The Center for Nanotechnology (CNS) is hosting a three-day multidisciplinary, global conference at UC Santa Barbara that focuses on the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in harnessing the benefits and safeguarding against the risks of new technologies in order to create a more sustainable and equitable world.

The conference, “Democratizing Technologies: Assessing the Roles of NGOs in Shaping Technological Futures” and will bring together academic researchers as well as representatives from NGOs, government and industry.

Nicholas Kristof, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and columnist for The New York Times, will give the keynote address on the first day. His talk, “A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity,” is based on his recent book of the same name. In it, Kristof and his co-author (and wife) Sheryl WuDunn examine the success of domestic and global aid initiatives and the effectiveness of specific approaches to giving. The authors offer practical advice on the best ways each of us can make a difference.

The conference runs from November 13-15, 2014.

Read more at: http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2014/014482/ngos-and-more-equitable-world.

To read a Q&A with Kristof conducted by Professor Richard Appelbaum (Sociology, Global and International Studies), please visit: http://www.independent.com/news/2014/nov/06/nicholas-kristof-keynotes-ucsb-conference/.