New Journals Launched
In May 2013, the IAFOR Journal of Education launched as an internationally reviewed and editorially independent interdisciplinary journal associated with IAFOR’s international conferences on education.
In August 2013, the first issue of the IAFOR Journal of Media, Communication & Film is first published.
In October 2013, the IAFOR Journal of Ethics, Religion & Philosophy is first published.
In December 2013, the IAFOR Journal of the Social Sciences is first published.
An Eye on the World
Eye Magazine is launched as a general interest magazine, taking great and interesting content generated through IAFOR events, and shaping it for a general audience. It will publish two issues in 2013, and six further issues, three in 2014 and three in 2015. Eye Magazine published traditional long-form articles under ISSN: 2187-8935, it’s editor was Melissa Choi (issues 1 and 2) and then Michael Liam Kedzlie. On the closure of Eye Magazine it was replaced with the THINK website in 2016.
From East to West
IAFOR hosts its first European Conference Series in Brighton, UK, beginning with The European Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment (ECSEE), held with The European Conference on the Social Sciences (ECSS) on July 4–7, 2013. Though this joint conference was the smaller of the European events, with an attendance of 125, the energy was nevertheless palpable as the conference began with a wide-ranging speech by Jun Arima, Director General of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in London, seconded by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Mr Arima covered issues of economic regeneration, environmental sustainability, and governance on both the national and international level, and as someone who has been engaged at a very high level in shaping some of these debates, his words carried extra weight, as he was Japan’s chief negotiator at the UN Climate Talks in Cancun, Mexico in 2010.
The European Conference on Education (ECE2013) was held alongside The European Conference on Technology in the Classroom (ECTC2013). IAFOR’s largest European event attracted 350 delegates from over 40 countries in a programme chaired by Professor Sue Jackson, Pro-Vice Master of Teaching & Learning at Birkbeck, University of London, UK, and Professor Barbara Lockee of Virginia Tech, USA. The plenary session brought together a number of thought leaders in UK higher education, including the 2013 Keynote Professor Mary Stuart, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lincoln, UK, who looked at "Social Mobility in Education". Professor Stuart also chaired a panel addressing the conference theme of “Learning and Teaching Through Transformative Spaces” with Professor Rosemary Deem, OBE, Vice-Principal (Education) and Professor of Higher Education Management at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, and Professor Miriam David, Emeritus Professor at the Institute of Education, University of London, UK.
The last of IAFOR’s European Conference series saw The European Conference on Arts & Humanities (ECAH) paired with The European Conference on Language Learning (ECLL). The ECAH event was chaired by IAFOR IAB Chair, Professor Stuart D. B. Picken with the ECLL event chaired by Professor Steve Cornwell of Osaka Jogakuin University. This event saw 250 people from more than 50 countries in an incredibly diverse celebration of interdisciplinary and intercultural study. The theme for the Arts and Humanities conference was “Connectedness, Identity and Alienation”.
The conference series demonstrated IAFOR’s ability to hold high quality events outside Japan, and underlined the demand for the forum’s work in providing a venue for exchange not only between East and West, but also between the global north and south.