The Speakers
Keynote Speakers & Symposists
Sue Cherrington, Ph.D. New Zealand
Associate Professor Sue Cherrington is the Head of School of the School of Education at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Sue has an extensive background in early childhood education, as both a kindergarten teacher and, since 1992, in early childhood teacher education. Prior to her current role, over the last twenty years Sue has held roles as Director of the Institute for Early Childhood Studies, Associate Dean (Academic), Associate Dean (Early Childhood Education) and Director and Head of School for Early Childhood Teacher Education.
Sue’s over-arching research focus is on professional and pedagogical practices in ECE. Within this broad focus, her research concentrates on EC teacher thinking and reflection, including the use of video to support collective thinking and reflection; teacher professional learning and development, particularly through professional learning communities (PLC) ; teachers' ethical and professional experiences and practices; teachers' professional and pedagogical responses to working with diverse children and families; and investigation of the use of innovative data collection tools for use by teachers in ECE settings. Sue has developed methodological expertise in the use of video stimulated recall methods within educational settings.
Sue's most recent project is a Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) project, Early childhood teacher practices for supporting oral language acquisition and competency for children from Pacific heritages. Sue is the Principal Investigator for this project, working with colleagues from Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington), the University of Waikato and Massey University.
She also appears in Symposium 2
Cristina Gillanders, Ph.D. U.S.A.
Cristina Gillanders, PhD, is associate professor at the University of Colorado Denver in the School of Education and Human Development’s early childhood education program. Her research focuses on dual language learners’ development and learning.
Mikiko OTANI, Ph.D. Japan
Dr. Mikiko Otani is a member (2017-2025) and former Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (2021-2023). She is an international human rights lawyer based in Tokyo where practicing family law with focus on women’s and children’s rights. The areas of her focus include human rights education, child participation, girl child, human trafficking, children and armed conflict, and access to justice. She is currently a Commissioner and a Member of the Executive Committee of the International Commission of Jurists and a Vice President of the Asian Society of International Law.
Dr. Otani is active in academic, research, and teaching work. She has been a lecturer on international human rights at Soka University Graduate School of Law. She was invited to give lectures at the training seminars for lawyers, judges and other professionals of many countries including Cambodia, Mongolia, Iraq, Iran, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Fiji and the Philippines, on the international human rights law, women’s rights and children’s rights. She taught women’s and children’s issues in Japan and East Asia as a visiting professor at the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai`i at Manoa in 2011. Dr. Otani was appointed as the Rotating Honorary Chair in Enforcement of Children’s Rights 2023/2024 at the Department of Child Law of Leiden University. She is also a member of the Scientific Committee of the Universities Network for Children in Armed Conflict. ...
Norika HORIKOSHI, Ph.D. Japan
Norika Horikoshi is Deputy Director and Senior Researcher, Early Childhood Education Research Center at the National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER). She taught at two teacher training colleges before her current position. She has lectured and conducted workshops on improving the quality of early childhood education and the transition from preschool to primary school. In terms of project research, her team has conducted a longitudinal study on the development and learning of 3- to 7-year-olds and a study on the process quality of Japanese early childhood education and care. Her team is drafting the “Quality Assessment Scale for Early Childhood Education Practices”.
CHUNG, Kien Hoa Kevin, Ph.D. Hong Kong
CHUNG Kevin Kien Hoa 鍾杰華 is a Chair Professor of Child Development and Special Education and Director of the Centre for Child and Family Science at the Education University of Hong Kong. Kevin was a schoolteacher and worked as an economist and statistician for several years before starting an academic career. He is the principal investigator of many projects focusing on dyslexia and other learning difficulties, literacy learning, social-emotional development, mental well-being, and family relationships. Kevin has published over 190 research papers on reading difficulties, child and adolescent development, and teacher and parent well-being. His work has been recognized as among the world's top 2% of scientists by Stanford University. Kevin received the President's Award for Outstanding Performance in Research (Research Excellent Award) from EdUHK and the President's Award for Outstanding Performance in Knowledge Transfer (Team Award). He also won the 2021 iCAN Silver Medal, Special Award, and the International Innovation and Invention Competition (IIIC 2021) Gold Medal. Kevin serves as a consultant on large-scale research like PISA 2018 and as chairperson and advisor to government agencies and NGOs. He is elected President of the Association for Reading and Writing in Asia, 2024-2026.
Kevin has contributed to developing more than 20 assessment batteries for psychologists and teachers to identify children and adolescents with dyslexia in Chinese and English. He has recently developed and evaluated a Tier 2 curriculum and instruction in English language to improve junior primary school students with English learning difficulties. Kevin has also developed and implemented the 3Es: Tiered Intervention Model on social-emotional development, including the Chinese Inventory of Children's Socioemotional Competence (CICSEC) and 3Es curricula for kindergartens. This Model has been adopted by the Education Bureau. Kevin is keen and devoted to translating research findings into clinical practices and pedagogical approaches to support student learning and well-being.
Sirene Lim、Ph.D. Singapore
Dr Sirene Lim is an Associate Professor at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, and currently holds the position of Vice Dean of the S R Nathan School of Human Development. Her research interests include early childhood policies, childhood studies, and teacher education. Sirene joined the university to lead in the development of the early childhood degree programme for full-time students, which is currently the only early childhood undergraduate degree programme offered in a Singapore public university. This signifies potential for growth in local early childhood research to inform teacher education and professionalisation of the sector.