University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work’s Global Social Development Innovations (GSDI) research center will convene an Oct. 7–9 symposium to share innovative, action-oriented approaches that allow young people around the world to thrive.
Organized around the theme of Improving Inclusive Youth Development, the 2024 GSDI Global Research Symposium will bring together some of the most thoughtful experts from across UNC-Chapel Hill and the globe to highlight how researchers and practitioners are improving the lives of vulnerable and marginalized youth.
Our opening keynote, Don Operario, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Behavioral, Social and Health Education Sciences at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, will talk about his work in public health equity in China, Kenya, Philippines, South Africa and South Korea, as well as the United States. His Monday evening, Oct. 7, presentation will be followed by a “lightning talk” by Nelson Amo, a business development expert based in Ghana with experience across several African countries.
The Tuesday and Wednesday agenda will feature panel sessions, hands-on workshops, poster presentations and plenary sessions with Anita Brown-Graham, J.D., Ashley Leak Bryant, Ph.D., Robert Hakiza, Elias Mpofu, Ph.D., Bradley Opere, Diane Santa Maria, DrPH, and Mathias Zimba, MA. Our closing speakers, Ashu Handa, Ph.D., and William Elliott III, Ph.D., from UNC-Chapel Hill and the University of Michigan respectively, will discuss poverty and health.
Our presenters bring a socio-ecological approach — a conceptual model that looks at both personal and environmental factors — to efforts to improve youth health, economic, social and psychological outcomes worldwide.
Monday evening’s opening dinner celebration will be hosted by the School’s Dean Ramona Denby-Brinson, a renowned expert on kinship care.
GSDI faculty will host the Tuesday and Wednesday events, including Director Gina Chowa as well as professors David Ansong, Hsun-Ta Hsu, Rainier Masa and Ankur Srivastava. Chowa, editor of the September 2024 Springer Publishing textbook “Global Social Work: Preparing Globally Competent Social Workers for a Diverse and Interconnected World,” oversees the School of Social Work’s Global Engagement Office in her role as the School’s Associate Dean for Global Engagement.
Please read the Tuesday, Oct. 8, and Wednesday, Oct. 9, agendas for detailed information about the plenary and panel sessions, hands-on workshops and poster.
A two-day version of the symposium is available to virtual attendees ($20). An in-person registration ($40) includes Monday evening’s opening reception, dinner, keynote address, lightning talk, and dance performances by UNC student organizations. Opening event and in-person participants will gather at the Friday Conference Center in Chapel Hill.
Non-UNC employee registration: https://go.unc.edu/Wi92M
UNC employee registration: https://go.unc.edu/Tm89Y
