Speakers & Bios:

Yuwei Xu is an Associate Professor in Early Childhood Education at the University of Nottingham, UK. Previously he has held academic positions at University College London (UCL) and the University of Portsmouth. With a PhD in gender and early childhood studies gained from the University of Glasgow, Yuwei’s research interests include gender and men’s participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC), child agency, 0-3 curriculum, child-centred pedagogy, parenting and family relationships, play-based pedagogy, and teacher professional development. He is a co-editor-in-chief for three international journals including the British Educational Research Journal (BERJ), Children & Society, and Pedagogy, Culture and Society. In addition to being a BERA council member, Yuwei is also membership lead on the executive committee of Gender and Education Association.

Vina Adriany is a Professor at the Department of Early Childhood Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia. She also acts a Director for Southeast Asian Minister of Education Organization, Centre for Early Childhood Care Education and Parenting (SEAMEO CECCEP). Her scholarship focuses on the issues of gender and social justice in early childhood education (ECE), the construction of children and childhood in marginal communities, and the impact of neoliberalism in ECE. She sits as an editorial board member in several journals. She is currently a co-editor at Pedagogy, Culture, and Society journal, Routledge.

Dr. Elena Colonna is the Executive Director of CoMeDia (Comunicação, Media e Diálogo) in Mozambique and an international expert in the sociology of childhood. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology of Childhood from the University of Minho (Portugal) and a Master’s degree with honors in Sociology from Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). With over a decade of intercultural experience collaborating with universities, UN agencies (including UNICEF), and international NGOs, Dr. Colonna specializes in participatory qualitative research, Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC), and Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E). She previously served as a long-term Lecturer in Sociology and Child Rights at Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) and Universidade Técnica de Moçambique (UDM). Her work centers on amplifying the voices of children, youth, and women, translating participatory evidence into meaningful grassroots policy and educational transformation across the African continent. 

Pilar Anastasia Gonzalez is an Associate Professor in the Area of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences (FCS), National University of Córdoba (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba), Argentina. She plays an active role in postgraduate and doctoral education, teaching research methodology courses, preparatory seminars, and thesis workshops within the Doctorate in Gender Studies program. At both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, Professor González leads specialized seminars on neoliberalism, as well as "Feminist Theories, Gender, and Sexuality(ies): Disputes Surrounding Politics". Her scholarship critically examines the intersections of feminist theories, politics, and institutional practices, contributing significant Latin American critical perspectives to global academic dialogue, equity, and educational transformation. 

Dr. Besse Nirmala, M.Pd. is a lecturer in the Early Childhood Teacher Education Study Programme, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Tadulako, Indonesia. Her research interests include early childhood learning technologies, innovative learning media, culturally grounded learning, and early childhood curricula. Her current research focuses on developing augmented reality (AR) storybooks based on Central Sulawesi folklore for early childhood character education. Alongside her academic work, she serves as a BAN-PDM assessor, Secretary of HIMPAUDI, and Deputy Secretary of the Bunda PAUD Working Group. She also contributes to teacher professional development as a practice mentor in the Guru Penggerak programme, an expert trainer facilitator in the Sekolah Penggerak programme, and an instructor in Deep Learning pedagogy.