IAFOR > The European Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy (ECERP) > ECERP2017

ECERP2017

The European Conference on Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences 2017 (ECP2017) and The European Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy 2017 (ECERP2017). Photography by IAFOR Media. Image copyright © IAFOR 2017

The European Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy 2017 (ECERP2017) Conference Photograph. Photography by IAFOR Media. Image copyright © IAFOR 2017

Conference Themes: “Identity” and “History, Story and Narrative”

July 4–5, 2017 | The Jurys Inn Brighton Waterfront, Brighton, UK

The conference themes for ECERP2017 were “Identity” and “History, Story and Narrative”, and the organisers encouraged submissions that approached these themes from a variety of perspectives.

These dual themes are complementary in that they excited research on a variety of subjects related to personal and group Identity, as well as the histories, stories and narratives that help situate us within communities and societies, and in the wider world in which we exist.

Crises of individual identity include losses and questioning of faith, of concepts of “truth” and “right”, and of ethical and religious societal responses to changing norms in different countries. These questions of identity go right to the heart of what it is to be human.

This conference also asked us to consider the connected notions of history, story and narrative within the context of ethics, religion, and philosophy. However, the submission of other topics for consideration was also welcomed and we encouraged sessions across a variety of interdisciplinary and theoretical perspectives.

Abstracts (2017)
Download ECERP2017 Conference Programme

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ECERP2017 Conference Photographs

Human interaction is at the root of all knowledge creation, and hence the great importance of the conference in introducing, testing and spreading ideas through challenging, rigorous and thought provoking discussion and debate. But beyond that, a conference is also a great chance to meet people from around the world, and to extend and grow ones’s professional network, and above all, to make friends.

It may be impossible to tell the story of the conference, or rather the many hundreds of interlocking stories that go to make up the conference, but the documentary photography in this slideshow aims to give a taster of the more serious academic side of the event, as well as the lighter side…

[envira-album slug="ecerp2017-conference-photographs"]

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Programme

  • “Identity” and “History, Story, Narrative”
    “Identity” and “History, Story, Narrative”
    Featured Panel Presentation: Joseph Haldane, Stephen E. Gregg, Geoff Beattie & Katie Woodward
  • The Virtue of Politeness As a Part of the Virtue of Justice
    The Virtue of Politeness As a Part of the Virtue of Justice
    Featured Presentation: T. Brian Mooney
  • A Motivational Theory of Attitudes Towards Counter-Terrorism
    A Motivational Theory of Attitudes Towards Counter-Terrorism
    Featured Presentation: Katie Woodward
  • Hidden Thoughts: Do Your Hand Gestures Reveal More About You Than You Think?
    Hidden Thoughts: Do Your Hand Gestures Reveal More About You Than You Think?
    Keynote Presentation: Geoff Beattie
  • When the Pope is not a Catholic: Complicating Religious Identity in the Twenty-First Century
    When the Pope is not a Catholic: Complicating Religious Identity in the Twenty-First Century
    Keynote Presentation: Stephen E. Gregg
  • Fostering Moral Competence with KMDD (Konstanz Method of Dilemma-Discussion)
    Fostering Moral Competence with KMDD (Konstanz Method of Dilemma-Discussion)
    Spotlight Workshop Presentation: Malgorzata Stec

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Speakers

  • Katie Woodward
    Katie Woodward
    Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, UK
  • Malgorzata Stec
    Malgorzata Stec
    Jagiellonian University & Jesuit University Ignatianum, Poland
  • Stephen E. Gregg
    Stephen E. Gregg
    University of Wolverhampton, UK
  • Joseph Haldane
    Joseph Haldane
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
  • Thomas Brian Mooney
    Thomas Brian Mooney
    Charles Darwin University, Australia
  • Geoff Beattie
    Geoff Beattie
    Edge Hill University, UK

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Organising Committee

The Conference Programme Committee is composed of distinguished academics who are experts in their fields. Conference Programme Committee members may also be members of IAFOR's International Academic Board. The Organising Committee is responsible for nominating and vetting Keynote and Featured Speakers; developing the conference programme, including special workshops, panels, targeted sessions, and so forth; event outreach and promotion; recommending and attracting future Conference Programme Committee members; working with IAFOR to select PhD students and early career academics for IAFOR-funded grants and scholarships; and overseeing the reviewing of abstracts submitted to the conference.

  • Anne Boddington
    Anne Boddington
    University of Brighton, UK
  • Joseph Haldane
    Joseph Haldane
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
  • George D. Chryssides
    George D. Chryssides
    The University of Birmingham, UK
  • Geoff Beattie
    Geoff Beattie
    Edge Hill University, UK
  • Dexter Da Silva
    Dexter Da Silva
    Keisen University, Japan
  • Frank S. Ravitch
    Frank S. Ravitch
    Michigan State University College of Law, USA

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Review Committee

ECERP2017 Review Committee

  • Dr Diana Po Lan Sham, Hong Kong Chinese Institute of Engineers, Hong Kong
  • Dr Kakali Ghoshal, Budge Budge College, India
  • Professor Nai-Ying Whang, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
  • Dr Oseni Afisi, Lagos State University, Nigeria
  • Dr Wilfred Lajul, Makerere University, Uganda

ECP2017 Review Committee

  • Dr Agata Vitale, Bath Spa University, UK
  • Professor Chin-Lung Chien, Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan
  • Dr Edna Calma, University of The Assumption, The Philippines
  • Dr Eva Ganetsou, The American College of Greece – Deree College, Greece
  • Dr Fritz Ilongo, National University of Lesotho, Lesotho
  • Dr Katalin Balázs, Psychology Institute, Hungary
  • Dr Talat Islam, University of The Punjab, Pakistan

IAFOR's peer review process, which involves both reciprocal review and the use of Review Committees, is overseen by conference Organising Committee members under the guidance of the Academic Governing Board. Review Committee members are established academics who hold PhDs or other terminal degrees in their fields and who have previous peer review experience.

If you would like to apply to serve on the ECERP2019 Review Committee, please visit our application page.

Apply to Join the Review Committee

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“Identity” and “History, Story, Narrative”
Featured Panel Presentation: Joseph Haldane, Stephen E. Gregg, Geoff Beattie & Katie Woodward

Panel Chair: Joseph Haldane
Panellists: Stephen E. Gregg, Geoff Beattie & Katie Woodward

For much of the previous quarter of a century, Europe and North America has seen a liberal politics in the ascendent, moving towards full legal equality of the LGBT community, and an increased international engagement in cooperative unions. But the past few years have seen a remarkable comeback of a conservative and religious right within these countries, leading to huge debates over such fundamental questions as what it means to be a human, a citizen, or even an assigned gender.

Militancy or activism fighting power structures has been harnessed in the form of populist movements defining themselves against the "Establishment", and this Establishment no longer able to exercise the same level of control through traditional instruments of power, including previous near monopolies on communication. Populist movements now, as in the past, have used various forms of scapegoating to harness and direct popular sentiment and anger towards easy solutions. Regionalism, nationalism and divisions of faiths and ethnic groups has lead to huge divisions and conflict in this globalised world.

In this panel Dr Joseph Haldane chairs a round-table discussion which draws on the three morning presentations, referencing the conference themes, and the contemporary, local and global contexts to set the scene for the rest of the conference, and inviting reflection from the panellists as well as participation from the audience.

Read presenter biographies.

The Virtue of Politeness As a Part of the Virtue of Justice
Featured Presentation: T. Brian Mooney

“Politeness” appears to be connected to a quite disparate set of related concepts, including but not limited to “manners”, “etiquette”, “agreeableness”, “respect” and even “piety”. While in the East politeness considered as an important social virtue is present (and even central) in the theoretical and practical expressions of the Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist traditions, it has not featured prominently in philosophical discussion in the West. American presidents Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington all devoted discussion to politeness within the broader ambit of manners and etiquette, as too did Erasmus, Edmund Burke and Ralph Waldo Emerson, but on the whole sustained philosophical engagement with the topic has been lacking in the West. The richest source for philosophical investigation is perhaps afforded by the centrality of the concept of respect in Immanuel Kant. However in this paper I will instead draw on the writings of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas to defend the centrality of “politeness” as an important and valuable moral virtue. Starting with an analysis of the broader Aristotelian arguments on the virtues associated with “agreeableness”, namely, friendliness, truthfulness and wit, I will argue that “politeness” should be thought of as an important moral virtue attached to social intercourse (and by extension the vice of impoliteness). I then move to identify an even broader and more important account of politeness, drawing on the work of Aquinas, as intimately connected to the notion of pietas (piety) as a fundamental part of the virtue of justice.

Read presenter biographies on the Speakers page.

A Motivational Theory of Attitudes Towards Counter-Terrorism
Featured Presentation: Katie Woodward

Terrorism is a form of communication and the general public are the audience. Although much is known about public attitudes towards terrorism, surprisingly little is known about public attitudes towards counter-terrorism. In the small number studies that do exist attitudes towards counter-terrorism have been shown to be more significant for their variability than their unanimity. The research presented here proposes that one of the key identifiable differences between people who hold differing attitudes towards counter-terrorism is how they conceptualise themselves within a group and therefore how they are motivated to justify the actions of the group in response to terrorist events. Using the previously developed Attitudes towards Counter-Terrorism Scale (AtCTS-13) quantitative data is collected alongside open-ended qualitative questions to examine in greater detail what people articulate to be “good” and “bad” in terms of the UK’s approach to countering terrorism. The integrated analysis of the quantitative and qualitative scores provided by 89 participants enables insight into the different narratives held by three distinct groups: the most favourable, the least favourable and the ambivalent. It was found that the arguments presented by the three groups were qualitatively different, adding more evidence to the theoretical position that the social context in which attitudes are formed and the social-identity motivations are central to understanding these important attitudes. The research culminates in the proposal of a motivational theory to understand attitudes towards counter-terrorism comprising of three distinct justification motives: system justification, group-justification and ego-justification.

Read presenter biographies.

Hidden Thoughts: Do Your Hand Gestures Reveal More About You Than You Think?
Keynote Presentation: Geoff Beattie

In this lecture I will take a fresh look at what non-verbal communication does in everyday talk. We know that people express their emotions through bodily communication and that we use bodily communication to signal our attitudes to other people, but here I will suggest that one form of bodily communication, namely the spontaneous movements of the hands that we make when we talk, also reflect aspects of our thinking. These hand movements that accompany everyday talk convey core parts of the underlying message. However, since we have little conscious awareness of these spontaneous hand movements they can be very revealing. We are good at controlling what we say in everyday interaction, but we find it impossible to control the form of these unconsciously generated movements. They may therefore, on occasion, not match the speech, and these gesture-speech mismatches can act as a critical cue to various underlying psychological states, including deception. In deception, the form and structural organisation of co-verbal gestures may systematically change, and these spontaneous, unconscious gestures can “leak” the truth. I have analysed instances where people’s self-reported attitudes to sustainability do not correspond to their implicit attitudes, as measured using various associative tasks that do not require verbalisation, and in such cases gesture-speech mismatches may also arise. In this lecture I will argue for the essential unity of speech and gesture in the transmission of thought, and will suggest that we may well have underestimated the communicative power of gestures and failed to see the way that they can reveal our hidden thoughts.

Read presenter biographies.

When the Pope is not a Catholic: Complicating Religious Identity in the Twenty-First Century
Keynote Presentation: Stephen E. Gregg

In this lecture I will explore new academic approaches to the study of religion that move beyond the World Religions paradigm and the theological approaches of past generations. Prioritising a bottom-up, vernacular approach to “religion”, I will explore the complexities of religious identity, categorisation and belonging that arise when the religious participants are understood within the context of their everyday lives. With a focus on people, not texts, practices, not beliefs, and on understanding religious living in informal as well as formal settings, I will argue that religious belonging and identity need to be understood within a relational continuum, rather than the binary “inside/outside” categories of previous paradigms. Such an approach seeks to understand the complexity of everyday religious lives – of atheist Muslims, of pro-women priest Catholics, and of performative religious lives that often defy textbook categories of belonging and identity. In so doing, this approach not only re-appraises individual identity and belonging, but challenges the very notion of religious authority and “ownership” – if huge swathes of Catholics disagree with the Vatican with regard to social or family policy issues, what does it mean for textbooks to state “Catholics believe that…”? About whom are they talking? Cardinals or choirboys? Popes or plasterers? Utilising examples from a variety of “mainstream” and “minority” religions, I wish to argue that public discourse on religion, and interdisciplinary approaches to religion outside Religious Studies, should be focusing on religion “as-lived” to best understand the role of religion within contemporary society.

Read presenter biographies.

Fostering Moral Competence with KMDD (Konstanz Method of Dilemma-Discussion)
Spotlight Workshop Presentation: Malgorzata Stec

Well-designed ethics classes can enhance moral competence development, which plays an important role in general personality and identity development. It has been also proved that an effective way to stimulate development must put individuals in situations of cognitive conflict (Turiel, 1966). It shows how important the quality of reasoning is in general growth. But cognitive competence is not enough. Moral learning and upbringing processes should be also based on responsible and democratic decisions – for example, by participating in discussions of moral dilemmas. The Konstanz Method of Dilemma Discussion (KMDD) introduced originally by Professor Dr Georg Lind of the University of Konstanz, Germany, is one of the the most effective and well-documented methods for moral democratic education (fostering moral-democratic competence). Developed through international collaboration over many years of experience by one of the foremost moral education researchers, Professor Dr Georg Lind, this theory-based approach is scientifically proven to improve moral-democratic competence (Lind, 2016). Within the KMDD fostering moral-democratic competence can be achieved more effectively and with less investment of costs or time than is often thought. KMDD can be offered to people of all ages (from age eight upward) and all cultures and religions. After just one or two sessions, a measurable and sustainable effect occurs. As a Certified KMDD Trainee, KMDD Teacher candidate (2017) and Professor Lind’s direct apprentice and follower, during my workshop I would like to present a full session of KMDD to all who are interested in fostering moral and democratic competence.

Read presenter biographies.

Katie Woodward
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, UK

Katie Woodward is currently a Principal Psychologist working in the Human and Social Sciences Group at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Hampshire, UK. She completed her Bachelor of Sciences degree in Psychology at the University of Plymouth in Devon, UK, and went on to study for her doctoral degree within the International Centre for Research in Forensic Psychology (ICRFP) at the University of Portsmouth, UK. Her research interests are predominantly in social-psychological attitudes and influence. She combines a research career in a government laboratory with teaching through visiting lecture positions and independent research. She is also a member of the NATO Science and Technology Organisation (STO), representing the UK on the Human Factors and Medicine (HFM) Panel with a particular emphasis on Social Behaviour.

Featured Presentation (2017) | "A Motivational Theory of Attitudes Towards Counter-Terrorism"
Malgorzata Stec
Jagiellonian University & Jesuit University Ignatianum, Poland

Biography

Dr Malgorzata Stec is currently a doctoral candidate at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, and Assistant Professor/Lecturer at Jesuit University Ignatianum in Kraków, Poland. Her research field is developmental psychology and moral development. Dr Stec is interested in fostering moral development within the discussions of moral dilemmas. Dr Stec received her first PhD in philosophy in 2013 at the Maria Curie-Sklodowska University (UMCS) in Lublin, Poland (topic: moral identity). At the moment Dr Stec is also an undergraduate and postgraduate teacher at the Jagiellonian University and Assistant Professor of Jesuit University Ignatianum. Dr Malgorzata Stec is Konstanz Method of Dilemma-Discussion (KMDD) Certified Trainee and use the KMDD method in her overall educational practice to promote among young people discussion and democracy instead of violence, power, and deceit. Dr Stec is in constant cooperation and contact with Professor Georg Lind – the founder and promoter of KMDD.

Spotlight Workshop Presentation (2017) | "Fostering Moral Competence with KMDD (Konstanz Method of Dilemma-Discussion)"
Stephen E. Gregg
University of Wolverhampton, UK

Biography

Dr Stephen E. Gregg is Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, and the Hon. Secretary of the British Association for the Study of Religions. His research interests are focused on Religious Identity, Contemporary Religion, Minority Religions, and Religion and Comedy/Performance. His current and recent book projects include Swami Vivekananda and Non-Hindu Traditions (Routledge, forthcoming 2018), The Insider/Outsider Debate: New Approaches in the Study of Religion (Equinox, forthcoming 2017), Engaging with Living Religion (Routledge, 2015) and Jesus Beyond Christianity (Oxford University Press, 2010).

Stephen received his BA and PhD from the University of Wales, where he was subsequently appointed Lecturer in Religious Studies. He was then appointed as Fellow in the Study of Religion at Liverpool Hope University and is now Senior Lecturer at Wolverhampton, the multicultural heart of the UK. He has delivered invited papers at universities in India, Turkey, Australia, the USA, and across the UK and Europe. In 2013 Stephen was the lead coordinator for the European Association for the Study of Religions and the International Association for the History of Religions Conference in Liverpool, UK.

Keynote Presentation (2017) | When the Pope is not a Catholic: Complicating Religious Identity in the Twenty-First Century
Joseph Haldane
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

Biography

Joseph Haldane is the Chairman and CEO of IAFOR. He is responsible for devising strategy, setting policies, forging institutional partnerships, implementing projects, and overseeing the organisation’s business and academic operations, including research, publications and events.

Dr Haldane holds a PhD from the University of London in 19th-century French Studies, and has had full-time faculty positions at the University of Paris XII Paris-Est Créteil (France), Sciences Po Paris (France), and Nagoya University of Commerce and Business (Japan), as well as visiting positions at the French Press Institute in the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas (France), The School of Journalism at Sciences Po Paris (France), and the School of Journalism at Moscow State University (Russia).

Dr Haldane’s current research concentrates on post-war and contemporary politics and international affairs, and since 2015 he has been a Guest Professor at The Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, where he teaches on the postgraduate Global Governance Course, and a Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre, an interdisciplinary think tank situated within the university.

He is also a Member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the College of Education of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

From 2012 to 2014, Dr Haldane served as Treasurer of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (Chubu Region) and he is currently a Trustee of the HOPE International Development Agency (Japan). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in 2012, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2015.

A black belt in judo, he is married with two children, and lives in Japan.

Previous ECERP Presentations

Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | “Identity” and “History, Story, Narrative”
Thomas Brian Mooney
Charles Darwin University, Australia

Biography

Thomas Brian Mooney is Professor of Philosophy and Head of the School of Creative Arts and Humanities, Charles Darwin University, Australia.

His major research interests are in Moral Philosophy, Political Philosophy and Ancient Philosophy, and his recent books include Aquinas, Education and the East (2014), Understanding Teaching and Learning (2012), Meaning and Morality: Essays on the Philosophy of Julius Kovesi (2013) and Critical and Creative Thinking (2014).

Originally from the North of Ireland, he received his BA and MA from The Queen’s University, Belfast before moving to Australia to continue his doctoral work. He was awarded his PhD in 1993 on the “Philosophy of Love and Friendship” at La Trobe University. Since then he has taught at a number of Australian institutions including Melbourne University, Deakin University, Swinburne University, Edith Cowan University and the University of Notre Dame. He has also taught at the University of Ghana and prior to his current post was at Singapore Management University.

Previous ECERP Presentations

Featured Presentation (2017) | "The Virtue of Politeness As a Part of the Virtue of Justice"
Geoff Beattie
Edge Hill University, UK

Biography

Geoffrey Beattie is Professor of Psychology at Edge Hill University, UK. Previously, he was Professor of Psychology at the University of Manchester, UK, as well as a Professorial Research Fellow at the university’s Sustainable Consumption Institute. In 2012 he was Visiting Professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA. He received his PhD from Trinity College, University of Cambridge, UK, and is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. He has also been President of the Psychology Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the author of 20 books with various Chinese, Taiwanese, Brazilian, Italian, Finnish and German editions, and has published over 100 articles in academic journals, including Nature and Nature Climate Change. He was awarded the Spearman Medal by the BPS for “published psychological research of outstanding merit”, and the Mouton d’Or for the best paper in semiotics in 2010. In the past few years his research has been funded by the ESRC, the EU (through the FP7 framework), the British Academy, Tesco and Unilever. He has presented a number of television programmes on BBC1 (‘Life’s Too Short’; ‘Family SOS’), Channel 4 (‘Dump Your Mates in Four Days’) and UKTV (‘The Farm of Fussy Eaters’). He was also the resident on-screen psychologist for Big Brother for eleven series on Channel 4, specialising in body language and social behaviour. His latest book is entitled Rethinking Body Language. How Hand Movements Reveal Hidden Thoughts (Routledge, 2016). Marcel Danesi, Professor of Semiotics and Linguistic Anthropology at the University of Toronto, Canada, has described the book as “an in-depth and thorough investigation into the many modalities of communication, emotion and cognition involved in body language. It is brilliant and a must read for anyone who is interested in the mind-body-culture nexus that makes humans unique.” Professor Beattie was featured as Routledge's Author of the Month to coincide with the publication of the book.

Previous ECERP Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2017) | "Hidden Thoughts: Do Your Hand Gestures Reveal More About You Than You Think?"
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | “Identity” and “History, Story, Narrative”
Anne Boddington
University of Brighton, UK

Biography

Professor of Design Innovation and Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, Anne Boddington was educated as an architect and cultural geographer. She has particular interests in the spaces of learning and research and the symbiosis of arts and humanities education as agents of cultural, social and civic transformation. The founding Head of the School of Architecture & Design (1999-2006) and since 2006, as Dean of the College of Arts & Humanities, she was also the Director of the University’s Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning through Design (CETLD) (a unique partnership between the University, the V&A, the Royal College of Art and the RIBA) and co-director of the HEA’s Subject Centre in Art Design and Media.

A registered architect, fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), and an affiliate member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), she has been an independent governor, trustee, chair and an elected member of many regional and national councils in the cultural sector and in higher education including as a member of the Arts & Humanities Research Council Advisory Board (AHRC); Vice Chair of Council for Higher Education in Art & Design (CHEAD) and a trustee of the Design Council/CABE. Working with HEFCE, she was a panel member of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008) and Deputy Chair of D34 for the Research Excellence Framework (REF) panel in 2014 as well as a member of the REF 2014 Equality & Diversity Panel. Her research has been supported and funded by the EU, EPSRC, AHRC, the HEA and HEFCE. She has an international profile as a speaker and advisor for research development, quality assurance, enhancement and teaching innovation in Architecture, Art and Design across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. She undertakes regular peer review and research assessment for academic journals and conferences and has worked with and for research councils of Portugal, Iceland, Austria, Germany, Israel and Canada.

Joseph Haldane
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

Biography

Joseph Haldane is the Chairman and CEO of IAFOR. He is responsible for devising strategy, setting policies, forging institutional partnerships, implementing projects, and overseeing the organisation’s business and academic operations, including research, publications and events.

Dr Haldane holds a PhD from the University of London in 19th-century French Studies, and has had full-time faculty positions at the University of Paris XII Paris-Est Créteil (France), Sciences Po Paris (France), and Nagoya University of Commerce and Business (Japan), as well as visiting positions at the French Press Institute in the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas (France), The School of Journalism at Sciences Po Paris (France), and the School of Journalism at Moscow State University (Russia).

Dr Haldane’s current research concentrates on post-war and contemporary politics and international affairs, and since 2015 he has been a Guest Professor at The Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, where he teaches on the postgraduate Global Governance Course, and a Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre, an interdisciplinary think tank situated within the university.

He is also a Member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the College of Education of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

From 2012 to 2014, Dr Haldane served as Treasurer of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (Chubu Region) and he is currently a Trustee of the HOPE International Development Agency (Japan). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in 2012, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2015.

A black belt in judo, he is married with two children, and lives in Japan.

Previous ECERP Presentations

Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | “Identity” and “History, Story, Narrative”
George D. Chryssides
The University of Birmingham, UK

Biography

Dr George D. Chryssides is Honorary Research Fellow in Contemporary Religion at the University of Birmingham, after being Head of Religious Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, UK, from 2001 to 2008. George Chryssides obtained a First Class Honours MA degree in philosophy at the University of Glasgow, and a First Class Honours Bachelor of Divinity in systematic theology. He subsequently undertook postgraduate research at the University of Oxford, obtaining his doctorate in 1974.

Since 1980, George Chryssides’ main interest has been new religious movements, on which he has authored numerous books and scholarly articles. Recent publications include Historical Dictionary of Jehovah’s Witnesses (2008), Heaven’s Gate: Postmodernity and Popular Culture in a Suicide Group (2011), Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements (2012), The Bloomsbury Companion to New Religious Movements (co-edited with Benjamin E. Zeller,2014), and Jehovah’s Witnesses: Continuity and Change (2015). He is a regular presenter at national and international conferences.

Previous ECERP Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2018) | “Unchanging Truth? – Not in the Study of Religion”
Geoff Beattie
Edge Hill University, UK

Biography

Geoffrey Beattie is Professor of Psychology at Edge Hill University, UK. Previously, he was Professor of Psychology at the University of Manchester, UK, as well as a Professorial Research Fellow at the university’s Sustainable Consumption Institute. In 2012 he was Visiting Professor at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA. He received his PhD from Trinity College, University of Cambridge, UK, and is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. He has also been President of the Psychology Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the author of 20 books with various Chinese, Taiwanese, Brazilian, Italian, Finnish and German editions, and has published over 100 articles in academic journals, including Nature and Nature Climate Change. He was awarded the Spearman Medal by the BPS for “published psychological research of outstanding merit”, and the Mouton d’Or for the best paper in semiotics in 2010. In the past few years his research has been funded by the ESRC, the EU (through the FP7 framework), the British Academy, Tesco and Unilever. He has presented a number of television programmes on BBC1 (‘Life’s Too Short’; ‘Family SOS’), Channel 4 (‘Dump Your Mates in Four Days’) and UKTV (‘The Farm of Fussy Eaters’). He was also the resident on-screen psychologist for Big Brother for eleven series on Channel 4, specialising in body language and social behaviour. His latest book is entitled Rethinking Body Language. How Hand Movements Reveal Hidden Thoughts (Routledge, 2016). Marcel Danesi, Professor of Semiotics and Linguistic Anthropology at the University of Toronto, Canada, has described the book as “an in-depth and thorough investigation into the many modalities of communication, emotion and cognition involved in body language. It is brilliant and a must read for anyone who is interested in the mind-body-culture nexus that makes humans unique.” Professor Beattie was featured as Routledge's Author of the Month to coincide with the publication of the book.

Previous ECERP Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2017) | "Hidden Thoughts: Do Your Hand Gestures Reveal More About You Than You Think?"
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | “Identity” and “History, Story, Narrative”
Dexter Da Silva
Keisen University, Japan

Biography

Dr Dexter Da Silva is currently Professor of Educational Psychology at Keisen University in Tokyo. He has taught EFL at junior high school, language schools, and universities in Sydney, and for the past two decades has been living and teaching at the tertiary level in Japan. Professor Da Silva was educated at the University of Sydney (BA, Dip. Ed., MA), and the University of Western Sydney (PhD) He has presented and co-presented at conferences in Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States, and written or co-written articles and book chapters on education-related topics, such as trust, student motivation, autonomy, and content-based language teaching. He is a past editor and current associate editor of On CUE Journal, regular reviewer for conferences and proceedings, and recent co-chair of the 2011 CUE Conference on Motivation.

Frank S. Ravitch
Michigan State University College of Law, USA

Biography

Frank S. Ravitch is Professor of Law and the Walter H. Stowers Chair in Law and Religion at the Michigan State University College of Law, and Director of the Kyoto, Japan Summer Program. He is the author of several books: Marketing Intelligent Design: Law And The Creationist Agenda (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2011); Masters Of Illusion: The Supreme Court And The Religion Clauses (NYU Press 2007); Law And Religion, A Reader: Cases, Concepts, And Theory, 2nd Ed. (West 2008) (First Ed. 2004); Employment Discrimination Law (Prentice Hall 2005) (with Pamela Sumners and Janis McDonald); and School Prayer And Discrimination: The Civil Rights Of Religious Minorities And Dissenters (Northeastern University Press, 1999 & paperback edition 2001). Professor Ravitch has also published a number of law review articles addressing US and Japanese constitutional law, law & religion, and civil rights law in leading journals. Moreover, he has written a number of amicus briefs addressing constitutional issues to the United States Supreme Court.

In 2001, Professor Ravitch was named a Fulbright Scholar and served on the Faculty of Law at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. Currently, he directs the Michigan State University College of Law Japan summer programme. Professor Ravitch regularly serves as an expert for print and broadcast media, and speaks on topics related to US Constitutional Law, Japanese Law, and Israeli Law to a wide range of national, international and local organisations. He speaks English, Japanese and Hebrew.