International Development Week Conference - Getting to 2030
Date
Saturday February 7, 20269:00 am - 6:00 pm
Location
Goodes Hall
Exploring how collaboration, innovation, and action can drive real progress toward achieving the SDGs and getting us to 2030.
The theme, Getting to 2030 SDG, centers on the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which serve as a global framework to address poverty, inequality, climate change, and peace through integrated and sustainable solutions. As the 2030 deadline approaches, the theme emphasizes the urgency of assessing both progress made and gaps that remain in achieving these goals. Through panels, discussions, and collaborative programming, the conference encourages students to critically engage with contemporary development challenges while exploring how governments, civil society, and youth can accelerate meaningful action. Getting to 2030 SDG aims to bridge theory and practice by connecting global development debates to tangible initiatives at the local, national, and international levels, reinforcing the role of young people in shaping a more just and sustainable future.
Program
9:00am-9:30am - Doors Open, Registration
9:30am-9:45am - Introduction and Opening Remarks
9:45am-10:45am - Keynote by Dr. Quadir: From Knowledge to Impact - Rethinking the University’s Role in Building a Better World
10:45am-12:15pm - Professors Panel
12:15pm-1:15pm - Catered Lunch
1:30pm-2:30pm - Workshop: Explore YOUR Impact - Align Your Career with the UN SDGs
2:30pm-4:00pm - Workshop: Representatives from the Ontario International Development Association
4:00pm-6:00pm - Mocktail Hour and Closing Remarks
Bios
Dr. Fahimul Quadir
AM Keynote
Dr. Quadir is Professor in the Department of Global Development Studies and Chair of Graduate Studies at Queen’s University. He has advanced graduate education through initiatives on funding, inclusivity, and student support. His research focuses on international development, South–South cooperation, and aid effectiveness, and he has published extensively while receiving major awards including Fulbright, SSHRC, and Killam fellowships.
Dr. Marcus Taylor
Professors Panel
Dr. Taylor is Head of the Department of Global Development Studies and a professor at Queen’s University. He works on political ecology, climate change, agriculture, and rural livelihoods, and has published widely on these topics. He has taken on a leadership role in advancing Queen’s Sustainable Development Goals initiatives as the university’s new SDG principal, helping to coordinate cross‑campus efforts to implement and integrate the UN SDGs into research, teaching, and institutional planning.
Dr. Bahman Kashi
Professors Panel
Dr. Kashi is a Continuing Adjunct Assistant Professor of Economics at Queen’s University and the founder and president of Limestone Analytics, an economic consulting and analytics firm. His work spans economic impact assessment, public investment management, and cost‑benefit analysis, with extensive experience in international development projects and technical advisory roles across Africa, the Americas, and Asia. He has served as research director for USAID’s Learning, Evaluation, and Analysis Project and as a senior advisor to the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and he directs executive education programs in professional impact analysis at Queen’s.
Dr. Sumaiya Chowdhury
Professors Panel
Sumaiya's research focuses on exploring the connection between classroom assessment and student well-being. She examines this relationship through a positive psychology lens and aims to develop a framework on how classroom assessment practices impact student well-being. Sumaiya has extensive experience in researching the side effects of assessment and has a strong background in educational leadership, inclusive education, and intergenerational education programs. Originally from Bangladesh, she has taught in higher education for several years and has also worked as an expert in curriculum development in Bangladesh.
Dr. Christopher Cotton
Professors Panel
Dr. Cotton is a Professor of Economics at Queen’s University, where he holds the Jarislowsky‑Deutsch Chair in Economic and Financial Policy and serves as Director of the John Deutsch Institute for the Study of Economic Policy. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses and contributes to professional programs in public policy and impact analysis. His research applies rigorous economic methods to public policy questions, including education and health policy evaluation, political influence, and cost‑benefit analysis, with publications in leading journals. He regularly advises governments and organizations on evidence‑based policy and evaluation and has received major research awards and recognition for excellence in economic research and teaching.
Dr. Nenad Radakovic
Professors Panel
Dr. Radakovic is an Associate Professor of STEM Education at Queen’s University’s Faculty of Education. His research and teaching focus on transdisciplinary STEM education, mathematics and social justice, the pedagogy of risk, and diversity and inclusion in education. He has taught across multiple contexts in Canada and internationally and has edited and published on interdisciplinary approaches to mathematics education.
Dr. Lindsay Morcom
Professors Panel
Dr. Lindsay Morcom is a Full Professor and Canada Research Chair in Language Revitalization and Decolonizing Education in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University. She earned her master’s degree in Linguistics at First Nations University through the University of Regina in 2006. She then completed her doctorate in General Linguistics and Comparative Philology as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in 2010. She is an interdisciplinary researcher with experience in education, Indigenous language revitalization, linguistics, decolonization, wellbeing, and inclusion. She is of German, French, and Anishinaabe heritage and embraces the distinct responsibility this ancestry brings to her research. She is an active member of the Kingston urban Indigenous community and works collaboratively with the Kingston Native Centre and Languages Nest to foster urban Indigenous language revitalization.