Seventh Youth Peace Ambassador (YPA7) Training Workshop in Kathmandu

A lot of thanks to the local organizers, the Youth’s UNESCO Club of Nepal, Rimesh Khanal, with his team. YPA7 went to the Himalayas in from 18-26 January 2014, and saw 20 new action plans developed by the over 50 international participants. There was also an exciting road trip across Nepal to the birth place of Lord Buddha, Lumbini, which saw everyone of all faiths impressed by the place. A lot of thanks to the local organizers, the Youth’s UNESCO Club of Nepal, Rimesh Khanal, with his team.

The action plans are on the YPA7 website with the profiles of participants and the action plans (http://www.eubios.info/youth_peace_ambassadors_international/ypa7). YPA8 will be in Abuha, Nigeria in June, and YPA9 will be at AUSN in Arizona, USA 21-28 August 2014.

YPA7 participants gather in a trench that is cut on a forest path in an attempt to control illegal logging of the forest. In this photo half of the YPA7 participants gather in a trench that is cut on a forest path in an attempt to control illegal logging of the forest. Some of the YPA action plans are environmental protection, others human rights, arts, poetry, music, and so many ways to work for peace in the world. There were some lovely trees, beautiful mountains. I was warned not to walk around in the forest alone since tigers are frequent.



 

Preparing the Application for Degree Courses

There was a lot of work spent on preparing the Applications for licensing AUSN…a process that began in May 2013 and continues [update – the Conditional Degree granting licence was granted on 21 April 2014, see the President’s Newsletter]. The advice given during the process was helpful and we are sure AUSN will meet its promise to make a difference in the world.

Joint Chulalongkorn University & American University of Sovereign Nations Dialogue on Bioethics: How can we Shape an Ethical Future: Technology, East and West, South and North?

There was a one day conference held on 27 January 2014 organized by the Center for Ethics of Science and Technology, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand; in cooperation with AUSN, the International Peace and Development Ethics Centre, and Eubios Ethics Institute (New Zealand; Japan). In additional to expert discussion there were papers: Bioethics for our Future, Prof. Darryl Macer; Bioethics is the love of life’: Life as oneness, Society is wholeness, Prof, Chutatip Umajavani, Thammasat University, Thailand; Buddhism and Reproductive Rights,Prof, Soraj Hongladarom, Director, Center for Ethics of Science and Technology, Chulalongkorn, University, Thailand (AUSN Visiting Professor); Paternalism and Civil Society, Frof, Taro Mochizuki, Graduate School of Letters, Osaka University, Japan; Ethics and Nuclear Energy Technology, Ms, Yamin Thu, Myanmar; Ethics of Research: Reflections on the tensions between research expectation and the realities of conducting ‘ethnographic’ fieldwork within a slum; Ms. Megan Waller, Sheffield University, UK; Food Security and Gender Vulnerabilities of Asian Women: the 2008 Rice Crisis, Ms, Sukrittaya Jukping, College of interdisciplinary studies, Thammasat University, Thailand; Is a Political Consensus on Genetic Science Possible? Prof. Christopher Ryan Maboloc, Ateneo de Davao U., Philippines; Ethics, Technology and Climate Change: Multiple Challenges with Undetermined Future Parameters, Mr, Leonard Le Blanc, Thailand/USA; Missing?; Development of Test Animals for Scientific Purposes in Thailand, Dr. Kriengkrai Satapornvanit, Department of Fishery Biology, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand. There was an interesting expert discussion, whilst political protests continued in Bangkok.

Bangkok, Thailand

Also in January 2014 AUSN Visiting Professor Soraj Hongladarom, and I  met with Professor Somsak Chunharas, the Chair of the Thai National Health Foundation, to discuss AUSN developments in South East Asia.

 
15th Annual American Indian Studies Association Conference “Activism: Continuity, Resistance, Obligation”  

I gave a paper at this conference held at Arizona State University (ASU), Tempe, Arizona, 6-7 February, 2014. There were many interesting papers and speakers at the annual conference that brings together scholars from across the USA.

Evidence, ideology and orthodoxy: science in the university and the public sphere: An ASU-Cambridge conference

I also attended this conference, invited by our collaborators at the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics at ASU. There were a range of specific topics discussed, such as when universities are the sites of debate about socially contested issues, what happens to the norms and standards of scientific and other scholarly evidence? What roles do and should academic experts, and expertise play in such debates?