A brief housekeeping note: I took a short break in May to spend time with visiting family. It was a welcome recharge, but I'm now back to regular posting and keeping an eye on AI governance, policy, and research events, news and insights across the region.
Today’s Events^ dispatch contains curated posts — currently through all of 2026 — to keep you updated on knowledge shaping moments outside the mainstream Northern discourse. Please feel free to submit any upcoming events — seminars, conferences, webinars, workshops, trainings, etc — that you feel are relevant by dropping me a note.
Training Opportunities (Free and Fee-based)
Self-Paced | Online | Unlocking AI for Nonprofits, by NetHope and Microsft (*), Cost: Free
Self-Paced | Online | AI and Human Rights 101, by United Nations Global Compact, Cost: Free
01-05 August 2026 | Kyoto, Japan | Kyoto University Summer Program on Governance Innovation, organised by Kyoto University Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Law and Policy (KILAP), Cost: Y 300,000
24-28 August 2026 | Pathum Thani (Bangkok), Thailand | Professional Development Course on AI in HAR and Superworker Organisation Transformation, organised by the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)
Calendar 2026
May 2026
28 May 2026 | Singapore | AI World Summit 2026, organised by The AI World (*)
28 May 2026 | Leiden, Netherlands and Online | Social media and authoritarianism in Southeast Asia, organised by KITLV Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies
29-31 May 2026 | Singapore | ISS Shangri-La Dialogue 2026, organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies
June 2026
05 June 2026 | Singapore| IPS Dialogue on Singapore’s Response to the 2026 Iran War, organised by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
08 June 2026 | Online, Bangkok | Stats Cafe: Moving AI Projects from Proof-of-Concept to Production, organised by UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
08-10 June 2026 | Manila, Philippines | DRAPAC26 Assembly, organisd by EngageMedia, Foundation for Media Alternatives, and DAKILA Philippine Collective for Modern Heroism
09-12 June 2026 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Global Health Security Conference 2026, organised by Global Health Security Conference (*)
10-11 June 2026 | Singapore | Super AI 2026, organised by Super AI (*)
11 June 2026 | Online (Singapore) | Assessing the Impact of Singapore’s Digital Economy Agreements, organised by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
12-13 June 2026 | Bangkok, Thailand | International Conference on Human Rights and Post-Authoritarian Transitions (ICHRPAT-26), organised by Atlantic Federation for Technical Education & Research (AFTER)
13-14 June 2026 | Bangkok, Thailand | International Conference on LGBTQ+ Equality, Policy Reform and Human Rights, organised by Research Foundation
17-19 June 2026 | Bangkok, Thailand | The 14th International Conference on Advances in Information Technology - “Trustworthy AI and Cybersecurity: Foundations for a Resilient Digital Future”, organised by School of Information Technology (SIT), King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) and IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (IEEE CIS)
18-19 June 2026 | Geneva, Switzerland and online | UNIDIR Global Conference on AI, Security and Ethics 2026, organised by UNIDIR
22-26 June 2026 | Vientiane, Lao PDR | 89th Meeting of the ASEAN Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation (COSTI-89) and Related Meetings, organised by ASEAN
23-24 June 2026 | Kuching, Sarawak | Diffusion Borneo 2026 ignited by Slush’D, organised by Digital Districts Malaysia (*) (want to be a speaker, click here)
23-25 June 2026 | Dalian, China | WEF: Annual Meeting of the New Champions, organised by World Economic Forum (*)
22-25 June 2026 | Jakarta, Indonesia | Global Sustainable Development Congress, organised by Times Higher Education
22-26 June 2026 | New York City, United States | UN Open-Source Week, organised by the United Nations
25 June 2026 | Webinar (Singapore) | Impacts of the Energy Crisis on Southeast Asia: Perspectives on Indonesia and Malaysia, organised by ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute
25 June 2026 | Online (Singapore) | Can Southeast Asia safeguard strategic autonomy in critical minerals as US-China rivalry deepens?, organised by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
25-27 Jun 2026 | Kumamoto, Japan | International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Metaverse and Artificial Companions in Education and Society (AI-MetaACES) 2026: “Cultivating Symbiotic Ecosystems: Agency, Ethics, and Identity in AI-Mediated Worlds”, organised by Asia-Pacific Society of Computers in Education (APSCE)
27 June - 03 July 2026 | Seoul, South Korea | AIED 2026, organised by the International AI in Education Society
29-30 June 2026 | Bangkok, Thailand, and virtual | Seventh Global Conference on Climate and SDGs Synergies, organised by UN ESCAP
July 2026
02 July 2026 | Paris, France | Tech Diplomacy Global Institute: Annual Global Forum, organised by Tech Diplomacy Global Institute and UNESCO
04-07 July 2026 | Geneva, Switzerland | AI for Good Global Summit, organised by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
04-08 July 2026 | Jakarta, Indonesia | PACIS 2026: Leapfrogging the Future with Artificial Intelligence, organised by the Association for Information Systems
