Chair of Local Organizing Committee
Akinori Seki
Professor, Tokyo Keizai University & President, Asia Association of Education and Exchange (AAEE)
"We are thrilled to welcome researchers and practitioners to Pattaya for ANPOR APCA 2025. This year, we will explore how cross-cultural cooperation and collaboration—rooted in ongoing dialogue and supported by AI and digital transformation—can reshape public opinion to better address global uncertainties and build a more inclusive and sustainable future in the Asia-Pacific. Amid these transformative times, your participation can help turn these pathways into meaningful change for our region and beyond."
About the Conference
For over a decade, the ANPOR-APCA Annual Conference has been the premier gathering place where Asia-Pacific’s brightest minds tackle the most pressing questions of our time. Since 2012, we've built a vibrant community of researchers, practitioners, and thought leaders who refuse to accept the status quo-pushing boundaries in public opinion research and communication scholarship that shapes how societies understand themselves.
Our journey mirrors the region's transformation. As the Asia-Pacific has emerged as a global powerhouse amid unprecedented technological, political, and cultural upheaval, our conference has evolved to meet each critical moment:
• 2012-2015: Pioneering interdisciplinary approaches that broke down silos between communication, sociology, and digital studies
• 2016-2019: Confronting the crisis of public trust and rising polarization that threatened democratic foundations
• 2020-2021: Leading the conversation on pandemic communication, health narratives, and institutional resilience when the world needed clarity most
• 2023: Charting new paths for digital transformation and participatory governance in an increasingly connected world
Now, we stand at another inflection point. The rise of AI and algorithmic systems isn't just changing how we communicate-it's fundamentally reshaping what it means to be a citizen in the digital age. Questions that seemed like science fiction just years ago are now urgent realities: How do algorithms shape what we believe? Can AI be trusted with our democratic processes? Who gets heard in digital spaces, and who gets silenced?
This is why 2025 matters. As youth voices rise, as marginalized communities reclaim digital power, and as the ethics of AI become central to our future, we're not just observing change-we're actively shaping it.
Why This Theme, and Why Now?
We’re living through the most significant shift in human communication since the printing press. AI algorithms now decide what billions of people see, think about, and believe. Platform governance shapes civic discourse more than traditional media ever did. Digital citizenship isn’t just a nice-to-have skill-it’s becoming essential for survival in democratic societies.
“Voices and Visions in Transition” captures this pivotal moment where the future of public opinion hangs in the balance. Across the Asia-Pacific-from Tokyo’s tech labs to Jakarta's grassroots movements, from Seoul's digital innovations to Manila’s social activism-we’re witnessing an unprecedented convergence of technological possibility and social transformation.
But here’s what makes this moment both thrilling and terrifying: the decisions we make today about AI ethics, platform accountability, and digital rights will echo for generations. The Asia-Pacific region, with its diverse democracies, emerging economies, and tech leadership, has the opportunity-and responsibility-to lead the world toward more ethical, inclusive digital futures.
The 2025 ANPOR-APCA Conference isn’t just another academic gathering. It's a strategic convening where researchers, educators, policymakers, civil society leaders, and technology developers come together to wrestle with the questions that will define our digital future. This is where theory meets practice, where local insights inform global solutions, and where the next generation of digital citizens begins to take shape.
Conference Tracks and Suggested Topics
We welcome submissions from a wide range of disciplines and methodological traditions. Possible areas include, but are not limited to:
AI, Public Opinion & Algorithmic Influence
• Influence of AI-generated content on political discourse and public perception
• Recommender systems and public belief formation
• Algorithmic governance and media ethics
• Ethical implications of algorithmic governance in media and communication
Disinformation and Media Literacy
• Polarization and misinformation ecosystems
• Platform accountability and fact-checking innovations
• Media trust, digital fatigue, and strategies for building resilience
Youth and Digital Citizenship
• Youth-led activism and civic innovation
• Surveillance, identity, and online freedom
• Cultural expression through TikTok, memes, and participatory media
• Education for digital agency and resilience
Climate, Health, and Risk Communication
• Public engagement with climate and disaster narratives
• Legacies of pandemic communication
• Science denialism and strategies for restoring credibility and public trust
Decolonizing Public Opinion and Communication Research
• Indigenous and community-based knowledge systems
• Southern perspectives and methodological innovations
• Language, framing, and cultural epistemologies in public opinion and communication studies
Ethics, Policy, and Digital Governance
• AI regulation in the communication landscape
• Public opinion’s role in shaping policy
• Digital rights, data justice, and inclusion in Asia-Pacific
Fostering Intercultural Competence: Pedagogical and Critical Approaches
• Theoretical and applied frameworks for cultivating intercultural competence
• Reflexive, experience-driven, and dialogic pedagogies in intercultural settings
• Assessment of intercultural learning and transformative outcomes
• Practices advancing cultural humility, empathy, and ethical engagement across difference