Conference Speakers

Past Speakers

gender studies conference

Dr. Kay Siebler

Associate Professor of English and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Nebraska Omaha in the U.S

Presentation Title: Moving Beyond the Sex/Gender Binary: Acknowledging the Complexity of Girl/Boy and Man/Woman

Dr. Kay Siebler is an Associate Professor of English and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Nebraska Omaha in the U.S. She has published several books and articles on the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, and identity. Her most recent book, Black Women Shattering Stereotypes, examines the films and streaming media created and produced for/by Black women. She is currently working on a book focused on gender-nonconforming children through the lens of parenting, schooling, and health care. She teaches writing, rhetoric, rhetoric, and gender studies courses, working with graduate students as well as undergraduate students to understand the complexities of contemporary issues, locally and globally. 

Dr. Erika K. Smith
Session Chair
Dr. Erika K. Smith (they/her) from the School of Social Sciences at Western Sydney University is a queer academic of Japanese and British heritage (hafu) and recognises their privileges from living and working on stolen land. Erika’s PhD research explored the proposition that Australian representations of the Kokoda Track and WWII support and maintain colonial amnesia in Australia and perpetuate national myths, like ‘Australian identity’ and ‘Australian values’. Her research interests include diverse genders and sexualities research, social justice education, anti-colonial studies, and feminisms. Her current research project explores student-to-academic sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying across Australian universities. Erika’s recent competitive funding/award successes include the 2024 Western Sydney University Researcher Development Award Women’s Fellowship, 2024 Western Sydney University Vice-Chancellor’s Professional Development Scholarship, and the 2023 Western Sydney University Vice-Chancellor’s Gender Equity Fund.
gender studies conference
Dr. Nawar Al-Hassan Golley
Highlighted Speaker

Dr. Nawar Al-Hassan Golley is Professor in literary and critical theory and gender and women’s studies at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Al-Hassan Golley worked at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, before joining AUS. She is the author of, Reading Arab Women’s Autobiographies. Shahrazad Tells her Story, editor of Arab Women’s Lives Retold. Exploring Identity Through Writing, co-editor of Mapping Arab Women’s Movements: A Century of Transformations from Within and Guest Editor of HAWWA: Journal of Women of the Middle East and the Islamic World’s Beyond Boundaries: Exploring Arab Women’s Autobiographical Narratives. Al-Hassan Golley developed the program in Women’s Studies at AUS, the first of its kind in the Gulf region and organized the first conference on Gender and Women’s Studies in the Arab Region in 2012. She is the recipient of the Research Award from the College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Al-Hassan Golley adopts interdisciplinary approaches in her teaching and research.

gender studies conference
Associate Professor Cate Thomas
Highlighted Speaker

Associate Professor Cate Thomas PhD (USyd), from Charles Sturt University Australia, has a diverse working and academic career, is a dynamic leader and strategic thinker. Her research focuses on intersectionality and gender equity in higher education to inform social change and reduce systemic and structural barriers for all. She is the founder of the Social Equality, Intersectionality and Inclusion Research Group with national and international membership. Cate was awarded the inaugural HERDSA Heroes in Higher Education Award (2021), the ANZSWWER Social Work Educator Award (2017), and is an Executive Committee member of the Gender and Education Association (UK).

gender studies conference
Dr. Ngozi Dorathy Ulogu
Highlighted Speaker

Dr. Ngozi Dora Ulogu, Ph.D., Fnipr, is a Lecturer in the Department of English Language and Literature, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. She has the following educational qualifications: BA (Hons) English, (1997), PGDE (2001), MA Literature, (2005), Ph.D English and Literary Studies (2018), PGD Mass Communication (in view). She has the following awards: 2024 Early Career Conference Grant of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, ACU,; 2024 Impact Scholarship of The Leaders of Africa Research Institute, 2023 Ife Institute of Advanced Studies Fellowship, IIAS and Fellowship of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR. Ngozi loves meeting people and impacting her environment.

gender studies conference
Dr. Orsolya Gergely
Highlighted Speaker
Dr. Orsolya Gergely is a sociologist, assistant professor at Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, from Csíkszereda/Miercurea Ciuc, Romania. Her research focuses on the sociology of family and gender inequalities. She has actively participated in several international Erasmus+ projects, contributing to cross-cultural research and collaboration. Through her work, she aims to shed light on the dynamics of family life and the challenges posed by gender disparities in contemporary society. An active science communicator, she co-hosted a popular science vlog for five years and has been the host of a podcast for three years. Mother of two Gen Alpha daughters, enjoys traveling, hiking, and walking her two Labradors.
gender studies conference
Prof. Tsuyako Nakamura
Highlighted Speaker
Prof. Tsuyako Nakamura is a tenured professor at Doshisha University. She studied sociology at the Graduate School of American Studies of Doshisha University and UC Santa Barbara. She was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Stanford and Harvard University (2009-2010) and was a president for the Japan Academy of Labor and Management (2021-2024). Her interest is becoming a catalyst in society and served for various occasions related to gender equality and work/life balance. She was a mentor/chaperone for TOMODACHI MetLife Women’s Leadership Program (2013) and received the U.S. Department State’s NOFO Award to organize a Speaker Forum on the Gender Gap (2023-2024).
Dr. Yiqing Virginia Yang
Highlighted Speaker
Dr. Yiqing Virginia Yang is Assistant Professor in Cultural and Creative Industries at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China. Her academic footprint exists around contemporary visual art and feminist theory, through concepts including phenomenology, new materialism, and semiotics. Dr Yang’s distinctive expertise is in identifying the cultural touchpoints in diverse works as a way to capture transient, fluid, or intra-secting moments where ideas meet. She has contributed to new understandings of contemporary installation/sculpture works produced by women artists and to challenge the current sociocultural binaries inherent in gender/power relations through the production of transcultural knowledge. Her research has been published in international journals and books. She is also the co-curator of two major exhibitions with MK Gallery, UK.
Dr. Alexandra Cheira
Highlighted Speaker
Dr. Alexandra Cheira is a researcher at CEAUL/ ULICES at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. She holds a PhD in English Literature and Culture, with a dissertation focussing on A. S. Byatt’s fiction and critical work. Her current areas of research include contemporary women’s writing, gender and women’s studies, and wonder tales. She has published articles and book chapters on A. S. Byatt’s fiction, The One Thousand and One Nights, the conteuses, Victorian women writers and contemporary gendered sexual politics. She is the editor of (Re)Presenting Magic, (Un)Doing Evil: Of Human Inner Light and Darkness (2012), Wonder Tales in the Fiction of A. S. Byatt (2023), and Myth and Fairy Tale in Contemporary Fiction (2023). She translated A. S. Byatt’s “Cold” into Portuguese and wrote an introduction to the tale for Contar um Conto/ Storytelling (2014), an anthology of short fiction by contemporary British and Irish authors in translation.
Dr. Olanrewaju Adediran
Highlighted Speaker
Dr. Olanrewaju Adediran has a PhD in economics from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. He has made significant contributions to the field through both research and teaching. He is an expert in handling both quantitative and qualitative analysis using both micro and macro datasets. His research areas of interest are econometrics, development, environmental, gender, health, and labour economics. He has published articles in high-impact peer-reviewed academic journals such as Economics and Human Biology, etc., and attended workshops and conferences locally and internationally. He is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Graduate School of Business Leadership, University of South Africa.
Dr. Sezen Demirhan
Highlighted Speaker

Dr. Sezen Demirhan holds a PhD in Gender and Women’s Studies from Turkey, focusing on women’s experiences in living organ donation. Sezen is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Luxembourg, investigating gender disparities in organ transplantation and the intersection of gender with medical decision-making. Their ongoing research examines the impact of gender on donors, patients, and healthcare professionals’ approaches to organ donation and transplantation, using a comparative, cross-cultural framework. Sezen is particularly interested in advancing gender equity in healthcare and promoting more inclusive practices in organ transplantation in medicine.

Dr. Bianca Monteleone
Highlighted Speaker
Dr. Bianca Monteleone is a PhD candidate at Sapienza University of Rome, specializing in British sentimentalism, particularly the works of David Hume, and the moral and political thought of Mary Wollstonecraft. She was awarded a scholarship to complete her BA and MA studies at the higher education institution ‘Scuola Normale Superiore’ in Pisa. Her research seeks to bridge these historical perspectives with contemporary feminist discourse. In addition to her academic pursuits, she is a transfeminist activist in Italy, advocating for abortion access and the normalization of narratives surrounding abortion and reproductive self-determination. Her work reflects a commitment to integrating scholarly inquiry with activism in gender studies.
Dr. Fouzia Shahin
Highlighted Speaker
Dr. Fouzia Shahin has over twenty-five years of experience in higher education administration and gender and development research. She is currently serving as the Director of Academic Planning and External Links at Government College University Lahore. Dr. Shahin holds a Ph.D. holder in Gender Studies and has conducted in-depth research on various critical topics, including women's reproductive health, domestic violence, gender and higher education, gender and employment, women's empowerment, and projects related to Gender, Poverty, and Women.
Dr. Erika Magarelli
Highlighted Speaker
Dr. Erika Magarelli is a PhD student in Gender Studies at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy. She holds a master’s degree in International Cooperation from the University of Turin. Her main research areas include gender and violence, ideology, migration, and conflict and interpreting studies. Currently, her work focuses on language mediation, feminist critical discourse analysis (FCDA), and the integration of ethics and self-care practices.
Assoc. Prof. Marija Lončar
Highlighted Speaker

Assoc. Prof. Marija Lončar is an associate professor at the Department of Sociology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Split. She teaches methodological courses at the undergraduate and graduate study programs in sociology. Her scientific and research areas of interest are sociological methodology, research ethics, sociology of media, sociology of youth, and sociology of the body. She is a member of the Presidency of the Croatian Sociological Association and executive editor of the journal Croatian Sociological Review.

Dr. Francesca Filograsso
Highlighted Speaker

Dr. Francesca Filograsso is a clinical psychologist, PhD in Gender Studies at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy, trainee Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) therapist, and member of SITCC (Italian Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy). Her research focus is mainly on
attachment theory, post-traumatic stress disorders, and developmental psychopathology. Her published academic work includes publications on childhood maltreatment and trauma focused interventions.

gender studies conference
Ms.Izzy Fincher
Highlighted Speaker
Ms.Izzy Fincher is a master’s degree student studying Classical Guitar Performance and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Journalism and BM in Guitar Performance from the University of Colorado Boulder. Her work focuses on journalism, media and mass communication, popular music, intersectional feminism, racism, and LGBTQIA+ rights. Her article, “An Examination of Mainstream Media’s Treatment of Female Guitarists” has been published in the Journal of Popular Music Studies.
Ms.Marion ELIE
Highlighted Speaker
Ms.Marion ELIE holds a Master’s degree in Sociology, specialising in gender studies, and a Master’s degree in Anthropology at EHESS Paris, France. Currently looking for a PhD, she worked for three years on a French panel of longitudinal studies and highlighted her methodological work on the analysis of open-ended questions in questionnaires. She conducted research on heterosexual conjugal sexuality and is particularly interested in anti-feminist movements, the influence of the dark romance on young women, and sexuality with endometriosis. She’s also head of the Data Analysis department of the Observatory of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Higher Education in France.
Mrs. Hulugalla W.M. Niranjala
Highlighted Speaker
Mrs. Hulugalla W.M. Niranjala is a PhD candidate in Economics at the Graduate School of Economics, Ritsumeikan University, Japan, and an Officer of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service. She holds a B.Sc. in Agriculture from Wayamba University, Sri Lanka, an M.Sc. from Hiroshima University, Japan, and a Diploma in Public Administration from the Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration. Her research interests focus on social capital, voluntary participation, unethical behaviors, leadership, and gender in rural development. Currently, she is working on a project on leadership and gender in rural development in Sri Lanka.
Ms.Elif Çoban
Highlighted Speaker
Ms.Elif Çoban holds a BA and MA in Economics from Turkey, as well as an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from the American University of Beirut, where she was a recipient of the Fellowship for Graduate Studies. Currently, she is a doctoral candidate at Saint Joseph University of Beirut. Her research lies at the intersection of sociology, economics, and anthropology, fostering dialogue and exchange between these disciplines on key issues such as gender, migration, and social inequalities.
Mr. John Carlo Colot
Highlighted Speaker
Mr. John Carlo Colot is an accomplished academic practitioner currently pursuing Ph.D. in Political Science at De La Salle University has a robust background in public administration and entrepreneurship. He hold a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and have served as an Instructor and Quality Assurance Coordinator of the College of Political Science and Public Administration. His research interests focuses on public administration, gender equality, political science, political economy, and law.
Mrs. Nouf Alghofili
Highlighted Speaker
Mrs. Nouf Alghofili Holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with First Class Honors, and a PGCert in Leadership and Women’s Studies. Currently, Nouf is pursuing a Master’s degree in Women’s Studies at Princess Noura University. With over five years of experience in public relations, Nouf is also an entrepreneur, actively managing a family business since 2017 in various industries. Her passion lies in empowering women and families, and deeply committed to integrating leadership principles into every facet of her work and academic pursuits
gender studies conference
Mr. Lorenzo Belli
Highlighted Speaker

Lorenzo Belli (he/him) is currently a PhD student in the program of Political and Social Sciences at the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), Spain. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from University of Bologna (Italy), a master’s degree with honors in Sociology and Social Research from University of Trento (Italy), and a master’s degree in Sociology and Demography from UPF. Lorenzo’s main academic interests include social and gender inequalities, gender-based violence,
criminology and, youth and adulthood studies. He is currently working on the project “Life-course trajectories of abusers and victims of intimate partner violence (DONTHURTME)” lead by Prof. Jorge Rodríguez Menés.

gender studies conference
Ms. Wenyi Hu
Highlighted Speaker

Wenyi Hu holds a Master’s degree in Digital Media: Critical Studies from University College London, and a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from Beijing Normal University. Her research interests include the intersection of digital media culture & postfeminism, online intimacy, and media representation of gender, especially from the standpoint of Chinese women. She is also a proud member of feminist and LGBTQ communities in China with her spare time doing voluntary work of writing blogs and raising donations for feminist NGOs. Now she is preparing to proceed to Ph.D. in the field of gender studies & media cultural studies.

gender studies conference
Ms. Sofia Maia
Highlighted Speaker

Ms. Ana Sofia Monteiro Maia is a PhD candidate in Public Health at the University of Porto and the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich. She holds a Master’s degree in Sociology. Her research interests include the impact of gender inequalities on health and well-being, with a particular focus on healthy aging, and social policies.

gender studies conference

Prof. Robert O’Mochain

Department of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto

Presentation Title: "Japan in the 21st century: Masculinities in Flux"

For many years, Prof. Robert O’Mochain has explored gender and sexuality issues in Japanese social and cultural contexts. His initial interest was in pedagogical issues that focus on the appropriate framing of issues surrounding discrimination against sexual minorities and vulnerable groups, and this formed the focus of his doctoral dissertation, which highlighted the role of masculinities (O’Mochain, 2006: 2010; 2019a). More recently, he has focused on issues of sexual violence, the teaching of such issues, and the significance of sexual harassment as an issue for global society with particular regard to utilizations of digital technology through social network campaigns and global positioning dating forums (O’Mochain, 2018a, 2018b; 2019b; 2021a; 2021b) and as an issue for Japanese society (O’Mochain, 2021c). This research history indicates a deep interest in the necessity of meeting the challenges posed to sexual autonomy by the rise of digitalized technology and polarized debates on gender and sexuality.

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