Training Sessions
Training Session #1
Sustainable Development Goals
Time (est.): March 11, 2023 – 9:00 AM (GMT +7)

Speaker
Associate Professor Iftekhar Ahmed
- Construction Management/Disaster Resilience
- PhD, SMArchS, BArch (hons.)
School of Architecture and Built Environment - College of Engineering, Science and Environment
- The University of Newcastle
- University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Bio:
Dr Iftekhar Ahmed is an Associate Professor and previous Program Convenor of the Master of Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Development, University of Newcastle, Australia. He teaches policy and social aspects of disaster risk reduction, resilience of the built environment and sustainable development.
His research interest includes post-disaster housing, disaster risk reduction climate change adaptation, sustainability and urbanisation in the Asia-Pacific. He believes that research should not be focused solely on books at a desk, he takes a truly immersive approach to his research in disaster resilience and sustainable development.
While he started on a traditional architectural path, Ifte soon moved onto a more interesting trajectory – disaster resilience and sustainable post-disaster housing systems. Ifte’s academic career spans the continents – a Bachelor of Architecture from IIT, India, Master of Science in Architecture Studies from MIT in the US, and a PhD from Oxford Brookes University in the UK, so it’s not surprising that his research focus is global.
He has written several books and many peer-reviewed publications and engages in various research and evaluation projects relating to disaster resilience and sustainable development. He is the lead author of the recent book “Disaster Resilience in South Asia: Tackling the Odds in the Sub-Continental Fringes” (Routledge, UK, 2020).

Training Session #2
Presentation Techniques for ESL
Time (est.): March 18, 2023 – (GMT +7) 9:00 AM

Speaker
Mr Nicholas Collier
- Learning Adviser
- Learning and Teaching
- Academic Division
- The University of Newcastle
- University Drive, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Nicholas is a Learning Advisor at the University of Newcastle, where he works with students on their academic language, writing and speaking skills during their studies. Before arriving in Newcastle in 2009, he taught English in Japan and Saudi Arabia, where he met every imaginable sort of student and covered every imaginable sort of material. If one job involved teaching medical vocabulary to hospital staff in the middle of the desert, another might involve teaching colours to kindergarten students in the middle of a high-rise city. Another might involve teaching modern literature to retirees, Japanese grammar to adult learners, or everything in between.
Born and raised in Australia, he has travelled widely in Asia, and speaks several languages (he tried learning Vietnamese three years ago, but wasn’t very good at it). Qualified in education, philosophy, linguistics, English literature and Indonesian history, he also writes and illustrates, and is known among his colleagues for travelling ridiculously long distances on foot. Before being asked to participate in Van Lang University’s debating tournament, he worked on presentation, public speaking and debating with students from many backgrounds.

Training Session #3
British Parliamentary debate & Simulation
Time (est.): April 5, 2023 – (GMT +7) 04:00 PM

Speaker
Mr. Ivan Jim Saguibal Layugan
Convener and Chief Adjudicator, iDebate 2023
Ivan Jim Layugan is a writer and teacher currently based in Kiryu City, Japan where he works with the Kiryu City Board of Education. He was a varsity debater during his years in university and has served as an adjudicator and debater in local and national debate competitions in the Philippines, including the National Debate Championships. He has also taught Debate and Argumentation at the University of Baguio, Philippines for six years, prior to moving to Japan. His works align with SDGs 3, 4, and 5. His research interests include gendered narratives, the language of resilience, and masculinities in organizations.
He was a fellow in various writing, journalism, and leadership workshops and programs in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and the US. He is currently the Philippines’ National Lead for the National University of Singapore’s Asia Research Institute for the project entitled “Living with Covid-19 in Southeast Asia” and has served as principal investigator for research projects with NGOs such as Oxfam, ChildFund, and Association Sœur Emmanuelle. He is also a poet and essayist, and his creative nonfiction was first anthologized at age 18. For more details about him, visit www.ianlayugan.com.

Training Session #4
Critical & Systematic Thinking
Time (est.): April 18, 2023 – (GMT +7) 03:00 PM

Speaker
Ms. Dorothy Tse
Dr. Dorothy Tse is a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology, at Edge Hill University, UK. She is an honorary fellow at the Edinburgh Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh, UK. She received her MSc and Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Edinburgh, UK.
As a neuroscientist, her scientific interest is in understanding the neurobiology of learning and memory, and how to detect early-onset dementia and healthy aging. She has published in numerous academic journals (e.g Science 2007; 2011) including on memory.
She was elected as a Young Scientist Lead of the European Brain and Behaviour Society executive committee. She is also the lead of the Liverpool Neuroscience Early Career Researcher group.
