Professor Michelle M. Neumann

The University of Sheffield, UK

Michelle M. Neumann is an expert in the field of early childhood education, digital technologies (social robots, tablets, apps), and emergent literacy development, and conducts research in preschool and primary school settings. Michelle has experience in using a multi-method approach that incorporates qualitative and quantitative analysis, and she has been recognised as a lead researcher in Australia, in the field of Early Childhood Education by the Australian Government (2021-2023) and has been successful in gaining research funding. Michelle has developed several early educational programs and digital resources for early literacy and language learning, and published a book, several book chapters and research articles in national and international peer-reviewed journals, having over 10 years’ experience working as a primary and secondary school teacher. She is passionate about leading research teams that seek to understand how young children interact, engage, and communicate with social robots and how AI-enabled social robots could be used to support early literacy and language learning in the classroom.

Assoc. Prof. Celina da Silva

York University, Canada

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

Assoc. Prof. Yanlan Shi

Beijing Language and Culture University, China

Yanlan Shi, Doctor of Literature, Associate Professor, Beijing Language and Culture University. The major field of study is international Chinese language education. She has been teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages for 29 years and has extensive experience in both language teaching and intercultural communication. She went to Japan and Singapore several times to teach Chinese or give short-term lectures. She was a visiting scholar at Columbia University in the city of New York during 2007-2009. In 2013, she received the certificate of completion from the Institute of Chinese Culture and Cross-Cultural Communication at Beijing Foreign Studies University. In 2014, she earned the certificate of completion for the Senior Workshop on Sustainable Development of Culture and International Language Education at Beijing Normal University. From 2015 to 2019, she was a visiting professor at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA. She designed and implemented personalized teaching plans based on students’ needs and proficiency levels, utilized various teaching methods to stimulate students' interest in learning, cultivated students' autonomous learning abilities, and encouraged their active participation in class discussions and practical activities. The published articles include 'Teaching Dimensional Digitized Newspapers Course' (Digital Chinese Teaching, July 2014) and 'A Brief Review on the Development of Digital Teaching Chinese' (Modern Educational Technology, December 2013). The book 'The Subject Words Group and Related Research Based on the Dynamic Circulation of Mainstream Newspapers in China' was published by Guangming Daily Press, Beijing, in April 2021. Current research interests are international communication, Multimodal Teaching, and Blended Teaching.

Prof. María José Latorre-Medina

University of Granada, Spain

Prof. María José Latorre-Medina holds a PhD in Education from the University of Granada, Spain. She is Associate Professor in the Department of Teaching and School Organisation at the Faculty of Education, Economy, and Technology of Ceuta, University of Granada, Spain. Her research career began more than twenty years ago at the same university, where she has carried out her main scientific and technical work. Since the completion of her doctoral thesis, which focused on the practical knowledge of future teachers, her scientific production has been continuous and intense, developing various studies that have resulted in numerous specialised publications. Many of this works have been published in indexed scientific journals. She has been a member of the FORCE research group (School-centred Teacher Training). From 2021, she leads the FYDAD research group (Training, Development and Teaching Activity). Her main research areas are professional knowledge, teacher training and quality of education.
In terms of internalisation, she has taken part in teacher mobility programmes. She has spent several periods in universities of excellence abroad. She has had the privilege of working with professors from York St John University and the University of London in the UK and from Maryland, Columbia and Connecticut in the US.
Throughout her career, she has also held the position of Vice-Dean of External Practices and Educational Innovation at the Faculty of Education, Economy and Technology in Ceuta, University of Granada. She was also the coordinator of the Early Childhood Education degree at the same faculty.
URLs Scientific Production:
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2237-9341
https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=rACxz_IAAAAJ&hl=es&oi=sra

Asst. Prof. Chandra Reka Ramachandiran

Xiamen University Malaysia, Malaysia

Assistant Professor Dr. Chandra Reka Ramachandiran is the Head of Programme (Software Engineering) at Xiamen University Malaysia. Her research expertise spans Teaching and Learning Tools, Human-Computer Interaction, Mixed Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and Affective Engineering (Kansei Engineering).
An accomplished researcher, Dr. Chandra has presented and published extensively in renowned conferences and high-impact journals. She has successfully secured multiple national and international research grants, reflecting her strong contributions to the field. She was also awarded the prestigious JASSO Scholarship, a research collaboration between the University of Malaya and Chiba University, Japan.
Beyond research, Dr. Chandra is actively involved in the academic community, serving as a reviewer and technical committee member for numerous ACM and IEEE conferences, along with other international events. She is deeply committed to both teaching and research, continuously advancing the field of Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence and other Emerging Technologies.

Senior Lecturer Dr. Nurul Farhana Jumaat

Universiti Malaya, Malaysia

Dr Nurul Farhana Jumaat is a senior lecturer from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. She is also the editorial board for Innovative Teaching and Learning Journal and a frequent reviewer for ISI indexed journal namely Journal of Educational Computing Research (JECR) and Education and Information Technologies Journal. To date, she has secured 7 research grants in which she acted as Project Leader and a member of 24 other research related to online learning, learning analytics and computer-based T&L.

Dr. Phillip Benachour

Lancaster University, UK

I am a Senior Teaching Fellow in the School of Computing and Communications and Director of the International Partner Campuses in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Lancaster University.
For international role in the Faculty, I have oversight of the international partner campuses giving direction on operations and advising the Dean and Faculty leadership group.
My current research interests and topics relate to the use of technology to understand and support learning. The topics I am working on fit within the broad area of Technology Enhanced Learning.