Dr Melina Neophytou is the Academic Operations Manager at IAFOR, where she works closely with global researchers, keynote speakers, and academic partners. She received her PhD in International Development from Nagoya University, Japan, in 2023, specialising in political sociology, the welfare state, and contentious politics. Her research interests currently focus on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the relationship between state and society. Especially focusing on technologies such as Facial Recognition (FRT) or biometric surveillance, she currently researches how AI impacts the freedom of expression, protests and social policy. Born in Germany and raised in Cyprus, she has been living in Japan for the past decade. She is fluent in German, Greek, and English, and speaks Japanese at a conversational level.