The organizing committee has prepared for sessions that can facilitate discussions regarding emerging geographical issues that fit with the conference theme, “The Role of Geographers in the Era of the Great Digital Transformation.”

The rapid advancement of AI is expected to bring profound changes not only to our daily lives but also to the international order. This digital transformation, driven by the diffusion of data, AI, sensors, satellite observation, and platform technologies, is rapidly reshaping the very ways in which we understand and manage diverse spatial phenomena—ranging from urban and regional issues to the environment, disasters, mobility, and education. This conference will serve as a venue to collectively explore the expanding horizons of theories, methodologies, and practices that geography can offer amidst these shifts. Furthermore, we look forward to this being a meaningful occasion to share the latest research achievements from Korea, China, and Japan across all fields of geography, while further strengthening the exchange and friendship among East Asian geographers.

Two plenary sessions—focusing on digital transformation and policy and climate/disaster and digital technology—along with eleven special sessions, will cover specific issues and agendas including East Asian urbanity, the Polar Regions, and Nature Positive initiatives. Furthermore, eight general sessions will encompass major sub-disciplines of geography, such as geomorphology, climatology, urban planning, economic and political geography, population and migration geography, GIScience, remote sensing, and geography education. We are confident that these sessions will provide geographers with significant opportunities to address pressing challenges and advance theoretical frameworks in these fields.

We fully welcome additional proposals for both special and general sessions. The deadline for the session proposals is on August 20, 2026. Please submit your session proposal to 2026kcj@gmail.com. The proposal should include the session title, a session abstract, speaker(s) / panelist(s) information.

Abstract Submission Guideline

• • Please submit an abstract of 400-600 words (up to 2 pages) for each presentation.
  • Each abstract has to describe the purpose, methods, and conclusions of the paper.
• • Submission Deadlines:
  • - Participants from China: No longer accepted (as of August 1, 2026)
    - Participants from Korea, Japan, and other countries: September 20, 2026

Conference Themes 

All the abstracts related to the below or other related themes of this conference are welcome.

Plenary Sessions 

• • Plenary Session 3: Digital Transformation & Policy
• • Plenary Session 4: Climate/Disaster & Digital Technology
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Special Sessions

• • Special Session 1: Digital Transformation and Reorganization of Spatial Structure
• • Special Session 2: Exploring Alternative East Asian Urbanity
• • Special Session 3: The Earth's New Heart: Polar Regions
• • Special Session 4: Cultural Heritage and Cultural Landscapes of East Asia: Change, Preservation, and Future Directions
• • Special Session 5: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Future Earth, and Post-SDGs
• • Special Session 6: Voices of Emerging Geographers on GeoAI
• • Special Session 7: Research on Surface Processes for Safer Lives
• • Special Session 8: Past, Present, and Future of Environmental Research
• • Special Session 9: Impact of Development and Migration on National and Regional Economies
• • Special Session 10: Rural Depopulation and Regionally Balanced Development
• • Special Session 11: Geography's Contribution to Nature Positive
• • Special Session 12: CLIMATES: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Diagnosing, Responding to, and Communicating Climate Risk [Click to view details]

  Session Title: CLIMATES: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Diagnosing, Responding to, and Communicating Climate Risk

  Session Details:
  Climate risk research tends to split along disciplinary lines—physical scientists model the hazard, social scientists study how people and institutions respond, and only a few groups do both under one umbrella. Climate Literacy Informed Multidisciplinary Analytics and Transformative Education in Social Science (CLIMATES), a BK21 FOUR-funded research and education group at Kyung Hee University, was established to bridge this gap, which this session also seeks to address. We welcome presentations that pair hazard diagnosis—through GeoAI, climate modeling, or geosimulation—with governance and policy response, or that connect either to the challenge of communicating climate data to non-specialist audiences.

  Topics of Interest:
  The list below is not exhaustive. Submissions addressing climate risk from a data-driven, policy-oriented, or communication-focused perspective fall within scope.

  • Climate modeling, GeoAI, and geosimulation for hazard diagnosis
  • Spatial accessibility, environmental justice, and vulnerability analysis
  • Land use / land cover (LULC) change and land–atmosphere interactions
  • Climate governance, policy analysis, and stakeholder conflict
  • Energy transition and public attitudes toward climate policy
  • Climate risk communication and data visualization for non-specialist audiences

  The session organizers:

  • Eungul Lee, Professor, Kyung Hee University, eungul.lee@khu.ac.kr
  • Jeon-Young Kang, Associate Professor, Kyung Hee University, geokang@khu.ac.kr
  • Jinwoo Park, Assistant Professor, Kyung Hee University, jparkgeo@khu.ac.kr
• • Special Session 13: Extreme Climate Events, Attribution, Impacts, and Adaptation [Click to view details]

  Session Title: Extreme Climate Events, Attribution, Impacts, and Adaptation

  Session Details:
  Under global warming, the frequency, intensity, spatiotemporal characteristics, and cascading impacts of extreme climate events are undergoing substantial changes, posing increasing risks to ecosystems, societies, and regional sustainable development. This special session focuses on extreme climate events and their attribution, impacts, and adaptation, and welcomes contributions on event monitoring and detection, physical mechanisms, attribution analysis, ecological and socioeconomic impacts, risk assessment, and adaptation strategies. By bringing together recent advances across different regions and types of climate extremes, the session aims to improve understanding of the mechanisms and consequences of extreme events and to provide scientific support for climate risk management, disaster risk reduction, and climate-resilient development.

  The session organizer:

  • Jianping Duan, Professor, Beijing Normal University, duanjp@bnu.edu.cn
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General Sessions

• • General Session 1: Earth-surface Processes for Safer Lives
• • General Session 2: Resilience of Water and Ecosystems in a Changing Climate
• • General Session 3: Livable Cities and Inclusive Regional Transitions
• • General Session 4: Geographies of Innovation, Prosperity, and Economic Transitions
• • General Session 5: Just Spaces and Governance for Coexistence
• • General Session 6: Reconfiguring Mobility and Settlement for Sustainable Population Geographies
• • General Session 7: Data & AI for Spatial Understanding Responsible Geography
• • General Session 8: Geography Across Time, Education Connecting Knowledge
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Presentations

The abstracts submitted will be eligible for placement either in a poster or lectern session.