Global Pedagogical & Institutional Outreach

Invited Academic Talks, Research Seminars & International Guest Lectures

Featured Invited Talk

Academy of International Affairs Symposium “Korean Soft Power and Beyond”:
Hallyu Tracker Demo: Deconstructing Appeal & Engagement Powers

In November 2025, Associate Professor Natalia Grincheva was featured as an invited expert at the high-level international symposium "Korean Soft Power and Beyond: Lessons from the Korean Wave for Cultural Diplomacy," held at the prestigious Academy of International Affairs in the Heinrich-Heine-Institute in Düsseldorf, Germany. Co-organized with the Bonn Branch Office of the Korean Embassy, this premier gathering convened over 60 policymakers, diplomats, academics, and cultural leaders to dissect the evolving mechanics of 21st-century statecraft. Addressing international stakeholders, Prof. Grincheva presented her groundbreaking research on the Hallyu Tracker, a project funded by the Korea Foundation. Unveiling an advanced computational engine that synthesizes over 300 global datasets across 250 spatial mapping layers, she demonstrated how data analytics can expose the hidden, nuanced dimensions of transnational influence. Her presentation highlighted the platform’s core "Power" clusters—Reach, Appeal, and Engagement—alongside AI-driven machine learning models that benchmark country-specific performance, forecast emerging trends, and monitor sentiment shifts. By challenging static, conventional soft power rankings, Prof. Grincheva delivered a critically reflexive, highly adaptable model that captures cultural influence as a dynamic variable shaped by local contexts. Her contribution offered global policymakers an indispensable, actionable framework for evidence-based cultural diplomacy in an increasingly complex world.

Invited Talks & Demos

  1. 2026 From Indicators to Intelligence. Presented at the Palgrave Handbook Symposium.
  2. 2026 Data for Culture | 2030 for UNESCO Culture SDG Indicators. Presented at the Cambridge Digital Statecraft Academy Residency, Cambridge, UK.
  3. 2026 Panel: AI + Culture: Impacts on sustainable development of society. Presented at the 5th Creativity 2030 International Forum, Beijing, China.
  4. 2025 Hallyu Tracker Demo: Deconstructing appeal and engagement powers. Presented online at the Conference: Korean Soft Power and Beyond: Lessons from the Korean Wave for Cultural Diplomacy. Academy for International Affairs, Dusseldorf, Germany.
  5. 2025 Statistics on the Digitization of Cultural Industries and Statistics on the Integration of Culture and Technology. Presented at the International Workshop on Cultural Statistics, UN Statistics Division and China National Bureau of Statistics in Collaboration with UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Kunming, China.
  6. 2025 Mapping Cultural Data: A Cross-Country Analysis across South Korea, Singapore, the UK, and the USA. Presented at the International Workshop on Cultural Statistics, UN Statistics Division and China National Bureau of Statistics in Collaboration with UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Kunming, China.
  7. 2025 Equitable Access, Openness, and Balanced Exchanges of Cultural Goods and Services: A Holistic Approach to Promoting Cultural Diversity. Presented at the UNESCO 2005 Convention 20th Anniversary Conference, UNESCO, Paris, France.
  8. 2025 Unpacking the Korean Wave through Data and Cultural Strategy. Presented online at the ENCATC Members Talk N°49, ENCATC, Brussels, Belgium.
  9. 2025 Digital Soft Power of Heritage Media: Navigating Post-Human Environments. Presented online at the Culture and Globalization: New Approaches Webinar Series. Geneva University, Geneva, Switzerland.
  10. 2025 Diving Deep with Hallyu Tracker: Data-Driven Insights into the Korean Wave. Presented online at the International Cultural Relations Research Alliance (ICRRA) Webinar Series, Singapore.
  11. 2024 Digital Humanities Cluster: Sustainability of the Creative Sector in the Context of Smart Nation Singapore. Presented at the Digital Humanities Research Workshop at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
  12. 2024 Metaverse as a venue for cultural diplomacy. Presented at the Research Seminar Gazing at the Metaverse at the National University of Singapore, Singapore.
  13. 2024 Book Launch: Geopolitics of Digital Heritage. Presented at LASALLE, University of the Arts Singapore, Singapore.
  14. 2023 The Politics of Digital Heritage. Presented at the Research Seminar The Future of Digital Heritage at the National University of Singapore, Singapore.
  15. 2023 Mentorship or Collaboration? Presented at the AAAE Membership Meeting at the 2023 AAAE Conference: The Creative Ecosystem: People, Process, Power. New York, USA.
  16. 2023 Arts Management Education in Singapore. Presented at the Global Conversation Roundtable at the 2023 AAAE Conference: The Creative Ecosystem: People, Process, Power. New York, USA.
  17. 2023 The Future Research on Cultural Diplomacy. Presented remotely for the Pre-Launch of the Book Research Agenda for Public Diplomacy (Prof Eytan Gilboa) at the ISA 64th Annual Convention 'Real Struggles, High Stakes: Cooperation, Contention, and Creativity'. Montreal, Canada.
  18. 2023 Translating Data to Power: Computation Tools to Assess "Soft Power". Presented remotely for the Department of Digital, Media, Culture and Sport, the UK Government, London, UK.
  19. 2022 Digital Cultural Relations: Digital Bridging, Digital Bonding, and International Development. Presented at the Virtual Launch of the Research Report on Digital Cultural Relations. British Council, London, UK.
  20. 2022 Practice as Research & Research as Practice: Critical Digital Practice as Experimental Innovative Research. Presented at the Teaching & Learning Symposium, LASALLE, University of the Arts Singapore, Singapore.
  21. 2021 Cultural Diplomacy in the Metaverse. Presented at the International Professional Seminar, 'The Metaverse and International Relations'. International Cultural Relations (ICR), London, UK.
  22. 2021 The future of Museum Diplomacy. Presented at the International Professional Seminar, 'The sustainable development of International Cultural Relations' as a part of the 'ICR Futures' project at the Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies, University of Warwick, in association with International Cultural Relations (ICR), London, UK.
  23. 2021 Digital Heritage Diplomacy. Presented at the Roundtable Breaking grounds and rethinking heritage diplomacy. The International Society for Ethnology and Folklore Congress.
  24. 2020 ICOM multilateral diplomacy through crowdsourcing. Presented at the International Organisations and Digital Diplomacy Book Launch. Jean Monnet European Center for Excellence.
  25. 2020 What is next in Public Diplomacy Studies after the Pandemics? Presented at the Public Diplomacy Interest Group panel 'Country Images and Public Diplomacy in Times of Global Unrest'. 2020 International Communication Association Virtual Conference.
  26. 2020 Digital Museums and Their Soft Power. Presented at the Plenary Session 'Museums in the Era of Post-Truth' of the V International Conference 'Media Education, Media Ecology, and Media Literacy: Digital Media for the Future.
  27. 2020 Demo: Geo-visualisation of Museums Soft Power. Department of Digital, Media, Culture and Sport, the UK Government, London, UK.
  28. 2019 Demo: Geo-visualisation of Museums Soft Power. British Council, London, UK.
  29. 2019 From Digital to Algorithmic: Art & Diplomacy in the 21st Century. University of Brighton, Brighton, UK.
  30. 2019 Museums in Smart Cities, Geo-visualisation Tools to Measure Urban Soft Power. The Australian Council for the Arts, Sydney, Australia.
  31. 2018 Demystifying Museum Soft Power: Geo-visualisation of Museums' Influence. Cultural Research Network Global Webinar.
  32. 2018 Demo: Geo-visualisation of Museums Soft Power. Presented at American Alliance of Museums, Washington DC, USA.
  33. 2018 Demo: Geo-visualisation of Museums Soft Power. Presented at National Endowment for the Arts, Washington DC, USA.
  34. 2018 Demystifying Museum Soft Power. Launch of the Dynamic Web Application Museum Soft Power Map. Presented at the Digital Studio, Melbourne, Australia.
  35. 2018 ACMI X Research Internship: Benefits and Opportunities. Demonstration for the Arts Work Integrated Learning Showcase, The University of Melbourne. Melbourne, Australia.
  36. 2018 Digital Humanities Research in Action @ The Digital Studio. Interview at Research Bazaar, The University of Melbourne. Melbourne, Australia.
  37. 2017 Digital Tools Facilitating Graduate Learning: Co-organizing a Public Conversation Event. Presented at the Digital Literacy Show and Tell Event, The University of Melbourne. Melbourne, Australia.
  38. 2017 Developing Digital Methods to Map Museum 'Soft Power.' Presented at the Public Cultures Research Seminar Series, The University of Melbourne. Melbourne, Australia.
  39. 2017 Mapping the Power of Museums. Digital perspectives: The art and science of visualisation and visual practices (Showcase). The University of Melbourne. Melbourne, Australia.
  40. 2017 GuggenTube: Online Power of Global Brands. Presented at the Digital Studio Research Seminar Series, The University of Melbourne. Melbourne, Australia.

Academic Guest Lectures

  1. 2026 Changing Diplomacy: Intergovernmental agencies and non-state actors. Presented online for IPSA International Graduate Summer School in Applied Diplomacy, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
  2. 2025 Politics of Global Events: Branding Nations. Presented at the Urban Resilience Research Center, Osaka Metropolitan University, Osaka, Japan.
  3. 2025 Geographical Expansions in Post-Conventional Museum Diplomacy. Presented online at the Graduate Seminar for the Global Perspectives on Arts Management course, School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
  4. 2025 Changing Diplomacy: Intergovernmental agencies and non-state actors. Presented online for IPSA International Graduate Summer School in Applied Diplomacy, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
  5. 2025 The K: Global Perspectives. Presented at the Graduate Seminar of the MA Arts Management Program at the Department of Arts and Cultural Management, Hongik University, Seoul, South Korea.
  6. 2024 Post-Conventional Museum Diplomacies: Geographical expansions. Presented online at the Graduate Seminar for the Global Perspectives on Arts Management course, School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
  7. 2024 Changing Diplomacy: Intergovernmental agencies and non-state actors. Presented online for IPSA International Graduate Summer School in Applied Diplomacy, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
  8. 2024 Beyond Walls and Borders: Digital Assemblages of Museum Diplomacy. Presented online at the MA program "Public and Cultural Diplomacy" at the University of Siena, Siena, Italy.
  9. 2024 Genealogy of museum diplomacy: From Gift Diplomacies in the Renaissance Europe to Global Trends in the 21st Century. Presented at the MA in Museum Studies and Curatorial Practices, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
  10. 2024 Playing with data to map geographies of influence: Sharing geo-visualization research journey. Presented at the MA Arts Administration Program Public Talk, Boston University, Boston, USA.
  11. 2023 Cultural Analytics and Mapping in the Arts Management Research. Presented at the Graduate Seminar of the MA Arts Administration Program, Boston University, Boston, USA.
  12. 2023 Cultural Policy: Global Level. Presented at the Graduate Seminar of the MA Arts Management Program at the Department of Arts and Cultural Management, Hongik University, Seoul, South Korea.
  13. 2022 Contact Zones of Heritage Diplomacy: Transformations of Museums in the Post-Pandemic Reality. Presented online at the Graduate Seminar of the Cultural Policy course, School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
  14. 2022 Changing Diplomacy: Intergovernmental agencies and non-state actors. Presented online for IPSA International Graduate Summer School in Applied Diplomacy, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
  15. 2021 Strategic management of international cultural relations in the post-pandemic world. Presented online for the MA Program in Management of Performing Arts and Industries, National Academy of Theatre and Film Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria.
  16. 2021 Changing Diplomacy: Intergovernmental agencies and non-state actors. Presented online for IPSA International Graduate Summer School in Applied Diplomacy, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
  17. 2020 Cultural Analytics and Data-intense Research Methods. Presented online for the MA Arts Management Program at Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
  18. 2020 Non-state Non-Western diplomats? What is Museum Diplomacy? Presented online at the Graduate Seminar of the Global Perspectives in Public Diplomacy course, School of International Service at American University, Washington DC, USA.
  19. 2019 Museum Soft Power Mapping and Measuring. Presented at the Graduate Seminar of the Principles of Arts Management course, School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
  20. 2018 Geo-visualisation of Museums Soft Power. Presented at the Graduate Seminar, Arts Management Program at American University, Washington DC, USA.
  21. 2015 Digital Ethnographic Methods for Museum Research. Presented at the Graduate Research Seminar of the Museology Program at UQAM University, Montreal, Canada.

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