Keynotes
Suzanne Choo
Suzanne Choo is Associate Professor in the English Language and Literature Academic Group at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her research has been published in various peer-reviewed journals such as Harvard Educational Review, Reading Research Quarterly, Research in the Teaching of English, Critical Studies in Education, among others. Her book, "Reading the world, the globe, and the cosmos: Approaches to teaching literature for the twenty-first century", was awarded the Critics Choice Book Award by the American Educational Studies Association. She is interested in issues related to education for global and cosmopolitan citizenship particularly in relation to literature education. Her most recent book is "Teaching ethics through literature: The significance of Ethical Criticism in a global age". She has twice been awarded the Excellence in Teaching commendation award by her university.
Deb Myhill
Debra Myhill is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Exeter, UK, and throughout her career has researched the teaching of writing. In particular, her research has focused particularly on young people’s composing processes and their metacognitive awareness of them; the inter-relationship between metalinguistic understanding and writing; the talk-writing interface; and the teaching of writing. Underpinning this research is the principle that literacy, especially writing, is a pathway to empowerment. She is Past-President of the European Association for Research in Learning and Instruction; and President of the United Kingdom Literacy Association. She is the author/co-author of several books including: "Talking, Listening, Learning: Effective Talk in the Primary Classroom" (Open University Press); "Using Talk to Support Writing" (Sage); "The Handbook of Writing Development" (Sage); "Writing Voices: Creating Communities of Writers" (Routledge); and "Understanding Literacy and Disadvantage" (Sage).
Joe Lo Bianco
Joseph (Joe) Lo Bianco, AM, FAHA, is Emeritus Professor in language and literacy in the Faculty of Education, The University of Melbourne, where he held the position of Chair Professor of Language and Literacy Education between 2004 to his retirement in June 2020. He was elected President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2012, the first educator to hold this position, and currently serves as AAH vice president and international officer. He is Deputy Director of University’s Initiative for Peacebuilding. Joe’s academic specialisation is language and literacy policy analysis, accompanied by extensive on-the-ground participation in real-world policy writing, advising governments on the education of Indigenous and migrant children, the language and literacy rights of oppressed minorities, bilingualism and social questions connected to citizenship and multilingualism in national development. He has also worked extensively on language teaching methods, Q methodology research, English as a Second Language and English as a Lingua Franca and related areas. Most of his policy advising work has taken place in conflict-afflicted multi-ethnic societies in Asia and, through this, he has developed methods and writings in peacebuilding and conflict mitigation in education. He has also researched and published on revival of Indigenous languages. For some years he has been chief editor of the Language Policy book series for Springer, commissioning, reviewing and publishing original research volumes on language problems all across the world. He has more than 150 publications on language, policy and planning, language education, literacy, culture and identity.