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Leverhulme Trust funds 'Population Footprints' symposium

11 December 2009

Links:

Grand Challenge of Global Health populationfootprints.org/" target="_self">Population Footprints
  • UCL IGH
  • The Leverhulme Trust

    • The Leverhulme Trust has awarded UCL almost £250,000 to run a symposium on 'Population Footprints: Challenging debates on population, gender and development', scheduled for April 2011.

    The symposium will be organised by the UCL Institute for Global Health (IGH), which coordinates the UCL Grand Challenge of Global Health and is co-directed by Professor Anthony Costello (UCL Centre for International Health & Development) and Professor Anne Johnson (UCL Population Health). The UCL IGH already manages six symposia each year on a wide range of global-health topics; the series included 'Straight Talking: Population growth and family planning' in March 2009.

    'Population Footprints' will address a wide range of concerns about life on earth in the second decade of the 21st century, both challenging and progressing debates on population, gender and development, all of which have an interlinked impact on global health.

    Professor Costello said: "We will bring together scholars, policymakers and advocates who may not usually have the opportunity to interact, from fields such as global health, gender studies, population research and, importantly, the environment. This symposium will enable us to examine problems from new angles, finding different perspectives and novel understandings of the challenges faced in global health."

    The event will be only the third Leverhulme Trust Symposium; UCL won the funding in competition against a field of 64 applicants. UCL Provost and President Professor Malcolm Grant commented: "I am most grateful for the Leverhulme Trust's decision. As London's global university, UCL will bring great breadth and critical mass of expertise to bear on these immensely important issues, and will engage policymakers and practitioners around the world. This symposium will provide the opportunity to have a significant influence on the living conditions of people around the globe."

    A key element in UCL's Research Strategy is the Grand Challenges; those areas in which we are facilitating cross-disciplinary interaction - within and beyond UCL - and applying our collective strengths, using insights and creativity to overcome problems of global significance. The Grand Challenge of Global Health is coordinated by the UCL IGH. UCL's intellectual resources provide both our opportunity and our obligation to contribute to the achievement of equity in global health.