This eleventh conference will focus on Global Health on a Warming Planet, emphasizing the relationship between health and climate. The interdisciplinary conference
invites participants from different disciplines to engage in civil discourse on a
different topic each year. The format of the conference includes workshops, presentations,
and posters.
The IOC theme for 2026 is a unique opportunity for collaboration to benefit the hundreds
of students who take interdisciplinary global health courses every semester. Offering
the first officially approved interdisciplinary global health programs at the university
since 2018, the Center for African Studies is happy to co-sponsor this conference
to further understanding, research and publication in global health.
The conference series was commissioned by former President Charles J. Dougherty as
an endowed academic event. Current University President, Ken Gormley, continues to
inspire excellence in support of the Spiritan mission as the conference series develops.
The conference has three goals:
Provide a scholarly opportunity to engage established and emerging research on the
conference topic
Foster interdisciplinary discourse on each topic, such as science, health, philosophy,
religion, and policy
Enlighten public awareness and discussion of the conference topic
Conference Information
Speakers
Chika Onyejiuwa, CSSp
Chika Onyejiuwa was a graduate of Biochemistry before joining the Holy Ghost Congregation
in 1989. He was concreted to the apostolate in 1997 and ordained a priest in 1998.
He served as a pastor to the communities in the highly polluted creeks of Niger Delta
of Nigeria and formed part of the communities’ struggle for environmental justice
for 8 years. Chika Onyejiuwa did other graduate studies after ordination at the Institute
of Spiritual Leadership in the Catholic Theological Union (CTU) Chicago and Creigton
University Omaha, Nebraska. In 2014, he was called by the Congregation serve as the
Executive Secretary Africa Europe Faith & Justice Network (AEFJN) in Brussels that
has kept him on the frontline environmental advocacy. He is currently the Executive
Director of KIBANDA asbl; an NGO belonging to the European Spiritans that promotes
sustainable and integral human development.
Presentation: Global Warming: A Threat to Global Health Security Date and Time: March 25, 2026 at 6 p.m - 7:30 p.m. Abstract: Two global warming factors appears to underpin threats to global health. Industrial Food System: The global food system is grown with antimicrobials, pesticides,
herbicides, fungicides or any other “cides”. This has destroyed left us with poison
on our plates instead of food. Knowing that health is largely determined by what we
eat, we need agroecological transition and farmers’ managed seed system in food system
as a strategic solution. Soil Carbon Credits: The soil carbon trade is an unsustainable strategy for climate
mitigation for two critical reasons. (i) Achieving carbon neutrality does not reduce emissions, which is a key strategy
for reducing global warming. (ii) The idea that the sequestered carbon credits will remain permanent is a fallacy
because the natural disasters and other human activities are not factored in. The warming temperatures promote mutations of microbial strands producing the “superbugs”.
This antimicrobial resistance is a growing threat to public health.
Conference Schedule
TBA
IOC Proceeding Books
Magill, G., J. Benedict, eds. Health as a UN Sustainable Development Goal. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2026, forthcoming.
Magill, G., J. Benedict, eds. Fostering Well-being as a UN Sustainable Development Goal. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2024.
Magill, G., J. Benedict, eds. Resilience in Ecology, and Health. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2023.
Magill, G., J. Benedict, eds. Strands of Sustainability. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2023.
Magill, G., J. Benedict, eds. Toward a Healthy Planet. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021.
Magill, G., L. Prybil. Governance Ethics in Healthcare Organizations, Routledge, 2020, Paperback, 2021.
Magill, G., J. Benedict, eds. The Global Sustainability Crisis. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020.
Magill, G., J. Benedict, eds. Cascading Challenges in the Global Water Crisis. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019. Paperback, 2021.
Magill, G., J. Potter, eds. Integral Ecology. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018. Paperback, 2021.
Magill. G., Aramesh, K., eds. The Urgency of Climate Change. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017.
