Duk Hoon Kwak is currently President and CEO of the Korea Educational Broadcasting System (EBS), a public television network dedicated to education with emphasis on lifelong public education. An influential expert in the area of eLearning, Professor Kwak also serves as the Chair of both the Society of e-Learning and the Smart Learning Forum in Korea and is a professor at ICDE member institution, the Korea National Open University (KNOU).

Professor Kwak was previously President of the Korea Education & Research Information Service (KERIS) and Chair of ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36 Korea, an organization working towards the development of international standards for eLearning. As a leading figure in education in Korea, Dr Kwak acts as an advisor to the Korean government on education related policies.

Professor Kwak has also conducted extensive research related to distance learning, with particular focus on the use of eLearning in contemporary education.

The Conference will be a forum for participants to share and learn from each other on how to plan, develop, and better manage Open and Distance Learning programmes. Since there is a wide range of content in ODL programmes in participating institutions and countries that cover all of those three components, directly or indirectly it will help promote the new way of thinking about a future in which environmental, societal, and economic considerations are balanced in the pursuit of development and improved quality of life.