PSA Conference
Travel Report
Randika Anjalie
Jayasinghe (20828908)
School of Environmental
Systems Engineering
The
PSA conference travel award was used to attend the ninth annual Engineering,
Social Justice, and Peace Conference, held at the Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute in Troy, New York, from the 14th to 16th August
2013.
Attending
this conference provided a professionally rewarding experience. It gave me an
opportunity to network with researchers from other universities who are working
in diverse research areas within the engineering and social justice space. My
paper titled “The assumptions, diverse realities and promises: Understanding
the power relations in waste management in Sri Lanka” received valuable
feedback and comments from the participants. In addition, I got the opportunity
to listen to other presentations and to converse with researchers. Most
importantly, presenters can also publish their conference papers in the Journal
of Engineering, Social Justice, and Peace.
My research is focused on developing
poverty reducing solutions for marginalised people working in waste management
in Sri Lanka. Hence, this conference was a good learning experience and improved
my understanding of how I can use social justice dialogues in the Sri Lankan
context. I was able to
develop networks with many of the international experts and scholars in the
social justice field. There was opportunity to contribute to discussions and brainstorm ideas on new topics such as social justice,
ethics, diversity, and sustainability, which added great value to my research
experience.
The conference included presentations by
international experts in the field, workshops, panel discussions, and a theatre
performance providing an opportunity to engage in actual activities with other
participants and sharing their input. The discussions enabled to share the social
justice related research carried out at UWA and to learn new socially just community
development concepts used in other parts of the world. The knowledge obtained
through the conference and group-led discussions around concepts of engineering
and development will add to conversations with UWA engineering students.
I thank the PSA for awarding this travel grant
to cover part of my travel expenses to attend this important conference. I will
acknowledge this contribution in my journal publication.
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