Connecting Ideas, Cultures, and Communities: Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Humanities and Social Sciences (Ishss, 2024), Macau, China, August 16th - 18th, 2024.

Clive Barstow is Professor of Creative Arts at Edith Cowan University, Honorary Professor of Art at the University of Shanghai Science & Technology, China, and Honorary Professor of Design at Guangdong Baiyun University, China. He was President of the Australian Council of Deans and Directors of Creative Arts (DDCA) Australia’s peak body for leadership in the arts from 2017–2021, and is also Director of the Open Bite Australia, which encourages the development and self-management of visual practices within a number of local indigenous communities. In 2019 Clive was awarded the lifelong fellowship award by the Australian Council for University Art & Design Schools, for his outstanding contribution to art and design education in Australia.
Holger Briel is a distinguished scholar in Media and Communication Studies, with a Ph.D. in Cultural Theory from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an M.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He also holds a B.A. in English and German from Eberhardt-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Germany, and has studied at the Université de Paris, Sorbonne. Dr. Briel has an extensive teaching background, having taught at institutions such as New York University and Shanghai Jiaotong University, among others. He has been a Visiting Professor at prestigious universities worldwide, including Oxford and UC Berkeley. Dr. Briel's academic contributions span media and cultural studies, philosophy, social sciences, and international management. He is a prolific writer and an active journalist for international newspapers. As Editor-in-Chief of the IAFOR Journal of Cultural Studies and a member of several journal boards, he plays a significant role in academic publishing. His research has been supported by numerous grants and fellowships, including the esteemed National South Korean Senior Fellowship in Cultural Studies. Dr. Briel's expertise in global education has led to his involvement in national education supervisory bodies in Greece, Hungary, Spain, and the EU Council for Higher Education.