Thank you for your interest in the Imagining Futures Conference 2025 being hosted by Habib University. This conference aims to explore localized and action-oriented solutions to systemic social equity issues in South Asia. We welcome submissions that contribute to meaningful dialogue and practical change.
Thematic Panels: These sessions will feature presentations from researchers, grounded in completed or ongoing research projects on related themes. The focus will be on key findings, methodology, and implications of the research. Pre-assigned discussants will lead the discussion and provide feedback, before opening up the floor to the audience.
Poster Presentations: The poster sessions provide a platform for presenters to share ongoing or completed research through visual displays and brief oral explanations. Open to students, academics, and practitioners alike, these sessions foster one-on-one dialogue, encouraging peer feedback, mentoring, and cross-sectoral exchange. By highlighting diverse forms of research and inquiry, the format supports collaborative learning, promotes interdisciplinary engagement, and reinforces the value of research in shaping future policy, practice, and knowledge production.
Intervention Showcase: This showcase will feature field-based projects led by researchers, development agencies, or government bodies. The goal is to raise awareness about the practical work being done in the field, outline challenges, brainstorm next steps, and to explore collaborations for resource sharing and empirical research on the projects.
Media Showcase: This showcase will feature a curated selection of urgent issues grounded in ethical research-based stories in the form of documentaries, photo essays, and longform journalism. These may be presented as a panel or a visual showcase allowing for a deeper conversation, depending on the nature of the submission itself.
Workshops: A variety of workshops will be offered at the conference to enable capacity building and promote continued learning for different audiences: students, academics, and practitioners. The topics will include specific research methods as well as broader research questions or policy considerations for social equity in South Asia.
Policy Hackathon: A simulation-based competition will be hosted for students to raise awareness and promote research and critical thinking. Students from high schools and undergraduate programs will compete in teams to design policy solutions for urgent issues faced today on one of the three themes: climate change, education, and health.
Roundtables: These small, interactive sessions bring together diverse stakeholders to explore key social equity challenges. Anchored in lived experience and sectoral expertise, roundtables aim to foster meaningful dialogue, align efforts, and identify practical actions for research, policy, or community engagement.
Plenary Sessions: These sessions are designed to open each day and bring together experts from academia, policy, and practice to discuss key social equity challenges in South Asia. These conversations connect research with lived realities, highlight gaps, and propose actionable ways forward.
