September 1-5, 2025

Hosted by the University of Bradford

“Culture, Peace and Capabilities”

At the heart of the capability approach (CA) is the idea of human flourishing. However, human flourishing is challenging, and in some cases, not possible, in a world of conflict and insecurity – whether between nations, or between groups within a country or between individuals at the micro-level of a society.

The foundational ideas of the CA (of both Sen and Nussbaum schools) envision a society where constitutional guarantees and deliberative public reasoning provide for the protection of minorities and disadvantaged individuals, and at a theoretical level these should be the starting points for building institutions to mitigate against conflict and to resolve conflicts where these appear.

As we welcome the community of the ‘Human Development and the Capability Association’ to the University of Bradford where the UK’s first Peace Studies Department was founded in 1973, the idea of connecting the CA with peace is an exciting and significant theme to explore. Bradford is also celebrating being the UK ’City of Culture 2025’. The year-long celebration recognizes the contributions made by generations of waves of immigrants over the last two centuries.

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

With support from:

September 24-26, 2024

Hosted by the Pratichi (India) Trust, the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata (IDSK), and Health Information Systems Program (HISP)

“Crises, Capabilities and Commitment”

The 2024 HDCA conference has special significance as 2024 marks the 20^th anniversary of the founding of HDCA. The conference is being held in Kolkata, West Bengal, India – home of the first HDCA president, Professor Amartya Sen. The conference theme of Crises, Capabilities and Commitment has been chosen because the inter-linkages between these three ideas require in depth discussion.

Many multi-faceted crises assail us. Some are global in scope, linked with the assault on our environment, violent conflicts, pandemics and humanitarian challenges. Some crises emerge from episodic events. Others emerge less dramatically linked with a backlash to transformations in social relations, or technologies. Crises, both episodic and cumulative, reveal deep inequalities in capabilities. Crises may be associated with both ‘loud’ and ‘silent’ capability deprivations, in areas such as education, health, disability, political participation and wellbeing. The immediate and visible fallout from crises may precipitate further inequalities in capabilities linked to loss of income and employment, inequity, food insecurity malnutrition, and polarization between groups. The conference will be a setting to discuss the forms of commitment needed to analyze and address many interlinked crises and their stress on capabilities.