IAFOR > The European Conference on the Social Sciences (ECSS) > ECSS2019 > Speakers

Speakers

The European Conference on the Social Sciences (ECSS) is a multidisciplinary conference held concurrently with The European Conference on Sustainability, Energy & the Environment (ECSEE). Keynote, Featured and Spotlight Speakers will provide a variety of perspectives from different academic and professional backgrounds. Registration for either of these conferences permits attendance in both.

This page provides information about presenters. For details of presentations and other programming, please visit the Programme page.

  • David James Cantor
    David James Cantor
    University of London, Refugee Law Initiative, UK
  • Haruko Satoh
    Haruko Satoh
    Osaka University, Japan
  • Tom Houghton
    Tom Houghton
    Curtin University, Australia

Previous Speakers

View details of speakers at past ECSS conferences via the links below.

ECSS2018 ECSS2017 ECSS2016
ECSS2015 ECSS2014 ECSS2013
David James Cantor
University of London, Refugee Law Initiative, UK

Biography

Professor David James Cantor is the founding Director of the Refugee Law Initiative (RLI) at the School of Advanced Study, University of London.

Trained originally as a social anthropologist, Professor Cantor worked as a practitioner in the legal field during the 2000s for organisations such as the Refugee Legal Centre, a London-based public law centre where he litigated refugee and human rights cases until 2007, and UNHCR. In a consultancy capacity, he has advised, trained and undertaken research for a range of governments mostly from the global south, as well as numerous INGOs and northern and southern NGOs. During 2016–2017, Professor Cantor worked part-time as Senior Advisor to the UNHCR Americas Bureau.

Professor Cantor’s research has a strong legal and policy focus. Current and past topics include: returns by refugees and IDPs; reparations for displacement; IDP protection during armed conflict and organised criminal violence; human mobility in disasters linked to natural hazards; refugee law and its relationship to human rights law, IHL and IDP law. He has a long-standing connection with Latin America, where he has carried out fieldwork since 1998 in Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Mexico. Since completing his PhD in 2010, he has published five books, two special issues and over 30 journal articles and book chapters.

Whilst running the RLI, Professor Cantor has organised over 100 conferences, workshops and seminars, founded the International Refugee Law book series (where he remains editor) and the distance-learning MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies. He has led international collaborations and secured competitive research funding for almost 20 projects as PI or Co-I (including AHRC, ESRC, GCRF, Leverhulme Trust). He was selected as an ESRC Future Research Leader in 2012 and sits on the Research Council Peer Review College. In 2017–2018, he won the prestigious Times Higher Education (THE) Award for Research Project of the Year (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences).

Keynote Presentation (2019) | Why Do We Protect Refugees?
Haruko Satoh
Osaka University, Japan

Biography

Haruko Satoh is Specially Appointed Professor at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), where she teaches Japan’s relations with Asia and identity in international relations. She is also co-director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre and she was previously part of the MEXT Reinventing Japan project on “Peace and Human Security in Asia (PAHSA)” with six Southeast Asian and four Japanese universities.

In the past she has worked at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), Chatham House, and Gaiko Forum. Her interests are primarily in state theory, Japanese nationalism and identity politics. Recent publications include: “China in Japan’s Nation-state Identity” in James DJ Brown & Jeff Kingston (eds) Japan’s Foreign Relations in Asia (Routledge, 2018); “Japan’s ‘Postmodern’ Possibility with China: A View from Kansai” in Lam Peng Er (ed), China-Japan Relations in the 21st Century (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017); “Rethinking Security in Japan: In Search of a Post-‘Postwar’ Narrative” in Jain & Lam (Eds.), Japan’s Strategic Challenges in a Changing Regional Environment (World Scientific, 2012); “Through the Looking-glass: China’s Rise as Seen from Japan”, (co-authored with Toshiya Hoshino), Journal of Asian Public Policy, 5(2), 181–198, (July 2012); “Post- 3.11 Japan: A Matter of Restoring Trust?”, ISPI Analysis No. 83 (December 2011); “Legitimacy Deficit in Japan: The Road to True Popular Sovereignty” in Kane, Loy & Patapan (Eds.), Political Legitimacy in Asia: New Leadership Challenges (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), “Japan: Re-engaging with China Meaningfully” in Tang, Li & Acharya (eds), Living with China: Regional States and China through Crises and Turning Points, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).

Professor Satoh is a member of IAFOR’s Academic Governing Board. She is Chair of the Politics, Law & International Relations section of the International Academic Advisory Board.

Tom Houghton
Curtin University, Australia

Biography

Dr Tom Houghton is Director of the MBA (Oil & Gas) at Curtin Graduate School of Business, Australia, and was previously a Research Fellow at the University of Strathclyde, UK. His principal field of research is sustainable energy economics and he has a keen interest in energy for development, having established a training program in Renewable Energy for Developing Countries with UNITAR. Dr Houghton is a Visiting Professor at Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, Japan, where he provides courses in sustainable energy to MBA students. Before joining Strathclyde he spent more than five years in the power industry and a further eight in the banking sector, latterly as director at the Japanese bank Nomura. With colleagues in Asia and the United States, he established a consulting company in the renewable energy sector in 2011. Dr Houghton holds an MEng from Imperial College, an MBA from London Business School and a PhD from the University of Strathclyde.

Featured Presentation (2019) | Ensuring Equality from the “Low Carbon Dividend”

Previous Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2018) | Innovation for Low Carbon Energy: Are Power Utilities Ready?