Student Speaker and Poster Sessions

The Student Speaker Session on day two of the conference featured three presentations by students:

• ‘Data collection and teacher wellbeing’ by Shailen Popat, DPhil student, Department of Education, University of Oxford; Senior Hulme Scholar, Brasenose College; Board Member, Management in Education Journal
• ‘Equity, fairness and justice in protection of health of marginalized populace in India’ by Maheswar Satpathy, MSc candidate in Global Health and Development, University College London; Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Indian Journal of Health, Sexuality and Culture; Associate Professor of Psychology, Utkal University
• ‘n-hBiostimulants: future of food security in a circular economy’ by Acheampong Atta-Boateng, DPhil in Plant Sciences, University of Oxford; Research Director, Urban Ecology and Design Laboratory; Founding Team, Agrofides, Massachusetts

Student speaker and poster sessions report

By Nadeen Ibrahim, programmes manager, Human Welfare Conference 2019

The Student Speaker Session showcased innovative and exciting human welfare graduate research. It illustrated that human welfare is an interdisciplinary, multifaceted field by highlighting research in education, health, and food security.

Shaileen Popat, a DPhil student in Education at the University of Oxford, kicked it off with a historical overview of the UK education system, and how it has impacted teacher wellbeing. He suggests, and as supported by data collection, removing numerical data collection from educational outcomes improves teacher wellbeing. Focusing on teacher wellbeing offers great insight on how to improve educational outcomes but might not be well received by governors and parents.

Shifting gears from education to health, Maheswar Satpathy, an MSc candidate in Global Health at the University College of London, described the marginalisation and oppression the LGBTQIA community faces in India and how it has affected their health and well-being. He suggests the application of an Entitlement-focused Capability Development model to “better shape the capabilities of [the LGBTQIA community] of everyone, with a transformative focus on virtues as embedded in a social context.” It was very exciting to learn how he used this model to push for the addition of a transgender bathroom at an Indian college campus to create a safe and welcoming campus environment for transgender students.

Shifting to third and final topic covered, food security, Acheampong Atta-Boateng, DPhil student in Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford, highlighted the growing food insecurity we are experiencing as the global human population continues to grow. He shared the promises non-hormonal bio-stimulants offer in optimising plant productivity. It was fascinating to hear research that advocated for a non-genetic alternative approach to resolving food insecurity, and discouraged the unsustainable use of fertilisers.

Along with the fascinating graduate research shared during the Student Speaker Session, there was also a Student Poster Session featuring  poster presentations sharing the outcomes of cash transfers in Brazil, entrepreneurial micro-loans in Pakistan, non-hormonal biostimulants as a solution to food insecurity, a new model to better serve the needs of marginalised communities, and key institutional principles needed to strength State budgets to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The students who presented at the Student Poster session were:

• Kimberly Bolch, MPhil Development Studies, University of Oxford
  Cash transfers and the construction of citizenship: A qualitative study of the Bolsa Família Program in Belo Horizonte, Brazil
• Maheswar Satpathy, MSc. Candidate in Global Health and Development, University College London
  Equity, Fairness and Justice in Protection of Health of Marginalized Populace in IndiaTowards an Entitlement-Focused Capability Development Model
• Ramon Narvaez Terron, University of Oxford student, consultant for the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
  Institutional principles and strengthening of the budgeting process to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
• Syed Shoaib Hasan Rizvi, Master of Public Policy Candidate, Blavatnik School of Government at University of Oxford
  Living Within Male-Dominated Society: Testimonies From Women Entrepreneurs

Pictures from the panel and posters