Call for Papers
Email: Devnet2024@otago.ac.nz
The global development landscape is being reshaped by shifts in aid modalities, donor practices and geopolitical relations, combined with increasingly assertive calls for decolonisation, localisation and climate justice. These shifts are evident across different regions, from Africa’s push for greater autonomy in development projects to Asia’s rapid technological advancements and the Pacific’s strong emphasis on indigenous knowledge, traditional practices, and environmental conservation. At the same time, anthropogenic pressures, a changing climate, and biodiversity loss are altering people’s relationships with their environments, creating both challenges and opportunities for communities in the Global South. These challenges are arguably particularly acute in hazard-prone areas, or those where communities have a high dependence on climate-sensitive livelihoods.
Amidst these shifts in the landscapes of development policy and practice, there is no doubt that there are innovative and context-specific approaches emerging that seek to enhance social inclusion, foster resilience, and create new mechanisms for locally-led approaches, community engagement, and the realignment of partner relations. For example, in the Pacific Islands, traditional knowledge is being integrated with modern science to build climate resilience. Initiatives like community-based disaster risk reduction programs across Asia demonstrate the potential for locally-led solutions to foster resilience and sustainable development.
This conference seeks to explore these emerging trends and their implications for development theory and practice. Devnet 2024 seeks participants interested in engaging with these shifting landscapes of development using innovative presentation sessions, roundtables, and dialogues. Participants from different geographical regions and different areas of development practice, theory, positions, and education are invited to share their experiences and insights, fostering an international conversation on the future of development.
Possible session/presentation topics can include but are not limited to:
• Geopolitical shifts and development policies
• Localisation and shifting aid policy and practice
• Socioeconomic inequalities
• Gender and social inclusion
• Climate change and environmental sustainability
• Disaster Risk Reduction
• Migration and urbanisation
• Education and human capital
• Trade and economic integration
Within these themes and topics, contributors are encouraged to share their stories of change. What are the innovative approaches and/or context-specific adaptations that are promoting or facilitating change in these areas? This change could be taking place at a local, national or international level. It might also be change occurring at project, sector or systems level, experienced by individuals, communities, organisations or states. What does your story tell us about positive change that could be or is being achieved to build resilience and local leadership in a time of shifting landscapes of development?
ABSTRACT AND SESSION SUBMISSIONS
Session Proposals
Session Proposals should include details about the aims of the session, the proposed format, and the kinds of contributors that the session is hoping to attract. Session Proposals should not be more than 800 words. If you already have contributors that have agreed to be part of the Session, please indicate this on your proposal.
Abstract Submission:
Abstracts will be selected based on their originality, methodological rigor, relevance to the conference theme and contribution to advancing the understanding of development in the 21st century. Authors are invited to submit abstracts of no more than 300 words, along with a brief biography.
Important Submission Dates:
Session Proposals
• Session Submission Deadline: 30 July 2024
• Notification of Acceptance of Session Proposal: 16 August 2024
Individual Abstract
• Abstract Submission Deadline: 30 August 2024
• Notification of Acceptance: 13 September, 2024
Registration Fees and Closing Dates
• Early Bird Registration: September 30th
• Standard Registration: November 15th
• Virtual Registration: November 22nd
CONTACT INFORMATION
Conference Chair: Assoc. Professor Doug Hill, School of Geography, Te
Ihowhenua, University of Otago, Ōtepoti, Dunedin
Email: Devnet2024@otago.ac.nz
Phone: 034798775
We look forward to your contributions and to welcoming you to Ōtepoti, Dunedin.
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