BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH PRODID:-//Telerik Inc.//Sitefinity CMS 15.1//EN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Eastern Standard Time BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251102T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=1SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=11 TZNAME:Eastern Standard Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250301T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=2SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:Eastern Daylight Time TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DESCRIPTION:Menezes will share her personal experiences\, reflections and l essons learned over a period of 35-year career in the field\, especially i n Africa\, and how her doctoral research has shaped her approaches to fiel d work and development. The talk touches upon the use of mixed methods and participatory approaches necessary for livelihood analysis and understand ing of the poverty dimensions within specific environmental\, socio-cultur al\, political and economic contexts. \; Through concrete field experi ences she will reflect on how the strict use of a conventional “scientific ally based research” method is not always the most appropriate to study po verty issues and development policy in developing rural communities. She a rgues that in the same token that the world is constantly changing and rap idly evolving into less-structured forms of governance and development\, s o is academic research called upon to follow the same pattern. Her profess ional experience calls for academic researchers\, social and development p ractitioners to adjust their research and “we know it all” paradigms and t o be more open to the unknown and dare to cross the bridge from the Ivory Tower to the Ebony Villages. She will share her perspectives on future act ions based on her reflections and lessons learned from 35 years of field w ork that includes\, biological and social research\, capacity building\, p olicy development and emergency interventions: \; There will always be a nice hand-in-hand walk between the magnificence of the Ivory Tower (obj ectivity and critical thinking of the academia world) and the Mystery of t he Ebony Villages (the unknown\, the surprises\, the beauty of others’ vie wpoints\, regardless of their intellectual status\, the beauty of their tr aditional\, local knowledge). Do you dare cross the Bridge?Dr. Ana Maria M enezes\, a 2004 Fulbright alumna who received her PhD from the State Unive rsity of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ES F)\, was named one of three candidates for the SUNY-ESF’s Graduates of Dis tinction Award for her notable achievements. The award recognizes those al umni who are pioneers in their field\, whose work has positively impacted society and the environment\, and who truly embodies the spirit of environ mental stewardship. Dr. Menezes has dedicated her career to improve food p roduction and nutrition\, livelihoods and economic growth through sustaina ble development of the aquaculture sector. Dr. Menezes currently works for the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) where she col laborates with Member States around the world to develop and implement pol icies and best practices of Aquaculture combining business concepts with e nvironmental and ecosystem-based approaches. Her research and policy focus are on Aquaculture Governance and the development of tools to assess pove rty and policy impact in fishing communities. Her strength is the ground w ork\, working with stakeholders and especially with farmers. She believes education and knowledge and true caring for others’ wellbeing are the fore most assets to improve people’s lives and to make a change. DTEND:20220304T200000Z DTSTAMP:20260315T201242Z DTSTART:20220304T180000Z LOCATION: SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY:From the Ivory Tower to the Ebony Village: Do You Dare Cross the Br idge? UID:RFCALITEM639091879620821384 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Menezes will share her personal experiences \, reflections and lessons learned over a period of 35-year career in the field\, especially in Africa\, and how her doctoral research has shaped he r approaches to field work and development. The talk touches upon the use of mixed methods and participatory approaches necessary for livelihood ana lysis and understanding of the poverty dimensions within specific environm ental\, socio-cultural\, political and economic contexts. \; Through c oncrete field experiences she will reflect on how the strict use of a conv entional “scientifically based research” method is not always the most app ropriate to study poverty issues and development policy in developing rura l communities. She argues that in the same token that the world is constan tly changing and rapidly evolving into less-structured forms of governance and development\, so is academic research called upon to follow the same pattern. Her professional experience calls for academic researchers\, soci al and development practitioners to adjust their research and “we know it all” paradigms and to be more open to the unknown and dare to cross the br idge from the Ivory Tower to the Ebony Villages. She will share her perspe ctives on future actions based on her reflections and lessons learned from 35 years of field work that includes\, biological and social research\, c apacity building\, policy development and emergency interventions: \; There will always be a nice hand-in-hand walk between the magnificence of the Ivory Tower (objectivity and critical thinking of the academia world) and the Mystery of the Ebony Villages (the unknown\, the surprises\, the b eauty of others’ viewpoints\, regardless of their intellectual status\, th e beauty of their traditional\, local knowledge). Do you dare cross the Br idge?

Dr. Ana Maria Menezes\, a 2004 Fulbri ght alumna who received her PhD from the State University of New York’s Co llege of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF)\, was named one of three candidates for the SUNY-ESF’s Graduates of Distinction Award for her notable achievements. The award recognizes those alumni who are pioneers in their field\, whose work has positively impacted society and the enviro nment\, and who truly embodies the spirit of environmental stewardship.

Dr. Menezes has dedicated her career to improve food production and n utrition\, livelihoods and economic growth through sustainable development of the aquaculture sector. Dr. Menezes currently works for the United Nat ions’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) where she collaborates with Member States around the world to develop and implement policies and best practices of Aquaculture combining business concepts with environmental an d ecosystem-based approaches. Her research and policy focus are on Aquacul ture Governance and the development of tools to assess poverty and policy impact in fishing communities. Her strength is the ground work\, working w ith stakeholders and especially with farmers. She believes education and k nowledge and true caring for others’ wellbeing are the foremost assets to improve people’s lives and to make a change.

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