Students from the University of Birmingham in the UK will meet with poverty researchers, activists, government officials and fellow students at the University of Delhi next week as part of the first Academics Stand Against Poverty Students overseas delegation.
Students from the University of Birmingham in the UK will meet with poverty researchers, activists, government officials and fellow students at the University of Delhi next week as part of the first Academics Stand Against Poverty Students overseas delegation.
Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP) is an international network helping scholars, teachers and students enhance their impact on global poverty. It does so by promoting collaboration amongst poverty-focused academics, by helping them reach out to broader audiences on issues of poverty, and by helping them turn their expertise into impact through specific intervention projects.
The Birmingham group will be hosted on the 16-20 July trip by Ashok Acharya, Chair of ASAP India and Associate Professor of Political Science at Delhi. Postgraduate students Suparna Priyadarshini and Santosh Kumar at Delhi are coordinating the delegation’s activities. The principal focus of the visit will be interaction with Delhi University students, scores of whom participated in the ASAP India launch in Autumn 2011, toward forging ongoing student links globally.
ASAP Students-Birmingham Chair Joshua Lindsey-Turner, a final-year student in Political Science, will lead the five-student delegation, which is fully funded by Alumni donations from the University of Birmingham’s Circles of Influence programme. The remaining four delegates have been chosen from among more than 40 student applicants.
Joshua Lindsey-Turner, said: “This is an exceptional opportunity for students from the University of Birmingham to get involved in what is fast becoming one of the most exciting collaborative efforts in the world. Our delegates will be building new links with our Indian colleagues whilst contributing to our poverty eradication efforts first hand. The trip is the first of its kind for ASAP Students and it will be an opportunity to share the skills and experiences I gained, when establishing the Birmingham group, with Delhi students."
Dr Luis Cabrera, Reader in Political Theory at the University of Birmingham, added: “This is a terrific opportunity for the students at both Birmingham and Delhi. We very much look forward to forming strong links between the two ASAP groups, and we’re grateful to the Alumni funders for making the trip possible.”
The University of Birmingham has served as the pilot for the development of ASAP efforts designed and headed by students. The group of about 30 students has developed several initiatives for the ASAP web site, including ‘Inside the Internships’, which offers information and feedback to prospective interns from those who have done placements with a particular NGO, government agency, etc. They have also developed an ASAP Students online forum, organised an aid-effectiveness workshop in Birmingham in May 2012, and coordinated with students at other universities on launching additional ASAP Students chapters.
For further information about Academics Stand Against Poverty, please visit: http://academicsstand.org/
For further information about the University of Birmingham, please visit: www.birmingham.ac.uk
For media enquiries, please contact: Catherine Byerley, International Press and PR Officer, University of Birmingham, tel +44 (0) 121 414 8254 or email c.j.byerley@bham.ac.uk
