IAMCR 2025 will feature an opening ceremony, two thematic plenaries and the closing.
Opening Ceremony and Keynote
Sunday 13 July | 17:00
Chair
Edson Tandoc, Jr., Co-Chair of the Singapore 2025 Local Organising Committee, President's Chair Professor of Communication Studies, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University
Welcoming words
- Daya Thussu, President IAMCR
- Jack Qiu, Co-Chair of the Singapore 2025 Local Organising Committee
Keynote Speaker: Peng Hwa Ang
Peng Hwa Ang is Professor of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, where he specialises in media law, Internet governance, and communication ethics. Trained in both law and communication, he brings a multidisciplinary perspective to media regulation. He co-founded and served as inaugural chair of the Global Internet Governance Academic Network and the Asia-Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum.
He was the first Asian elected president of the International Communication Association and served on the UN Working Group on Internet Governance. Professor Ang has held leadership roles including Dean of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information and Chair of the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore. He was also a Fulbright fellow at Harvard and a visiting scholar at Oxford. He serves as the administrator of a Facebook group started in 2015 aimed at defeating the transboundary haze affecting Singapore.
Plenary / Communicating the Climate Crisis: Translating Science into Policy and Practice
Monday 14 July | 10:30 – 12:30
While small in size, Singapore faces outsized risks from climate change—risks that may not be immediately visible, especially given the nation’s limited natural resources and highly managed environment. So how can a city-state effectively translate scientific insight into public awareness, policy, and meaningful action? What roles do credibility, creativity, and cultural context play in engaging diverse audiences? And how can communication strategies bridge the persistent gap between knowledge and behaviour in an age shaped by digital media? Bringing together voices from media, policy, climate science, and social media, this panel explores how environmental communication must evolve across platforms and professions to meet the demands of our climate reality. The session aims to spark cross-sector dialogue and offer fresh perspectives for academics, practitioners, and communicators working to make climate change matter—locally and globally.
Panel Chair & Moderator: Edson Tandoc, President’s Chair Professor, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological University Singapore
Panellists
- Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Digital Development and Information, Singapore
- Adam Douglas Switzer, Director, CIFAL @ NTU, Asian School of the Environment, Professor, Asian School of the Environment, Assistant Dean (Development), College of Science, Director of CIFAL@NTU, Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University
- Audrey Tan, Assistant News Editor (Environment), The Straits Times, Singapore Press Holdings
- Kong Man Jing, Co-founder, Science and Environment, Channel "Just Keep Thinking"
Plenary / One Health in Action: Global Insights from Multisectoral Leaders
Wednesday 16 July | 10:30 – 12:30
This plenary session explores the One Health framework through interdisciplinary lens emphasizing how human, animal, and environmental health are interconnected—not only in theory, but in practice on the frontlines of global health concerns. Drawing on real-world case studies such as pandemic response efforts and climate-driven disease outbreaks, the session will discuss how communication practices, information flows shape both the perception and effectiveness of health interventions. Frontline experiences from data scientists, veterinarians, and environmental stewards will be brought into dialogue with academic perspectives. By centering these lived realities alongside scholarly analysis, the plenary invites researchers to critically reflect their roles in contributing to inclusive, context-aware, and actionable One Health solutions.
Panel Chair & Moderator: May O. Lwin, President’s Chair Professor, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological University Singapore
Panellists
- Terdsak Yono, Assistant Professor, Department of Food Animal Clinics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University
- Kujtim Mersinaj, Researcher/ Lecturer, Veterinary Epidemiology and Bio-statistics, Agricultural University of Tirana; One Heath Expert, South East European Centre for Disease Control IPH, Tirana Albania Southeast European Center for Surveillance and Control of Infectious Diseases (SECID), Tirana, Albania
- Tan Sri Dr. Jemilah Mahmood, Professor and Executive Director, Sunway Centre for Planetary, Health Graduate Centre, Sunway University
Closing Plenary / Communicating for a multivocal world
Thursday 17 July | 15:45 – 17:45
This closing plenary is aimed at promoting horizontal communication among scholars representing different cultural and intellectual perspectives. In the best traditions of IAMCR, the plenary will engage in a conversation among panellists who have close connections with other international professional communication associations and forge possibilities of finding ways to embrace difference with dignity, in an increasingly polarised world.
Panel Chair & Moderator: Daya Thussu, President IAMCR, Hong Kong Baptist University
Panellists:
- Cees Hamelink, Former President IAMCR (1990–1994)
- Jack Qiu, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, ICA Fellow and former President, Chinese Communication Association
- Andrea Medrado, University of Exeter, UK, Vice President, IAMCR
- Ramon Tuazon, Secretary General, Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC)
- Ylva Rodny Gumede, Head of the Division for Global Engagement, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
