Report on the December 2019 GLO-supported Colombo Conference on Poverty and Sustainable Development with GLO Southeast Asia Lead Niaz Asadullah

The 6th International Conference on Poverty and Sustainable Development 2019 (ICPSD 2019) was organized by the International Institute of Knowledge Management (TIIKM), Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Center for Sustainability, the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, as the Hosting Partner. The conference venue was the majestic Taj Samudra Hotel in Colombo. See original GLO announcement.

GLO was a strategic partner of ICPSD 2019 while Yale Global Justice Program and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University of Social Sciences (India) were the Academic Partners.

GLO Southeast Asia Lead, Professor Niaz Asadullah of the University of Malaya, Malaysia, delivered the keynote lecture on “Ending Global Poverty by 2030: Progress and challenges”.

The other keynote speaker was Dr. Peter Abrahamson, a Professor of Sociology from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Dr. Abrahamson spoke on “Leaving Nobody Behind: Poverty and Social Exclusion in the 21st Century”.

The conference provided a great platform for researchers, academics, scholars, and educators from across the world to share their research findings on issues relating to poverty, labor and sustainable development. Presentations were organized in multiple technical sessions under the following themes: (i) FOCUSING ON OUTCOMES (ii) MEASURING POVERTY AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION, and (iii) GENERAL ISSUES REGARDING POVERTY AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION.

For young researchers, ICPSD hosted an intensive and interactive journal publication workshop where participants received first hand tips on writing scientific papers and scholarly publications. Workshop was led by Dr. Peter Abrahamson and Professor Niaz Asadullah. Both shared their experience as editors of different social sciences SSCI journals.

The conference ended on 6 December with a Round Table discussion on “Eliminating the Inequality Gap: Driving the World for Sustainable Development”. All participants were required to prepare a plan of action for inequality reduction in their respective region and contrast this other each other. This lively session was moderated by the conference co-chair Dr. Peter Abrahamson and Professor Niaz Asadullah.

The conference was a huge success and provided a refreshing experience for young researchers from Southeast Asia to interact with senior scholars and share their research findings on an international platform.  GLO looks forward to partnering with TIIKM and other organizers for similar events in the region in 2020.

Keynote speakers:
GLO Southeast Asia Lead Niaz Asadullah (left) and Peter Abrahamson

Professor Asadullah moderating the session on inequality reduction

Debate: From the left: Professors Abrahamson & Asadullah ; Anthropologist Professor Samia Huq of BRAC University ; and Dr J N  Mbata of UNDP, Malawi.

More pictures: ….. Day 1; …… Day 2; …… Day 3.

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