The WGGP Program presents biennial symposia and conferences on cutting-edge issues and broadens the discussion through publications based on the presentations in special journal issues and edited volumes.

Spring 2009 Events

Sustainable Biofuels and Human Security:
A Comparison of Brazil and Southern Africa
An International Hewlett Conference at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
April 16-17, 2009
Levis Faculty Center
Third Floor, 919 W. Illinois St., Urbana

This conference focuses on the human security costs and benefits of increasing biofuel production and use in Brazil and Southern Africa. Human security emphasizes basic needs, sustainability, and agency, including gender equity. Key issues will be impacts of rising food prices, control of income from marketed crops, and residual products. The conference will bring together leading scholars from universities and NGOs in several countries to explore the social dimensions of alternative energy, poverty, and sustainability associated with recent changes in Brazil and Southern Africa.

Conference Speakers:

Edmund Amann, Economics, University of Manchester, England
Mary Arends-Kuenning, Agricultural and Consumer Economics, U of I
Carlos Azzoni, Economics, University of Sao Paola, Brazil
Werner Baer, Economics, U of I
Jason Barton, Institute for Genomic Biology, U of I
Hans Blaschek, Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research, U of I
Merle Bowen, Center for African Studies, U of I
Saliem Fakir, Living Planet Unit, World Wildlife Fund, South Africa
Anil Hira, Latin Amer. Studies, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Anna Locke, Former Advisor, Ministry of Agriculture, Mozambique
Jürgen Scheffran, Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research, U of I
Gale Summerfield, Women and Gender in Global Perspectives, U of I
Carol Thompson, Political Economy, Northern Arizona University

Program Agenda

jointly sponsored by
Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program and Center for African Studies

Co-sponsored by Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research, Center for International Business Education and Research, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, The Lemann Institute of Brazilian Studies, International Programs and Studies, Program for Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security, and ACES Global Connect.

This conference is funded in part by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

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Global Food Security

WGGP & ACDIS Working Group on Sustainability, Alternative Energy, and Human Security. Faculty at Illinois and partner universities identify and explore key issues in research and policy for these areas. Human security emphasizes basic needs, sustainbility, and agency, including gender equity.

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Past Events

Sustainable Biofuels and Human Security
Workshop, May 12-13, 2008
Monday, May 12, 8:45 am-5:30 pm
Tuesday, May 13, 8:30 am - 12 pm
Monsanto and Heritage Rooms, ACES Library, Information and Alumni Center
1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana

This workshop explores national and international research and policies on sustainable biofuels and addresses ways to move forward. Our goals are to further the understanding of direct and indirect effects of changes in land use and critical social dimensions of bioenergy, especially impacts on and involvement of poor women and men in countries around the world.

Sponsors: Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) and Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA/UK)
Organizers: Illinois: Gale Summerfield (WGGP/HCD); Jürgen Scheffran (ACDIS/CABER); and Madhu Khanna (ACE/IGB); Berkeley: David Zilberman (ARE)
With Support from: Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program (WGGP); Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research (CABER); Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security (ACDIS); College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES); European Union Center (EUC); Center for Global Studies (CGS); Human and Community Development (HCD); Agricultural and Consumer Economics (ACE); and International Programs and Studies (IPS).

Monday  May 12
8:45-10:30, Monsanto Room     Introductions and Opening Presentations
Moderator: Gale Summerfield, Illinois
Welcome: Robert Easter, Dean of ACES at Illinois
Introduction: Stephen P. Long, EBI/Illinois

Aaron Berry, RFA/UK: RFA Review into the Indirect Impacts of Biofuels: Objectives and Purpose
Keith Wiebe, FAO: Biofuels: Implications for Natural Resources and Food Security in Developing Countries
Jürgen Scheffran, Illinois:  Integrating Sustainability and Human Security into Bioenergy Futures

10:45-1:00, Monsanto Room    Drivers of Direct and Indirect Land-use Changes and their GHG Implications
Madhu Khanna, Illinois: Economics of Biofuel Production: Implications for Land Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Amani E Elobeid, Iowa State University: The Global Impact of Biofuel Expansion: Accounting for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Land Use Changes
Tim Searchinger, Princeton: The Global Impact of Biofuel Expansion: Accounting for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Land Use Changes
 Bruce Babcock, Iowa State University: The Economics of Land Use Changes from Biofuels Expansion

2:00-4:00, Heritage Room     Economics of Biofuels and Food Insecurity Concerns
David Zilberman, UC Berkeley: Income Distribution Implications of Biofuels
Siwa Msangi, IFPRI: Biofuels and the Global Food Economy: Balancing Growth with Human Wellbeing
David Roland-Holst, UC Berkeley: Food and Fuel Security from an Emerging Market Perspective: Tectonic Demand Shifts and Market Tremors
Ben Senauer, University of Minnesota: The Impact of Biofuels on Global Food Markets

4:15-5:30, Heritage Room            US Policy and Impacts on Land Use
Harry de Gorter, Cornell University: Welfare Economics of Biofuel Policies
Tom Hertel, Purdue: The Indirect Land Use Impacts of U.S. Biofuel Policies: The Importance of Acreage, Yield, and Bilateral Trade Responses
Wally Tyner, Purdue: Biofuels for All? Understanding the Global Impacts of Multinational Mandates

Tuesday, May 13,  Heritage Room

8:30-10:30                        Biofuels and the Environment
Kristiina Vogt, Univ. of Washington: Facts and Myths of a Sustainable Carbon Society
Deepak Rajagopal, UC Berkeley:  Life Cycle Analysis: What Biofuels Mean to the Environment
Bruce McCarl, Texas A&M: Biofuels and Greenhouse Gases: Economics of Offsets and Leakage
Cliff Singer and Hadi Esfahani, Illinois:  Biofuels: What Are We After?
Vincent Camobreco EPA: EPA Biofuel Life Cycle GHG Analysis for the Energy Independence and Security Act

10:45-12:00            Alternative Energy, Human Security and Social Impacts
Irene Tinker, UC Berkeley: From Biomass to Biofuels, From Cookstoves to Cars: Impacts on the World’s Poor
Richenda van Leeuwen, Good Energies: Renewables, Gender and Society
Russ deLucia, S3IDF:  The Need for Explicitly Pro-poor Business Models for Sustainable Bio-Energy Development
Gale Summerfield, Illinois:  Engendering the Biofuels Debate

Workshop Program in pdf

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February 14, Thursday, 9:30 a.m.: Roundtable Discussion on Bioenergy: Strategies for Mitigating the Food Versus Fuel Controversy, with special guest Joachim von Braun, Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IPPRI), Washington, DC, Room 612, Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB), 1206 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, Featured Panelists: Hans Blaschek, Director for the Center for Advanced Bioenergy Research (CABER), UIUC; Madhu Khanna, Professor of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, UIUC; Gale Summerfield, Director, Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program, UIUC; Bill Worek, Director of the Energy Resource Center, UIC. Moderator: Jurgen Scheffran, CABER. To attend, RSVP to 244-2295 or heap@uiuc.edu before Feb. 11.

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MillerComm Lecture:
Biofuels and the World Food Situation
Joachim von Braun
Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) - a member of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR),
February 14, 2008, Thursday, 4:00 p.m.
Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory, Urbana
sponsored by ACES Global Connect, WGGP and others.

Using more of the world’s crops as energy sources could threaten food supplies to those people who are most in need, especially at prices that are competitive on the world market. Joachim von Braun assesses opportunities and risks in the development of bioenergy to discuss the changing role of the United States in assisting famine intervention worldwide. Dr. von Braun's expertise leading IFPRI's efforts to provide research-based sustainable solutions for ending hunger and malnutrition, and his previous position as director of the Center for Development Research and professor of Economics and Technological Change at the University of Bonn, Germany, will bring a unique perspective on a variety of issues to our campus. [Selected Publications]

 

 

 

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Past Symposia and Conferences

SPRING 2008

Workshop on Sustainable Biofuels and Human Security:
Critical Issues of Gender, Environment, and Food
May 12-13, 2008
Monday, May 12, 8:45 am-5 pm
Tuesday, May 13, 8:45 am - 2 pm
Monsanto Room and Heritage Room
ACES Library, Information and Alumni Center, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana

This workshop explores national and international research and policies on sustainable biofuels and discusses ways to address concerns about human security. Our goals are to further the understanding of direct and indirect effects of changes in land use, food security and critical social dimensions of bioenergy, especially impacts on and involvement of poor women and men in countries around the world.

Presentations included:

Keith Wiebe, FAO: Biofuels: Implications for Natural Resources and Food Security in Developing Countries
Irene Tinker, UC Berkeley: From Biomass to Biofuels, From Cookstoves to Cars: Impacts on the World’s Poor
Richenda van Leeuwen,  Good Energies: Renewables, Gender and Society
Kristiina Vogt, Univ. of Washington: Facts and Myths of a Sustainable Carbon Society
Amani E Elobeid, Iowa State University: The Global Impact of Biofuel Expansion: Accounting for Green House Gas Emissions from Land Use Changes
Madhu Khanna, UIUC: Costs of Producing Bioenergy
David Zilberman, UC Berkeley: Income Distribution Implications of Biofuels
Russ deLucia, s3idf:  The Need for Explicitly Pro-Poor Business Models for Sustainable Bio-Energy Development
David Roland-Holst, UC Berkeley: Food and Fuel Security from an Emerging Market Perspective: Tectonic Demand Shifts and Market  Tremors
Siwa Msangi, IFPRI:  Biofuels and the Global Food Economy: Balancing Growth with Human Wellbeing
Deepak Rajagopal, UC Berkeley:  Life Cycle Analysis: What Biofuels Mean to the Environment
Cliff Singer and Hadi Esfahani, UIUC:  Biofuels:  What Are We After?
Jurgen Scheffran, UIUC:  Integrating Sustainability and Human Security into Bioenergy Futures
Gale Summerfield, UIUC:  Engendering the Biofuels Debate

sponsored by
EBI (Energy Biosciences Institute) at UIUC and UCB
Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program
Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research
Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security
College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
European Union Center
Human and Community Development
International Programs and Studies

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Fall 2007

Global Perspectives on Women's Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS Medicationsand Services in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sept. 13-14, 2007
sponsored by WGGP, Center for African Studies, Department of Geography, and others

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International Forum on the Diabetes Epidemic:
Cultural, Educational and Medical Perspectives on Building Synergies for Mexican and US Populations

Sept. 24-26, 2007

sponsored by College of Medicine, College of ACES, Department of Human and Community Development, and WGGP. [For program details, see http://www.ifde.uiuc.edu/ ]

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Oct. 11, 4:00 p.m., A CAS/MillerComm Event: Douglas Massey, Professor of Sociology, Princeton University, Understanding America's Immigration Crisis, Knight Auditorium, The Spurlock Museum, 600 S.Gregory St., Urbana, sponsored by the Center for Advanced Study, WGGP and others.

Oct. 15, 12:00 Noon, Provost's Annual Lecture on Gender Equity: Virginia Valian, Distinguished Professor,Department of Psychology, Hunter College, Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women, Auditorium, Beckman Institute, 405 N. Mathews Ave., Urbana, sponsored by the Office of the Provost, WGGP, and others.

Oct. 25, 11:00 a.m., WUN Teleconference on Contemporary China, Theme: Governance & Society: Gale Summerfield, Director, Women and Gender in Global Perpsectives Program, Associate Professor, Human and Community Development, UIUC: Gender and Changing Opportunities in China, G58 Foreign Languages Bldg., 707 S. Mathews, Urbana. [For full schedule, see http://www.wun.ac.uk/chinacenter/documents/poster_USletter.pdf ]

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SPRING 2007

Solidarities Across Borders:

Gender, Race, and Class in Post-Disaster Reconstruction

CAS Initiative on Mega-Disasters
February 5, Monday, Levis Faculty Center, Third Floor, 919 West Illinois Street:

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Spring 2006

Mini-Conference on

Corporate Social Responsibility--

Calling Capital to Account:

Corporate Gender Responsibility in the Global Era

Professor Ruth Pearson,

Director of the Centre of Development Studies (POLIS), University of Leeds, UK
Wednesday April 20, 2006, 4 pm

 

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The Second International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry
"Ethics, Politics and Human Subject Research in the New Millennium"
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, from May 3-6, 2006.

The theme of the Second International Congress, "Ethics, Politics and Human Subject Research" builds on and extends the theme of the First International Congress which focused on "Qualitative Inquiry in a Time of Global Uncertainty." The 2006 Congress will explore experiences with and criticisms of Institutional Review Boards. It will question the over-reliance of audit cultures on evidence-based, neo-experimental models of inquiry. The 2006 Congress will investigate new ways of decolonizing traditional methodologies. It will take up performative, feminist, indigenous, democratic and participatory forms of critical inquiry. The 2006 Congress will examine how these new forms of inquiry can advance the goals of social justice and progressive politics in this new century.

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Joint Area Centers Symposium:

Criminal Trafficking and Slavery:
The Dark Side of Global and Regional Migration
February 23rd-26th, 2006
CAS / MillerCOMM Keynote Address
Thursday, February 23rd, 7:30 - 9:00 PM
Levis Faculty Center
919 W. Illinois, Urbana, IL
" Criminal Trafficking and Slavery: A Global Problem"
Susan Forbes Martin, Executive Director,
Institute for the Study of International Migration, Georgetown University

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Fall 2004

GENDER AND TRANSNATIONAL CARE WORK

Nancy Folbre,

Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Android Dreams and Transnational Care Work

[See also WGGP symposium publication in Globalizations, September, 2006, Volume 3, Number 3.]

October 22, 4:00 pm, 314 Illini Union

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The Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

and

The Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program Symposium on

Family, Gender, and Law
in a Globalizing Middle East and South Asia
October 7-9, 2004

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Joint Area Centers

Annual Conference
November 4-6, 2004
Troubled Waters in a Globalizing World:
Community, Property and Conflict
Over a Vital Resource
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WGGP Sympoisum Spring 2004

MARCH 17-18, 2004

GENDER AND HUMAN SECURITY:

LATINA/O IMMIGRANTS IN THE MIDWEST

GÉNERO Y SECURIDAD HUMANA: INMIGRANTES LATINAS/OS

EN EL MEDIO OESTE

[See also WGGP Perspectives Special Issue: Gender and Human Security: Latina/o Immigrants in the Midwest Highlighting proceedings of the Spring 2004 WGGP Symposium.]

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WGGP SYMPOSIUM 2002:

GENDER AND TRANSNATIONAL NETWORKS

Scenes from the Pacific Rim:

Gender, Globalization and the Asian Diaspora

Eveylyn Hu-DeHart,

Professor of History and Director , Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, Brown University

OCTOBER 17, 2002

4:00 pm, Thursday, 314 Illini Union

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Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Symposium 2000: CELEBRATING THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WGGP PROGRAM

I. RISKS AND RIGHTS IN THE 21ST CENTURY : This symposium focused on cutting-edge work that addresss gender issues involved in the broad definitions of security and risk (including political, economic, environmental, and household level issues) and rights (collective and individual aspects of human rights property and other legal/customary rights, and international issues in political rights). [See also WGGP symposim publication on Risks and Rights in International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society (15) 1, Fall 2001.]

Keynote Speaker:

Lourdes Beneria

Director, Gender and Global Change Program, Professor of City and Regional Planning and Women's Studies, Cornell University

Changing Employment Sturctures and Economic Insecurity

II. ACTING FOR CHANGE: CHINESE WOMEN IN LOCAL POLITICS AND THE MEDIA: As Chinese society transforms, women are redefining themselves and developing new structures for pursuing equity, through media as well as formal political participation. This symposium bought together specialists from Taiwan, Hong Kong, the People's Republic of China and the United States to address persepctives on how Chinese women in different environments are using media and politics to promote gender equity and challenge stereotypes. Films/videos, panels, and discussion allowed participants and attendees to explore how issues are being treated in the different areas.

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WGGP Symposium 1999:

MICROENTERPRISE,

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS, AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Keynote Address:

Jane Jaquette:

Professor of Politics and Chair of the Department of Diplomacy and World Affairs, Occidental College

"Women's Non-Governmental Organizations and the Broader Security Agenda"