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Meet the Keynote Speakers

Winnie-Byanyima PIC

Hon. Winnie Byanyima

Undersecretary UN/ Executive Director, UNAIDS

Hon. Winnie Byanyima

Winnie Byanyima is the Executive Director of UNAIDS and an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. A passionate and longstanding champion for social justice and a global leader on inequality, Ms Byanyima leads the United Nations’ efforts to end the AIDS pandemic by 2030. Ms Byanyima believes that health care is a human right, and she is the co-founder and co-chair of the People’s Medicines Alliance, advocating for equitable access to medical technologies that help to prevent and respond to current and future pandemics.

Before joining UNAIDS, Ms Byanyima served as the Executive Director of Oxfam International. Previously, Ms Byanyima was elected for three terms in the parliament of her country, Uganda, where she led the first parliamentary women’s caucus, championing ground-breaking gender equality provisions in the county’s 1995 post-conflict constitution.

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Hilary-Weaver PIC

Hilary Weaver

Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Work, University at Buffalo (State University of New York), USA

Hilary Weaver

Hilary N. Weaver, DSW (Lakota) is President of the Indigenous and Tribal Social Work Educators’ Association and Global Indigenous Commissioner for IFSW. She was inducted as a Social Work Pioneer (2020), named Public Health Social Worker of the Year (2020) and received the American Indian Elder Award (2017). Dr. Weaver has presented her work regionally, nationally, and internationally including at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Her numerous publications include Trauma and Resilience in the Lives of Contemporary Native Americans: Reclaiming our Balance, Restoring our Wellbeing and the Routledge International Handbook of Indigenous Resilience.

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Maria Aranda PIC

María Aranda

University of Southern California, USA

María Aranda

María P. Aranda is a clinical social worker, researcher, and professor at the University of Southern California (USC) Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. She is executive director of the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging and a national leader in aging, dementia care, and health equity research. Aranda’s work bridges social work, gerontology, and public health to improve care for older adults and family caregivers.

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Jose Manuel Ramirez PIC

José Manuel Ramírez Navarro

PhD in Social Work. Professor at the University of Málaga. President of the Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services of Spain

José Manuel Ramírez Navarro

PhD in Social Work. Full Professor at the University of Málaga.

President of the Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services of Spain

42 years as a career social worker in the Spanish Public Administrations.

President of the Spanish State Observatory on Dependency.

Member of the Advisory Council on Health and Social Services of the Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare of the Government of Spain.

Co-director of the Chair of Social Services and Dependency at the National University of Distance Education (UNED).

Director of the Research and Innovation Plan in Social Services of Andalusia.

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Photo-Sabelo J Ndlovu-Gatsheni

Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni

Full Professor of History and Canada Research Chair ((CRC)

Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni

I am Full Professor of History and Canada Research Chair ((CRC) Tier 1in Pluralistic Societies: Epistemic Pluralism and Ecologies of Knowledges at the University of Calgary. My work focuses on epistemic freedom, decolonial thought, African Studies, African history, and building pluriversal societies – spaces that recognize, legitimize, and enable the interaction of multiple ways of knowing and being in the world. This approach is closely linked to ecologies of knowledges through the decolonization of knowledge systems and the advancement of epistemologies of the Global South.

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George Ochieng Odalo

Kenyan social worker, child-rights advocate, and the Founder and Executive Director of the Slum Child Foundation, former street connected child

George Ochieng Odala

George Ochieng Odalo is the Founder and Executive Director of Slum Child Foundation, an organization dedicated to empowering vulnerable children and youth in informal settlements. He is a Church Army Captain and Chaplain with extensive experience in community development, child protection, and youth leadership. George actively advocates for policy and grassroots initiatives that promote dignity, opportunity, and resilience among marginalized communities, a former street boy and now a global advocate.

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swsdspeaker

Margarita Rozas Pagaza

Katherine Kendal Lecture 

Margarita Rozas

LICENCIADA en Trabajo Social de la Universidad Católica  Santa Maria del Perú-1976

De Post-Grado:

MAGISTER   en Trabajo Social, de la primera Maestría Latinoamericana en Trabajo Social de la  Universidad, Nacional Autónoma de Honduras,  Noviembre 1988

DOCTORA   en  “Servicio Social, Políticas Sociales y Movimientos Sociales”  de  la  Pontificia Universidad Católica de San Pablo, Brasil,  .  2001 

POSDOCTORA: Pontificia Universidad Católica de San Pablo, Brasil, 2008

PREMIOS Y DISTINCIONES

Desde 1995, docente investigadora de la Facultad de Trabajo Social de la Universidad  Nacional de La Plata Argentina. Actualmente Coordinadora del posdocotrado de la misma universidad

  1. Profesora Honoris Causa por la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Argentina
  2. Premio Katherin Kendal. Asociación Internacional de Escuelas de Trabajo Social

2018 Profesora Emérita, Facultad de Trabajo Social, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facutad de Ciencias Sociales (Argentina)

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Foto Carmita Alvarez ALAEITS

Carmitta Leonor Alvare Santana

EYH  lecture. President: Latin American Association of Education and Research in Social Work -Ecuador

Dr. Carmita Leonor Álvarez Santana

Dr. Carmita Leonor Álvarez Santana is an Ecuadorian academic, researcher and public servant, with a solid background in higher education, university management and social work. She has a Ph.D. in Local Development and Social Economy, and also has training in Educational Management, Curriculum Design, Local Development with a mention in SME Management and Economics, Economics and Territorial Development, as well as in Social Work. For 27 years he has taught at the Eloy Alfaro Lay University of Manabí, consolidating extensive academic experience and a firm commitment to professional training in the social field. She is director of the Regional Scientific Journal of Social Work and Social Sciences "Tejedora"; founding president of the National Association of Academic Units of Social Work of Ecuador (ANUATSE); and president of the Latin American Association of Teaching and Research in Social Work for the period 2025–2028. She currently serves as Academic Advisor of the Council of Higher Education; in addition, she is president of the Permanent Commission of Universities and Polytechnic Schools. Its management is focused on institutional strengthening and ensuring academic quality and the continuous development of the Ecuadorian higher education system.

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