Delegate Welcome Information Packet

STEAR 1st Virtual Annual Conference

November 6-7th, 2021

1st STEAR Annual Virtual Conference:

“The Future of Europe-Asia Relations in the Post Covid-19 World”
The Student Think Tank for Europe-Asia Relations
STUDENT THINK TANK FOR EUROPE-ASIA RELATIONS (STEAR)
1ST ANNUAL VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
The Future of Asia-Europe Relations in the Post Covid-19 World

Who We Are:

● STEAR aims to be the first and leading youth policy institute

strengthening relations and deepening cultural ties all over Europe and
Asia, with our team made up of young people from thirty one different
countries across Eurasia.
● We hope to provide a bridge between the two continents and promote
multilateral cooperation and mutual prosperity.

What We Do:
● STEAR publishes policy publications, providing a platform for
discussions of politics, international relations, and globally-reaching
policy issues
● We aspire to form a community that transcends geographical boundaries
and is formed upon shared interests, utilizing the power of
community-led learning to bring together people from all over the world
● We promote cultural exchanges and collaborations by running cultural
workshops, annual conferences, and digital libraries. Furthermore, we
organize knowledge and capacity-building projects, including policy
masterclasses, lectures, and seminars.

Conference Goals:

● Give European and Asian youths a platform to learn, engage, and

collaborate with each other
o Discuss critical issues facing both Europe and Asia
o Learn about and from each other (i.e. political, economic, and
cultural backgrounds of their countries)
o Promote friendships among future leaders who will play a critical
role in the international world

● Empower and increase the presence of European and Asian youths in the
policy-making realm and beyond 
o Give youths a "toolkit" to participate in policy-making and
diplomacy 
o Make their voices heard and give a platform to make a positive
impact

For any further information or in case of any problem do not hesitate to contact our Conference
Directors at stearconference@gmail.com or our Assistant Conference Officers at
stearconferencestaff@gmail.com

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Conference Agenda
All times are in London Time

Day 1 (November 6th, 2021)

8:45-9:00 Check-in/Meeting Room Open
Opening Ceremony
9:00-9:30 Toru Morikawa, Executive Director, Asia-Europe Foundation
Luke Cavanaugh, STEAR Co-President Schwarzman Scholar
1st Keynote Speech
Chikahisa Sumi, Director, Regional Office for Asia and the
Pacific, IMF
9:30-10:30
Bert Hofman, Director of the East Asian Institute and
Professor of Practice at the Lee Kuan Yew School, National
University of Singapore
10:30-11:00 Break
2nd Keynote Speech
11:00-12:00
Ambassador Igor Drriesman, EU Ambassador to ASEAN
12:00-13:00 Lunch Break
Panel I | The Future of Youth Engagement and
Exchange
Dr. Katharina Heil, President of Erasmus Mundus Association
13:00-14:00 Edward Lim, Policy Analyst, Singapore Ministry of Finance
Hayley Winchcombe, the Chair of the Board of the
ASEAN-Australia Strategic Youth Partnership
Moderator: Michael Yip, Research Associate of University of
Oxford
14:00-14:15 Closing
14:30-15:30 (Optional) Networking

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Opening Ceremony
Ambassador Toru Morikawa
Executive Director of the Asia-Europe Foundation
Toru Morikawa is the 8th Executive Director of the
Asia-Europe Foundation, and a seasoned Japanese Career
Diplomat. His previous postings include serving as the
Deputy Head of Mission at the Japanese Embassy in Iran
and Minister-Counsellor at the Japanese Embassy in
France, where he was in charge of various cultural exchange
initiatives. He has also worked in the areas of Media and
Regional Economic Cooperation and has experience in
cultivating and enhancing partnerships for projects with
different organisations including the private sector.

Luke Cavanaugh
STEAR Co-President, Schwarzman Scholar
Luke is currently a student on the Schwarzman Scholar’s
programme, a global leadership course and Master’s in
Global Affairs based at Tsinghua University in China, and is
a recent first-class graduate of the University of Cambridge.
Alongside running his own consulting firm at university
and writing several published papers, he has taken on
executive positions at several think tanks. Most recently,
Luke co-founded the Student Think Tank for Europe Asia
Relations where, together with a team of 50 volunteers
working across 33 countries, he aims to strengthen relations
and deepen cultural ties between Europe and Asia.

Keynote Speeches
About Keynote Speeches
Together with high-profile guest speakers in the Asia-Europe space, we will discuss the
importance and future of multiregional cooperation in the post Covid-19 world. This is
a great opportunity for you to hear from leading speakers in Asia-Europe relations.

1st Keynote Speech

Chikahisa Sumi
Director, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, IMF
Chikahisa SUMI was appointed as the Director of Regional
Office for Asia and the Pacific (OAP), International
Monetary Fund, on September 28, 2016. He has worked on
Asia and the Pacific countries for seven years in the IMF,
including leading missions to the Philippines, Singapore,
New Zealand and Fiji. He also headed the Financial Sector
Surveillance Group of the Asia and Pacific Department
(APD), and led the Future of Asia’s Finance project,
including the publication of “The Future of Asian Finance”
book in 2015. Born in Osaka, Japan, Chikahisa holds a LL.B.
from the University of Tokyo (1982) and an MBA from
Harvard University (1986)

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 Bert Hofman
Director of the East Asian Institute and Professor of
Practice at the Lee Kuan Yew School, National
University of Singapore
Mr. Bert Hofman, a Dutch national, is the director of the
East Asian Institute and Professor of Practice at the Lee
Kuan Yew School at the National University of Singapore.
Before joining NUS in 2019, he worked with the World
Bank for 27 years, 22 of which in Asia, and 12 of which on
China. Mr. Hofman was the World Bank Country Director
for China 2014-2019, the country economist for China
2004-2008, and the Chief Economist for the World Bank in
East Asia and Pacific 2011-2014. He also worked on
Indonesia, the Philippines, Korea, Mongolia, South Africa,

2nd Keynote Speech

Ambassador Igor Driesmans

EU Ambassador to ASEAN
HE Igor Driesmans has served as the EU Ambassador to
ASEAN since 2019. He was previously a Member of the
Cabinet of Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the
Union for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission. His
responsibilities included Asia and Pacific, Cultural
Diplomacy, Transport and Fisheries. He previously served
as Principal Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer of the
European External Action Service (2014), Desk Officer for
ASEAN (2013-2014), and Deputy Head of the Political,
Economic, Trade and Information Section of the EU
Delegation to South Africa (2009-2013).

3rd Keynote Speech

Zhang Lirong
Secretary-General and Board Member of China Forum,
Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua
Secretary-General and board member of China Forum. He
used to be a career diplomat. He worked in European
Department and Information Department of the Chinese
Foreign Ministry, and was once secretary to the Vice
Foreign Minister in charge of Asia, the Middle East and
Africa. He also worked for years in the Central Foreign
Affairs Commission as well as Foreign Affairs Office of
Jiangsu Province as Deputy Director-General. He was
posted to the Chinese Embassy in Denmark, and the United
Kingdom then the Chinese Mission to the European Union
as Deputy Head of Mission and Minister.

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1st Panel: Future of Youth Engagement and Exchange
About the 1st Panel
The past year has changed nearly every aspect of our life. Living through a seemingly
once-in-a-lifetime pandemic has driven drastic shifts in our study, jobs, vacations, and
so on and so forth. This panel focuses on how Covid-19 has affected one’s engagement
with others and sheds light on the challenges that people are facing to adjust to the “new
normal.” The panel also addresses how Covid-19 will shape the future of youth
engagement and exchange as well as how we can still stay connected and engaged with
others while we are physically apart.

Dr. Katharina Heil

Immediate Past President of the Erasmus Mundus
Student and Alumni Association
Dr. Katharina F Heil is the immediate past President of the
Erasmus Mundus Student and Alumni Association. As an
Erasmus Mundus Scholar she completed her PhD, in 2017
from the University of Edinburgh, UK, and KTH,
Stockholm, Sweden. She currently works as Communities
Coordinator at the European Life-Science Infrastructure
ELIXIR. As such she coordinates and guides efforts across
researchers in the life-science field with a specific focus on
all aspects of data.

Edward Lim
Policy Analyst with Singapore Ministry of Finance
Edward is a policy analyst with the Singapore Ministry of
Finance. He oversees the financing of the Government’s
tech and cybersecurity capabilities. Edward is also part of
the secretariat supporting the Ministerial Taskforce on
COVID-19, and had written parliamentary speeches for his
Minister. Edward is an alumnus of Asia-Europe Foundation,
where he chaired the 9th Model ASEM in Madrid. He holds
a B.Eng. Mechanical Engineering with a Second Major in
Business Analytics from Nanyang Technological University.

Hayley Winchcombe
the Chair of the Board of the ASEAN-Australia
Strategic Youth Partnership (AASYP)
Hayley Winchcombe currently serves as the Chair of the
Board of the ASEAN-Australia Strategic Youth Partnership
(AASYP), a registered charity advocating for stronger ties
between Australia and our Southeast Asian neighbours.
Besides her involvement in AASYP, she is also an
economics, policy and business strategy consultant with
Accenture Strategy. Hayley’s academic research focused on
the labour migration-development nexus and included
time as the inaugural Australian Government New
Colombo Plan ASEAN Fellow. Hayley graduated with First
Class Honours from the BPhil at UWA as a Fogarty Scholar.

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Moderator: Michael Yip
Research Assistant at Oxford University
Michael Yip is a Yenching Scholar and a Co-Chair of
Yenching Global Symposium. Before joining the Yenching
Academy, Michael Yip worked as a British civil servant
during Brexit and COVID-19, covering portfolios relating to
international trade, infrastructure and finance. He also
headed the Young China Watchers in London and
developed campaigns to increase British Chinese
representation within the UK Parliament.

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Day 2 (November 7th, 2021)
8:15-8:30 Check-in/Meeting Room Open
8:30-8:45 Reflection of Day 1
3rd Keynote Speech
8:45-9:30 Zhang Lirong, Secretary-General and Board Member of
China Forum, Center for International Security and
Strategy at Tsinghua
Panel II | Cultural Understanding beyond Our
Differences in a Digitalised World
9:30-10:30 Dr. Asma Abdullah, Intercultural Specialist
Yingying Li, Founder & CEO of Yingfluence, Inc
Prof. Mauro Barisione, Professor of Political Sociology at
University of Milan
10:30-11:00 Break
Delegate Presentations | Policy Competition
Shada Islam, Political Commentator
Dr. Kirida Bhaopichitr, Research Director for International
11:00-13:15 Economics and Development at Thailand Development
Research Institute
Trishia Octaviano, Senior Project Executive, Governance &
Economy Department, Asia-Europe Foundation
13:15-13:30 Break
Panel IV | Sustainable Development and Climate
Actions
Sir Mark Moody Stuart, Former Chair of Shell
13:30-14:30 Ambassador Luisa Fragoso, Permanent Representative
to the UN Environment Programme
Nadja Yang, President of European Young Engineers/
Rhodes Scholar
Moderator: James Balzer, Editor at STEAR
Closing Ceremony
Christian Echle, Director of Regional Programme Political
14:30-15:00 Dialogue Asia, Konrad Adenauer Foundation
Dao Nguyen, Co-President, Yenching Scholar
Representative from 40 Delegates
15:15-16:15 (Optional) Networking

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2nd Panel: Cultural Understanding beyond the Differences in a
Digitalised World
About the 2nd Panel
Technology plays an essential role in our lives, and it is hard to imagine life without it.
But, has technology actually made the world a better place? This panel explores how
digitalization, especially the evolution of the Internet and social media, has changed the
way we perceive others by looking at issues such as hate speech against certain races and
racial/cultural stereotypes portrayed by the media. We also aim to discuss whether
digitalization has brought people closer or exacerbated division while examining
current social and political phenomena including growing political partisanship,the rise
of civil rights protests. Through the panel, we hope to talk through how we could take
advantage of digitization to promote sustaining and meaningful relationships among
the people across differences.

Dr. Asma Abdullah

Intercultural Specialist
Dr Asma Abdullah is an intercultural specialist who has
worked with both private and public sector organizations,
professional associations, educational institutions, and
non-profit organizations. She specializes in cross cultural
management, intercultural communication, organization
development, corporate culture and cultural relocation
strategies for organizations and management executives.
She is familiar with the issues and challenges among
foreign and local managers when they work across cultures.
She received her doctoral degree in Social Anthropology
from National University Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia.

Yingying Li
Founder & CEO of Yingfluence, Inc
Yingying Li is a Guest Lecturer /Speaker/Consultant on
Cross-cultural Communication/Leadership for Global
Talent and “East Meets West” Innovation & Collaboration.
She has a decade of experience working in the U.S., China,
Brazil, India and Turkey, and is trilingual in Chinese,
English, and Portuguese. Her clients as a cross-cultural
management consultant include billionaires and executives
from Facebook, LinkedIn, Cisco and Intel. Besides her
consulting work and her podcasting activities, Yingying
serves as an Executive Trainer and Partner at Founders
Space, a top-ranked Global Accelerator for overseas
start-ups.

Prof. Mauro Barisione

Professor of Political Sociology at University of Milan
Mauro Barisione is professor of Political sociology at the
University of Milan, where he directs Pomlab (Public
Opinion and Media Lab). His research interests include
public opinion, communication, social media, political
prejudice, ideologies, leadership, movements. He co-edited
the book Social Media and European Politics: Rethinking
Power and Legitimacy in the Digital Era (Palgrave, 2017). He
has been visiting professor/scholar at Sciences Po Paris,
Stanford University and Waseda University in Tokyo.

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3rd Panel: Policy Competition
About Policy Competition
As part of the conference, we will hold a policy case competition. Through the
competition, conference participants not only acquire first-hand policy making
experience with real-world problems but also have their recommendation judged by
experienced policy makers in the field.

Shada Islam
Senior Advisor at the European Policy Centre
Shada Islam is a respected and well-known Brussels-based
commentator on the European Union who runs her own
Brussels-based global media, strategy and advisory
company, New Horizons Project. Before that, Shada worked
for nine years as Director of Europe and Geopolitics at
Friends of Europe, an influential independent think tank
based in Brussels. Shada is currently Senior Advisor at the
European Policy Centre as well as Non-Resident Fellow at
the Centre for Global Development. Shada is also a Visiting
Professor at the College of Europe (Natolin) and a Solvay
Fellow at the Vrije University Brussel (VUB).

Dr. Kirida Bhaopichitr

Research Director for International Economics and
Development at Thailand Development Research
Institute
Dr. Kirida joined the Thailand Development Research
Institute (TDRI), a leading independent think tank in
Thailand, in 2015. She is currently the Director of TDRI
Economic Intelligence Service (EIS) which is TDRI’s
corporate membership program. Dr. Kirida leads the
preparation of content for the monthly seminars for
corporate members on issues that are of high relevance and
interest for business. Her specialization spans monitoring
and analyzing developments of the global and Thai
economies.

Trishia Octaviano
Senior Project Executive, Governance & Economy
Department, Asia-Europe Foundation
Trishia P. OCTAVIANO specialises in economic and
development policy research and currently works as Senior
Project Executive at the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF)
based in Singapore. She manages the ASEF Public
Diplomacy Training project series and co-manages the
Informal ASEM Seminar on Human Rights –
Capacity-Building initiative. She is adept in digital
transformation challenges in policy work and is currently
deep diving into issues in Internet governance to support
governments and civil society organisations.

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4th Panel: Sustainable Development and Climate Action: the Path to a
Better Future
About the 4th Panel
Covid-19 presents both challenges and potentials for achieving Sustainable
Development Goals, and there is no doubt that the concept of sustainable development
is more important today than ever. This panel discusses why the issue is relevant to the
lives of everyone around the world and addresses how we can coordinate an effective
collective response across different sectors - academia, businesses, government,
NGO/NPO - as well as countries at different economic levels.

Sir Mark Moody Stuart

Chairman of the Global Compact Foundation
Mark Moody-Stuart is Chairman of the Global Compact
Foundation, and a director of Saudi Aramco. He was
Chairman of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group1998- 2001, of
Anglo American plc 2002-09, Hermes Equity Ownership
Services and Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC).
After a doctorate in geology, he worked for Shell living in
Holland, Spain, Oman, Brunei, Australia, Nigeria, Turkey
and Malaysia, and the UK. A former director of Accenture
and HSBC. Chairman of the FTSE ESG Advisory
Committee 2014-19. Honorary Co-Chairman of the
International Tax and Investment Center, Author of
“Responsible Leadership – Lessons from the front line of
sustainability and ethics”.

Ambassador Luisa Fragoso

Ambassador of Portugal to the Republic of Kenya and
Permanent Representative to the UN Environment
Programme

Nadja Yang
President of European Young Engineers, Rhodes
Scholar
Nadja is a PhD student in Systems Engineering at the
University of Oxford, where she focuses on sustainable
system transformations in the circular bioeconomy and
food sector. Trained as a chemical engineer at the Technical
University of Munich and Tsinghua University, Nadja serves
as the Vice President of Public Policy at the NGO European
Young Engineers, which represents more than 350,000
young engineers. Moreover, she was an executive board
member of Studierendenforum im Tönissteiner Kreis,

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 James Balzer
Editor at STEAR
James is an editor at the Student Think Tank for
Europe-Asia Relations (STEAR). Likewise, he was recently
an editor for the Journal of Asia and Europe Relations and
is a co-editor on a joint policy paper with The Wilberforce
Society, based at the University of Cambridge. He also
serves as a Visiting Fellow at the International Sustainable
Finance Centre, working closely on ESG finance related
research and policy design, and is a Research Consultant for
UN Habitat. James takes a fond interest in Sustainable
Development through the lens of international relations
and geopolitics. Additionally, he is an avid fan of social
enterprise and entrepreneurship, conducting advisory work
for various entrepreneurial incubation programs.

Closing Ceremony

Christian Echle
Director Regional Programme Political Dialogue Asia,
Interim Director for the Media Programme Asia
Mr. Christian Echle is the Director of Konrad Adenauer
Stiftung's Regional Programme Political Dialogue Asia,
based in Singapore. He is a journalist by training and an
alumnus of the foundation's scholarship programme for
young journalists. Before moving to Singapore, Christian
was the Director of KAS Media Africa, the regional media
programme for Sub-Saharan Africa based in Johannesburg,
since 2012. After joining the foundation in 2007, he first
served as an online editor and Social Media expert at
headquarters in Berlin.

Dao Nguyen
STEAR Co-President, Yenching Scholar
Dao Nguyen is currently a Yenching Scholar at Peking
University, Before YCA, he pursued the Erasmus Mundus
Joint Master Degree as an Erasmus Mundus Scholar. Dao
serves as the leader of many youth organisations, such as
Co-Editor-in-Chief at European Student Think Tank,
Director at the ASEAN-Australia Strategic Partnership, and
National Representative of the United Nations Asia-Pacific
Advocate Program. Furthermore, Dao has experience
working for and with leading institutions in international
relations, such as the United Nations, European External
Action Service, Asia-Europe Foundation, and Blavatnik
School of Government. ​

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Useful Resources:

STEAR Website:
https://www.stearthinktank.com/
STEAR Conference:
https://www.stearthinktank.com/conference
STEAR Conference FAQ:
https://www.stearthinktank.com/conference-faq

STEAR Social Media:

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Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/stearthinktank/
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STEAR Conference Slack Page:

https://join.slack.com/t/stearconference2021/shared_invite/zt-vh16mmtz-7ttRT
fZRuhFP5FF6lBCKDA

For general inquiries, please reach out to us via email at

stearconferencestaff@gmail.com or send a Slack DM to TJ (Conference team).

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