2025 Right Livelihood International Conference
April 30 – May 1, 2025
Join us to promote peace, justice, and sustainability, build UCSC’s role as Global Secretariat of the Right Livelihood College network, develop new faculty-laureate research clusters, and more. Together, we’ll energize the next generation of changemakers and expand our International Student Network.
Public Event
UCSC’s Right Livelihood Center and Rachel Carson College Presents
Women’s Activism, Indigenous Rights, and the Environment
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 6-7:30 p.m., UCSC Multipurpose Room and Online
Join us for an inspiring evening exploring the power of grassroots activism for advancing women’s rights, Indigenous sovereignty, and environmental justice. This year’s lecture features three distinguished Right Livelihood Laureates whose work has transformed communities and sparked global movements.
Joan Carling (Philippines) – Indigenous Peoples Rights International raises Indigenous voices in the face of the global ecological breakdown, defending people, lands, and culture.
Reema Nanavaty (India) – Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is a cooperative union of over 3,000,000 women mobilized for economic independence and collective organizing.
Ryoko Shimizu (Japan) – Seikatsu Club Consumers’ Cooperative Union is a 500,000 member cooperative union and one of the most successful, sustainable models of production and consumption in the industrialized world.
The talk will be moderated by Madhavi Murty, who is a UCSC Professor of Sociology studying popular media, nationalism, globalization, feminism, postcolonial theory, cultural theory, and modalities of difference such as race, caste, and gender.
Events for Students, Faculty, and Staff
Community-Based Research Colloquium on Women’s Activism, Indigenous Rights and the Environment
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 12-1:30 p.m., Graduate Student Commons
Learn what graduate students, faculty, and Right Livelihood Laureates are doing to connect activism and academia. Guests are invited to stay from 1:30-2:30 to continue to deepen the conversations after the colloquium ends.
- Aiswarya Gangadhar: “The intersection of climate and gender justice: An exploration in psychology,” Ph.D. student in Psychology
- Brian Rivera: Ph.d. student in Literature
- David Shaw: Right Livelihood Center and Ph.D student in Environmental Studies
- Shelly Grabe: “Transnational Feminisms,” Professor of Psychology and Provost of Rachel Carson College
- Dolly Kikon: “Ecologies of Care,” Professor of Anthropology, Director of South Asian Studies
- Steve McKay: Center for Labor and Community, Professor of Sociology
- Chris Benner: “Solidarity Economics,” Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute for Social Transformation
- Rebecca London: Professor of Sociology and Faculty Director of “Campus + Community”
After Party
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 7:30-9 p.m., Levin Lanai and Rotunda
Undergraduate and graduate students inspired by the 2025 Right Livelihood Laureate Lecture are invited to stay for an informal hang upstairs with mocktails and conversation. Hosted by UCSC’s Right Livelihood Student Club.
Teach-In
Hosted by the Right Livelihood International Student Network, a group of student activists from across the Right Livelihood College Network who are dedicated to making a difference.
Thursday, May 1, 2025, UCSC Multipurpose Room
- 8:00-9:35 Session 1
- 9:50-11:25 Session 2
- 11:40-1:15 Session 3
- 1:30-3:05 Session 4
- 3:20-4:55 Session 5
After our event ends, we encourage everyone to attend the 6:00-8:00 event hosted by the Center for Labor and Community. Details to follow.
Cosponsors
The Right Livelihood Center wishes to thank the many supporting and cosponsoring organizations, including Rachel Carson College, the Institute for Social Transformation, Division of Social Sciences, Student Fee Advisory Committee, Graduate Student Commons and GradLab, Center for South Asian Studies, Center for Labor and Community, and Center for Reimagining Leadership, Feminist Studies, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies.