IAFOR > The European Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy (ECERP) > ECERP2018

ECERP2018

“Surviving and Thriving in Times of Change”

July 3–4, 2018 | The Jurys Inn Brighton Waterfront, Brighton, UK

The way we think, reason and behave as individuals, as communities and societies is in a process of constant change and renegotiation. The only constant of change is change itself, as Heraclitus most famously put it some 2,500 years ago. Change may not be new, but its pace, assisted and facilitated by advanced technologies, means these processes have never been faster. While in some ways we have grown together through the processes of globalisation, in others we have become more isolated, marginalised and alienated. Religious traditions, and the relationship between religion and civil society, have also faced dramatic change.

This conference’s theme of “surviving and thriving” in these times of change invites us to continue to consider this large question through the traditions and lenses of studies associated with religion, philosophy and ethical studies.

The role of religion is seen by many as having no place in the modern world. Where and when it does wield influence it is often viewed as inappropriate or malevolent, and as a barrier to “progress” and “modern” thinking. In today’s fast-paced and technology driven world are the study of philosophy and ethics useful, or are they similarly becoming irrelevant and ossified? What is the continued role and relevance of ethics, religion and philosophy, as subjects to be studied, discussed and lived as core parts of our individual and collective lives? How can they help us stay resilient in the face of challenges and failures? How can they help us overcome the various difficulties that life brings?

ECERP2018 Conference Proceedings
Download ECERP2018 Conference Programme

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Programme

  • Surviving High-stakes Exams: Do Teachers Help or Hinder?
    Surviving High-stakes Exams: Do Teachers Help or Hinder?
    Keynote Presentation: David Putwain
  • “Unchanging Truth? – Not in the Study of Religion”
    “Unchanging Truth? – Not in the Study of Religion”
    Keynote Presentation: George D. Chryssides
  • IAFOR Silk Road Initiative Information Session
    IAFOR Silk Road Initiative Information Session
  • IAFOR Documentary Photography Award 2017
    IAFOR Documentary Photography Award 2017
    Award Winners Screening

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Speakers

  • George D. Chryssides
    George D. Chryssides
    The University of Birmingham, UK
  • David Putwain
    David Putwain
    Liverpool John Moores University, UK

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Organising Committee

The Organising Committee of The European Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy (ECERP) is composed of distinguished academics who are experts in their fields. Organising Committee members may also be members of IAFOR's International Academic Advisory 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 Organising 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
    Kingston University, UK
  • Joseph Haldane
    Joseph Haldane
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
  • Frank S. Ravitch
    Frank S. Ravitch
    Michigan State University College of Law, USA
  • Dexter Da Silva
    Dexter Da Silva
    Keisen University, Japan

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Review Committee

ECERP2018/ECP2018

  • Dr Syed Aalam, The University of Sargodha, Pakistan
  • Dr Ross Halpin, University of Sydney, Australia
  • Dr Talat Islam, University of the Punjab, Pakistan
  • Dr Maila Dinia Husni Rahiem, Universitas Islam Negeri, Indonesia
  • Dr Monty P. Satiadarma, Tarumanagara University, Indonesia
  • Dr Paul Shrell-Fox, The Schechter Institutes & Efrata Academic College, Israel
  • Dr Marco Vassallo, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Italy
  • Dr Fengqing Zhu, Harbin Institute of Technology, China

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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Surviving High-stakes Exams: Do Teachers Help or Hinder?
Keynote Presentation: David Putwain

High-stakes school exit examinations are a feature of many educational systems. The results of such examinations are used to select students for transition into higher-level education and/or training, for entry into the workplace, and for accountability purposes to judge the quality of schools and individual teachers. The results of high-stakes school exit examinations can have a profound impact on the life trajectory of students. It is not surprising, therefore, that teachers communicate the value and importance of such qualifications to their students; how can success or failure impact on ones’ life chances. What impact might these communications have on students? Does it increase pressure; does it motivate and engage students to work hard; does it ultimately does it relate in any way to exam performance? This presentation will use findings from a 10-year programme of research undertaken in relation to the secondary school leaving qualification in England, the General Certificate of Secondary Education, to address these questions. The key finding is that students differ in the way that they interpret messages about the importance and value of their examinations. Exam value messages can be interpreted in a positive way, to inspire motivation and engagement, or a negative way to trigger threat and worry. The way that messages are interpreted determines whether they relate to educational gains or losses. We will close the presentation by considering the reasons why students interpret messages different and what the implications are for educators of students preparing for high-stakes school exit examinations. How can we ensure they are a help rather than a hindrance.

Read presenter biographies.

“Unchanging Truth? – Not in the Study of Religion”
Keynote Presentation: George D. Chryssides

The lecture explores the role of change in studying religion, with particular reference to new forms of spirituality. There are four interacting areas of change which affect the field of study: society, religion, methodology, and researchers themselves. Starting with an autobiographical account of his own change as a scholar, George Chryssides explores the range of societal changes that impinge on religion and its study, notably secularisation, communications, the technological revolution, and globalisation. Religious change includes doctrinal change, the rise of new forms of spirituality, new styles of devotion, and changing roles of participants (such as women, and people of colour). In new religions, a number of recent happenings, of which 9/11 is the best-known, have shaped public attitudes, and criticism of controversial religious movements has shifted from religious to secular critique. In methodology, the study of religion has moved from a text-based discipline to one which involves fieldwork and focuses on “lived” or “vernacular” religion. Scholars have also come to realise that the phenomena being studied are to some extent our own creation, and concepts such as Hinduism, Buddhism, world religions, and even religion itself are terms that we have created, and which need to be “deconstructed”. The number and diversity of forms of religion require increasing specialism, entailing that no scholar can claim to be an expert, even on a single type of spirituality.

Read presenter biographies.

IAFOR Silk Road Initiative Information Session

As an organization, IAFOR’s mission is to promote international exchange, facilitate intercultural awareness, encourage interdisciplinary discussion, and generate and share new knowledge. In 2018, we are excited to launch a major new and ambitious international, intercultural and interdisciplinary research initiative which uses the silk road trade routes as a lens through which to study some of the world’s largest historical and contemporary geopolitical trends, shifts and exchanges.

IAFOR is headquartered in Japan, and the 2018 inauguration of this project aligns with the 150th Anniversary of the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when Japan opened its doors to the trade and ideas that would precipitate its rapid modernisation and its emergence as a global power. At a time when global trends can seem unpredictable, and futures fearful, the IAFOR Silk Road Initiative gives the opportunity to revisit the question of the impact of international relations from a long-term perspective.

This ambitious initiative will encourage individuals and institutions working across the world to support and undertake research centring on the contact between countries and regions in Europe and Asia – from Gibraltar to Japan – and the maritime routes that went beyond, into the South-East Continent and the Philippines, and later out into the Pacific Islands and the United States. The IAFOR Silk Road Initiative will be concerned with all aspects of this contact, and will examine both material and intellectual traces, as well as consequences.

For more information about the IAFOR Silk Road Initiative, click here.

IAFOR Documentary Photography Award 2017
Award Winners Screening

The IAFOR Documentary Photography Award was launched by The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) in 2015 as an international photography award that seeks to promote and assist in the professional development of emerging documentary photographers and photojournalists. The award has benefitted since the outset from the expertise of an outstanding panel of internationally renowned photographers, including Dr Paul Lowe as the Founding Judge, and Ed Kashi, Monica Allende, Simon Roberts, Jocelyn Bain Hogg, Simon Norfolk and Emma Bowkett as Guest Judges. Now in its third year, the award has already been widely recognised by those in the industry and has been supported by World Press Photo, Metro Imaging, MediaStorm, Think Tank Photo, University of the Arts London, RMIT University, British Journal of Photography, The Centre for Documentary Practice, and the Medill School of Journalism.

As an organisation, IAFOR’s mission is to promote international exchange, facilitate intercultural awareness, encourage interdisciplinary discussion, and generate and share new knowledge. In keeping with this mission, in appreciation of the great value of photography as a medium that can be shared across borders of language, culture and nation, and to influence and inform our academic work and programmes, the IAFOR Documentary Photography Award was launched as a competition that would help underline the importance of the organisation’s aims, and would promote and recognise best practice and excellence.

Winners of the IAFOR Documentary Photography Award 2017 were announced at The European Conference on Media, Communication & Film 2017 (EuroMedia2017) in Brighton, UK. The award follows the theme of the EuroMedia conference, with 2017’s theme being “History, Story, Narrative”. In support of up-and-coming talent, the IAFOR Documentary Photography Award is free to enter.

Access to the Award Winners Screening is included in the conference registration fee. For more information about the award, click here.

Image | From the project Single Mothers of Afghanistan by IAFOR Documentary Photography Award 2017 Grand Prize Winner, Kiana Hayeri.

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”
David Putwain
Liverpool John Moores University, UK

Biography

Professor David Putwain is the Director for the Centre of Educational Research in the School of Education at Liverpool John Moores University and Chair of the Psychology of Education Section of the British Psychology Society. He taught in schools and 6th Form colleges from 1994 to 2003. After completing a PhD in 2006, Dave joined Edge Hill University working initially in the Department of Social and Psychological Sciences, where he established an undergraduate programme in Educational Psychology, and subsequently in the Faculty of Education. David joined Liverpool John Moores University in May 2016. His research interests focus on how psychological factors influence learning and achievement with a particular focus on student motivation, emotion, engagement, and the classroom environment.

Keynote Presentation (2018) | Surviving High-stakes Exams: Do Teachers Help or Hinder?
Anne Boddington
Kingston University, UK

Biography

Anne Boddington is Professor of Design Innovation, Pro Vice Chancellor for Research, Business and Innovation at Kingston University in the UK and recently appointed as the Sub Panel Chair for Art & Design: History, Practice & Theory for the UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021. Professor Boddington has extensive experience of the leadership, management and evaluation of art and design education and art and design research in higher education across the UK and internationally. She is an experienced chair and has held trustee and governance roles across the creative and cultural sector including as trustee of the Design Council, an independent Governor, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), an affiliate member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), a member of the executive of the Council for Higher Education in Art & Design (CHEAD) and a member of the advisory board of the Arts & Humanities Research Council. She has an international reputation in creative education and research and has been a partner, a collaborator, a reviewer and evaluator for a wide range of international projects and reviews across Dofferemt nations in Europe, the Middle East, Southern and east Asia and North America.

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 Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre, an interdisciplinary think tank situated within Osaka University.

A Member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network for Global Governance, Dr Haldane is also a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade (Serbia), a Visiting Professor at the School of Business at Doshisha University (Japan), and a Member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the College of Education of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (USA).

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.

Previous ECERP Presentations

Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | “Identity” and “History, Story, Narrative”
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.

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.