Moderators

Amara Bangura
he/him
Panel: Humanitarian Response: Healthcare in Emergencies

Amara Bangura is currently the Community Engagement and Capacity Building Advisor for The Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security. He is a journalist with more than 15 years reporting and producing programs for international media organizations such as the BBC and Journalists for Human Rights. He also has extensive experience working on development communication projects, including training journalists, in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, he led a team of journalist in the fight against myths and misinformation about the Ebola outbreak. Amara holds an MA in Media and International Development from the University of East Anglia, UK and is also a recipient of the prestigious Gordon Fisher Journalism Fellowship at Massey College, University of Toronto.

Dallaire Institute

The Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative (Dallaire Initiative) believes that in order to progressively end the recruitment and use of children as soldiers, the world must focus on effective prevention.

Abby Dooks
she/her
Panel: Gender and Global Health Development

Abby Dooks is a Saint Mary’s University alumna, originally from the traditional territory of the Mi’kmaq people, in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Abby finished her Bachelor’s degree in 2019 in both International Development Studies and Political Science. She is currently working towards her Master’s degree in Global & International Studies - International Development at the University of Northern British Columbia, with a particular interest in Indigenous Guardianship programs in Canada. Abby continues to work towards policy change that will ensure a more equitable society in both her home country and the international sphere.

Land of the Guardians

Land of the Guardians supports Guardians who care for lands, waters and resources across the country, creating jobs and inspiring youth. Indigenous Nations will create more Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas—sustaining waters, animals and plants across Canada.

Bhavani Esapathi
she/her
Panel: Understanding the Relationship Between Health, Race and Ethnicity

Bhavani Esapathi is a writer, maker & social-tech activist working in the intersections of autoimmune diseases, access to healthcare and digital technology. She won the prestigious WIRED Magazine’s Creative Hack Award for “the most innovative idea” category in Tokyo, Japan. This idea further developed into The Invisible Labs; a global platform supported by orgs such as The British Council, Innovate UK and others. Currently, she is working on a year long project funded by the Arts Council England’s DYCP Award looking at the ramifications of an invisible disabled body to the world of disability politics consequently to Medical Humanities at large. As an immigrant herself Bhavani is dedicated towards unpicking migratory politics and the role it plays within healthcare access. Besides the DYCP Award, she is also Artist-in-Residence at Invisible Flock; an award winning design Studio based at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK where she is exploring environmental racism & how chronic diseases are invariably tied to climate action. You can say hello to her on Twitter @bhaesa or check out her website at bhavaniesapathi.com.

The Invisible Labs

The Invisible Labs is a social tech initiative helping those with invisible Autoimmune Diseases live better using storytelling, data & digital tools.

Dr. Karen McAllister
she/her
Panel: Trade and Pandemics: COVID Recovery and the WTO Waiver Dispute

Dr. Karen McAllister is an assistant professor in International Development Studies at Saint Mary’s University. She is an anthropologist who specializes in environment and development, agrarian change, land and resource rights, Chinese foreign investment and development policy, and ethnic minorities in Southeast Asia. In addition to working as an instructor and researcher at Saint Mary's and McGill Universities, she has worked across Asia as an applied social scientist with the International Rice Research Institute (Philippines), International Development Research Centre (Ottawa), and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

Yankun Li
she/they
Panel: Climate Change and Health: How Does the Environment We Live in Compromise Our Health?

Yankun is doing her Master of Arts at Saint Mary’s university starting in last fall. Graduated in May 2020, Yankun continues pursuing her interests in social justice issues around urbanization and development. Her honour thesis was about how to include the livelihoods of the urban poor in the process of gentrification and urbanization, using the case from Beijing, China. And her master thesis is about how to incorporate the livelihoods of the people living near polluting industries in rural China in the process of urbanization and industrialization. She is currently working as a global learning ambassador.