{"690263":{"#nid":"690263","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Hosts Annual Southeast Exchange of Development Studies Conference","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts hosted the 6th Annual Southeast Exchange of Development Studies (SEEDS) Conference April 30 \u2013 May 1.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe 2026 SEEDS conference brought together social scientists from a variety of fields, including economics, international affairs, public policy, and sociology, who are conducting research in the broad area of development. The conference is a joint initiative between the Ivan Allen College, the School of Economics, and the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe SEEDS Conference is a signature event at Georgia Tech and the longest-running interdisciplinary conference within the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts,\u201d said Shatakshee Dhongde, associate dean for academic affairs in the Ivan Allen College and professor of economics. \u201cThe SEEDS conference began in 2019 with a small gathering of 15 to 20 scholars from institutions across the Atlanta area, brought together to share research in global development. Since then, those initial \u2018seeds\u2019 have taken root and flourished. The conference has grown significantly in both size and reputation.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis year, the SEEDS Conference received more than 70 submissions from scholars and researchers.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAmbassador Isobel Coleman, former deputy administrator of USAID and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, was the conference\u2019s keynote speaker. Prior to USAID, Coleman was the chief operating Officer of GiveDirectly, where she helped scale the organization\u2019s innovative model of providing direct cash transfers to the extreme poor. A former senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, she has written extensively about foreign affairs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHer talk was titled: \u201cGetting the Most Bang for the Buck: Using Evidence to Promote Cost-effectiveness in Global Development.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe conference included a variety of lightning talks and presentations.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETopics included:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EHealth and education in South Asia\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EConflict, displacement, and inequality\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EEducation, reforms, and crime\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EAgriculture, climate, and food security\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EState capacity, bureaucracy, and corruption\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003ELand, institutions, and conflict\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EEnergy, climate policy, and natural hazards\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EPolitic; networks, partisanship, and resource allocation (fiscal and aid)\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003ELabor, markets, and entrepreneurship\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003EGovernment programs and service delivery\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003ESchools, identity, and socialization\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe SEEDS conference is committed to supporting emerging scholars, with about half of the accepted papers presented by graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and assistant professors. The conference also features research and scholarship from a number of distinguished senior scholars \u2014 associate and full professors, as well as policy professionals.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe all have different backgrounds, skills, and experiences, but we\u2019re all united by our core interests in global development and social impact,\u201d said Anjali Thomas, associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and director of the Nunn School Global Development program. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve all chosen to lean into those interests despite all the challenges we are experiencing.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts hosted the 6th Annual Southeast Exchange of Development Studies (SEEDS) Conference April 30 \u2013 May 1.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts hosted the 6th Annual Southeast Exchange of Development Studies (SEEDS) Conference April 30 \u2013 May 1."}],"uid":"36009","created_gmt":"2026-05-13 14:38:07","changed_gmt":"2026-05-13 15:46:09","author":"cwhittle9","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-05-13T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-05-13T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680266":{"id":"680266","type":"image","title":"SEEDS-2026-16x9.jpg","body":null,"created":"1778683092","gmt_created":"2026-05-13 14:38:12","changed":"1778683092","gmt_changed":"2026-05-13 14:38:12","alt":"Scholars standing together on the stairs at the 2026 SEEDS Conference.","file":{"fid":"264512","name":"SEEDS-2026-16x9.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/13\/SEEDS-2026-16x9.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/13\/SEEDS-2026-16x9.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1510864,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/13\/SEEDS-2026-16x9.jpg?itok=dA7TYlCI"}}},"media_ids":["680266"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1285","name":"Sam Nunn School of International Affairs"},{"id":"1282","name":"School of Economics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMegan McRainey\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:megan.mcrainey@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emegan.mcrainey@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}