Queen's University International Development Conference

I must admit that I am one of few academic breeds who get accepted to speak as some pretty prestigious conferences around the world for example, the World Public Health Congress 2009, Istanbul, Turkey; the International Union for Health Promotion and Education 2010 Geneva, Switzerland, and the World Medical Law Congress 2010, Zagreb, Croatia (to name but a very few). But of late, I am rather getting invited - now, I think that's really cool! On January 25th, I received this letter from Queen's University International Development Conference (QIDC) Team:

Dear Ms. Veronica Fynn,

My name is Teddy Lui and I am the Speakers Coordinator for Queen's University's upcoming International Development Conference (IDC) taking place on March 12-13, 2010. This student-run conference will be held in Kingston, Ontario. Hopefully you are familiar with it.

I am contacting you on behalf of our conference team with an invitation requesting your attendance as a guest speaker for our panel entitled Human Trafficking: The Fight Against Modern Day Slavery. Your wealth of experience in this area before law school and also in Geneva would undoubtedly engage bright young students who are passionate about making a difference in the international development community.

I have attached to this email an official invitation to IDC 2010. Please don’t hesitate to reach out and contact me if you have any further questions.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Best Regards,

Teddy Lui
IDC 2010 Speakers Coordinator
Queen’s University, Bachelor of Commerce 2010

Earnestly, I thought it was a spam because I do get those sometimes, inviting me to register for a conference. So, I went to google (as usual) and did my search. QIDC truly existed and Teddy was a human being! Knowing that my calendar gets full really quickly, I immediately accepted and confirm my attendance. On March 12th, all roads led to Queen's University. It was awesome to see participants and speakers from all walks of life with diverse perspectives on international development. Hats-off to the students for putting on, what I called, an atypical conference organized by students - from the hotel accommodation, to the quality of speakers and overall service delivery - I left Queens feeling very lucky to have been invited!

Keynote Address at University of Waterloo - WUSC Symposium

The World University Service of Canada (WUSC) is a significant part of my relatively young history. We go at least 9 years back. As such, I am actively engaged with WUSC - all centering around advocacy for refugee girl child education. On February 3rd, I received an email from WUSC University of Waterloo Chapter asking me to be the keynote speaker for their first symposium. The focus of the symposium was on Millennium Development Goals #2: Universal Primary Education for all Children. Knowing that my calendar fills up really quickly, I almost immediately accepted the offer as the topic is one that captivates my research interest.

After several email exchanges and planning, I finally made my way down to University of Waterloo on March 6, 2010. I arrived a bit later - courtesy - a hired taxi driver who felt the need to do a city contour before delivering me to my destination. As I hurried into the hall, there, stretched across the Great Hall, an estimated 40-50 students patiently peering and waiting for the event to begin. Professor Larry Swatuk opened up the program with a fantastic overview of the MDGs with regards to it's emergence, history, implications, and potential outcomes globally.

I mounted the podium after a somewhat elaborate introduction profiling my numerous achievements. With clear enunciation, articulation, bouts of quizzical pauses and humour, I spoke for 45 minutes on a hybridized topic: Faites Attention sur le deux: MDG and Universal Primary Education by 2015. Though, I was concerned about being too direct with respect to the UN obssession with the "For All Fallacy"; I managed to return positive feedback after my presention. I joined in with participants to discuss international development issues in a global cafe style. Many were able to ask questions and discuss critical perspectives on the pros and cons of international development work.

By 6pm, after settling down into my hotel, a group of 7, including the Symposium Organizers, extended an invitation to dine at the local Mongolian ALL YOU CAN EAT restuarant. You bet, it was sumptuous and filling! A day worth spending...