Center for Global Studies: Events

The Center for Global Studies (CGS) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is pleased to host a two-day Global Policy Forum. This inaugural event brings together the University community to discuss pressing issues of global governance and policy. At this pivotal moment, the CGS will convene voices from across campus to analyze global challenges, practice policy engagement, and generate applied outputs that contribute to scholarly and public debates. The forum will offer a space for undergraduate and graduate students to gather, share ideas, and meet colleagues in a warm, low-stakes, and supportive setting. 

Day 1—April 14, 2026

Opening Remarks: 10:00 AM

Welcome and Registration: 9:45 AM

Keynote Speech: 10:10 AM

• Professor Jerry Davila (Director of Illinois Global Institute)

Developing Policy Briefs for Impact: 10:45 AM -12:15 PM

• Workshop with Tracy Jooste (Associate Director of the Governance Action Hub at R4D)

Lunch Discussion: 12:15-1:15 PM

• With Dr. Kate Moore and Chris McKenzie from the Global Career Center

Global and Regional Governance in a Multi-Centric World: 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

• Presentation by Gabriel Rached (Fluminense Federal University in Brazil)

What Life is Like as a Scientist in Congress: 2:45-3:45 PM

• Presentation by Congressman Bill Foster (11^th District of Illinois)

Poster Session, Music

Day 2—April 15, 2026

Welcome and Registration: 9:45 AM

Panel 1 – Borders, State Violence, and Legitimacy: 10:00-11:00 AM

• "One Day, I Will Step Beyond these Borders:" Ending the Rohingya Genocide
  1. Will Pujol, Department of Urban and Regional Planning
• The Logic of Borderland Violence: Colonial Borders, Postcolonial Governance, and the Transnational Dynamics of Terrorism
  1. Arshiya Shah, Department of Political Science
• Participatory Budgeting and Perceptions of State Legitimacy: Evidence from Uzbekistan
  1. Ikromjon Tuhtasunov, Department of Political Science

Concurrent Flashtalks – Critical Infrastructures: AI, Semiconductors, and Solar Energy: 11:10 AM - 12:00 PM

• Securing the Weights: Constitutional Boundaries for Frontier AI Safeguards
  1. Julia Trevino, School of Information Sciences
  2. Anita Nikolich, School of Information Sciences
• The Metric Trap: Why U.S. Semiconductor Export Controls Produce Strategic “False Positives”
  1. Lydia Xu, Department of Political Science
• Exit from the Grid: Remittances, Solar Adoption, and Political Accountability in Pakistan
  1. Shuyan (Michael) Huang, Department of Political Science

Concurrent Flashtalks - Health and Safety: Digital Reproductive Data and Intimate Partner Violence: 11:10 AM - 12:00 PM

• Safeguarding Reproductive Data in the Age of Digital Health
  1. Hadyn Nuttall, Global Studies
• How Federal Immigration Policy Prevents Justice for Intimate Partner Violence
  1. Manasi Darbha, Department of Economics

Lunch: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

Panel 2 – Gaining Global Literacy: 1:10-2:00 PM

• Global Literacy Crisis: Responding to Technological Overexposure and Exclusion
  1. Jieun Kim, Center for Global Studies
• Back to Basics: Literacy Acquisition, the Impact of Low Literacy Skills, and Policy Solutions
  1. Luis D. Gaytán-Soto, M.A., Department of Spanish and Portuguese: Hispanic Linguistics
  2. Araceli Pantoja, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Panel 3 – Governing Transformative Digital Power: 2:10 PM - 3:00 PM

• Brazil’s Favela Multiplicadoras: A Liberatory Approach for Digital Equity, Justice and Democracy
  1. Armando Jose Torres, College of Education: Education Policy, Organization and Leadership
• Algorithmic Power and the Future of International Human Rights Governance
  1. Mohlaroyim Nazarova, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
  2. Nodirbek Bobojonov

Bridging Science and Governance: Community Perspectives from the Caribbean

• CSGGE Panel with Ana Cristina de la Parra Guerra, Ana Carolina Torregroza Espinosa, and Dariana Cecilia Zapata Lozada