Keynote Speaker
Prof. Vedi Hadiz – University of Melbourne
Prof. Vedi Hadiz is a distinguished Indonesian scholar and Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor of Asian Studies at the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne, and an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. Having held previous professorial and leadership roles at Murdoch University and the National University of Singapore, his research focuses on the political sociology and political economy of development in Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Professor Hadiz is the author of several influential works, including Islamic Populism in Indonesia and the Middle East (2016), Localising Power in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia: A Southeast Asia Perspective (2010), and Reorganising Power in Indonesia (2004, with Richard Robison). In 2022, Prof. Hadiz authored the chapter Indonesia’s “Third-Wave” Democratic Model? in the Routledge Handbook of Illiberalism. Among his recent publications are “Still the ‘Opium of the Masses’? Religion and Labour Struggles in Indonesia” in the Journal of Contemporary Asia, and “Labouring under Democracy in Indonesia and Turkey: Workers, Nationalism, and Islam” in Asian Studies Review (2025).
Seminar Speakers
Dr. Yun Zhang – Nanjing University
Dr. Yun Zhang is a professor at the School of International Relations, Nanjing University and a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Centre on Contemporary China and the World. He obtained a Ph.D. in law from Peking University and Ph.D. in international relations from Waseda University. His research expertise includes China-Japan-U.S. trilateral relations, Chinese politics and diplomacy, international relations in the Asia Pacific, and international relations theory. Dr. Zhang has authored 6 monographs. His latest books are Unpacking the Dynamics of Japan-China Mutual Mistrust (2020) and Sino-Japanese Relations in a Trilateral Context: Origins of Misperception（2017). His papers are published by The Pacific Review, The Journal of Contemporary China, Asian Survey, Harvard Asia Quarterly, China: An International Journal, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy.
Prof. Kamari Clarke – University of Toronto
Prof. Kamari Maxine Clarke is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Toronto with over two decades of research experience in legal institutions, human rights, international law, religious nationalism, and the politics of race and globalization. Her work ethnographically demonstrates how legal and religious knowledge systems shape global practices. In addition to her scholarly pursuits, she has served as a technical advisor to the African Union’s legal counsel. She has authored nine books, including the award-winning “Affective Justice,” and over 50 articles and chapters. She is a recipient of numerous accolades, including the 2019 Royal Anthropological Institute’s Amaury Talbot Book Prize, a Distinguished Chair in Transnational Justice and Socio-legal Studies, and the 2021 Guggenheim Prize for career excellence.
Prof. Francisco Urdinez – Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Prof. Francisco Urdinez is a Professor at the Political Science Institute of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He also serves as Director of the Center of Asian Studies. He leads ICLAC, a Millennium Nucleus grant funded by the Ministry of Science of Chile. His research focuses on international political economy, China–Latin America relations, and the application of econometrics to international relations. He is the author of the forthcoming book Economic Displacement: China and the End of US Primacy in Latin America (Cambridge University Press, 2025). In 2021, he was awarded with “Carlos Real de Azúa” National Prize for Best Political Science Manuscript, awarded by the Uruguayan Association of Political Science (AUCIP) for his article “An Interactive Model of Democratic Peace” published in the Journal of Peace Research.
Drs. Muhadi Sugiono – Universitas Gadjah Mada
Muhadi Sugiono is an Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations, Universitas Gadjah Mada. He is actively engaged in the global movement for nuclear disarmament through the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), recipient of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. His expertise covers peace and security studies, theories of international relations, and regional perspectives on Europe and the Global South. His recent works include EU 27: Uni Eropa Pasca Brexit (forthcoming, 2025) and a journal article under the Contemporary Journal of European Studies titled Still a Normative Power?: Indonesian Perspective of the European Union. In 2021, he co-authored an influential work on International Relations Studies, titled The Global South: Refleksi dan Visi Hubungan Internasional.