WHAT: We would like to cordially invite you to attend the fifth Annual International Development Conference (IDC) taking place at the University of Toronto Scarborough on Saturday, February 6th and Sunday, February 7th, 2016.

This ambitious and innovative conference aims to Diversify Development by highlighting the recent rise in diverse social movements, atypical development actors, and alternative conceptions of “development” to expand the perspectives of development theory, policy and practice while being cognizant of historical and present power imbalances. We seek to diversify development stakeholders, practices, agenda, ideologies and aspirations to bridge the gap in research, policy, and practice for our individual and collective development future(s).

We will be hosting SIX (6) thematic discussions, FOUR (4) workshops, a large-scale debate and two (2) keynote presentations. We are also bringing in over FIFTY (50) speakers from around the world! In the spirit of 'diversifying development' we are also encouraging delegate to participate by presenting at the Student Research Panels; an un-conference-style, delegate-facilitated Open Space, and a Networking Development Drinks.

The conference will host more than 50 distinguished panelists and speakers, including policymakers, academics, activists, and practitioners from the field. Keynote speakers include Buddhist economics and author, Vaddhaka Linn from the Triratna Buddhist Community and Cleo Kambugu, an Uganda transgender activist working with the UHAI-the East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative.

The six thematic discussions, four workshops, two keynote presentations, and a plenary debate will discuss topics including, but not limited to:

· Victims and Vendors of Vacations: The Benefits and Harms of Global Tourism

· From the Paper to the Field: Questioning the Formation and Execution of the SDGs

· Downloading Development: Will virtual power lead to real empowerment?

· Paradigms of Citizenship: Negotiating Identities in Neocolonial Canada

· Pathologizing the Poor? Unpacking the Movement towards Global Mental Health

· The Construction and Deconstruction of Development Indices

· Facing the Heat: Framing Climate Change for Action

· Growing Food in Unexpected Places: An Urban Farming Workshop

Some of our highly anticipated speakers include executive directors, senior fellows, distinguished associates, associate professors, practitioners, and consultants from the Canadian Committee on Pacific Economic Cooperation, the C.D. Howe Institute, the North South Institute, the Mcleod Group, the World Bank, the Ford Foundation, UNICEF, World University Services of Canada, Munk School of Global Affairs, the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, Unleashed Possibilities, East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative University of Toronto, University of Kansas, Ted Rogers School of Hospitality, International Development Research Center, University of Ottawa, the Ontario Institute for Studies of Education, George Brown College, Royal Roads University, and more.

For more information, see our website: http://www.utoronto-idc.org/

For the schedule, see here: https://internationaldevelopmentcon2016a.sched.org/

REGISTER HERE: utscidcregistration.fikket.com