Frans Timmermans served as the political leader of the Dutch Labour and Green left parties alliance (GroenLinks-PvdA) from 2023 to 2025, and as parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives. Earlier in his career, he was a member of the House of Representatives for the Labour Party (PvdA) from 1998 to 2007 and again from 2010 to 2012.
From 2014 to 2023, Mr. Timmermans was First Vice-President of the European Commission. In the Juncker Commission, he was responsible for Better Regulation, Interinstitutional Relations, the Rule of Law, and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as sustainable development. In the Von der Leyen Commission, he led the European Green Deal and the EU’s climate policy agenda. Mr. Timmermans served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the second Rutte cabinet from 2012 to 2014. Before that, he was State Secretary for European Affairs in the fourth Balkenende cabinet. Earlier in his career, he worked as adviser and private secretary to Max van der Stoel, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities.
Dr. Shuming Zhao is the Senior Distinguished Professor and Honorary Dean of the School of Business, and Dean of Xingzhi College Nanjing University, the People's Republic of China. He serves as President of the International Association of Chinese Management Research (IACMR, Third Term), Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Management, Lifetime Honorary President for Jiangsu Provincial Association of Human Resource Management and Vice President of Jiangsu Provincial Association of Professional Managers. Since 1994, Dr. Zhao has acted as a management consultant for several Chinese and international firms. Dr. Zhao is also an independent director of Scully Royalty Co. Ltd. (NYSE: SRL) and Daqo New Energy Corp. (China). Dr. Zhao has successfully organised and held 11 international symposia on multinational business management,24 National Human Resource Management Faculty Development Conferences, and 13 China Human Resource Management Forums.
Dr. Shuming Zhao received bachelor’s degree on English Language and Literature from Nanjing University in China in 1977, master’s degree in education and Ph.D. in Higher Education and Human Resource Management from Claremont Graduate University in the USA in 1983 and 1990. He worked as Visiting Professor and Post-doctorate Fellow at Florida Atlantic University in 1990-1991. Since 1997, Dr. Zhao has been a visiting professor at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, USA; Distinguished Visiting Professor at the College of Business, University of Missouri-St. Louis, USA, Guest Professor at Drucker Graduate School of Management, Claremont Graduate University, USA; Honorary Professor of SolBridge International School of Business, South Korea, and Honorary Professor of School of Business, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China. Dr. Zhao has lectured in countries including the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Viet Nam.
Dr. Zhao has published more than 20 books, two of which have won the national first-prize awards from the Ministry of Education of China and more than 500 academic papers in the top journals in China and overseas. He received the 18th World Outstanding Chinese Award on September 8, 2024. He was re-appointed as Dean of Nanjing University’s Xingzhi College on September 28, 2025.
To join the online Academic Conference,
please use the link button below.
Please note that this is the Zoom link for the whole conference. In case you do not use Zoom yet, make sure you create a (free) Zoom account before the event takes place. Please create the account/login with the same email address that you have registered for the parallel sessions where the papers are being presented.
We are expecting a large number of attendees. That is why we would like to ask you the following:
• Keep your microphone muted. Your microphone will be put on mute by default when you enter the session.
• Use the Q&A box to ask questions during the keynote speeches:
if questions pop up during the keynote speeches, don’t hesitate to ask them right away but make use of the Q&A functionality. The speaker will answer your question during the live Q&A.
• Use the Chat box to ask questions during the paper presentations:
If questions pop-up during the paper presentations in the breakout room, please ask them by using the Chat functionality. The paper presenter will answer your question after the presentation during the live question and answer session.
• Raise your hand button. If you prefer to ask a question verbally during the Q&A or paper presentation directly to the keynote speaker or paper presenter, click Raise Hand in the webinar controls in Zoom. The host will be notified that you have raised your hand. If the host allows you to talk and if time allows, you may be unmuted by the meeting host.
• Switch on your camera. Non-verbal cues are an essential part of communication that gets left out without the ability to see someone. Turning on your camera during a conference allows you to maximise the communication channel adding more sentiment and expressions that spice up the discussion.
Please note
The plenary sessions of the Academic Conference will be recorded, the parallel break-out sessions will not be recorded.