Burton Blatt Institute co-hosts seminar on ‘International Disability Research and Knowledge Exchange’

The Global Research Network on Disability (GRND), a project of the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) at Syracuse University, will host a seminar on “International Disability Research and Knowledge Exchange: Collaborative Research Between Governments and Academia to Promote Disability in Development.”

This seminar, to be held Sept. 20 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, will take place prior to the third Global Partnership for Disability and Development (GPDD) forum and membership meeting. The forum and membership meeting is jointly occurring with the second “Conference on Monitoring and Dissemination of the Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities” (CRPD) and the 51st Ordinary Meeting of the Disability Federal Council of Argentina.

GRND is a new initiative, created by BBI and the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at the NUI Galway School of Law, to promote collaborative research and knowledge sharing between disability researchers from around the world.

“GRND is envisioned as a system of research networks to support knowledge creation, sharing and translation and use among researchers, policy makers, practitioners and people with disabilities and their families worldwide to advance valued inclusive outcomes in terms of social, economic and civic participation,” says Deepti Samant, BBI senior research associate. GRND, currently in its initial stages of structural development, is led by an executive committee of about 20 internationally acclaimed academics and scholars leading disability research from around the world.

The Sept. 20 seminar is aimed at academics and government personnel in Argentina. The National Advisory Commission for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities of the Republic of Argentina (CO.NA.DIS), which invited BBI, is eager to advance the inclusion of disability in mainstream academic curricula and research, and is interested in learning about best practices in collaboration between governments and academia to promote a sustainable and rigorous agenda for disability research in the country.

The seminar will also focus on the need for collaboration and active knowledge exchange across different regions of the world, especially looking at the lessons learned from initiatives in developing countries around the implementation of the CRPD and how to effectively exchange best practices between researchers and practitioners in developing and developed countries.

Led by Samant, the panel will include representatives of the GRND executive committee: Francisco Bariffi, member of the UN CRPD Experts Commission of the Royal “Patronato” on Disability in Spain, Argentina; Augustina Palacios, general director of the Office on Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Discrimination, Municipality of Mar del Plata, Argentina; and Kamal Lamichhane, Graduate School of Economics, the University of Tokyo, Japan. Additionally, the panel will host influential speakers such as Liliana Pantano from the Investigadora CONICET/UCA as well as from CO.NA.DIS.

After the seminar, Samant will also represent BBI at the GPDD membership meeting. During this meeting, Samant will present and showcase the GRND to the full GPDD membership and meeting participants, and she will discuss opportunities to represent academics and researchers within the GPDD membership.

To learn more about the GRND, contact Samant at ddsamant@law.syr.edu.