recent empirical evidence and interdisciplinary literature, the study shows that Ecuador’s security dynamics are shaped by the convergence of transnational illicit economies, institutional fragmentation, and weak multilevel governance. In 2025, the country reached one of the highest homicide rates in its recent history, reflecting the depth and rapid escalation of the crisis. The paper examines Ecuador’s transition from a transit country to a strategic hub within global drug trafficking networks, where local dynamics are deeply embedded in transnational illicit supply chains and cross-border criminal governance structures. This shift has intensified territorial disputes, reshaped patterns of violence, and exposed critical limitations in state capacity. Particular attention is given to coordination gaps across national and subnational levels and their impact on the effectiveness of public policy. Rather than relying solely on punitive approaches, the study advances a governance-based framework that integrates prevention, institutional strengthening, and social participation. It concludes that Ecuador is experiencing a context-specific criminal reconfiguration, where strengthening state capacity and multilevel coordination is essential for achieving sustainable security outcomes.

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VCSS Pre-Recorded Virtual Presentations Psychology & Social Psychology 112634 | Digital SEE FAR CBT Stimuli for Online Trauma Intervention: Behavioral and ERP Responses in Sexual Assault Survivors with PTSD Symptoms Sivan Raz, Tel Hai University of Kiryat Shmona in the Galilee, Israel Mooli Lahad, The Community Stress Prevention Center, Israel SEE-FAR-CBT is an integrative therapeutic protocol for posttraumatic stress disorder and anxiety that combines cognitive-behavioral principles with imagination, externalization, and playfulness through associative artistic images. Originally developed for face-to-face therapy using physical cards, the protocol was recently adapted to an online platform, requiring the development of new digital images. However, the emotional and neurophysiological validity of these digital stimuli has not yet been systematically examined. This study investigated behavioral and brain event-related potential responses to newly developed SEE-FAR-CBT digital images in young women with posttraumatic stress symptoms following sexual assault. Participants viewed negative, ambivalent, and positive images while providing behavioral responses and undergoing electroencephalographic recording. Behavioral findings showed clear differentiation among image categories: negative images received the lowest ratings, positive images the highest ratings, and ambivalent images produced the highest mismatch rates and slowest response times. Neurophysiological analyses further demonstrated differential processing of the images, with negative stimuli eliciting larger P1, P2, P3, and late positive potential amplitudes than positive stimuli at frontal and posterior scalp sites. These findings support the sensitivity of the digital images in eliciting distinct emotional and neural responses and are consistent with trauma-related negativity bias and previous findings using the original physical cards. The results provide the first controlled validation of SEE-FAR-CBT digital images and highlight their potential relevance for accessible online trauma-informed interventions, as well as for broader emotion research using symbolic and associative visual stimuli. 112360 | Examining School Violence and Individual Weaponization Through Ecological Systems Theory: A Systematic Review Sıla Uzkul, Bitlis Eren University, Türkiye Bahar Gümrükçü Bi ̇lgi ̇ci ̇, Kastamonu University, Türkiye Elif Çeti ̇nkaya, Edremit Preschool, Türkiye Ezgi Ada, Kastamonu University, Türkiye İlayda Gürsoy Kizilaslan, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Türkiye This systematic review examines school violence and weapon-carrying behaviors among students within the framework of Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory. Published national and international studies were reviewed to explore school safety, school-based violence, weapon-carrying behaviors, and violence prevention strategies. The findings indicate that school violence cannot be explained solely by individual characteristics; instead, it emerges through the interaction of family, school, and peer environments. At the family level, authoritarian parenting practices, exposure to domestic violence, and easy access to firearms are identified as major risk factors, whereas authoritative parenting, open communication, and a supportive home environment function as protective factors. At the school level, a positive school climate, strong teacher–student relationships, and inclusive disciplinary practices contribute to reducing violence, while exclusionary and punitive approaches may increase risk. Regarding peer relationships, bullying, social exclusion, and negative peer influence are strongly associated with violent behavior and weapon carrying among students. Furthermore, weak communication and poor coordination between family, school, and peer systems compound these risks. The review highlights that school safety cannot be ensured solely through physical security measures such as surveillance systems or strict disciplinary policies. Instead, effective prevention requires comprehensive and ecologically informed interventions that strengthen family involvement, promote positive peer relationships, enhance students' socioemotional skills, and improve collaboration between schools and families. Overall, the findings emphasize the importance of a holistic ecological approach to understanding and preventing school violence and weapon-carrying behaviors among students. 111561 | Bidirectional Political Socialisation in Japanese Families: Parent-Adolescent Political Discussion and Youth Political Interest Shusaku Hirose, Hiroshima University, Japan Tomotaka Umemura, Hiroshima University, Japan Ken’ichiro Nakashima, Hiroshima University, Japan Political interest is fundamental to democratic participation. However, evidence concerning family political socialisation has predominantly been drawn from Western contexts and has frequently treated adolescents as passive recipients of parental influence. This study investigated whether political discussion between parents and adolescents is prospectively associated with adolescents' political interest in Japan, and whether adolescents' political interest is subsequently linked to political discussion with parents. Using seven-wave longitudinal data from the Japanese Longitudinal Study of Children and Parents, Waves 1–7 (2015–2021) (SSJDA, 2023), the analysis included 3,704 adolescents from three grade-based entry cohorts (Grades 4–6 at baseline). Adolescents reported their political interest and the frequency of political discussions with their mothers and fathers, respectively. Multiple-group random intercept cross-lagged panel models were employed to disentangle within-person changes from stable between-person differences and to examine moderation by grade cohort, adolescent gender, and parent gender. The results indicated bidirectional associations: political discussion with both parents was positively associated with subsequent political interest of adolescents, and adolescents’ political interest was positively associated with subsequent political discussion with mothers and fathers. Model comparisons provided no evidence that these associations were moderated by developmental stage, grade cohort, adolescent gender, or parent gender. Additional analyses suggested that the paths from political interest to political discussion were statistically stronger than those from political discussion to political interest. These findings extend theories of political socialisation beyond Western contexts and suggest that Japanese adolescents may actively contribute to increasing political discussions in their families.

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VCSS Pre-Recorded Virtual Presentations Sociology 114162 | Living Through Technology: Everyday Life, Consumerism, and Environmental Denial: A Sociological Analysis Chandrabali Dutta, West Bengal State University, India While environmental sustainability is a ‘buzzword’ in the 21st century, but the world is experiencing severe environmental crisis that has heightened public concern over climate change, biodiversity loss, resource depletion, and electronic waste. Environmentally unsustainable patterns of consumption continue to shape everyday life, even among those recognizing their ecological consequences. The present paper thus explores this contradiction by examining how technology has become deeply embedded into everyday social life, influencing not only how people communicate and work but also how they consume, construct identities, and engage with the environment. Digital technologies, including smartphones, social media, e-commerce platforms, and algorithm-driven applications, have made consumption more convenient and socially desirable while distancing consumers from its environmental costs. Drawing on Kari Marie Norgaard's concept of socially organized denial, the paper argues that environmental inaction does not merely reflect individual ignorance but also is sustained through broader social, cultural, and institutional processes. Under the backdrop, the study adopts a qualitative research design, where through indepth interviews with 20 participants of 15 to 45 years from Kolkata the attempt has been to understand how technology shapes everyday consumption practices and perceptions of environmental responsibility. The findings suggest that technology-mediated lifestyles encourage frequent upgrading of electronic devices, online shopping, and digitally influenced consumption, which are widely associated with convenience, modernity, and social status despite growing environmental awareness. The paper concludes that understanding environmental denial requires moving beyond individual behaviour to examine how technology, consumer capitalism, and everyday social practices collectively reproduce ecologically unsustainable ways of living.

Teaching and Learning 108575 | AI-Mediated Formative Feedback in Online Business Education Maureen Andrade, Utah Valley University, United States The rapid expansion of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education is reshaping how students engage with learning tasks, particularly through computer-supported feedback. Tools such as ChatGPT are increasingly integrated into academic workflows, supporting drafting, revision, and idea development. However, their contribution to deeper conceptual learning remains underexamined. This study investigates an instructional design in which undergraduate business students used ChatGPT to obtain formative feedback on team-based blog assignments in an online Introduction to Organisational Behavior course. Using a qualitative approach, the study analysed 19 team submissions, including draft blogs, AI feedback, revised versions, student reflections, and instructor comments. The analysis examined how students engaged with AI-generated feedback and the nature of revisions implemented. Findings indicate that ChatGPT consistently produced structured feedback aligned with assignment criteria, particularly when students used an instructor-provided prompt. In those cases, feedback more often addressed theoretical accuracy, argument development, and conceptual alignment. In contrast, self-generated prompts yielded more generic suggestions focused on grammar and readability, underscoring the importance of prompt design. Despite receiving conceptual guidance, most teams implemented primarily surface-level revisions, such as formatting changes and reorganisation. Deeper revisions— strengthening theoretical explanations or clarifying causal reasoning—were less frequent. Iterative prompting and metacognitive reflection were also limited. Overall, while AI-mediated feedback effectively supports clarity and organisation, deeper learning depends on students’ AI literacy, feedback literacy, and guided engagement. The study highlights the need for explicit instructional scaffolding to ensure AI use promotes conceptual development rather than superficial revision. 108501 | Indigenous Education in MBA Ethics Teaching in Canada: A Framework for Reconciliation Focused Learning Johnny Chan, University Canada West, Canada This paper examines the integration of Indigenous Education principles into the teaching of Ethics within Canadian MBA programs, proposing a reconciliation-focused framework that deepens students’ understanding of ethical responsibility in contemporary business contexts. Grounded in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action and the First Peoples Principles of Learning, the approach reframes ethics as a relational and land-connected practice rooted in responsibility, reciprocity, and respect. By centering Indigenous worldviews, relational accountability, and land-based perspectives, the framework encourages learners to move beyond conventional rule-based or utilitarian models toward a more holistic, community-oriented understanding of ethical decision-making. By embedding Indigenous pedagogies within MBA ethics education, the proposed framework cultivates culturally humble, socially conscious leaders who are better prepared to navigate complex global and intercultural environments. The paper argues that reconciliation-focused ethics teaching not only strengthens ethical reasoning but also advances broader commitments to equity, inclusion, and decolonizing practices within Canadian higher education.

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VCSS Pre-Recorded Virtual Presentations Humanities - Other Humanities 111857 | Institutional Responses to Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: A Comparative Cross-Regional Analysis of Universities’ AI Policies Nato Pachuashvili, University College London, United Kingdom The surge in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has prompted higher education institutions to reconsider academic integrity principles and formalise AI policy at universities. Many international universities have already adopted AI policies, ensuring the responsible use of AI; however, there is no universal AI policy to standardise AI governance across higher education institutions. The objective of this paper is to compare institutional AI policies across universities and investigate the fundamental components of the regulatory framework. The study applied qualitative comparative analysis to a purposive sample of AI policies of 30 international universities across Europe, North America, the Middle East, Australia, and Oceania. Using thematic coding, the analysis focused on five core dimensions: scope, ethical priorities, permitted and prohibited uses, and contributing factors. The findings of this study revealed that AI policies vary significantly across regions. European universities demonstrate a strong alignment with national and international regulatory frameworks. North American universities’ AI policies are decentralised and often instructor-led. AI policies in Australia/Oceania are driven by risk management with heavy emphasis on cultural values, whereas universities in the Middle East emphasize national AI strategies and innovation goals. The comparative analysis further revealed that international universities' AI policies vary considerably and there is no universal framework that governs AI implementation in higher education institutions. The outcomes of this study significantly contribute to a broader discussion on AI governance in higher education institutions and its successful implementation in educational practices.

Humanities - Literature/Literary Studies 108357 | Death Eaters: Harry Potter’s Prototype Terrorists Abrar AlAli, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Saudi Arabia This paper provides a critical reading of Harry Potter’s “Death Eaters” (the violent followers of Voldemort) as a terrorist group founded on bigotry and extremism. Using Stuart Kaufman’s Symbolic Politics theory, the paper analyzes the striking resemblance between the "Death Eaters" and the ISIS terrorist group that was founded in Iraq in 2003. The aim is to examine how Western popular culture creates templates for understanding both Western and non-Western political violence. Previous literature address the political Western influences on the creation of Voldemort, linking him to Hitler and Nazism (Reagin, 2011; Lyubansky,n.d). It draws character (Hitler/Voldemort) and ideological parallels (pure blood/Aryan blood), but fails to provide a political parallel. Since the Nazi party was a legitimate national party that had formed a legitimate government, it is fundamentally opposite to the "Death Eaters2, who are a belligerent insurgent group that opposes the government (Ministry of Magic). They escape imprisonment in a serious breach of government control, thus rising to prominence. They evidently claim power using a terrorist takeover led by a mysterious leader with a murky past. These striking political features draw a picture of a modern non-state actor that politically resembles ISIS more than it resembles the far-right extremism of the 20th century. This study focuses on the allegorical Symbolic Politics and is not an exhaustive case study. The fictional realm does not provide insight into the “Death Eaters’” economic motivations; The economic grievances contributing to their rise are inaccessible.

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VCSS2026 Review Committee Professor Jennifer Madonna Dait, Ifugao State University, Philippines Dr Abdelkrim Dekhakhena, 8 Mai 1945 Guelma University, Algeria Dr Baraki Haile, Aksum University, Ethiopia Dr Audrey Hudson, Philadelphia Museum of Art, United States Dr Anar Ibrayeva, Maqsut Narikbayev University, Kazakhstan Dr Chani Imbulgoda, Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka Dr Alvin Joseph, St. George’s College, India Dr Shani Kuna, Sapir College, Israel Dr Maria Cecilia Laganson, Bicol State College of Applied Sciences and Technology (BISCAST), Philippines Dr Asem Obied, Palestine Technical University - Kadoorie, Palestine Dr Rasha Osman Abdel Haliem, The Higher Technological Institute & AMIDEAST, Egypt Professor Michael Owen, Brock University, Canada Dr Parichat Pragobmas, Phuket Rajabhat University, Thailand Dr Kornkanya Ratchaponsit, Phuket Rajabhat University, Thailand

VCSS2026 Senior Reviewers Dr Tommy Artajo, Guimaras State University, Philippines Dr Freeman Munisi Mateko, University of South Africa, South Africa Dr Davit Sidamonidze, Caucasus University, Georgia Dr Pongwat Fongkanta, Lampang Rajabhat University, Thailand Dr Shikha Gupta, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Jodhpur, India Dr Monalisha Medhi, Royal Global University, India Professor Fisik Sean Buakanok, Lampang Rajabhat University, Thailand Dr Eric Awi, Colegio de San Juan de Letran, Philippines Dr Dahlia Fernandez, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia Dr Chandrabali Dutta, Hiralal Mazumdar Memorial College for Women, India Dr Peter Holowka, West Point Grey Academy, Canada Dr May Olaug Horverak, NORCE - Norwegian Research Centre, Norway Dr Jichan Kim, Liberty University, United States Dr Voraprapa Nakavachara, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand Dr Ashish Trivedi, O.P. Jindal Global University Sonipat, India Dr Vafa Yunusova, ADA University, Azerbaijan Dr Eugen Zaretsky, University of Marburg, Germany

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VCSS2026 Reviewers Professor Shaul Gabbay, Global Research Institute, Denver, Colorado, United States Professor Vana Rajendra Prasad, Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Lam, India Dr Dickey Choedon, Central Tibetan Administration, India Professor Hussain Mayuuf, University of Babylon, Iraq Dr Sıla Uzkul, Bitlis Eren University, Türkiye Dr Najwa A. Nadia, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands Dr Rayyan Cheong Tian Ming Abdullah, National Defence University of Malaysia, Malaysia Dr Fusun Akdag, Üsküdar University, Türkiye Dr Hajar Al Saidi, University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Oman Dr Maureen Andrade, Utah Valley University, United States Dr Harrison Campbell, Saint Mary’s University, Canada Dr Muluken Asegidew Chekol, Northumbria University, United Kingdom Dr Wonjoo Cho, Chungbuk National University, South Korea Professor Tina Clemente, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines Dr Sizwe Dlamini, University of Johannesburg, South Africa Dr Nissrine Fariss, Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis (MIPA), Morocco Dr Noëlie Frix, Morehead State University, United States Dr Hsin-lun Li, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan Dr Mampoi Mabena, University of Johannesburg, South Africa Dr Sachiko Morita, Utsunomiya University, Japan Dr Jimmy Naipaul, International Executive School, France Professor Albena Nakova, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria Dr Chunipha Poedloknimit, Western University, Thailand Dr Phone Pyae Soe, Naresuan University, Thailand Dr Kata Springinzeisz, Gabriela Mistral University, Chile Dr Sivakumari Supramaniam, Higher Colleges of Technology, United Arab Emirates Professor Mamiko Takeuchi, Aichi Gakuin University, Japan Dr Vibha Trivedi, O.P. Jindal Global University Sonipat, India Dr Aynaz Uğur, İnönü University, Türkiye Dr John Williams, Collin College, United States Dr Łukasz Wirkus, University of Gdańsk, Poland Dr Angga Dwiartama, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia Dr Demet Evrenosoglu, York University, Canada Dr Shahadave Shrestha, Higashi Nippon International University, Japan

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VCAH2026 Review Committee Dr Guranda Khabeishvili, International Black Sea University, Georgia Dr Tibor M. Pintér, Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, Hungary Dr Beatrice Ngulube, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa Dr Nato Pachuashvili, University College London (UCL), United Kingdom

VCAH2026 Senior Reviewers Dr Parinya Meesuk, Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi, Thailand Dr Prabathbuddhika Kanduboda, Ritsumeikan University, Japan Dr Hiroko Kinoshita, Kyushu University, Japan Dr Shubhani Shubhani, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India Professor Zahidah Taha, University of Duhok, Iraq Dr Sara Almaleki, Syracuse University, United States Professor Nneka Augustina Umezulike, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Nigeria Dr Ni Na Camellia Ng, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong Kong

VCAH2026 Reviewers Dr Madalina Iacob, West University of Timișoara, Romania Dr Katherine Maxwell, University of Manitoba, Canada Dr Pahurat Taisuwan, Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand Professor Eslam Abdelraouf, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman Dr Shamim Ali, Riphah International University, Pakistan Dr Keshabhai Marvada, The Centre for Culture and Development, Vadodara, India Dr Abrar Alali, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Saudi Arabia Dr Grace Aonok, Captain Williamson Sangma State University, India Dr Md Danish, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India Professor Maoka Dikotla, University of South Africa, South Africa Dr Kelly Hickey, Dublin City Council, Ireland Dr May Olaug Horverak, NORCE - Norwegian Research Centre, Norway Professor Anahit Hovhannisyan, Shirak State University, Armenia Dr Wenhua Hsu, I-Shou University, Taiwan Dr Ran Kamiyama, Toyo University, Japan Dr Tatiana Linaker, King’s College London, United Kingdom Dr Iris Loewenschuss Erlich, Levinsky-Wingate Academic Center, Israel Dr Ndamulelo Innocentia Mabidi, University of South Africa, South Africa Dr Kerry Magro, Independent Scholar, United States Dr Ryosuke Matsumura, Fuji Women’s University, Japan Professor Tsogzolmaa Nyamaa, Mongolian National University of Education, Mongolia Dr Onyeyilichukwu Onwuama, University of South Africa, South Africa Dr Jamelyn Palattao, Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology, Philippines Dr Forrest Parker, Valdosta State University, United States Dr Hazar Shehadeh, University of Arizona, United States Dr Abraham Tamukum Tangwe, Protestant University of Rwanda, Rwanda Dr Sri Tatminingsih, Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia Dr Anitha U.S., GITAM (Deemed to be University), India Professor Emil Gaul, Hungarian Academy of Arts, Hungary Professor Mei-ying Liao, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taiwan Dr Sanita Rai, Sikkim Government College, Rhenock, India Dr Ida Zubaidah, Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia

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