The 17th Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film (MediAsia2026)

The Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film is an interdisciplinary gathering of educators and researchers from around the world, held as part of IAFOR’s Japan Conference Series and hosted in Kyoto in 2026.

Key Information
  • Venue & Location: Held at the Kyoto Research Park, Kyoto, Japan, and Online
  • Dates: Monday, November 09, 2026 ​to Friday, November 13, 2026
  • Early Bird Abstract Submission Deadline: May 15, 2026*
  • Final Abstract Submission Deadline: July 24, 2026
  • Registration Deadline for Presenters: September 04, 2026

*Submit early to take advantage of the discounted registration rates. Learn more about our registration options.

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International, Intercultural, Interdisciplinary

The 17th Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film (MediAsia2026) will be held alongside The 7th Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (KAMC2026) as a part of the IAFOR's Asian Conference Series in Japan, and many of the sessions will concentrate on areas at the intersection of education, media, arts and culture. In keeping with IAFOR’s commitment to interdisciplinary study, delegates at either conference are encouraged to attend sessions in other disciplines. Registration for either conference will allow delegates to attend sessions in the other. We expect the resultant professional and personal collaborations to endure for many years, and we look forward to seeing you in Kyoto and online!

Kyoto Series Banners

Join us in Kyoto, Japan, for MediAsia2026

Welcome to The 17th Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film (MediAsia2026), held in partnership with the IAFOR Research Centre at the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) in The University of Osaka, Japan.

MediAsia2026 encourages academics and scholars to meet and exchange ideas and views in an international forum stimulating respectful dialogue. This event will afford an exceptional opportunity for renewing old acquaintances, making new contacts, networking, and facilitating partnerships across national and disciplinary borders.

Since its founding in 2009, IAFOR has brought people and ideas together in a variety of events and platforms to promote and celebrate interdisciplinary study, and underline its importance. IAFOR continues to engage in many cross-sectoral projects across the world, including those engaging leading universities (Virginia Tech, UCL, Singapore Management University, University of Belgrade, Lingnan University, Barcelona University, University of Hawai’i, Moscow State University), think tanks, research organisations and agencies (the East-West Center, The Center for Higher Education Research, The World Intellectual Property Organization), and collaborative projects with governments, and international governmental organisations (Government of Japan through the Prime Minister’s office, the United Nations in New York), media agencies (The Wall Street Journal, JWT, HarperCollins).

With the IAFOR Research Centre at The University of Osaka, we have engaged in a number of interdisciplinary initiatives we believe will have an important impact on domestic and international public policy conversations and outcomes.

IAFOR's unique global platform facilitates discussion around specific subject areas, with the goal of generating new knowledge and understanding, forging and expanding new international, intercultural and interdisciplinary research networks and partnerships. We have no doubt that MediAsia2026 will offer a remarkable opportunity for the sharing of research and best practice and for the meeting of people and ideas.

We look forward to seeing you in Kyoto and online!

– The MediAsia2026 Conference Programme Committee

Plenary Speakers


  • Krystal Chryssomallis
    Krystal Chryssomallis
    Photographer and Cultural Producer, United States
  • Thomas G. Endres
    Thomas G. Endres
    University of Northern Colorado, United States
  • Virgil Hawkins
    Virgil Hawkins
    Osaka University, Japan
  • David McNeill
    David McNeill
    University of the Sacred Heart, Japan

Conference News

IAFOR's Conference Themes for 2025-2029

IAFOR Themes 2025-2029
Our selected themes for 2025-2029 bring together ideas and encourage research and synergies in the following areas:

  • Technology and Artificial Intelligence
  • Humanity and Human Intelligence
  • Global Citizenship and Education for Peace
  • Leadership

    • Our four themes can be seen as standalone themes, but they are also very much in conversation with each other. Themes may be seen as corollaries, complementary, or in opposition/juxtaposition with each other. The themes can be considered as widely as possible and are designed, in keeping with our mission, to encourage ideas across the disciplines.

    Download Conference Brochure
    Register for the Conference
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    Read Last Year's Conference Report

    View the KAMC/MediAsia2025 Conference Photo Gallery
    Find Out More About Conference Reports & Intelligence Briefings

    About Kyoto and the Kansai Area

    Kyoto is one of the world's most storied and beautiful cities, and was the capital of Japan for over a thousand years from 794 until 1868.

    The Kansai area, 500 km east of Tokyo, boasts the cities of Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and Nara. Kansai represents the inherent strength (sokojikara) of Japan as the vortex of Japan’s cultural, political and commercial activities for nearly 13 centuries. In times past Kyoto and the older capital Nara were the repositories of religion, knowledge, technology, and civilisation that reached Japan by way of the Silk Road. Osaka has been the biggest commerce centre since the Edo period (1603 – 1868), pioneering in futures trade and giving birth to many large trading houses that would provide the social capital for rapid industrialisation in the Meiji era (1868 – 1912). Even though the capital has moved to Tokyo, Kansai continues to flourish in this rich cultural heritage and tradition of innovative thinking, as a place where East mingles with the West over time and space in ways that Tokyo cannot match.

    David McNeill
    University of the Sacred Heart, Japan

    Biography

    Dr David McNeill was born in the United Kingdom and raised in Ireland. He was awarded his PhD from Napier University in Edinburgh in 1998. He has since taught at universities in Ireland, the United Kingdom, China, and Japan, and is currently Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of the Sacred Heart, Japan. He is an editor and board member of the Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, was previously a correspondent for The Independent, The Economist and The Chronicle of Higher Education, and a columnist for The Mainichi Shimbun and The Japan Times. Dr McNeill is a long-time member of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan and currently edits No1 Shimbun, the FCCJ’s house magazine, while also serving as co-chair of the FCCJ’s Freedom of the Press Committee. He is co-author of Strong in the Rain: Surviving Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster (Palgrave Macmillan 2012) and Japanese Rebels: Non-conformists in a Conformist Society (Routledge, 2026).

    Keynote Presentation (2026) | TikToking Ourselves to Death: Journalism in Japan in the Age of Social Media
    Krystal Chryssomallis
    Photographer and Cultural Producer, United States

    Biography

    Krystal Chryssomallis is an internationally recognised photographer, cultural producer, visual storyteller, and educator whose work is devoted to amplifying the good through stories and experiences that foster trust, empathy, connection, and lived impact.

    Over the past two decades, her work has taken her across more than 60 countries, shaping global productions, large-scale live events, and international storytelling initiatives, including projects staged at six UNESCO World Heritage sites. Her collaborations span global brands, humanitarian initiatives, and institutional partners, including UNICEF, NASA, PBS, Boeing, IMAX, Disney, FIFA, and the World Wildlife Fund. Her fine art photography translates this global experience into enduring works held in private collections, cultural institutions and hospitality environments, including an exhibition at Xposure in Sharjah, UAE.

    She has also served as a judge for the Travel Photographer of the Year Awards and The Drum Awards, and as a Panda Ambassador for WWF. Across her work in cultural production, photography, storytelling, education, humanitarian advocacy, and social impact, she explores how perception shapes human connection, decision-making, creativity, adaptability, and meaningful action across language, culture, and difference.

    She has recently served as a judge for the Travel Photographer of the Year Awards and has been preparing to travel to Sri Lanka, serving as a mentor for this year’s winners. War intervened, so those plans have changed, and she is now preparing a masterclass via Zoom. See Krystal’s photography portfolio at: https://www.krystalan.com/portfolio

    Workshop Presentation (2026) | Luck Is a Skill: A Real-Time Framework for Navigating Uncertainty and Creating Better Outcomes
    Virgil Hawkins
    Osaka University, Japan

    Biography

    Dr Virgil Hawkins is a professor specialising in world affairs and the news media, and is based at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), The University of Osaka, Japan. He obtained his PhD in International Public Policy from OSIPP, where he focused on international politics, conflict, the UN Security Council, and the news media. He proceeded to work for five years for a non-governmental aid organisation, primarily in Cambodia and Zambia, before returning to the university as a faculty member. He has written and edited a number of books, including Stealth Conflicts: How the World’s Worst Violence is Ignored (2008), and Communication and Peace: Mapping an Emerging Field (co-edited, 2015). His work focuses on furthering our understanding of how and why the vast majority of the world remains relatively uncovered by the news media.

    To these ends, Professor Hawkins has since shifted his focus to work at a more practical level. He co-established the Southern African Centre for Collaboration on Peace and Security (SACCPS) [http://saccps.org/] in 2010, which is a network that has brought together researchers and practitioners working on these issues throughout the region. He went on to establish Global News View (GNV) [http://globalnewsview.org/], a large-scale media project that analyses trends and deficiencies in the world news coverage by the Japanese news media, and attempts to compensate for those deficiencies by providing analysis on undercovered global issues.

    The Forum (2026) | TBA

    Previous MediAsia Presentations

    Featured Panel Discussion (2025) | Japanese Newspaper Coverage of the World

    Featured Panel Discussion (2024) | Media and Power in the Asia-Pacific: IAFOR Global Fellows and IAFOR Research Centre Panel Discussion

    Featured Panel Presentation (2023) | International News Coverage and The Role of Independent Media
    Featured Presentation (2019) | Climate Coverage: Getting More and Getting it Done Right
    Featured Presentation (2017) | Introduction of Osaka University’s Global News View Database
    Thomas G. Endres
    University of Northern Colorado, United States

    Biography

    Thomas G. Endres is Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Northern Colorado, United States, where he teaches courses in communication theory, popular culture, group dynamics, and leadership. In a career marked primarily by administrative responsibilities, he found time to conduct research using Bormann’s Symbolic Convergence Theory (SCT) to identify the use of stories in creating rhetorical communities. He is author and photographer of Sturgis Stories: Celebrating the People of the World’s Largest Motorcycle Rally (Kirk House, 2002) and My Costume, Myself: Celebrating Stories of Cosplay and Beyond (Kirk House, 2001, 2023) and co-author, with Deanna D. Sellnow, of The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture: Considering Mediated Texts, 4th ed. (Sage, 2023). His updated essay on SCT will appear in the forthcoming 2nd edition of Wiley-Blackwell's The International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy. He has delivered more than 250 presentations, workshops, and keynote addresses across the United States (including Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico) and abroad, including presentations in Austria, China, the Czech Republic, Japan, Spain, Thailand, Türkiye, and the United Kingdom.

    Keynote Presentation (2026) | A Storied Career: A Photo-Ethnographic Review of Rhetorical Communities

    Previous Presentations

    Keynote Presentation (2022) | Costume Conversations: Resilience and Representation in Cosplay and Beyond