The 2015 HDCA Annual Conference was set at Georgetown University, in Washington D.C., between September 10th and 13th. The theme of the conference was “capabilities on the move: mobility and aspirations”. It focus was to discuss about results of researchs, experiences and theoretical issues about human development and the Capabilities Approach, in a more broad way. It brought together researchers of several areas such as economics, demography, sociology, archaeology and much more to debate these subjects. Researchers from well known organizations such as World Bank, OPHI and PNUD were also present to share what they have been doing in policy making with regard to this framework.
I presented my paper “Vulnerability to poverty in Brazilian municipalities in 2000 and 2010: a multidimensional approach”. At my presentation, I had the opportunity to recognize the support of the RSA with the Travel Grant that made possible my presence at the conference. After the presentation, I got in touch with people that are working with urban poverty and are dealing with the same type of issues that I have been trough my Masters and trough the elaboration of the paper. These people gave me great feedbacks and advices that might help me in the future.
There were a big variety of workshops, debates, talks and lectures along the four days of the conference. I have attended the workshops “Capability Measurement: an overview” and “Exploring education with the Capability Approach” that put me in touch with what has been done in the frontier of this field, which I have personal and academic interest. People that are important references in the feald of human development and capability approach such as Armatya Sen, Martha Nussbaum, Sabina Alkire, James Foster, James Heckman, Martin Ravallion, researches from the World Bank and OPHI and the former president of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo also participated to the conference and shared their knowledge with lectures, talks and debates.
The 2015 HDCA Annual Conference gave me a great opportunity to get in touch with people from different countries and culture and exchenge experiences with them, not only academic but also personal. I could also get know authors that are references in my research and their oppinion about different subjects they do not work with and see what they are working at the moment. This intense immersion in a such broad knowledge will definetly boost my growth and it would not be possible without the support of the Regional Studies Association.