Social Science Research and Responding to Global Challenges: Practitioner Perspectives
SGSSS Series of Seminars with International Practitioners
As part of its internationalisation activities portfolio, the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science is organising a series of seminars focussing on the role of social science research in responding to global challenges.
We are inviting four practitioners, internationally recognised for their contribution towards addressing various global challenges, to reflect on how social science research should inform our responses to the fundamental challenges facing individuals and communities across the world.
Our speakers will reflect on some of the research projects which they have been directly involved in, or which they relied upon in their professional lives, to bring critical insights into some of the most challenging social issues, such as gender-based violence, human trafficking, combating infectious diseases, and forced migration. They will also provide some practical tips on networking, engaging with policymakers and external (to academia) audiences, and will answer a few questions from the audience.
Who can attend?
This series is open to all researchers registered at Scottish institutions and alumni. The sessions will take place online and will be co-hosted with the Centre for Migration and Mobilities Research at Edinburgh Napier University.
Please see further details of the sessions and speakers below.
Thursday 12 August, 4pm – 5pm
Mike Dottridge has worked in the human rights field for four decades. He was employed by two human rights NGOs: Amnesty International (1977 to 1995), focusing on sub-Saharan Africa, and Anti-Slavery International, where he was director from 1996 until 2002. Since 1995, he has focused on the rights of adults and children subjected to economic or sexual exploitation, working independently since 2002, undertaking evaluations and institutional learning exercises for both international organizations and NGOs.
Thursday 19 August, 4pm – 5pm
Helga Konrad has been working on the issue of human trafficking for more than 20 years at local, national, regional and international levels in various functions – as expert, manager, coordinator, parliamentarian and politician. In all her capacities she has provided assistance to governments and State authorities in developing national and transnational anti-trafficking strategies in order to help improve their capacities to act on their own and in cooperation with others.
- 2000-2004: Regional Coordinator and Chair of the EU Stability Pact Task Force on Human Trafficking for South Eastern Europe.
- 2004-2006: (First) Special Representative on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings of the OSCE – Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe;
- Since May 2006 International Consultant on Combating Trafficking in Persons;
- Former Austrian Federal Government Minister for Women.
Thursday 26 August, 10am – 11am
At Waseda University, Dr Yasushi Katsma is Professor at the International Studies Program in the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies (GSAPS). At the National Centre for Global Health & Medicine (NCGM), Japan, he is Director of the Department of Global Health Affairs & Governance in the Institute for Global Health Policy Research (iGHP). At Vietnam-Japan University (VJU) in Hanoi, he is Professor and Co-Director of the Graduate Program in Global Leadership. At the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), he is Visiting Professor. Prior to the current positions, he worked for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Mexico, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tokyo. Before joining the United Nations, he worked as development consultant for Japan’s official development assistance (ODA), and conducted research in Bangladesh, the Philippines, Paraguay, Russian Far East and Thailand.
Thursday 16 September, 9am – 10am
Elaine Pearson established Human Rights Watch’s Australia office in 2013 and works to influence Australian foreign and domestic policies in order to give them a human rights dimension. She writes frequently for a range of publications and her articles have appeared in the Guardian, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian, Foreign Policy and the Washington Post. From 2007 to 2012 she was the Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division based in New York. She has conducted numerous human rights investigations in Australia and around the world.