Presentations

Roni Kay M. O’Dell is a public-facing scholar and would be delighted to explore options of speaking at your event about her scholarship and teaching experience and expertise.

Speaking topics include: Global Governance, Diplomacy, Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations, Negotiations in International Organizations, Civil Society and the United Nations, and more. Consider reaching out to see if Dr. O’Dell can speak on the specific international or global topic you are interested in hearing about. Please send a request using the contact form.

See specific examples below.

Presentation Titles and Topics

Negotiating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A Civil Society Perspective

Dr. O’Dell’s current research project and forthcoming book investigates the tools, methods, and techniques that civil society organizations use to have their voice heard and included in international negotiations - the creation and continued implementation of the SDGs and the associated targets and indicators is the case study. Dr. O’Dell has given several presentations on this topic including to the Academic Council on the United Nations (July 2023), the International Studies Association (March 2022), and Seton Hill University Faculty Seminar Series (March 2022).

How Global South Countries Globalized Human Development

Understanding how the human development and capabilities approach (HDCA) has influenced and shaped the way we think about and implement international development practice comprises this speaking topic. Dr. O’Dell’s forthcoming book (co-authored with Dr. Devin K. Joshi) entitled Human Development and Globalization: From Counter-Ideology to the SDGs covers the history and practice of human development. One important contribution of the book is in the way that the research assesses how people and countries of the Global South were influential in creating the ideology of human development, and also reviews the challenges that such people and countries face in international development practice. Dr. O’Dell and Dr. Joshi presented on this topic to the Human Development and Capabilities Association in September 2022.

Other Presentations

  • Training for the UN in the Twenty-First Century: An Assessment of Professionalism, Leadership, and Gender Equality in Model UN Simulations (April 2022)

  • SDGs and Human Rights: Where the Theories Collide (June 2021)

  • Using Primary Documents to Teach Global Politics from a Learner-Centered Approach (2021)

  • Global Migration and Refugees (2022)

  • Russia-Ukraine War: Background and Refugee Crisis (2022)

  • Human Rights, The United Nations, and The Crisis in Ukraine (2022)

  • Vulnerability and Truth-Finding in News and Social Media (2022)

  • Global Goals and You: Where’s Your Voice in the Sustainable Development Goals (2021)

  • Global Response to the Pandemic (2020)

Recent Public Presentations

Project-based methods to engage students in environmental-sustainability and climate-change learning: Building a learners’ toolbox (November 2023)

Presentation workshop for the Human Development and Capabilities Association presented with Amanda DeWitt, Director of Service Experience at Seton Hill University. In an era when it seems overwhelming to ameliorate or keep up with the scale of environmental problems, it can be challenging to find teaching methods that engage students and empower them to be agents of change. Drawing on experiences from an undergraduate course on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, this panel introduces project-based learning activities that students can take into their communities. Course instructor Roni Kay M. O’Dell will introduce her learner-centered teaching approach to curriculum and course design. Amanda DeWitt, Director of Service Experience, will introduce service-learning theory and practice that can be implemented in college campuses. She will be joined by two students who will describe the two projects they created and implemented: An on-campus walk that introduced university students to the SDGs, and a project on sustainable clothing where students created messages for social media and worked with a local thrift store to host an on-campus clothing drive. Together presenters will share what worked, offer suggestions for successful course and project design, and provide examples of teaching and learning resources. Participants in this workshop will be encouraged to contribute their own ideas.