Scientific part > Keynote Speakers

Jane Buckingham is  Associate Professor of History at University of Canterbury, Christchurch New Zealand.

Her research explores the way leprosy, disability and poverty shape histories of marginal communities in the global south and questions western narratives of disability experience. Primarily a historian of India and the Pacific she researches the construction of alternative non-western insights into the condition of health and disability particularly as experienced in the histories of those disabled by illness and among Indian indentured labourers. 

 Building on earlier research into histories of leprosy in India and the Pacific, Jane’s most recent publication is ‘Disabling labour: race, disability and Indian indentured labour on Fijian sugar plantations, 1879-1920’, Postcolonial Studies, 27, 1, 2024, 83-98. 10.1080/13688790.2024.2320088

Megan Strickfaden is a design anthropologist, caregiver, migrant, educator, researcher and advocate for the well-being of persons with disabilities who has significantly contributed to the goals of inclusive communities in Europe, Asia and Canada. She is a Professor in Material Culture and Disability at the Department of Human Ecology at the University of Alberta with a PhD in Design Studies. She has lived in seven countries, including Belgium, and often feels as if she does not have a home, but find value and place in relationships and meanings created with people.

Along with having created many designed objects for persons with disabilities, Prof Strickfaden also has academic achievements in the fields of Industrial Design, Engineering, Architectural Design and Anthropology. Over the course of her career she has worked and volunteered tirelessly to advocate for people with different abilities through the creation of innovative and meaningful designs; teaching students about disability, material culture and design; and by promoting inclusion through mentorship with her colleagues. Her experiences as a caregiver and intimacy with disability drive her to engage in projects that embody disability differently.

Prof Strickfaden’s research combines elements of Radical Critical Disability Studies with Design Studies and Anthropology in an effort to improving people’s understandings of people’s abilities rather than disabilities. She bridges theory with practice to solve complicated problems through specialized product design, and ethnographic co-created film to explore and provoke change for people who live without sight, move around speedily on wheels, and/or process the world differently from others. Prof Strickfaden has pushed barriers of old thinking models and endlessly promotes the value of an inclusive society.

Through her continued pedagogy, writi, research, and design projects, Prof Megan Strickfaden has significantly impacted the practice of many students and professionals by inspiring them to frame their work through greater inclusion, equity and diversity.

Professional Website: https://meganstrickfaden.com/