Global Ideas Institute  

2010-11 Expert Speaker Series

Dr. Ken Bassett | Dr. Anita McGahan | Dr. Peter A. Singer | Dr. Yu-Ling Cheng

Appropriate Technologies for Global Development
February 17, 2011 | 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Munk School of Global Affairs, Room 108n

Dr. Yu-Ling Cheng
Director, Centre for Global Engineering; Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto

What makes a technology appropriate for the developing world? Is it extreme affordability? Is it independence from reliable electricity? Is it social, cultural and political acceptability? Does appropriate technology necessarily mean low-tech? We will explore these questions by discussing a number of examples, including: treadle pumps and low drip irrigation technologies for farmers earning $1/day, a project in Bangladesh that makes use of old sari cloth to fi lter cholera from drinking water, a novel incubator for premature babies, battery-powered oxygenator for treating childhood pneumonia, and a mini-case study of the history of iodized salt in Ethiopia. We will also present some examples of novel cutting edge drug delivery technologies for treating diseases in the eye and discuss their appropriateness in the developing world.

Professor Yu-Ling Cheng is Professor of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, and the Director of the Centre for Global Engineering at the University of Toronto. She is working on enlarging the impact of technologies on the developing world through both her work as a researcher and an engineering educator. She is a member of the University Teaching Academy.