IAFOR > The Asian Conference on Aging & Gerontology (AGen) > AGen2023

AGen2023

March 31 – April 3, 2023 | Toshi Center Hotel, Tokyo, Japan, and Online

The 13th Asian Conference on Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences (ACP2023), The 13th Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy (ACERP2023) and The 9th Asian Conference on Aging & Gerontology (AGen2023), held from March 31, 2023 to April 3, 2023 at the Toshi Center Hotel, Tokyo, Japan, has successfully concluded, reinforcing The International Academic Forum (IAFOR)'s commitment to the advancement of international, intercultural and interdisciplinary study, teaching and research.

This hybrid conference was held in partnership with the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, Japan. This event exemplifies IAFOR’s internationalising mission, bringing together more than 350 delegates from 49 countries.

Virtual Presentations
Download AGen2023 Conference Programme
Conference Proceedings

Speakers

  • Kathryn M. Lavender
    Kathryn M. Lavender
    National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA), United States
  • James W. McNally
    James W. McNally
    University of Michigan, USA & NACDA Program on Aging
  • Matthew H.S. Ng
    Matthew H.S. Ng
    Rehabilitation Research Institute of Singapore, Singapore

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Programme

  • Aging Data: The National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging
    Aging Data: The National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging
    Workshop Presentation: James McNally & Kathryn Lavender
  • Does Trait Self-esteem Serve as a Protective Factor in Maintaining Daily Affective Well-being? Multilevel Analyses of Daily Diary Studies in the US and Singapore
    Does Trait Self-esteem Serve as a Protective Factor in Maintaining Daily Affective Well-being? Multilevel Analyses of Daily Diary Studies in the US and Singapore
    Spotlight Presentation: Matthew H.S. Ng

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Conference Committees

Global Programme Committee

Dr Joseph Haldane, Chairman and CEO, IAFOR
His Excellency Professor Toshiya Hoshino, Osaka University, Japan
Professor Barbara Lockee, Virginia Tech., United States
Professor Donald E. Hall, Binghamton University, United States
Dr James W. McNally, University of Michigan, United States & NACDA Program on Aging
Professor Haruko Satoh, Osaka University, Japan
Dr Grant Black, Chuo University, Japan
Professor Dexter Da Silva, Keisen University, Tokyo
Professor Gary Swanson, University of Northern Colorado, United States
Professor Baden Offord, Curtin University, Australia
Professor Frank Ravitch, Michigan State University, United States
Professor Will Baber, Kyoto University, Japan

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Conference Programme Committee

Dr Joseph Haldane, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
Professor James W. McNally, University of Michigan, United States & NACDA Program on Aging
Professor Sela V. Panapasa, University of Michigan, United States
Lowell Sheppard, Never Too Late Academy, Japan
Professor Haruko Satoh, Osaka University, Japan

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Conference Review Committee

    Dr Angela Koh, National Heart Centre Singapore, Singapore
    Kathryn Lavender, National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging, University of Michigan, United States
    Dr James McNally, University of Michigan, United States
    Professor Dr. Bijay Singh, Ranchi University, India
    Dr Marga Vives, University of Balearic Islands, Spain

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Kathryn M. Lavender
National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA), United States

Biography

Kathryn Lavender is the Data Project Manager for the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA), the aging archive at the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the Institute for Social Research, the University of Michigan, United States. NACDA is funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Ms Lavender helps to guide data producers on data management and data sharing in the realm of data on aging populations/gerontology; promotes secondary research resources for public use; and contributes to spreading knowledge about quality metadata and data discovery through NACDA, as well as through the DDI Alliance. Ms Lavender has been an ICPSR staff member for more than 15 years and has been managing NACDA for nearly half of that time.

Featured Workshop Presentation (2025) | Aging Data: NACDA Resources for Gerontological Research, Training and Education

Previous Presentations

Workshop Presentation (2023) | Aging Data: The National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging
Workshop Presentation (2022) | NACDA: Data on Aging Resources from Research Ideation to Long-Term Preservation and Sharing
Workshop Presentation (2021) | Creating Our New Normal: Responding, Adapting and Thriving in a Post-COVID 19 World
Workshop Presentation (2021) | Aging Data: NACDA & an Open-source Repository
Keynote Workshop Presentation (2020) | Aging Data: NACDA & an Open-source Repository
Featured Workshop Presentation (2019) | Locating Data for Research: Data Collections and Resources for Thesis Writing, Teaching, and Grant Development for the Social Sciences and the Environment
Featured Workshop Presentation (2018) | Locating Data for Research
James W. McNally
University of Michigan, USA & NACDA Program on Aging

Biography

Dr James W. McNally is the Director of the NACDA Program on Aging, a data archive containing over 1,500 studies related to health and the aging life course. He currently does methodological research on the improvement and enhancement of secondary research data and has been cited as an expert authority on data imputation. Dr McNally has directed the NACDA Program on Aging since 1998 and has seen the archive significantly increase its holdings with a growing collection of seminal studies on the aging life course, health, retirement and international aspects of aging. He has spent much of his career addressing methodological issues with a specific focus on specialised application of incomplete or deficient data and the enhancement of secondary data for research applications. Dr McNally has also worked extensively on issues related to international aging and changing perspectives on the role of family support in the later stages of the aging life course.

Workshop Presentation (2023) | Aging Data: The National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging

Previous Presentations

Workshop Presentation (2022) | NACDA: Data on Aging Resources from Research Ideation to Long-Term Preservation and Sharing
Panel Presentation (2022) | Helping Hands: Robotic Assistance in Supporting and Maintaining Social Interactions with Elders
Panel Presentation (2022) | Missing You: Resilience, Renewal and Rebuilding Intergenerational Contact Within Families
Workshop Presentation (2021) | Creating Our New Normal: Responding, Adapting and Thriving in a Post-COVID 19 World
Workshop Presentation (2021) | Aging Data: NACDA & an Open-source Repository
Keynote Workshop Presentation (2020) | Aging Data: NACDA & an Open-source Repository
Featured Presentation (2019) | Defining and Measuring Resilience in an Aging World
Featured Workshop Presentation (2019) | Locating Data for Research: Data Collections and Resources for Thesis Writing, Teaching, and Grant Development for the Social Sciences and the Environment
Featured Panel Presentation (2018) | Health Across the Lifecourse
Featured Workshop Presentation (2018) | Locating Data for Research
Featured Presentation (2017) | Methodologies for the Collection of Comparative Community Level Public Health Data: Obtaining Powerful and Statistically Meaningful Findings for Small Populations
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | Easts Meets West – Healthy, Active and Beautiful Aging in Asia
Matthew H.S. Ng
Rehabilitation Research Institute of Singapore, Singapore

Biography

Ng Hok Shan Matthew has a Bachelor’s in Psychology from the Singapore Management University and currently supports both the Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the Rehabilitation Research Institute of Singapore as a Research Coordinator. His research interests lie in emotion regulation and how it relates to psychopathology. Specifically, he seeks to explore how emotional processes adapt or become maladaptive in the presence of stimuli (e.g. stressors, childhood adversity) and how this could protect or predispose one to psychopathology. He is also keen in examining how individual differences (e.g. culture) might influence this relationship.

Matthew is part of a trio, including Verity Lua and Nadyanna Majeed, who clinched first place at the ICPSR research paper competitions (Undergraduate) in 2021 for their project titled: "Is Trait Self-Esteem a Resilience Factor Against Daily Stressors? A Multilevel Analysis". He aspires to continue his graduate training in the United States, specifically in the field of Clinical Psychology.

Spotlight Presentation (2023) | Does Trait Self-esteem Serve as a Protective Factor in Maintaining Daily Affective Well-being? Multilevel Analyses of Daily Diary Studies in the US and Singapore
Aging Data: The National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging
Workshop Presentation: James McNally & Kathryn Lavender

Researchers increasingly recognise the value of public-use data for secondary research, thesis development, training and education and the development of independent research grants. As cutting-edge international studies are emerging across Asia, Latin America, Europe, and increasingly Africa, the opportunities for cross-national and comparative research are growing exponentially. This is a particularly exciting time to work, due to the large number of trained research professionals working within their home countries and providing culturally grounded interpretations of results. An ongoing barrier, however, is knowing where and what kind of data are available for secondary analysis. The creation and maintenance of sustainable data archives can be challenging but it offers clear advantages for a national and international research strategy. Data that is preserved can be used by multiple researchers, testing a variety of hypotheses and increasing the return on investment to the expensive process of data collection. Having an internally managed archival system also provides greater control and autonomy in the equitable distribution of data resources. This workshop, sponsored by IAFOR and NACDA will offer hands-on examples of how to discover data resources, obtain them and then implement them as part of a research strategy. Regardless of whether or not you are a student looking for a thesis topic, an instructor looking for research material for use in classroom teaching, or an established researcher looking for new opportunities, the wealth of publicly available data has created almost unlimited opportunities to explore new themes and to collaborate with other researchers worldwide.

Read presenter's biographies
Does Trait Self-esteem Serve as a Protective Factor in Maintaining Daily Affective Well-being? Multilevel Analyses of Daily Diary Studies in the US and Singapore
Spotlight Presentation: Matthew H.S. Ng

Research suggests that self-esteem could be a protective factor in stressful or unfavourable situations. However, little research has been done on the buffering role of self-esteem in the context of daily stressors on affective reactivity. Three daily diary studies (of which two were conducted in Singapore and one in the United States) were carried out to examine this relationship. In all three studies, trait self-esteem was measured at baseline. Subsequently, a daily assessment was conducted on the exposure to daily stressors and its positive and negative effects for seven to eight days. Multilevel modelling showed that trait self-esteem did not moderate the relationship between daily stressor exposure and daily effect. An internal meta-analysis aggregating the findings of all three studies was also consistent with our findings. These findings are contrary to previous literature surrounding the stress-buffering role of self-esteem.

Read presenters' biographies