Keynote speakers

Hannele Niemi, Ph.D., Professor of Education, University of Helsinki, Finland

Presentation title: Global learning crises – can digitalization and artificial intelligence provide new tools to solve the problem?

Hannele Niemi is Professor, Research Director at the University of Helsinki and she has been nominated as UNESCO Chair on Educational Ecosystems for Equity and Quality of Learning 2018-2021. She is the Chair of the University Board at the University of Lapland (2018-2020). Her experience at the University of Helsinki also includes her roles as the Vice Rector for Academic Affairs (2003–2009), the Professor of Education (1998-2016), the Dean of the Faculty of Education (2001–2003). She also served as a Visiting Professor at Michigan State University (1989) and as a short-time Visiting Scholar at Stanford University (2010, 2013, and 2015). She has been nominated (2015) as the Chair of the Sino-Finnish Joint Learning Institute (JoLII) that includes 9 Finnish universities, working in cooperation with Beijing Normal University and invited as Visiting Research Professor (2018-2020) in Advanced Innovation Center for Future Education, Beijing Normal University, China.

Jia Liu, Ph.D., Professor of psychology and cognitive neuroscience, Beijing Normal University, China

Presentation title: Big data and AI in Chinese Assessment on Progressive Education

Professor Jia LIU is the Dean of Sino-Finnish Joint Learning Institute (JoLII, China) at Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University. His experience at Beijing Normal University also includes his roles as the first Dean of Faculty of Psychology (2016-2018), the Dean of School of Psychology (2013-2016), the Deputy Director of State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience at Beijing Normal University (2005-now). He has graduated from Peking University with Bachelor and Master degree of Psychology, and received Ph.D. Degree of cognitive neuroscience from MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Science. He has been awarded The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, Hundred-Talent Program (Chinese Academy of Sciences). He also serves as Deputy Chief Editor of “Psychological Science”, editorial member of “Acta Psychologica Sinica” and “Brain and Culture”, Deputy Head of Committee of General and Experimental Psychology at Chinese Psychological Society, and Chair of National Talented Specialty Committee, Chinese Talents Society.

Presentation title: Teacher Education in the Arctic: Challenges and opportunities

Professor Tuija Turunen holds a position of Dean at the Faculty of Education, University of Lapland, Finland. She leads UArctic Thematic Network on Teacher Education for Social Justice and Diversity, which currently hosts over twenty member institutions across the circumpolar north. She also leads UNESCO/UNITWIN Network on Teacher Education for Social Justice and Diversity. Professor Turunen’s current research interests focus on teacher education, professional development in higher education, educational transitions, especially starting school, multi-professional work in schools, and preventive school welfare work.

Baocun Liu, Professor and Director, Institute of International and Comparative Education at Beijing Normal University, China

Presentation title: Towards a More Equitable Quality Education: Educational Modernization in China 2035

Professor Baocun LIU is the Director of Institute of International and Comparative Education at Beijing Normal University, President of the Comparative Education Society of Asia, Vice President of China Comparative Education Society. With his specialization and research interests in comparative education, higher education, education policy and management, he has been involved in a wide range of national and international research and consultancy projects. He has published more than 150 papers in journals as well as several books.

Xiangen Hu, Ph.D. , Professor and Dean, School of Psychology at Central China Normal University (CCNU), China

Presentation title: Case Studies relevant to Equity and Quality of Learning in a Global Digital World

Dr. Xiangen Hu is a professor in the Department of Psychology, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science Department at The University of Memphis (UofM) and senior researcher at the Institute for Intelligent Systems (IIS) at the UofM and is professor and Dean of the School of Psychology at Central China Normal University (CCNU). Dr. Hu is the Director of Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Partnership Laboratory at the UofM and is a senior researcher in the Chinese Ministry of Education’s Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior. Dr. Hu's primary research areas include Mathematical Psychology, Research Design and Statistics, and Cognitive Psychology. More specific research interests include General Processing Tree (GPT) models, categorical data analysis, knowledge representation, computerized tutoring, and advanced distributed learning. Dr. Hu has received funding for the above research from the US National Science Foundation (NSF), US Institute of Education Sciences (IES), ADL of the US Department of Defense (DoD), US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA), US Army Research Laboratories (ARL), US Office of Naval Research (ONR), UofM, and CCNU. Dr. Hu received his MS in applied mathematics from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, MA in social sciences and Ph.D. in Cognitive Sciences from the University of California, Irvine.