All set for Path2Dev 2024! Lanyards lined up, ready for participants to collect
A full house! Day 1 of Path2Dev kicked-off with Justice Mansoor Ali Shah’s compelling address on the importance of climate justice
“Climate change is here for real, and it is the greatest existential challenge for our generation,” says Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah (Supreme Court of Pakistan) while speaking at a session on Climate Justice
Saad Gulzar (Princeton) shares his insights on how crop burning contributes to hazardous air pollution in South Asia. His research, leveraging satellite data, emphasises the urgent need for government action to mitigate its severe health impacts
A peek inside the most coveted conference accessory – the Path2Dev tote bag!
Christina Wieser (World Bank) introduces the panel on 'Poverty, Equity and Resilience Assessment'
One of the most important parts of any conference - the snack station!
Behind the scenes—organisers double-checking the day’s agenda to ensure everything runs seamlessly!
“This is my third time at Path2Dev! It's a really unique space where you have academics talking to practitioners in the same room. If you're interested in development questions in Pakistan, and particularly if that's something that you feel pessimism about, then I think you should be coming to this conference.” – Sarah Khan (American University)
"Its pretty rare to see a conference where you mix policymakers, people who are in office, along with the natural experimentation approaches. I hope people are really inspired by all of the exciting work that is being done in Pakistan relative to its size, it’s a very under explored context." Cory Smith (University of Maryland)
“In today’s session for example, we had a behavioural economist, we had a political scientist, someone from a science background, and a sociologist. When you have discussions from different disciplines giving comments to each other, you get more nuanced and richer insights.” – Farah Said (LUMS) (centre)
Bilal Malik (LUMS) presents his co-authored paper on ‘Relationship between Educational Attainment & Social Integration among Madrasa Graduates’
Dr. Ali Cheema, Vice Chancellor, LUMS, speaks at the panel session on ‘Securing Land Rights’
Participants also had the chance to take in the Sustaining Power (SuPWR) Exhibition on the sidelines of the conference
Maryam Mustafa (LUMS) explored how technology, particularly speech-based AI, can bridge gaps in Pakistan’s healthcare system. She stressed the importance of designing human-centred solutions that are accessible, inclusive, and responsive to local challenges
Behind the scenes – capturing snippets from the session for real-time coverage on social media
“I'm really impressed with the quality of presentations. It's been a pleasure to interact with folks who have done considerable work in the field. A takeaway for me as a researcher is to really think about communicating my research. How do you make sure that you are able to forge that discussion with folks who are not from your field?” – Saba Aslam (SuPWR) (left)
Smiles all around—ending Day 2 with laughter, delicious food, and meaningful connections at the conference dinner
The Aurat March 2024 poster displayed as part of the SuPWR exhibition
Shabana Haider (ThinkWell) highlighted Pakistan’s greatest public health challenge: the absence of a systems-driven approach. She emphasised the need for improvements in data quality, health financing, and governance to address these issues effectively
Mazhar Waseem (University of Manchester) talked about Pakistan’s ‘filing obsession,’ where costly measures focus on increasing tax filers but fail to boost revenue. He called for targeted reforms and systemic fixes to address inefficiencies in the tax system
“The health governance panel really stood out to me. I loved the fact that it was just women on the stage. We've had some fantastic panel discussions but also technical papers. It is an academic conference, but we want to make sure that there are panels in which academics are coming together with practitioners and policymakers; we are always geared towards that combination.” – Hadia Majid (LUMS) (left)
“I specifically came to attend the panel on gender and managed to attend other sessions as well. The sheer quality of the questions and the diversity of the audience has really stuck with me. You get to hear both sides of the story.” – Mishal Niaz (BSc ’17) (left)
It’s a wrap! Here’s to the amazing team behind the 2024 conference. See you next year!
