Conference Speakers

Scott Slovic, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist at the Oregon Research Institute in Eugene, Oregon, and Distinguished Professor of Environmental Humanities Emeritus at the University of Idaho. He served as chair of the English Department at Idaho from 2014 to 2018. The founding president of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) from 1992 to 1995, he edited ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, the central journal in the field of ecocriticism, for twenty-five years before completing his term in 2020. Much of his current research focus is on how information is collected, communicated, and received in the contexts of humanitarian and environmental crises, extending the work of the 2015 volume Numbers and Nerves: Information, Emotion, and Meaning in a World of Data (Oregon State University Press), which he co-edited with Paul Slovic. He co-edits the book series Routledge Studies in World Literatures and the Environment and Routledge Environmental Humanities.

Xun Yan is a professor of Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education, and Educational Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a faculty member in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. He received his PhD degree in second language studies from Purdue University. At UIUC, Xun is the director of the undergraduate program in Linguistics + TESOL and the supervisor of the English Placement Test and the English Proficiency Interview. Xun’s research interests include speaking and writing assessment, psycholinguistic approaches to language testing, and language assessment literacy. His work has been published in journals including Applied Linguistics, Assessing Writing, Foreign Language Annals, Journal of Second Language Writing, Language Assessment Quarterly, Language Learning, Language Testing, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, System, and TESOL Quarterly. He is a co-editor for Language Testing and a past co-editor for the Brief Research Reports of TESOL Quarterly. Xun was the recipient of the ETS TOEFL Essentials New Scholar award in 2022, UIUC’s LAS Alumni Distinguished Professorial Scholar Award in 2024, Conrad Humanities Mid-Career Scholar Award in 2022, and Lincoln Early-Career (LEAP) Scholar Award in 2018.

Melina Tamiolaki is Professor of Ancient Greek Literature at the Department of Philology of the University of Crete and Collaborating Faculty Member at IMS/FORTH. She holds a PhD from the University of Paris-Sorbonne (2007). Her monograph, Liberté et esclavage chez les historiens grecs classiques (Paris, Presses Universitaires Paris-Sorbonne, 2010) won the Zappas Award of the Association des Etudes Grecques in 2011. Besides numerous articles, she has also edited and co-edited the following collective volumes: (with Antonis Tsakmakis) Thucydides Between History and Literature (Berlin, Walter de Gruyter 2013), Comic Wreath. New Trends in the Study of Ancient Greek Comedy (Rethymnon 2014, Editions of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Crete-in modern Greek), Methodological Perspectives in Classical Studies. Old Problems and New Challenges (Heraklion 2017, Crete University Press-in modern Greek), (with A. Kampakoglou, A. Novokhatko et alii), Gaze, Vision, and Visuality in Ancient Greek Literature (Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 2018), (with Nikos Miltsios), Polybius and his Legacy (Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 2018), Xenophon and Isocrates. Political Affinities and Literary Interactions (Thematic Issue of the Journal Trends in Classics, 2018), (with Tim Rood), Xenophon’s Anabasis and its Legacy (Berlin, Walter de Gruyter 2022), and Leadership in the Ancient World (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming). She is the Principal Investigator of the projects LACRIMALit (https://www.ims.forth.gr/en/project/view?id=219) funded by the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (2022-2025) and TALOS-Artificial Intelligence for Humanities and Social Sciences (https://talos-ai4ssh.uoc.gr/), funded by the European Union (2023-2028). From September 2024, she serves as Vice-Rector of Development, International Affairs and Outlook of the University of Crete.

李恒，文学（中国）和哲学（英国）双博士。四川外国语大学教授，博士生导师。在SSCI和CSSCI两大检索期刊上以独立作者或第一作者身份发表研究性论文130余篇（Cognitive Linguistics, Cognitive Science,《外语教学与研究》、《外国语》、《现代外语》、《心理学报》等》。目前担任7本SSCI 期刊编辑工作（Language & Cognition 总编辑，Cognitive Linguistics、Gesture、British Journal of Social Psychology、Current Psychology、Psychological Reports、Social Cognition 副主编）。剑桥大学出版社Cambridge Elements in Cognitive Linguistics副主编。同时担任Cognitive Science, Review of Cognitive Linguistics, Pragmatics & Cognition等15本SSCI期刊编委。《中国言语听力康复杂志》专家编委，第15-17届国际认知语言学大会学术委员会委员等。

Dr. Xiong Wen is a Professor of Chinese Studies and the Sara Lee Endowed Chairperson of the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Winston Salem State University in North Carolina of the U.S.A. Dr. Xiong has worked at different universities across three continents as the Chinese program founder. She is a well-established scholar and has over 30 years of experience in teaching and researching Chinese as a second/foreign language. Dr. Xiong most recently published book is "The L2 Acquisition of the Chinese Modal Auxiliary Verbs" (2020), she also published seven textbooks for learners of Chinese by Beijing Language University Press and many journal articles. She was one of the 12 recipients of “National Best Teacher of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language” (China, 2001) and most recently received the Wilma Lassiter Master Teacher Award at WSSU (U.S.A, 2020). She held the language tester qualifications of OPI, AAPPL, and HSK in her career.

Dr. Chew Fong Peng is a associate professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Malaya (UM), Malaysia, teaching Malay language education and early childhood education program. She has presented approximately 176 working papers in international and international seminars and conferences in Malaysia and foreign countries, published 9 books, 132 articles published in journals, 72 papers in conference proceedings, 44 chapters in books, 21 translated books including creative writings, 14 edited books, and edited creative writings. She is the book editor of Taylor & Francis, editor for Malaysian Year 4, 5, and 6 History textbooks, and Year 1 Arts and Music Education textbooks. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chew has completed 31 research projects, 10 of which were led by Chew. She won many medals in the academy and innovative expo, besides being listed in Marquis Who's Who in the World 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. Chew is an article reviewer for established international journals on the Web of Science and Scopus, such as Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, SAGE Open, Educational Research and Reviews (ERR), Pertanika: Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, GEMA Online, etc. Associate Professor Dr. Chew is also a member of the editorial board of 11 national and international journals including Journal of Contemporary Educational Research, Review of Educational Theory, GATR Global Journal for Business & Social Science Review, and Advisory of International Research and Development Center for Publication (IRDCP). She was invited as a visiting professor at Peking University, China from October 2011 to June 2012.

Dr. Somrak is an assistant professor at the International PhD Program in Multicultural Studies, within the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia at Mahidol University, Thailand. She earned her Ph.D. from the National University of Singapore, where her doctoral dissertation explored the cultural politics of promoting Zhuang minority language and traditional cultures in China. Her current research, titled "Cultural Heritage in Motion: Indigenous Knowledge and Mobile Livelihoods in Changing Climates" (a Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Action), investigates the significance of indigenous knowledge in addressing climate change. Additionally, she examines the well-being of university personnel through the lens of gender equality and the vibrant multicultural communities within Bangkok’s historic quarter. Dr. Somrak's areas of expertise encompass cultural anthropology, cultural heritage, ethnicity dynamics, community empowerment, and the sociolinguistic aspects of transnational ethnic movements in Thailand and the broader Asian context.