Prof Dr Vassilios Makrakis obtained his PhD in International Education (with specialisation in Computers in Education) from Stockholm University, Sweden. He was a Professor of ICT in Education with particular reference to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) at the Department of Primary Education, University of Crete, Greece. He holds a UNESCO Chair in the field of ICT in ESD. Since 2012, Prof Makrakis is employed at Frederick University, Cyprus, as Collaborating Academic Staff, undertaking Master level courses in the field of Sustainable Development.
Prof Dr Vassilios Makrakis
Frederick University, Cyprus
Dr Hanna Teräs
Tampere University of Applied Sciences, Finland
Dr Hanna Teräs is Principal Lecturer (Digital Learning Environments) at the School of Pedagogical Innovations at Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK). She is the research group lead CARDE (Critical Applied Research in Digitalisation of Education), and her research interests include digitalisation and its sociological impacts, online pedagogies, authentic learning, and adult and professional learning. She has over 20 years of experience in digital learning in higher education in Finland and Australia. She has led various national and international projects and publishes actively in high quality outlets.
Prof Daryono SH completed his PhD from the Faculty of Law, Australian National University, Australia and obtained an MA from the University of Victoria, Canada. Since 2014, he has been a professor in the field of law with the Open University of Indonesia (Universitas Terbuka).
He is currently the Head of the Center for Research and Innovation in Open and Distance Learning. His research interests include property law, law and development and open education. From 2010 to 2013, he served as a member of the international collaborative research on Open Education Resources (OER) funded by the International Development Research Center (IDRC), Canada.
In 2014, he participated in an international collaborative research on Research on OER for Development (ROER4D) funded by IDRC (2014-2017). He is currently a member of a working research group on sustainable agricultural land investment contracts funded by the International Institute for Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT). He is now also UT’s team leader for collaborative research, the BUKA Project with 8 universities in Southeast Asia and Europe funded by the European Union, Erasmus ++ (2019-2022).
Prof Daryono SH
Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia
Prof Patricia B. Arinto
University of the Philippines
Prof Patricia B. Arinto is the former Dean of the Faculty of Education, University of the Philippines - Open University. She is currently the Dean at University of the Philippines Visayas - Tacloban College. She previously served as Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs (Curriculum and Instruction) with the University of the Philippines System.
Her research interests include teacher professional development in technology-supported learning, instructional design, and open educational practices. She earned her Doctor in Education (EdD) from the Institute of Education, University of London and has a Postgraduate Certificate in Technology-Based Distributed Learning from the University of British Columbia, Canada.
Dr K. P. Joo is the Dean with the Office of Educational Information Systems & Technology and the associate professor of youth education at Korea National Open University. He earned his PhD on adult education and comparative international education (dual title degree) from the Pennsylvania State University, USA. He has served various international organisations to promote educational technologies and opportunities for broader populations in the developing countries.
Dr Kyoung Phil Joo
Korea National Open University, South Korea
Adam Brimo
OpenLearning Limited, Australia
Adam Brimo is the Founder and CEO of Open Learning Limited. He is listed in the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia for Consumer Technology and in The Pearcey Foundation 2018 NSW Tech Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. Adam holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Software) and Bachelor Arts (Politics) degrees from University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, and is the 2011 Choice Magazine Consumer Activist of the Year and recipient of the 2011 UNSW Alumni Graduand Award.
Adam has previously worked at Macquarie Bank as a Software Engineer in the Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities Group and at Westpac Institutional Bank as a Senior Software Engineer. In 2012, Adam joined David Collien and world-renowned Professor Richard Buckland to found OpenLearning.com, a lifelong learning platform with over 4 million enrolments that prepares learners for the future of work. OpenLearning was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in December 2019.
Prof Naveed Malik is Special Advisor, Technology and Innovation at the Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver. He was the founding Rector of the Virtual University of Pakistan and served the University from 2001 to 2019. Dr Malik obtained his master’s degree in Physics from the University of the Punjab and the Doctor of Science degree from M.I.T. in the field of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
He was the founding Chairman of the Department of Computer Science at the University of the Punjab and the principal architect of the University’s computerised examination system and its fiber optic campus-area network. From 2005-2012, he was the Principal Investigator for two IDRC (Canada) funded Asia-wide research projects on distance education that resulted in the publication of several books and many scholarly articles.
He has lectured extensively, has been an active systems and software development consultant and has published several papers on various technical subjects. He is a life member of the Pakistan Institute of Physics and was awarded the Pakistan Civil Award of Sitara-e-Imtiaz in 2008 for services to education.
Prof Naveed Malik
Commonwealth of Learning, Canada
Dr Dinh Tuan Long
Hanoi Open University, Vietnam
Dr Dinh Tuan Long is Director of Technology & Learning Material Center in Hanoi Open University, Vietnam. His experience includes information technology, instructional design, multimedia, and eLearning. He was a lecturer at the Faculty of IT, Vice Director of eLearning Center, Hanoi Open University where he researched on digital content development and how to apply information technology and telecommunication in education, especially open and distance education.
He is also the person in charge of eLearning infrastructure & eLearning development at Hanoi Open University. He studied IT in Hanoi Open University and hold a doctorate of technology from Russian State Technological University (MATI).
Prof Uma Kanjilal is Pro-Vice Chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and has more than 32 years of experience in Open and Distance Learning System. She was a Fulbright Scholar with the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign in the United States from 1999 to 2000 where she worked on Multimedia courseware development.
She had earlier served as Director of Centre for Online Education (COE), Director of Inter University Consortium of Technology Enabled Flexible Education (IUC- TEFED), Director of Advanced Centre for Informatics and Innovative Learning (ACIIL), Director of School of Social Sciences, and University Librarian and is a Professor in the Faculty of Library and Information Science at IGNOU.
Prof Kanjilal is one of the National Coordinators of SWAYAM (India MOOCs) and SWAYAM PRABHA (Educational DTH Channels) of the Ministry of Education, Government of India. She was also Principal Investigator (PI) of the National Virtual Library of India (NVLI) Project of Ministry of Culture, Government of India. Her specialisation includes e-learning, multimedia courseware development, ICT applications in Libraries and Digital Libraries.
Prof Uma Kanjilal
Indira Gandhi National Open University, India
Dr James Brunton
Dublin City University, Ireland
Dr James Brunton is Assistant Professor and Programme Chair of the DCU Connected Psychology Major programme, which is an online, open education programme, at Dublin City University, Ireland. Dr James is a Chartered Psychologist (C. Psychol., Ps.S.I.; C. Work & Org. Psychol. Ps.S.I.; CPsychol BPS) and European Distance Education Network (EDEN) Fellow.
His research interests include the psychology of identity, socialisation / orientation processes, online learning design, open pedagogy, and digital assessment. Dr James is currently the principal investigator / DCU principal investigator on several locally and EU funded projects focused on themes of open education and widening participation.
Prof Dr Boontip Siritarungsri is an Emeritus Professor of Nursing, who was attached with the School of Nursing, Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University (STOU), Thailand, from 1985 to 2020. Currently, Prof Boontip is an independent scholar, invited speaker, consultant, and academic researcher with vast experience in teaching nursing programme through distance learning. She has achieved the status of Senior Fellow of The Higher Education Academy in recognition of her attainment in the UK Professional Standards Framework (PSF) for teaching and learning support in higher education.
She also has experience in research partnership nationally and internationally, in Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines. One of her research topics entitled “Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Professional Quality of Life and Coping Strategy among Nurses in Thailand” has been published in ASEAN Journal of Open and Distance Learning on Special Issue, 2020.
Prof Dr Boontip Siritarungsri
Sukothai Thammathirat Open University, Thailand
Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Tajudin Ninggal
Open University Malaysia
Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Tajudin Ninggal is an esteemed Licensed Professional Counsellor, Certified Neuro-Linguistic Practitioner (NLP), and a US trained counselling psychologist in Malaysia. He provides integrative counselling, coaching, and psychological consulting to government agencies, corporate sectors, colleges and universities, professional associations, expatriates, NGOs, and the general public.
During his six-year stint in the United States, Prof Tajudin served as the Multicultural Trainer and Consultant with the Michigan Judicial Institute (MJI). Prof Tajudin received his Bachelor of Education (Hons.) (Counselling & Guidance) from Universiti Putra Malaysia. Upon graduation, he pursued for his Master of Arts (Counselling Psychology) degree and later completed his PhD degree (Counselling & Supervision) both from Western Michigan University, USA.
Prof Tajudin is the author and founder of the first Malaysian Online Psychological System consisted of TAJMA Personality Plus and TAJMA Career Interest Plus. In addition, Prof Tajudin is the founder of the Al-Ghazalian Psycho-Spiritual Counselling. He is an active writer and to date has written seven books on counselling and student development and has presented over 150 papers and workshops nationally and internationally during the past 10 years.