ICOAH 2025: Meet the Steering Committee

Meet our PrestigiousDriving Vision and Strategy for a Successful Conference

Our Inspirational Speakers

Keynote Speakers

Professor Paul Arthur was appointed to ECU as a Professorial Research Fellow in 2016. He holds a PhD in English, Communication, and Cultural Studies from the University of Western Australia. Professor Arthur speaks and publishes widely on major challenges and changes facing 21st-century society, from the global impacts of technology on culture and identity to migration and human rights. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he has over 100 publications including 13 books (authored and edited). His latest book is Open Scholarship in the Humanities (with Lydia Hearn, Bloomsbury open access, 2024, https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph?docid=b-9781350232303).

In the past decade Professor Arthur has received over $5 million in Australian and international grants, individually and in collaboration. He has served on the executive boards and councils of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO); centerNet—the worldwide network of digital humanities research centres (Co-Chair, 2015–2019); the International Auto/Biography Association (IABA); the Australasian Association for Digital Humanities (founding President 2011–2015, Vice-President 2018–2021); the Australasian Consortium of Humanities Research Centres (founding board member 2010–2019); and the National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources (Nectar) Super Science initiative of the Australian Government (2012–2018).

Paul Arthur is known as a leading figure in the development of the field of digital humanities in Australia and internationally, and he was Australia’s first Professor in Digital Humanities (at Western Sydney University). He previously worked at the Australian National University in roles including as Deputy Director of the Centre for European Studies and Deputy Director of the National Centre of Biography. He oversaw the digital production of the largest collaborative project in the humanities and social sciences in Australia as Deputy General Editor of the Australian Dictionary of Biography. Paul Arthur has held a number of prestigious visiting positions in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America, including as Visiting Professor of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, in 2016-17. He was Dr R. Marika Chair of Australian and Indigenous Studies at the University of Cologne, Germany, in 2013-14, and was selected for the inaugural Indian Government Global Initiative for Academic Network Program for Distinguished International Faculty in 2015. He is an Adjunct Professor of the School of Humanities and Creative Arts, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Professor James Gardner, Chair of the Art and Design Department at John Cabot University, teaches Drawing and 3D Design courses. He has lectured and taught at many of the world’s most prestigious Art and Design colleges.

Professor Gardner established Frutta Gallery, a leading art gallery based in Rome, which has an international reputation for discovering and supporting emerging artists. The gallery represents a group of interdisciplinary artists, from various countries, who work across a variety of media such as painting, sculpture, and performance. He was named one of London’s Apollo magazine’s “40 under 40 in the Art World” and his exhibitions have been reviewed in some of the Art industry’s most important publications, including: Artforum, Frieze and Art Review. His gallery regularly presents at international art fairs such as Frieze London and Liste in Basel.

Haisang Javanalikhikara (ให้แสง ชวนะลิขิกร) (b. 1987, Bangkok) lives and works in Bangkok, Thailand fielding in art and culture. She completed BA in Media Arts from Royal Holloway, University of London (2010) and received her MLitt in Modern and Contemporary Art focusing on curatorial practice from Christie’s Education, University of Glasgow (2011). After five years of art education in the UK, Haisang came back to Thailand and took a research task on abstract paintings for Assoc. Professor Kade Javanalikhikara. In 2012, she started working at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) as a coordinator for Art Networks Department, then became a project manager and an assistant curator for Exhibition Department while continuing her study in Doctor of Fine and Applied Art at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. Haisang is currently a part-time and guest lecturer, giving various lectures involving modern to contemporary art history, aesthetics, and art, visual, cultural interpretation. Occasionally, she is posited as a freelance art and cultural worker.

Professor Rebecca Duclos is a distinguished academic and cultural leader with extensive experience in fine arts education and administration. She is a faculty member at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Concordia University, Canada, where she previously served as Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts. Before her tenure at Concordia, she was the Graduate Dean at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA. In the cultural sector, Professor Duclos has held key roles at renowned institutions, including the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Design Exchange, Textile Museum of Canada, and the Manchester Museum. She is actively involved in the arts community, serving on the board of the Montreal Biennial and contributing as an Artist in Residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts.