Programme

Speakers at The Washington Conference on the Social Sciences (WCSS) will provide a variety of perspectives from different academic and professional backgrounds. This page provides details of featured presentations, the conference schedule and other programming. For more information about presenters, please visit the Speakers page.

Conference Outline

Wed, April 15, 2026Thu, April 16Fri, April 17Sat, April 18Sun, April 19Mon, April 20

Conference Venue: Walter E. Washington Convention Center

16:00-16:30: Conference Check-in

16:30-17:15: IAFOR Orientation Session for First-Timers
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.

Conference Venue: Walter E. Washington Convention Center

09:00-10:00: Conference Check-in & Coffee

10:00-10:35: Welcome Address & Recognition of IAFOR Scholarship Winners
Joseph Haldane, IAFOR, Japan

10:40-11:05: Keynote Presentation | Room 151
Creating the Democratic Civic University Through Local Engagement in a Time of Crisis
Ira Harkavy, University of Pennsylvania, United States
11:05-11:15: Q&A

11:20-11:45: Keynote Presentation | Room 151
Beyond Productivity: Why the Future of AI in Education Must Be Human-Centric
James Pitarresi, Binghamton University, United States
11:45-12:00: Q&A

12:00-12:10: Conference Photograph | Room 151

12:10-13:45: Extended Break

13:45-14:45: Panel Presentation | Room 151
Lifelong Learning and Community Well-Being: Lessons from the United States (TBC)
Cory Bowman, University of Pennsylvania, United States
Luann Kida, Binghamton University, United States
Laura Ogburn, University of Pennsylvania, United States
Naorah Rimkunas, Binghamton University, United States
Laura Bronstein, Binghamton University, United States (Moderator)

14:50-15:50: Panel Presentation | Room 151
Anne Boddington, IAFOR, Japan (Moderator)

17:30-19:00: Welcome Reception | Venue Library of Congress - Networking
This is a free event open to all registered delegates

Conference Venue: Walter E. Washington Convention Center

08:45-09:45: Conference Check-in & Coffee

09:15-09:45: Flash Presentations | Room 151B
Maximise your visibility with the opportunity to promote and showcase your research highlights. Simultaneously, you will gain a comprehensive overview of other presenters, helping you identify potential collaborators and must-see sessions.

09:50-10:40: Featured Session | Room 151A

10:40-11:40: The Forum | Room 151A
This is your opportunity to engage with key themes, connect with speakers and fellow members, and contribute to meaningful interdisciplinary dialogue across borders.

11:40-12:10: Networking Coffee Break

12:10-13:00: Featured Roundtable Session | Room 151A
Senior Academic Leadership
Anne Boddington, IAFOR, Japan
Donald E Hall, Binghamton University, United States
Joseph Haldane, IAFOR, Japan (Moderator)

14:00-16:00: Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center Site Visit
Since 1980, the Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC) has served as an urban extension of the Virginia Tech School of Architecture. The WAAC began with a straightforward mission: to use the city as a laboratory and classroom, an immersive environment in which to learn about architecture, the city, and life. Located in historic Alexandria, VA, less than eight miles from Washington, DC, the WAAC offers a unique professional learning environment with an individual focus.

In this tour, participants will learn about the undergraduate architecture program curriculum and pedagogy, see the Center's spaces and workshops, and have time to ask questions.

Conference Venue: Walter E. Washington Convention Center

08:45-09:15: Conference Check-in

09:15-10:00: Featured Workshop Session

10:00-10:15: Coffee Break

10:15-11:55: Onsite Parallel Session 1

11:55-13:10: Extended Break

13:10-14:50: Onsite Parallel Session 2

14:50-15:05: Coffee Break

15:05-16:20: Onsite Parallel Session 3

Conference Venue: Walter E. Washington Convention Center

08:45-09:15: Conference Check-in

09:15-10:00: Featured Workshop Presentation

10:00-10:15: Coffee Break

10:15-10:55: Onsite Parallel Session 1

10:55-11:10: Coffee Break

11:10-12:50: Onsite Parallel Session 2

12:50-13:05: Coffee Break

13:05-14:45: Onsite Parallel Session 3

14:45-15:00: Coffee Break

15:00-16:40: Onsite Parallel Session 4

16:45-16:55: Onsite Closing Session

Venue: Online via Zoom
All streamed presentation times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)
Use the time converter tool to show times in your timezone.

17:50-18:00: Message from IAFOR

18:00-19:15: Online Parallel Session 1

19:15-19:25: Break

19:25-20:40: Online Parallel Session 2

20:40-20:50: Break

20:50-22:05: Online Parallel Session 3

22:05-22:10: Closing Message from IAFOR

The above schedule may be subject to change.

Featured Speakers

  • Anne Boddington
    Anne Boddington
    IAFOR, Japan
  • Joseph Haldane
    Joseph Haldane
    IAFOR, Japan
  • Donald E. Hall
    Donald E. Hall
    Binghamton University, United States
  • Ira Harkavy
    Ira Harkavy
    University of Pennsylvania, United States
  • James W. McNally
    James W. McNally
    University of Michigan & NACDA Program on Aging, United States
  • James M Pitarresi
    James M Pitarresi
    Binghamton University, United States

Featured Presentations

To be announced

  • Creating the Democratic Civic University Through Local Engagement in a Time of Crisis
    Creating the Democratic Civic University Through Local Engagement in a Time of Crisis
    Keynote Presentation: Ira Harkavy
  • Beyond Productivity: Why the Future of AI in Education Must Be Human-Centric
    Beyond Productivity: Why the Future of AI in Education Must Be Human-Centric
    Keynote Presentation: James Pitarresi
  • Senior Academic Leadership
    Senior Academic Leadership
    Featured Workshop: Anne Boddington, Joseph Haldane, Donald E. Hall

Accepted Presentations

One of the greatest strengths of IAFOR’s international conferences is their international and intercultural diversity.
As of January 10, 2026, the conference has received over 260 submissions from 47 countries and territories - including: the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

View Accepted Presentations

Conference Programme

The draft version of the Conference Programme will be available online on March 09, 2026. All registered delegates will be notified of this publication by email. The Conference Programme contains access information, session information and a detailed day-to-day presentation schedule.

Important Information Emails

All registered attendees will receive an Important Information email and updates in the run-up to the conference. Please check your email inbox for something from "iafor.org". If you can not find these emails in your normal inbox, it is worth checking in your spam or junk mail folders as many programs filter out emails this way. If these did end up in one of these folders, please add the address to your acceptable senders' folder by whatever method your email program can do this.

Anne Boddington
IAFOR, Japan

Biography

Professor Anne Boddington is Executive Vice-President and Provost of IAFOR, and oversees the academic programs, research and policies of the forum.

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 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 1990’s 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.

Workshop Presentation (2026) | Senior Academic Leadership
Joseph Haldane
IAFOR, Japan

Biography

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 19th century French Studies (ULIP/RHUL), and has research interests in world history, politics, and education, as well as governance and decision-making.

In 2022, Dr Haldane was named Professor in the United Nations Peace University's European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD). From 2019 he has been also a Visiting Professor at Doshisha University, where he teaches Ethics and Governance in the Global MBA, and a Member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network for Global Governance since 2017.

Since 2015, he 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. He is also a Member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa, United States.

From 2020 to 2025, Dr Haldane was an Honorary Professor of 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 since 2015 has been a Trustee of 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.

Donald E. Hall
Binghamton University, United States

Biography

Donald E. Hall is Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Binghamton University (SUNY), United States. He was formerly Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering at the University of Rochester, United States, and held a previous position as Dean of Arts and Sciences at Lehigh University, United States. Provost Hall has published widely in the fields of British Studies, Gender Theory, Cultural Studies, and Professional Studies. Over the course of his career, he served as Jackson Distinguished Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English (and previously Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages) at West Virginia University. Before that, he was Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English at California State University, Northridge, where he taught for 13 years. He is a recipient of the University Distinguished Teaching Award at CSUN, was a visiting professor at the National University of Rwanda, was Lansdowne Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of Victoria (Canada), was Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Cultural Studies at Karl Franzens University in Graz, Austria, and was Fulbright Specialist at the University of Helsinki. He has also taught in Sweden, Romania, Hungary, and China. He served on numerous panels and committees for the Modern Language Association (MLA), including the Task Force on Evaluating Scholarship for Tenure and Promotion, and the Convention Program Committee. In 2012, he served as national President of the Association of Departments of English. From 2013-2017, he served on the Executive Council of the MLA.

His current and forthcoming work examines issues such as professional responsibility and academic community-building, the dialogics of social change and activist intellectualism, and the Victorian (and our continuing) interest in the deployment of instrumental agency over our social, vocational, and sexual selves. Among his many books and editions are the influential faculty development guides, The Academic Self and The Academic Community, both published by Ohio State University Press. Subjectivity and Reading Sexualities: Hermeneutic Theory and the Future of Queer Studies were both published by Routledge Press. Most recently he and Annamarie Jagose, of the University of Auckland, co-edited a volume titled The Routledge Queer Studies Reader. Though he is a full-time administrator, he continues to lecture worldwide on the value of a liberal arts education and the need for nurturing global competencies in students and interdisciplinary dialogue in and beyond the classroom.

Professor Donald E. Hall is a member of IAFOR’s International Academic Board.

Workshop Presentation (2026) | Senior Academic Leadership
Ira Harkavy
University of Pennsylvania, United States

Biography

Professor Ira Harkavy is the founder and Barbara and Edward Netter Director of the Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania, United States. As director of the Netter Center since 1992, Professor Harkavy has helped develop academically-based community service courses and community-engaged research projects that involve creating university-community partnerships and university-assisted community schools with The University of Pennsylvania’s local community of West Philadelphia. He teaches courses in history, urban studies, and Africana studies, as well as in the university’s Graduate School of Education.

Professor Harkavy received his BA, MA, and PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania and has written and lectured widely on the history and current practice of urban university-community-school partnerships and the democratic and civic missions of higher education. He has co-authored and co-edited thirteen books, including Higher Education Leadership for Democracy, Sustainability, and Social Justice (2023), Higher Education’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Building a More Sustainable and Democratic Future (2021), and Academic Freedom, Institutional Autonomy, and the Future of Democracy (2020). He is also Executive Editor of Universities and Community Schools.

Professor Harkavy is involved in a number of education initiatives, currently serving as the Chair of the International Consortium for Higher Education, Civic Responsibility, and Democracy; Chair of the Anchor Institutions Task Force; Chair of the Paul Robeson House and Museum, and Chair Emeritus of the Coalition for Community Schools. He is founder and member of the Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development (PHENND) Steering Committee.

Among other honours, Harkavy is the recipient of the University of Pennsylvania’s Alumni Award of Merit, Campus Compact’s Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service Learning, New American Colleges and Universities’ Ernest L. Boyer Award, a Fulbright Senior Specialist Grant, and three honorary degrees. Under his directorship, the Netter Center for Community Partnerships received the inaugural William T. Grant Foundation Youth Development Prize awarded by The National Academies and a Best Practices/Outstanding Achievement Award from HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research.

Keynote Presentation (2026) | Creating the Democratic Civic University Through Local Engagement in a Time of Crisis
James W. McNally
University of Michigan & NACDA Program on Aging, United States

Biography

Dr James W. McNally is the Director of the NACDA Program on Aging, a data archive containing over 1,500 studies related to health and the aging life course. He is also a Senior Advisor for the National Institute on Aging (NIA), Division of Behavioral and Social Science (DBSR/ODRA). He currently does methodological research on the improvement and enhancement of secondary research data and has been cited as an expert authority on data imputation. Dr McNally has directed the NACDA Program on Aging since 1998 and has seen the archive significantly increase its holdings with a growing collection of seminal studies on the aging life course, health, retirement and international aspects of aging. He has spent much of his career addressing methodological issues with a specific focus on specialised application of incomplete or deficient data and the enhancement of secondary data for research applications. Dr McNally has also worked extensively on issues related to international aging and changing perspectives on the role of family support in the later stages of the aging life course.

Workshop Presentation (2026) | Writing a Successful Grant Application
James M Pitarresi
Binghamton University, United States

Biography

Dr James M. Pitarresi serves as Vice Provost for Online and Innovative Education at Binghamton University (SUNY), United States, and as Executive Director of the university’s Center for Learning and Teaching. He works across campus to strengthen the learning environment by advancing high-quality online degrees, supporting faculty development, and promoting thoughtful integration of learning technologies. He co-chairs the university’s Learning Environment Committee and recently co-chaired planning for a new 30-classroom academic building. A Distinguished Teaching Professor of Mechanical Engineering and former department chair, he founded Binghamton’s Innovation Lab and Innovation Scholars programme and teaches courses in innovation and entrepreneurship that leverage generative AI as a partner for creative problem solving. He regularly delivers talks and workshops on generative AI in education for higher education, school districts, and professional audiences. His scholarship spans computational mechanics, vibration modeling, electronics packaging, and student success. He is co-author of three mechanical engineering texts, with a fourth in progress, and serves on McGraw Hill Education’s Access Engineering Faculty Advisory Board. He earned his BS, MS, and PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo, United States, and is a recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Keynote Presentation (2026) | Beyond Productivity: Why the Future of AI in Education Must Be Human-Centric
Creating the Democratic Civic University Through Local Engagement in a Time of Crisis
Keynote Presentation: Ira Harkavy

Democracy is seriously threatened throughout the world today. Given their intellectual and societal roles, universities have an increased and pressing responsibility to contribute to both the education of informed democratic citizens and the advancement of knowledge for the continuous betterment of the human condition. In spite of important civic and community engagement efforts, universities in the United States have for decades insufficiently focused on their democratic purposes and their contributions to their communities and society. They have overemphasised their economic purposes, amplifying that students are in a university exclusively to gain career-related skills and credentials. Instead, higher education institutions need to become democratic civic universities that advance democracy through democratic means on campus, in the community, and across the wider society.

One difficult hurdle is identifying best practices on how to successfully create and operate a democratic civic university. Dr Harkavy identifies local democratic community engagement as perhaps the core approach for doing just that. Drawing on the history of US higher education, 40 years’ experience developing place-based partnerships between the University of Pennsylvania and its neighbourhood of West Philadelphia, and work with higher educational institutions across the United States and around the world, Dr Harkavy will discuss how local engagement can help universities increase their contributions to knowledge, improve the quality of life in their geographic community, and advance the development of just and fair democratic societies through democratically-focused local civic engagement.

Read presenter's biography
Beyond Productivity: Why the Future of AI in Education Must Be Human-Centric
Keynote Presentation: James Pitarresi

Generative AI has arrived at unusual speed, and the early debate on college campuses has been dominated by two narrow narratives: fear (cheating, plagiarism, and diminished critical thinking) and efficiency gains (faster grading, content creation, and administrative work). This presentation argues that both frames miss a deeper disruption. As parts of knowledge work such as document drafting, synthesis, translation, coding, and analytic writing become widely automated, universities must re-articulate what they uniquely contribute to society. What happens to higher education’s civic mission when producing plausible answers is easy, cheap, and ubiquitous, yet truth, trust, and legitimacy remain fragile?

Drawing on examples from teaching, faculty development, and institutional strategy, this talk offers a human-centric agenda for AI in education that treats AI as a catalyst to strengthen, not erode, the purposes of university learning. Three questions guide the discussion: (1) What forms of thinking and judgment become more important in an AI-shaped knowledge ecosystem? (2) How can we design learning and assessment to cultivate agency, integrity, and deep understanding rather than performative productivity? (3) What leadership choices will shape equity, access, and public trust as AI capabilities diffuse unevenly across institutions and communities?

Read presenter's biography
Senior Academic Leadership
Featured Workshop: Anne Boddington, Joseph Haldane, Donald E. Hall

This roundtable and interactive session will explore the career paths of academic leaders and provide tips on the skills needed to succeed in leadership positions. Speaking from a variety of national and professional contexts, the session leaders will describe their individual paths to leadership roles and the trade-offs that often accompany a career in higher education leadership and administration. Following the brief presentations, audience members will be asked to provide their own thoughts and observations on successful and unsuccessful leadership styles, as well as engage in an active discussion of the potential for academic leaders to make positive changes within their institutions and professional organisations.

Read presenters' biographies