IAFOR > The Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (KAMC)

The 6th Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (KAMC2025)

November 04-08, 2025 | Held at the Kyoto Research Park, Kyoto, Japan, and Online

Download Conference Brochure

Welcome to The 5th Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (KAMC2025), held in partnership with the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at The University of Osaka, Japan.

KAMC2025 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 KAMC2025 will offer a remarkable opportunity for the sharing of research and best practice and for the meeting of people and ideas.

The 6th Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (KAMC2025) will be held alongside The 16th Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film (MediAsia2025). Registration for either conference will allow delegates to attend sessions in the other.

We look forward to seeing you in Kyoto!

– The KAMC2025 Programme Committee

KAMC is organised by IAFOR in association with the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) in The University of Osaka, Japan.

Key Information
  • Venue & Location: Held at the Kyoto Research Park, Kyoto, Japan, and Online
  • Dates: Tuesday, November 04, 2025 ​to Saturday, November 08, 2025
  • Early Bird Abstract Submission Deadline: May 30, 2025*
  • Final Abstract Submission Deadline: August 01, 2025
  • Registration Deadline for Presenters: September 12, 2025

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

The KAMC Organising Committee welcomes papers from a wide variety of interdisciplinary and theoretical perspectives relating to Arts, Media and Culture. For information about streams, please click here.

Submit an Abstract
Subscribe to Mailing List

Plenary Speakers

  • Nasya Bahfen
    Nasya Bahfen
    La Trobe University, Australia
  • Aaron Gerow
    Aaron Gerow
    Yale University, United States
  • Padmakumar K
    Padmakumar K
    Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India
  • Yutaka Kubo
    Yutaka Kubo
    Kanazawa University, Japan
  • Timothy W. Pollock
    Timothy W. Pollock
    Osaka Kyoiku University, Japan
  • Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano
    Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano
    Kyoto University, Japan

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.

    Read Last Year's Conference Report

    View the KAMC/MediAsia2024 Conference Photo Gallery
    Find Out More About Conference Reports & Intelligence Briefings

    About Kyoto and the Kansai Area

    Kyoto is one of the 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.

    Conference News

    Cultural Visit to Kiyomizu-dera
    News

    Accepted Presentations

    One of the greatest strengths of IAFOR’s international conferences is their international and intercultural diversity. As of August 6, 2025, KAMC2025 has received over 500 submissions from 60 countries and territories - including: Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, ...
    News

    Conference Report and Intelligence Briefing: KAMC/MediAsia2024

    The Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (KAMC2024) was held alongside The 15th Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film (MediAsia2024) in Kyoto, Japan, from October 15-19, 2024. The event welcomed over 350 delegates from more than 40 countries ...
    IAFOR Scholarship Recipients
    KAMC2024NewsScholarships

    IAFOR Grant and Scholarship Recipients: The 5th Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (KAMC2024)

    We are delighted to announce the recipients of IAFOR grants and scholarships for The 5th Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (KAMC2024) to be held in Kyoto, Japan, between October 15-19, 2024. In total, we received 81 scholarship applications ...

    About IAFOR

    "Inspiring Global Collaborations"

    Founded in 2009, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) is a mission-driven politically independent non-partisan and non-profit organisation dedicated to encouraging interdisciplinary discussion, facilitating intercultural awareness and promoting international exchange, principally through educational interaction and academic research. Based in Japan, its main administrative office is in Nagoya, and its research centre is in the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), a graduate school of The University of Osaka. IAFOR runs research programs and events in partnership with universities, think tanks, and other associations. Through its international, intercultural and interdisciplinary conferences, research, and publications, IAFOR is a network hub for interdisciplinary discussion across Asia and beyond.
    Read more about IAFOR.

    Aaron Gerow
    Yale University, United States

    Biography

    Dr Aaron Gerow is Alfred W. Griswold Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures and Film and Media Studies at Yale University, United States. He has published extensively on Japanese and East Asian film history, television, cinema in the Japanese empire, film theory, censorship, and spectatorship, among other topics. His books include Visions of Japanese Modernity: Articulations of Cinema, Nation, and Spectatorship, 1895-1925 (2010); Research Guide to Japanese Film Studies (co-authored with Markus Nornes, 2009 [Japanese edition 2016]); A Page of Madness: Cinema and Modernity in 1920s Japan (2008); and Kitano Takeshi (2007). His co-edited anthology Rediscovering Classical Japanese Film Theory—An Anthology was published in Japanese in 2018. Professor Gerow has supervised the reprinting of several important prewar Japanese film journals, as well as the English translation of Hasumi Shiguéhiko’s influential book, Directed by Yasujiro Ozu (1983). He is currently preparing a monograph on the history of Japanese film theory as well as editing an anthology with film producer and curator Aiko Masubuchi on Japanese film director Obayashi Nobuhiko. Professor Gerow also runs his own Japanese film website titled Tangemania, which can be accessed at aarongerow.com.

    Roundtable Discussion (2025) | Expanding Film and Media History: Lessons from Japan

    Padmakumar K
    Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India

    Biography

    Dr Padmakumar K is a Professor and Head of Post Graduate Programs at the Manipal Institute of Communication located within the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India. He teaches courses on podcasting, radio production, media research, brand planning and corporate communication. He is a recognised PhD Supervisor at the Institute and a member of Boards of Studies at several Indian Universities. He is currently the Indian Faculty Ambassador of the International Association of Media & Communication Research (IAMCR). Professor K was awarded the prestigious Australia India Research Student (AIRS) Fellowship in 2023, funded by the Australian Department of Education, to teach and pursue his research as a post-doctoral fellow at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia.

    Before his academic work, Professor K spent ten years in Commercial Radio, in positions ranging from Producer to Programming Director. As a DAAD Fellow, he taught International Media Systems at Hochschule Bremen, Germany and Media and Culture at Volda International University, Norway, and was invited as a plenary speaker at major international forums, including the 2013 Asia Media Forum in South Korea (2013), Broadcast Asia in Singapore (2015), and Youth Communication Day in Indonesia (2020). He has also conducted a number of workshops on voice culture, radio programming, and corporate communication at leading Indian media and communication schools, including IIMC Delhi and Kottayam, Symbiosis International University, XIM University, Bharathiar University, PSG CAS Coimbatore, and KCLAS.

    Keynote Presentation (2025) | Reshaping the Soundscape: Engagement, Adaptations, Innovations and Hindrances in India’s Commercial FM Radio Channels

    Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano
    Kyoto University, Japan

    Biography

    Dr Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano is Professor of Cinema and Media Studies and Director of the Joint Degree Master in Transcultural Studies programme in the Graduate School of Letters at Kyoto University, Japan. Professor Wada-Marciano earned an MA in Cinema Studies from New York University and a PhD in Film Studies from the University of Iowa, United States. Her research interests include Japanese cinema and media culture, East Asian Cinema, women's documentary, and archive film in the digital period. Professor Wada-Marciano has authored a number of books and articles, including Nippon Modern: Japanese Cinema of the 1920s and 1930s (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2008), Japanese Cinema in the Digital Age (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2012), and No Nukes:〈Post-3.11〉eiga no chikara, âto no chikara [No Nukes:〈Post-3.11〉Power of Cinema and Power of Art] (Nagoya University Press, 2021), which was translated into English under the title Japanese Filmmakers in the Wake of Fukushima: Perspectives on Nuclear Disasters (Amsterdam University Press, 2023). Her latest research involves film archiving in and outside Japan, and has been supported by the Grants-in-aid for Scientific Research (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) since 2020.

    Roundtable Discussion (2025) | Expanding Film and Media History: Lessons from Japan

    Yutaka Kubo
    Kanazawa University, Japan

    Biography

    Dr Yutaka Kubo is Associate Professor of Film Studies at Kanazawa University, Japan. His research centers on queer forms of touch, affect, mourning, foodways, aging, and digital archiving in Japanese visual culture. Dr Kubo earned a BA in English with a Concentration on Film Studies from Framingham State University, United States, and received his PhD from Kyoto University, Japan, in 2017. He is the author of Yūyakegumo no kanata ni: Kinoshita Keisuke to kuia na kansei [Over the Sunset: Kinoshita Keisuke and Queer Sensibility] (Nakanishiya shoten, 2022) and has written chapters for the upcoming anthologies The Cinema of Kinoshita Keisuke (Edinburgh University Press, 2025), The Japanese Documentary Cinema of Haneda Sumiko (Routledge, 2025), and Screening Postmillennial Queer Film (Routledge, 2026). Outside of academia, Dr Kubo has served as script supervisor for Yasutomo Chikuma’s forthcoming 2025 film ‘The Deepest Space in Us’.

    Roundtable Discussion (2025) | Expanding Film and Media History: Lessons from Japan

    Previous Presentations

    Keynote Presentation (2022) | Revisiting Keisuke Kinoshita through a Queer Lens
    Timothy W. Pollock
    Osaka Kyoiku University, Japan

    Biography

    Professor Timothy W. Pollock lectures on film and visual culture at Osaka Kyoiku University, Japan. He has presented papers on film, semiotic theory, ethics, and education, all of which were structured around the central theme of the power of multi-modal, dramatic visual narratives. His film research has focused on the development of standards and practices in classical Japanese cinema in general, and on the later films of Ozu Yasujiro in particular, while his work in the field of semiotics has focused on the applicability of social semiotic theory to the analysis of Japanese cinema and Japanese visual culture.

    Professor Pollock’s media work includes appearing in conversation with fellow film historian Stuart Galbraith IV on the new Blu-ray releases of the Akira Kurosawa films Sanjuro, Red Beard, and The Idiot from A Contracorriente Films. As a long-time resident of Japan, he has also worked as an assistant editor on the second edition of the GENIUS Japanese-English Dictionary. He has served as a judge for film festivals in the United Kingdom and India, and is currently serving as visiting faculty at the Manipal Institute of Communication in Karnataka, India.

    Roundtable Discussion (2025) | Expanding Film and Media History: Lessons from Japan

    Nasya Bahfen
    La Trobe University, Australia

    Biography

    Dr Nasya Bahfen is the postgraduate media and communications coordinator at La Trobe University, Australia, where she is also a researcher with the Centre for Sport and Social Impact. A former journalist and producer whose research looks at sport, media, and diversity, Dr Bahfen currently teaches digital content making and has supervised the completion of higher degrees by research students in the fields of Journalism and Public Relations/Strategic Communication. Her previous academic work includes how race is framed in Australian journalism through sport, interview choice among young journalism students covering diversity, the incorporation of social media in media education, and internet use by southeast Asian and Australian Muslim youth. Dr Bahfen was previously a visiting scholar with NYU’s Center for Religion and Media, where she conducted research comparing social media use among Muslim students in Melbourne and New York City. Her co-authored book Cyber Racism and Community Resilience: Strategies for Combating Online Race Hate (2017) was funded by the Australian Research Council, and explored building resilience among Jewish, Muslim, and other culturally diverse groups targeted by cyber racism.

    Forum Discussion (2025) | TBA

    Previous Presentations

    Featured Interview (2022) | Challenges Faced by Media Covering the Asia-Pacific: A Conversation with David Robie
    Presentation (2019) | Australia and Asia: Media and Identity in a Time of Change