Unsettling Knowledge Inequities

In our fifth episode, of “From Campus to Career: Development Practitioners in Action,” we are in conversation with Rayna Sutherland.

Rayna Sutherland (she/her) is a current BCL/JD Candidate at the McGill Faculty of Law. She recently spent four years in Canadian Parliament and the federal government. She began as a Parliamentary Intern working with progressive Members of Parliament across party lines and ended as Chief of Staff to the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs. Prior to politics, she worked with grassroots social justice organizations including MVIWATA Manyara in Tanzania, Natural Justice in South Africa and Resource Africa’s global office. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and is an alumna of the International Development Studies (IDS) Co-op Program at the Scarborough Campus. Across law, politics, government and social justice work, the critical thinking skills and anti-oppressive lens of the IDS Program continue to serve her today.

Join us to learn about Rayna’s journey, from her international development work in grassroots social justice organizations to her career in Canadian politics, and the lessons she’s learned along the way. 

The Knowledge Equity Lab's Season 4, podcast series, "From Campus to Career" features conversations with some of the stellar alumni from University of Toronto’s International Development Studies Co-op program, uncovering the stories behind their careers in global development. From the classroom to the field, these conversations trace the choices, pivots, and passions that shaped their journeys and continue to inspire new ways of thinking about global and local development.

In our fourth episode, of “From Campus to Career: Development Practitioners in Action,” we are in conversation with Chris Eaton.  

Chris graduated as part of the inaugural cohort of UTSC’s Co-op Program in International Development. His co-op placement was with the Lesotho Chamber of Commerce, where he focused on small business development. With over thirty-five years of experience, he has lived and worked in India, Uganda and Afghanistan, and supported programming throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia.  He has held a variety of roles in the international development sector including as CEO of Aga Khan Foundation Afghanistan, from 2005 to 2009, and Executive Director of World University Service of Canada (WUSC), from 2009 to 2023. Chris is currently the Chief Operating Officer at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto.

Join us to learn about Chris Eaton’s journey, from his beginnings in the inaugural IDS co-op cohort to global leadership, and the many lessons that have shaped his career.

The Knowledge Equity Lab's Season 4, podcast series, "From Campus to Career" features conversations with some of the stellar alumni from University of Toronto’s International Development Studies Co-op program, uncovering the stories behind their careers in global development. From the classroom to the field, these conversations trace the choices, pivots, and passions that shaped their journeys and continue to inspire new ways of thinking about global and local development.

In our third episode, of “From Campus to Career: Development Practitioners in Action,” we are in conversation with Sangita Patel. 

Sangita is an experienced international development professional with a career spanning over 20 years, currently serving as the Vice President of Program Management and Compliance and Plan International Canada. Throughout her career, Sangita focused on supporting women's economic prosperity and is a dedicated champion for children’s rights. She has previously worked in both the public and private sectors, and has lived and worked in Asia and West Africa.

Sangita joined Plan International Canada in 2005 and has since worked closely with offices across the Plan Federation to support high-quality programming and stewardship of donor funding. She has played a leadership role in education programming that has facilitated and championed for out-of-school children to enter the formal school system. Sangita studied international development at the undergraduate and master's degree level at the University of Toronto and is committed to delivering results that make a positive impact on people's lives.

Join us to learn more about Sangita’s journey, from her first co-op experience to collaborating on transformative programs worldwide, and hear the lessons she’s learned along the way.

The Knowledge Equity Lab's Season 4, podcast series, "From Campus to Career" features conversations with some of the stellar alumni from University of Toronto’s International Development Studies Co-op program, uncovering the stories behind their careers in global development. From the classroom to the field, these conversations trace the choices, pivots, and passions that shaped their journeys and continue to inspire new ways of thinking about global and local development.

In our second episode, of “From Campus to Career: Development Practitioners in Action,” we are in conversation with Isabelle Kim. 

Isabelle is a Senior Policy Advisor of Grants & Contributions Policy and Training at Global Affairs Canada. Over her career, she has worked in Canada, China, and Peru in various civil society organizations, hospitals and universities. 

Since joining Global Affairs Canada’s strategic policy branch in 2021, she has worked on issues including climate finance, disability-inclusive development and locally led development and Indigenous approaches to development. She was also the focal point for strategic foresight on development matters and led the 2023 AI/Development Futures initiative. She now leads on training initiatives related to the financial policies and management of grants and contributions at GAC. 

Along with being an IDS co-op alumni, she holds an MA and PhD from the University of Toronto Ontario Studies in Education. Join us as we delve into Isabelle’s path through global policy and community practice, the choices that shaped her journey, the insights she’s gathered along the way, and the principles that continue to guide her work.

The Knowledge Equity Lab's Season 4, podcast series, "From Campus to Career" features conversations with some of the stellar alumni from University of Toronto’s International Development Studies Co-op program, uncovering the stories behind their careers in global development. From the classroom to the field, these conversations trace the choices, pivots, and passions that shaped their journeys and continue to inspire new ways of thinking about global and local development.

In our second episode of the new season From Campus to Career: Development Practitioners in Action, we sit down with Isabelle Kim. Isabelle is a Senior Policy Advisor for Grants and Contributions Policy and Training at Global Affairs Canada. Her career spans work in Canada, China, and Peru across civil society organizations, hospitals, and universities.

Since joining Global Affairs Canada’s Strategic Policy Branch in 2021, she has contributed to projects including climate finance, disability-inclusive development, locally led development, and Indigenous approaches to development. She also served as the focal point for strategic foresight on development matters and led the 2023 AI/Development Futures initiative. She now leads training initiatives related to financial policies and the management of grants and contributions at GAC.

An IDS co-op alumna, Isabelle holds an MA and PhD from the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Join us as we delve into Isabelle’s path through global policy and community practice, the choices that shaped her journey, the insights she’s gathered along the way, and the principles that continue to guide her work.

The Knowledge Equity Lab's Season 4, podcast series, "From Campus to Career" features conversations with some of the stellar alumni from University of Toronto’s International Development Studies Co-op program, uncovering the stories behind their careers in global development. From the classroom to the field, these conversations trace the choices, pivots, and passions that shaped their journeys and continue to inspire new ways of thinking about global and local development.

In our first episode, of our new season "From Campus to Career: Development Practitioners in Action," we are in conversation with Aly-Khan Rajani, the current Director for Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy Regional Coordination and Policy and Planning. Aly-Khan's career is vast, beginning with his International Development Studies co-op with CARE in Zambia to working in humanitarian aid, communications, government and policy. He's worked globally in Afghanistan, Cairo, Beirut, Mumbai, New Delhi and was recently Canada's Ambassador to the Republic of South Sudan. Join us to learn more about the specifics of Aly-Khan's career trajectory, the choices he made along the way, the many learnings that emerged for him, and what continues to fuels his purpose.

The Knowledge Equity Lab's Season 4, podcast series, "From Campus to Career" features conversations with some of the stellar alumni from University of Toronto’s International Development Studies Co-op program, uncovering the stories behind their careers in global development. From the classroom to the field, these conversations trace the choices, pivots, and passions that shaped their journeys and continue to inspire new ways of thinking about global and local development.

In the final episode of our third season, we are joined by Chris Gilliard, a professor and scholar  who is highly regarded for his critiques of surveillance technology, privacy, and the invisible but problematic ways that digital technologies intersect with race, social class and marginalized communities.  

In particular, Chris’ work highlights the discriminatory practices that algorithmic decision-making enables - especially as these apply  in the higher education context. We discuss the various problems that surveillance technology and AI pose for higher education and the future of research, scholarship and academic publishing.

One of the key themes that intersects across all of our episodes this season is the surveillance and highly extractive and harmful economic practices of big corporations in the academic publishing sector, whose artificial intelligence tools are creating new forms of control and governance over our daily and professional activities.

In this episode, we are joined by Christine Cooper, Yves Gendron, and Jane Andrew - co-editors of the Critical Perspectives on Accounting journal and co-authors of the article: “The perils of artificial intelligence in academic publishing.”

We reflect on how automated decision making algorithms are deployed in academic publishing, particularly for peer review and related editorial decision making - and explore the implications of these technologies on research practices, scholarly expertise and autonomy, and the struggle for control over the future of “sustainability, creativity, and critical values of the academic world.”

Over the past 20 years, the academic publishing market has undergone changes that have led us to a juncture where power is concentrated in the hands of a handful of big companies.

To help us understand how this came to be and its implications, we are joined today by Claudio Aspesi, a leading market analyst for the academic publishing market. Claudio is a consultant at SPARC, and has authored several reports about the market power and consolidation of the largest commercial players in this space.

Resources:

SPARC Landscape Analysis: The Changing Academic Publishing Industry : Implications for Academic Institutions
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1100&context=scholcom 

Over the last years, as the process of conducting research and scholarship has moved more and more online,  it has become clear that user surveillance and data extraction has crept into academic infrastructure in multiple ways. 

For those committed to preserving academic freedom and knowledge equity, it's important to interrogate the practices and structures of the companies that are collecting and selling this data, and the impacts of this business model on academic infrastructure - and particularly on already marginalized and underfunded scholars and students. 

To help us understand this landscape and its implications, today we are in conversation with Sarah Lamdan, author of the forthcoming book  Data Cartels: The Companies That Control and Monopolize Our Information.