Spencer Wells

The Human Journey: A Genetic Odyssey

The world is undergoing unprecedented levels of migration, with people from around the globe moving to escape crises or in pursuit of better opportunities. Increasingly, these immigrants find themselves in highly cosmopolitan cities, surrounded by an unprecedented mix of nationalities and ethnicities.

In this keynote, we will discuss current immigration trends in light of the deep history of our species, stretching back over 100,000 years. Using the tools of genetics, we have been able to track the history of human migration around the globe during that time, and I will present details of how we use DNA as a “history book” to reveal our species’ ancient history.

We will discuss the role of consumer genomics in revealing the patterns of past and present human migration, and where we might be headed in the future.

Education in the 21st Century: Keeping It Human in a Digital World

The 21st century has already brought unprecedented changes, shattering long-held preconceptions about friends, families and privacy. As we hurtle further into this disruptive era, educators wonder how they can prepare their students for a future they themselves may find it difficult to envision.

This workshop will present some guidelines for helping our students to navigate the world to come, based on learnings from the past and present.

Save paper and effort where possible!

For your convenience, and to support our efforts in being "green", all handouts/files posted here have been notated with an A, B, C or D indicating the following:

(A) hardcopies needed at workshop
(B) electronic version on laptop is sufficient (for viewing during the workshop)
(C) required reading PRIOR to the workshop
(D) file not needed for workshop itself, but simply material of additional interest/reference

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Updates to handouts may be made until shortly before the start of the conference.