Upcoming Events

In this seminar, Dr. Schaaf will discuss insights provided by research on the commercial determinants of health and how this work is informing Amnesty International's strategy to document and campaign on the harms of fossil fuels.

Speaker Profile

Marta Schaaf has spent over two decades working at the interface of health and human rights. Her work has included advocacy and program management for NGOs such as Medecins du Monde and the Clinton Foundation; program-focused research for WHO, the Open Society Foundations, and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; and a decade as a researcher at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She has lived in several countries of the Western Balkans and in Burkina Faso, and she currently lives in New York City. She holds a Master's Degree in Human Rights and a Doctoral Degree in Public Health from Columbia University.

Register below and join us on Wednesday, March 26, at 1:00 p.m. ET

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This seminar is a continuation of the conversation on Nurturing Infrastructures of Care that will be kicked off at the upcoming American Association of Geographers’ Annual Meeting in Detroit by Dr. Chiara Camponeschi, Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the DIGHR. 

We’ll be hearing from two speakers, Dr. Jesper Christiansen and Javier Vergara Petrescu, whose pioneering work on social and public innovation spans countries, cultures, and sectors. Hailing from Denmark and Chile respectively, these renowned and award-winning experts bring a wealth of applied knowledge to the work of fostering transformative systems change in the face of complex and interconnected issues.

Dr. Jespersen will reflect on his journey at the heart of the movement for global public innovation, sharing insights gleaned from decades spent helping municipal and national governments, as well as UN and international development agencies, implement a “transformation infrastructure” in support of the implementation of more responsive and equitable solutions to the polycrisis. Mr. Vergara Petrescu will continue the conversation with an overview of a range of promising co-design methodologies and place-based interventions that improve urban livability and sustainability, build inclusive communities, and strengthen processes of citizen participation in developing cities. He’ll focus, in particular, on preliminary findings from two ongoing projects: Santiago Zero Carbon, which brings together low and high technologies to accelerate participatory climate solutions, and Urban95, which is building a ‘caring neighbourhood’ and transforming spaces for children and caregivers through the Proximity of Care model. 

Common to both speakers is the pursuit of an interdisciplinary approach to critical problem-solving that fundamentally shifts institutional and organisational governance ecosystems while also advancing mission-based, multilevel collaborations that place a strong emphasis on community engagement and shared ownership. 

Given the wide applicability and scalability of the approaches and methodologies being introduced, this seminar may be especially interesting to members of the DIGHR community working in the areas of global health foresighting and planetary health, though we welcome the participation of students and scholars from all disciplines.

Speaker Profile

Jesper Christiansen – Director of Programs, Bikuben Foundation & Co-Founder, States of Change (Denmark)

Jesper holds a PhD in Anthropology from Aarhus University. He has a long track-record of working with ambitious governments, public organisations and international institutions to deliver better policy outcomes and achieve meaningful systems transformation. At Bikuben Foundation, Jesper leads projects that create more inclusive service systems for and with marginalized youth. He also leads international collaborations focused on rethinking the role of foundations as catalysts of systems change. Within States of Change, Jesper continues to build the next generation of public innovation learning. In this capacity, he has been leading multiple strategic partnerships with the governments of Canada, Colombia, UAE and Australia, among others, as well as with international institutions such as the UNDP, OECD and the EU Commission.  Jesper has additionally worked for pioneering organizations like MindLab–the cross-ministerial innovation unit of the Government of Denmark––as well as UK innovation foundation Nesta and the Australian public design outfit Thinkplace. Throughout his career, Jesper has focused on blending inclusive social research with public innovation, rethinking policy design and government interventions to create better outcomes with and for the most marginalized and vulnerable people of society.

Javier Vergara Petrescu – Founder and Executive Director, Ciudad Emergente (Chile)

Javier is an architect who holds a MSc City Design & Social Sciences from the London School of Economics. As Founder and Executive Director of Ciudad Emergente, Javier specializes in social innovation, citizen participation and technologies applied to the city, working in Latin America, Europe and the United States. He is also Co-founder of Plataforma Urbana and Plataforma Arquitectura / ArchDaily, and in 2006 he was chosen one of the 100 Young Leaders of Chile by the Center for Strategic Leadership of the Adolfo Ibáñez University. Javier is a regular lecturer at universities across North and South America, and has been a guest lecturer onTactical Urbanism at Columbia University and the Latin Graduate School of Design at Harvard. His work with Ciudad Emergente has been exhibited in multiple cities, including the MoMA in New York. For his work with Ciudad Emergente, he received the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honor Award in 2021, one of the most prestigious awards given by the United Nations to projects that promote sustainable urbanization in the world.

Register below and join us on Wednesday, April 2, at 1:00 p.m. ET

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Across disciplines and organizations, the pressure to incorporate public engagement into health research continues to increase. More than ever, engagement is embedded as an official ideology in healthcare decision-making, at all levels and in every aspect of policy. The one-stop formula to pacify dissent, or the “solution to contention and public concern, almost as a form of holy grail”. Yet, research has seemingly skipped the importance of prescribing the type of problem an institution is attempting to resolve through engagement and moved directly onto evaluating the success of the process. Though most suggest that simply “doing” engagement is a net positive, Julia Rodgers' research contends the opposite. This project develops a typology or “road map” of engagement in order to conceptually clarify how and why non-professional engagement in healthcare is manifested. To successfully apply engagement as a policy tool that achieves specific outcomes, decision-makers and researchers must recognize the context-specific nature of these practices, clarify what the objective of the practices are, and codify the variables accordingly.

Speaker Profile

Julia Rodgers is a PhD candidate in Political Science at Dalhousie University. Her dissertation research considers deliberative methods of health policy creation through a case analysis of provincial governance structures. Utilizing theories of representation and power, her work presents a framework of collaborative policy development that accounts for the different goals, intended outcomes, and institutional factors that facilitate system-wide success. She also holds a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (Atlantic Canada Studies) from Saint Mary’s University, where her MA thesis developed a critical history of public engagement mechanisms in Nova Scotia through the lens of neoliberal governance models. 

Julia’s professional background spans across disciplines, with experience in a diverse range of roles and sectors. From research coordination to mixed-methods data analysis, she has been involved in large-scale projects in fields such as Law, Management, Health Science, Nursing, and Community Health & Epidemiology. Holding expertise in community-based research – particularly with equity-deserving groups – she acted as lead author on a report for the Halifax Regional Municipality deemed to be “the most ambitious blueprint in Canada to reinvest in community services.” Beyond her professional and research background, Julia was elected to the Board of Directors for the Canadian Political Science Association, holding a term position until 2025. 

Register below and join us on Wednesday, April 9, at 1:00 p.m. ET

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Join us for the sixth annual Critical Social Science Perspectives in Global Health Research Workshop on Tuesday, April 29, 2025.

Workshop participants will have the opportunity to learn about new research happening at York University that uses critical social science perspectives and methodologies to understand the global health enterprise. Researchers working in this vein tend to engage directly with global public health actors, structures, and systems, using transdisciplinary, participatory, experimental or experiential methods. The Workshop is intended to generate new insights, foster collaboration, and discover new opportunities in global health research.  

This year, Professor Kristina Baines (Professor of Anthropology, City University of New York) will be delivering the keynote presentation titled "Heritage in the Body: Sensory Investigations in Global Health Practice"

Following the keynote, we will hear from the 2024 seed grant recipients regarding the progress of their global health research projects funded by the Critical Perspectives in Global Health Seed Grant. The seed grant program supports critical global health research within the three themes at the Dahdaleh Institute (planetary health, global health and humanitarianism, and global health foresighting).

Finally, York faculty and global health researchers will then have the opportunity to deliver Pitch Presentations: brief 5-minute presentations on any current or planned research project that takes a critical social science approach to global health. Register as a Pitch Presenter to receive valuable feedback on your proposal from expert researchers. Please complete the registration form to be a Pitch Presenter by Thursday, April 10 at 12:00 p.m., or to attend the event by Monday, April 21, by 11:59 p.m. 

Agenda

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Register below and join us on Tuesday, April 29 at 9 a.m.

Join us for an immersive two-day simulation of the World Health Assembly (WHA) from April 30 to May 1, where students, professionals, and global health enthusiasts come together to engage in high-level debates, draft resolutions, and tackle real-world health challenges. This event offers a unique opportunity to step into the shoes of global health policymakers, collaborate with peers from around the world, and develop critical leadership and diplomacy skills. The theme of this year's event is: Combating Antimicrobial Resistance: All for Health, Health for All.

This event is brought to you by the School of Global Health.

Seats are limited, so don't delay and secure your place today to be a part of this transformative event!