Dr Joan Dassin will deliver the fifth talk in the ACU Perspectives speaker series on Wednesday 18 June 2014, 5.30 pm (talk to commence at 6.00 pm), at Senate House (room 349, third floor), London, WC1E 7HU. The event will be co-hosted by the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. 

Dr Dassin is a visiting researcher at the Centre for Latin American Studies and St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. She is also the founding Executive Director of the Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program. Drawing from years of experience of providing higher education opportunities for social justice leaders in developing countries, her talk entitled ‘Empowering education: The impact of higher education opportunity on development leadership and practice’ will provide an analysis of how former Fellows are assuming the role of 'social change agents' in their communities. It will also explore the implications of her research in this area for the evaluation of scholarship programmes – including ways to demonstrate not only the direct impact of individual study opportunities on scholarship recipients, but also their indirect effects on broader processes of development and social change.

The talk will be followed by a Q&A session and the evening will conclude with a drinks reception.

Under the broad theme of 'Change and opportunity in higher education', the ACU Perspectives speaker series enables outstanding individuals from the higher education sector to deliver personal insights from their own region, institution or discipline infused with their own ideas and experiences. Talks are delivered to an audience of HE stakeholders and are also distributed online.

Dr Dassin’s talk follows previous talks by Professors Budd Hall, Graeme Hugo, Roger Makanjuola, and our inaugural ACU Perspectives speaker, Professor Loyiso Nongxa.

Although this forthcoming event is free, attendees are required to register.

The event's hashtag will be #ACUperspectives