Executive Summary Prepared for the International
Academic Board Strategic Planning Summit
March 29, 2024 | Tokyo, Japan
Prepared by Dr Melina Neophytou and Mr Apipol Sae-tung for Professor Anne Boddington andmembers of the International Academic Board (IAB)Executive Summary prepared for the International Academic Board Strategic Planning Summit
March 29, 2024 | Tokyo, Japan

Executive Summary
IAFOR | Strategic Planning Summit 2024 | Friday, March 29, 2024
14:00-17:00 JST (Friday, March 29, 2024, 01:00-04:00 AM EDT, 05:00-08:00 AM GMT)
On March 29, 2024, IAFOR’s International Academic Board (IAB) gathered for a StrategicPlanning Summit in Tokyo, Japan, to discuss: (a) IAFOR’s annual performance in terms ofscholarships, Journals, and conference reports; (b) future themes to be discussed in plenary
sessions at conferences, (c) future capacity-building sessions at conferences, (d) IAFOR
projects that are on hiatus, in progress, and upcoming; (e) the expansion of our membershipoffers, and (f) the future of the IAFOR Research Centre (IRC).

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The priority for this meeting was for the IAB to consider the results derived from feedback that
we received from extensive consultation with membership in regards to desired future areas andthemes of focus for our conference programming. Earlier this year, IAFOR rolled out aquestionnaire to our members due to a noticeable need to stray away from top-down
agenda-setting, in an attempt to align our programming more in line with what people ‘on theground’ perceive and require. The results from the questionnaire regarding emerging key issues
and trends, as well as capacity-building demands, were compiled into the Strategic Planning
Summit Report, which will serve as a guide for the IAB’s decisions on IAFOR’s future course.
Based on this consultation with our membership, and cross-referencing this feedback withinsights from international organisations such as the World Economic Forum (WEF), the IAB
has identified the following emerging key issues, which will shape IAFOR’s conference themesin the next five years (2025-2029): (a) Artificial Intelligence, Technology, and Innovation, (b)Inclusivity, Ethics of Care, and Psychology, (c) Leadership (in Education and other fields), and(d) Global Citizenship, Education for Peace, and Human Security. The following figure shows allemerging trends that our membership has identified (for a detailed breakdown within each field,
please refer to the Strategic Planning Summit Report):

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Executive Summary prepared for the International Academic Board Strategic Planning Summitr

March 29, 2024 | Tokyo, Japaniafo

Based on our membership’s feedback, as well as performance reports, the following was agreed
upon at the meeting:(a) IAFOR Scholarships, Journals, and Conference Reports○ Scholarship criteria for assignment need to be re-evaluated and potentially aligned to!
regional or local participation depending on the conference, and data deployed from!
scholarship awarding must be utilised more eﬃciently.
!
○ For transparency and integrity purposes, IAFOR needs to produce an oﬃcial IAFOR
Journal Publications Report open to the public to announce our Journals’!
performance.
○ Conference reports were deemed essential for our community to stay in touch with!
academic debates and could aid policy-makers in important decisions. The Board has!
decided to produce such reports, with the IICE/IICAH2024 and SEACE2024 reports!
being a preliminary example, and the ACEID/ACP/AGen2024 report slated to be the!
ﬁrst serious attempt at creating a series of such reports.
(b) Future themes to be discussed in plenary sessions at conferences○ How we develop and agree on conference themes, identify emerging themes, and!
consider how the knowledge IAFOR gains from our conferences can be used to inform!
and support future conferences, as well as the development needs of our!
membership, delegates, and online audiences, needs to be one of the IAB’s priorities.
○ IAFOR’s academic coordinators prepared a report based on the aforementioned IAFOR!
membership survey, inquiring about members’ insights on key issues and trends. The!
Board welcomed the report and recognised the value of IAFOR members’ opinions as!
an important guide for future thematics.

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Executive Summary prepared for the International Academic Board Strategic Planning Summit
March 29, 2024 | Tokyo, Japan○The Board identified the common theme of Education throughout all strands andcautioned against attempting to add too many themes to the conferences, given that
IAFOR has three key foci; International, intercultural, and interdisciplinary. The Board
also noted that IAFOR should remain responsive to its diverse audiences, and create aplace to bring new and emerging subjects to Education (e.g. Peace Education,Migration, Leadership in Education) and how these can introduce new perspectives tothe ideas of interdisciplinary and/or international.

for(c) Future capacity-building sessions at conferences○ The Board is aware that IAFOR attracts a wide range of constituencies, including
public oﬃcials, graduate students, early career academics, those considering othercareer paths, and leaders and managers considering policy issues. IAFOR needs tothink about how it wishes to segment its constituencies to support the organisation
but, equally, to enhance the experience of delegates and members.
○ Since the majority of IAFOR’s delegates are early-career academics and PhD
candidates, it is plausible that IAFOR offers capacity-building sessions in the form ofworkshops, mentorship, or online lessons (e.g. in ‘how to’ create and present a goodposter, how to write a report or article, or to negotiate a book contract).
○ The business model should be considered for different forms of delivery, as well as
motives and incentives behind offering capacity-building opportunities.
Implementation is complex and would need careful planning as a business strategy
and also consideration of liability.
○ The Board discussed whether to offer such capacity-building sessions during
conferences and the exact timing and pricing thereof, encouraging a trial or pilot
session at a forthcoming conference, to be determined at a later date.

ia(ci) IAFOR projects that are on hiatus, in progress, and upcoming○ IAFOR has acquired substantial funding from the Open Society Foundations (OSF) topilot its “Global Fellowship Programme” in 2024. How fellows can be integrated intoexisting IAFOR projects and contribute to its growth should be further discussed.
IAFOR aims to build on this project to attract new funders and sponsors.
○ In line with the capacity-building discussion, IAFOR has decided to expand the Asian
Undergraduate Research Symposium (AURS) into the International Undergraduate
Research Symposium (IURS) in order to introduce the programme at more
conferences. The inaugural IURS will be offered at ECE2024 (London), KCE2024(Incheon), and ACE2024 (Tokyo).
○ In line with listening to members’ and audiences’ ideas and feedback, IAFOR has
decided to introduce ‘The Forum’, a new project in the form of a round tablediscussion, which will be trialled at IAFOR’s upcoming May conference. It is formatted
as an expectation for all registered presenters and will be conducted as a way toreceive ideas for future conference themes. It was noted that skilled convenors will beessential for this project’s success.

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Executive Summary prepared for the International Academic Board Strategic Planning Summit
March 29, 2024 | Tokyo, Japan○Plans are underway to reintroduce the THINK magazine. The magazine will potentiallyconstitute the link that will tie all these projects together, and offer added value to themembership. Another project to enhance capacity-building and membership benefits
includes podcasts, which is currently under consideration.

iafor(e) Expansion of our membership offers○ The Board acknowledged that there has been no recruitment drive to increase
membership, although members have been consulted on the future direction ofIAFOR.
○ Currently, it seems that the only incentive for delegates to sign up as members is toreceive discounts to attend a conference. Around 50% of new attendees join themembership, while the drop-off rate for the renewal of IAFOR membership isconsiderable.
○ The Board questioned what the ultimate goal was for retaining a membership. IAFOR
needs to clarify membership goals and align them with future engagement so that it
can expand and provide meaningful opportunities for the membership.
○ The survey conducted earlier this year was considered a useful mechanism forengagement and for developing a community, which will provide a necessary line ofcommunication for determining specific projects of interest IAFOR can invest in formembers, e.g. capacity-building workshops.
(f) Future of the IAFOR Research Center (IRC)○ The IRC will review its raison d’etre, rebuild, and restructure itself by working on small
projects that IAFOR already has underway. The Global Fellowship Programme is asuitable project for involvement as it is already underway. Aligning fellowships fromthe OSF initiative will be mutually beneficial. A clear and purposeful agenda for theIRC is essential.

The Board has agreed on future topics of discussion, which include how to distil themes for
IAFOR’s conference programme, IAFOR’s capacity to develop new ways of structuring
conferences, questions around membership, how to navigate the international academic spaceand cross-fertilise ideas, redeﬁning our audience, and building systems around what happens at,around, and after a conference. To this end, it is important to create an annual focus to assess
progress, and a series of action points that distribute the responsibilities, actions, andleadership across the IAB.

Dr Joseph Haldane, the CEO of IAFOR, noted that previously there had been too much overlap
between the IAB and the IAFOR Board of Directors. The reports presented at this meeting as aresult of research and feedback initiatives have aided in the Academic Board’s realignment, andhelped decide overarching academic themes. It was proposed that the IAB should strictly focus
on providing academic strategy in the future. This process of realignment is also important to5

Executive Summary prepared for the International Academic Board Strategic Planning Summit
March 29, 2024 | Tokyo, JapaniafoAttendees
Anne Boddington (Chair)
Grant Black
Dexter Da Silva
Joseph Haldane
Virgil Hawkins
Donald E. Hall
Ljiljana Markovic
Melina Neophytou
James W. McNally
Apipol Sae-Tung
Monty P. Satiadarma
Donna Zier (Secretary)r

IAFOR’s governance and transparency, and to how it develops an academic voice, recognition,and respect.

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