Registration fee: $15

The DEVS DSC Conference 2026 invites the Queen’s community to center diverse gender equity as a critical lens for understanding development, power, and social change at the local and global level. Since gendered dimensions shape every aspect of DEVS studies, from health and economics to policy and global governance, this conference creates space to critically engage with gender across academic theory, local context, health systems, and global organizations, using a feminist lens to explore how inequality is structured, experienced, and resisted.

We are excited to welcome three incredible speakers:

• Shuying Chen is a representative from Trellis HIV & Community Care who will explore how HIV/AIDS disproportionately impacts women and LGBTQ+ communities in Kingston and across Canada.
• Meghan Mendelin is a PhD student here at Queens, whose work uses feminist political economy and social reproduction frameworks to examine the role of community-based nonprofit organizations in contemporary Canada.
• Nadine Grant works for Plan Canada, an international NGO. She will discuss her work on gender inequality on a global scale and the strategies used for bridging systemic gaps.

The conference will also feature interactive workshops, lunch, and networking opportunities. Join us as we critically examine how Gender shapes our world and how we can work toward greater equity within it.

Conference Program

The conference will have three 45 min speaking blocks, with time for speaker Q&As, a lunch break with food provided by Big Brothers and Sisters of Kingston, headshots and networking opportunities, and DEVS DSC tote bags and stickers for sale!

12:45 pm – Doors Open

1:00 pm – 1:15 pm – Opening Remarks

• Our DEVS DSC Conference Team will begin with opening remarks to ground our discussion, introduce the purpose of the event, and set the tone for reflection, learning, and community.

1:15 pm – 2:00 pm – Nadine Grant, Gender equity advocate at Plan Canada (INGO)

• Nadine will share her story and lived experience working at an influential international NGO, offering insight into the realities families face and the importance of community-based support systems.

2:00 pm – 2:45 pm – Lunch Break

• Catering provided by Big Brothers and Sisters Kingston. Attendees are encouraged to enjoy lunch together, connect with peers, profs and speakers, and reflect on gendered dimensions of development.

2:45 pm – 3:45 pm – Shuying Chen, Trellis HIV & Community Care Representative

• Shuying will guide us through an in-depth session exploring community-based care, including:
  • A 15-minute overview of community-based care models
  • The challenges of accessing and maintaining medication
  • Cultural barriers and the impacts of systemic racism
  • A visual “map” of the barriers women face

• Meghan will lead a thought-provoking talk on her ongoing feminist political economy research, focused on social reproduction frameworks that examine the role of community-based nonprofit organizations in contemporary Canada.

• We will formally conclude the speaking program with closing reflections and key takeaways from the afternoon.

• Attendees are invited to stay, connect, and continue conversations sparked throughout the day in an informal networking space.

The DEVS Department Student Council is thrilled to announce that the 2024 conference will be held on Sunday March 10, 2024 and the theme is Developing a Glocal Future: Bridging Global and Local Perspectives. 

This is an excellent opportunity to expand your knowledge, build valuable connections, and contributed to academic discourse in your field of interest.

We encourage you to mark your calendars and look forward to your participation in this exciting event!

Stay tuned for more updates!

Please feel free to reach out to devsconferencequeens@gmail.com with any questions or inquiries.

Please join us in sharing research-in-progress or proposed by graduate students working on African themes across diverse departments at Queen’s. This will also be an opportunity for us to show our respects to one of the founders of African Studies at Queen’s, and indeed, in Canada.

Professor Emeritus Bruce Berman was among the very first faculty members hired by Queen’s whose research and teaching focused primarily on Africa. His books first broke new ground in our understanding of the decolonization struggles in Kenya, but branched out to wider contributions on development, democracy and ethnicity.

Dr. Berman was instrumental in growing the Canadian Association of African Studies into a major international learned society with a highly regarded journal. Students whose doctoral theses were supervised by Professor Berman are now in government service or teaching and researching in Canada, the West Indies,South Africa,Kenya, and Rwanda.

This event is generously supported by the Inclusive Community Fund, Office of the Vice-Principal (Culture, Equity and Inclusion), and the Department of Global Development Studies.

Program Schedule [PDF 138 KB]

Global Development Studies Speaker Series presents:

Feminist Political Ecology World Making with Dr. Wendy Harcourt. 

Abstract: Dr. Harcourt probes into what it means to be a feminist and a political activist concerned about the environmental justice undertaking research in today's neoliberal university. The talk draws on my experience of coordinating a large EU funded network entitled "Wellbeing, Ecology Gender, and cOmmunity (WEGO)" that brought together around 40 people - mentors and 15 PhDs - on a four-year project that explored feminist political ecology. 

Dr. Wendy Harcourt is Professor of Gender, Diversity, and Sustainable Development at the International Institute of Social Studies of the Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Novel Idea and Queen's University invite you to a book launch of Dr. Marc Epprecht's new book, Accidental Queer.

Since the 1990s Marc Epprecht has helped lay the groundwork for critical masculinity and African queer studies with such publications as the award-winning Hungochani: The History of a Dissident Sexuality in Southern Africa. Here he steps outside of the academic comfort zone with a mix of story-telling and reflection on his personal experiences, motivations, and methodological and ethical challenges through research and teaching on diverse topics encountered along the way: African women's history, homosexuality /homophobia, environmental history, HIV / AIDS, human rights, and tourism. A central concern is to understand how masculinities have been constructed and contested within disordered gender, race, class and other relations, and to wonder how the many associated harms might be fruitfully addressed at this moment of multiple existential crises. Understanding today's "hegemonic masculinity" as an artefact of colonialism and racial capitalism that is tenaciously reproduced through the fantasy of endless economic growth, he invites men to constructively engage with African feminism, decolonization and degrowth theory.

Refreshments will be served.

Dr. Marcus Taylor will moderate a special UC3 Queen's Event: Communicating Climate Research in an Uncertain Climate on Wednesday, October 29th, 2025 @ 4:00-5:30 PM (Zoom).

Climate researchers face new and daunting challenges communicating their work to communities, students, media, and policymakers in uncertain times. Hear from three researchers in the US, Canada, and Mexico who will share insights about rising above common obstacles in climate research communication.

As a member of the University Climate Change Coalition (UC3), Queen’s University is committed to advancing collaborative climate action and sustainability leadership. This commitment is reflected in our engagement with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), across departments, faculties and offices. Events like Communicating Climate Research in an Uncertain Climate exemplify our dedication to fostering global dialogue and interdisciplinary collaboration in support of climate resilience and informed decision-making.

Speakers

Dr. John Robinson

Professor and Presidential Advisor on Environment, Climate Change and Sustainability, University of Toronto

John Robinson is a Professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and the School of the Environment at the University of Toronto, where he is Presidential Advisor on the Environment, Climate Change and Sustainability. Professor Robinson’s research focuses on sustainable buildings, neighbourhoods, and cities; climate change mitigation, adaptation and sustainability; participatory backcasting and scenario analysis; transdisciplinary knowledge co-production; sustainability transitions and transformations; art and sustainability; the role of the university in sustainability transitions; and the history and philosophy of sustainability.

Dr. Erica Smithwick

Distinguished Professor, Director of The Penn State Climate Consortium Pennsylvania State University

Dr. Erica Smithwick is a Distinguished Professor of Geography and Director of the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute at Penn State University. She is also an Associate Director of the Institute of Energy and the Environment. Smithwick leads the Penn State Climate Consortium that aims to bring together interdisciplinary researchers in partnership with society to innovate climate solutions. Trained as a landscape and ecosystem ecologist, her work aims to support sustainable land management decision-making under climate change, with particular focus on forest resilience to wildfire and natural carbon sequestration strategies. She has worked extensively across the U.S., including in the Mid-Atlantic, the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, and has many past or ongoing research projects in Africa. An overarching thread of her research is the use of trans-disciplinary partnerships to identify solutions to complex environmental challenges.

Dr. Edmundo Molina Pérez

Research Professor, Tec de Monterrey

Edmundo Molina Pérez (Ph.D. Pardee RAND Graduate School) is research associate professor at the School of Government and Public Transformation of Tec of Monterrey. He has led various research projects focused on developing new computational methods for studying socio-technological systems, and the use of Data Science methods for supporting decision analysis under conditions of deep uncertainty. He currently leads applied research work on Mexico's water and energy sectors, developing new simulation models and assisting stakeholders in decision making processes.

Dr. Marcus Taylor (moderator)

Professor, Queens University

Dr. Marcus Taylor is Professor and Head of the Department of Global Development Studies at Queen’s University, Canada. His work on climate change adaptation and rural development has been published widely, including The Political Ecology of Climate Change Adaptation (Routledge, 2015). He has served as an advisor to the OECD Development Assistance Committee, Network on Governance Program on Climate Change Adaptation Governance and was a contributing author to one chapter of the IPCC AR6 Climate Change 2021: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.

The Department of Global Development Studies is excited to announce its upcoming lecture with Dr. Rachel Benzer Kerr.

Advancing Sustainable Development Goals in African Food Systems

Rachel Benzer Kerr is a Professor of Global Development at Cornell University whose research focuses on agroecology, food systems, and rural livelihoods in Malawi and Tanzania. Using participatory methods, her work examines the impacts of agroecological approaches on nutrition, sustainable land management, and climate resilience. She is a Coordinating Lead Author for the IPCC and has published extensively in leading international journals. Dr. Bezner Kerr also directs the Institute for African Development and the Community Food Systems minor at Cornell, advancing engaged learning and community‑based research.

Event Poster [PDF 335 KB]

Presented in partnership with Studies in National and International Development (SNID)

Abstract: Lephalale municipality markets itself both as “South Africa’s energy hub” and “the heartbeat of the bushveldt.” The first refers to its two gigantic coal-burning power stations and the world’s largest open-cast coal mine. The second is a nod to the region’s most outstanding natural feature, the Waterberg UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. In this paper we critically assess the potential of mooted “ecotourism” to mitigate the harms of industrial developments and the enduring legacies of apartheid.

Marc Epprecht is a professor based in the Department of Global Development Studies at Queen's University. A historian by training, but interdisciplinary by inclination, he has published extensively on the history of development in Africa, with particular attention to the roles of gender and sexuality.

Oarisa Riddoch is an MA candidate in Global Development Studies at Queen’s University. Her research explores just transitions in South Africa, specifically examining how tourism can drive economic growth in Lephalale during the country’s shift from coal extraction and energy production.