GDP - The Global Development Primer

Dr. Alyson Kelvin's research couldn't be more vital and important.  Her research team is preparing evaluations and clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine.  But how do viruses and vaccines work?  And how does this COVID-19 virus work?  If you have 20 minutes, she'll take you through the details.  You won't want to miss this excellent, factual, and crystal clear presentation on the virology of COVID-19.

Dr. Alyson Kelvin's research investigates the intersection of host age and previous infection in the context of influenza infection and vaccination. She uses animal models, in vitro systems, and patient samples to obtain a picture of disease and its mechanisms. She recently discovered that lactating mammary glands are susceptible to influenza infection.

This podcast is part of a special GDP Roadshow series featured a COVID-19 video panel with the Canada International Council and the MacEachen Institute of Public Policy & Governance.

Check out the entire Video conference here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOPY1gvkmr4

Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter:  @ProfessorHuish

On this special GDP Roadshow podcast, Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed takes us into the details of pandemic planning, and how real life never "follows the plan".   COVID-19 is Dr. Watson-Creed's 3rd outbreak.  She takes us into the details of planning for disease outbreaks and coping with pandemics.

Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed is the acting Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health for the province of Nova Scotia and served on the One Nova Scotia Coalition. She is a dedicated leader and is passionate advocate for the role public health can play in advancing health equity.

She is the Dalhousie Medical School's first assistant dean in a brand new portfolio, "serving and engaging society."

This podcast is part of a special GDP Roadshow series featured a COVID-19 video panel with the Canada International Council and the MacEachen Institute of Public Policy & Governance.  

Check out the entire Video conference here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOPY1gvkmr4

Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter:  @ProfessorHuish

Since when did grocery stores in Global North start selling mortgages, credit cards & loyalty programs?  For Dr. Ryan Isakson, it's a telling example of how financialization, meaning how corporations increase their influence in our lives, is ever increasing.  So too, is it occurring in the Global South, even with small-scale farmers in rural Guatemala.  In this podcast, Ryan Isakson talks about the risks of financialization and how it is playing out in rural Guatemala.

Ryan Isakson holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  Broadly, he is interested in the political economy of international development, with specific focus upon agriculture, rural livelihoods, and food provisioning in Latin America.  He has conducted research on market development, peasant livelihoods, and the cultivation of agricultural biodiversity; market-led land reform; agri-food certification; payments for environmental services; and the contemporary ‘flex crops’ boom.  His current foci are (1) farmer vulnerability and the financialization of agri-food provisioning, and (2) the impacts of oil palm expansion upon food entitlements and water quality in northern Guatemala.  He teaches three courses for the International Development Studies program: (1) The Political Economy of International Development (IDSB01), (2) The Economics of Small-Enterprise and Microfinance, and (3) The Political Economy of Food.

His latest book with Jennifer Clapp is titled Speculative Harvests: Financialization, Food & Agriculture.

Follow Dr. Bob  on Twitter: @ProfessorHuish

Eduardo Galeano said that Dr. W. George Lovell "did not choose Guatemala for his career, but the land, in a magic way, chose him to tell us about the shining voices that whisper in the darkness."  In this episode, recorded in Antigua de Guatemala, Dr. Bob Huish chats with George Lovell about the 4th edition of his book "A Beauty that Hurts", which tells the story of how processes of 16th century colonialism in Guatemala continue to shape the land and life of the country today.  The book's 4th edition continues to provide readers with rich insight into the painful journey of colonialism in the Americas, and how it manifested into outright genocide in Guatemala. A fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, W. GEORGE LOVELL (PhD, Alberta, 1980) is professor of geography at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and visiting professor in Latin American history at the Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Seville, Spain. Central America, Guatemala in particular, has been the regional focus of much his research, though he has traveled to, and written about, most parts of Latin America. In 1995, the Conference of Latin American Geographers honored him with its Carl O. Sauer Distinguished Scholarship Award and, in 2018, with its Preston E. James Eminent Career Award. He has fifteen book titles to his credit, among them Conquest and Survival in Colonial Guatemala (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, [1985] 2015) and A Beauty That Hurts: Life and Death in Guatemala (Toronto: Between the Lines, [1995] 2019). Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter: @ProfessorHuish

When you think about activism in the Middle East, what are the first things that come to mind? Emma Swan asks us to consider, and then reconsider the very images that just came to your mind.  Having worked in Israel & Palestine, Emma's research looks at how colonialism impacts the male gender identity of the Palestine Resistance movements.  In this episode, GDP is delighted to feature Emma's research to understand how resistance and activism unfold in Middle East and beyond.

Emma Swan is a Ph.D. Candidate at the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa. She is a scholar with the P.E. Trudeau Foundation, and the holder of the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship. Her research looks at masculinities of Palestinian resistance movements, and how orientalism of violence and nonviolence are constructed. She also works as a consultant specializing in gender and development in fragile and conflict affected states.

Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter: @ProfessorHuish

There's no better way to ruin the romance of Valentine's day than with this GDP podcast.  Chocolate, Flowers and Diamonds are all "traditional expressions" of love and affection, and they are all connected to problematic commodity chains.   Dr. Laura Parisi joins us at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia to take us through the reasons why some of the most popular valentine's day gifts can come with a heavy price tag (that goes well beyond 2 months of salary).

Dr. Laura Parisi is Chair and Associate Professor of the Department of Gender Studies with a cross-appointment in the Department of Political Science at the University of Victoria in Victoria, BC Canada. She has published in the areas of gender equality, political economy, human rights, and international development. Her current projects include an article entitled “Canada’s New Feminist International Assistance Policy: Business as Usual?” which is forthcoming in Foreign Policy Analysis, and the co-authored forthcoming book, Gender, Power, and International Development: A Critical Approach (Palgrave).

Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter: @ ProfessorHuish

Season 3 kicks off on Valentines Day 2020 with Dr. Bob Huish offering Dr. John Cameron flowers and chocolates over a chat about the importance of Love in International Development.  Mad Scientist Rick Sanchez called love "a chemical reaction that compels animals to breed", but Dr. Cameron's new line of research shows us that love is far more than that.  It is essential for human capabilities, part of cosmopolitan theory, and there are positive ways of building it, protecting it, and even disingenuous ways of manipulating it.  And it all matters for International Development Studies.

Dr. John Cameron is an Associate Professor of International Development Studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. His research focuses on public policy advocacy by international development and climate change organizations, Indigenous self-governance in Bolivia, the ethics of global citizenship, and representations of global poverty and development by non-profit and charitable organizations.

Follow Dr. Huish on Twitter:  @ProfessorHuish