2026 Conference Schedule

FedEx Global, Atrium

Welcome remarks from Royster Professor Kumi Silva, Dean Beth Mayer-Davis, Chancellor Lee Roberts, Executive Director of Fellowships Tori Lodewick, and Royster alumna Carlee Forbes.

Open to all conference participants. Breakfast provided.

FedEx Global, Room 1005

Introduction by Alita Miller, Royster Fellow, Pharmaceutical Sciences.

• Sara Aqariden (Africana Studies, UNC-CH)
  “Conceptualizing Alternate Time and Temporalities with Surrealism”
• Thaddeus Opara (Philosophy, Queen’s University Belfast)
  “After / Before / Now: Igbo Relational Temporalities and the Ethics of Climate Solidarity”
• Joel Mensah Asmah (Francophone African and Caribbean Studies, UNC-CH)
  “Suspended in Treatment: Pharmacological Time and Epistemic Violence in Fatima Daas’s La Petite Dernière”
• Anna Stockdale (Poetry: Critical and Creative Practice, Queen’s University Belfast)
  “The Enactment of Lunar Time in Alice Oswald’s Sleepwalk on the Severn”

FedEx Global, Room 1005

“Writing through Time: A Reading from Encounters for the Living and the Dead.”

Introduction by Madelina Marquez, Royster Fellow, Biology.

Jameela Dallis, (M.A. English ’10, Ph.D. English ’16)

Poet, Curator, & Director of UX Content Strategy

FedEx Global, Atrium

Open to all conference participants. Lunch provided.

FedEx Global, Room 1005

Introduction by Sydney Bauer, Royster Fellow, Art History.

• Michael Baird (Art History, UNC-CH)
  “Re-reading the Archive of Colonial Art Education in Uganda”
• Kalamakaleimahoehoe Porter (Environment, Ecology, and Energy, UNC-CH)
  “They Killed the Golden Goose: Using and Thinking About Mast Years in the 19th Century”
• René Marzuk (English and Comparative Literature, UNC-CH)
  “Translation as Survival in Maria Gowen Brooks’s 1843 Novel Idomen: Or, The Vale of Yumuri”
• Noah Bailey (History, Queen’s University Belfast)
  “The Temporality of Print: A Timeline for the Seventeenth Century Trans-Atlantic Literary Debate between Scotland and New England”

FedEx Global,
Room 4003

Enjoy snacks and some relaxed time between sessions.

FedEx Global,
Room 1005

Introduction by Joel Asmah, Royster Fellow, French Studies and Francophone Literatures.

• Aimée Kielt (Geography/Climate Change, Queen’s University Belfast)
  “Rethinking Olympic Host Selection in the Era of Climate Change: Lessons from Cortina”
• Abdedaim Battioui (Environment, Ecology and Energy, UNC-CH)
  “Lithium phosphate batteries: Water energy tradeoff”
• Dalia Chen (Biology, UNC-CH)
  “The spread of disease under global warming: how the thermal biology of a plant disease can give insights into its disease spread under future climate conditions”
• Madelina Marquez (Biology, UNC-CH)
  “Climate Change: It’s Time to Talk about Mats”

Top of the Hill,
100 E Franklin St
3rd floor

Open to all conference participants. Drinks and hors d’oeuvres provided.

FedEx Global, Atrium

Open to all conference participants. Light breakfast provided. 

FedEx Global, Room 1005

“Keeping the Last Page at Bay: A Cat’s Cradle Through Time”

In this keynote, Dr. Hasan reflects how the Royster Society of Fellows has fostered interdisciplinary scholarship, preparing scholars to address today’s most pressing challenges, from environmental challenges to migration to social division. Drawing on her own experience as a Royster Fellow, Dr. Hasan explores how this interdisciplinary ethos shaped her work in science storytelling and public engagement.

Introduction by Royster Professor Kumi Silva.

Dr. Hasan’s presentation is open to the public. Please spread the word with your colleagues and encourage them to register at: https://go.unc.edu/RoysterKeynote

FedEx Global, Room 1005

Introduction by Hannah Robison, Royster Fellow, Human Movement Science.

• Emmanuel Amoako (Social Work, UNC-CH)
  “Learning by Doing: Iteration, Setbacks, and Innovation in Co-Designing a Just-in-Time Financial Guidance Intervention”
• Colm Darby (Nursing and Midwifery, Queen’s University Belfast)
  “When Time Breaks: Mapping Before, Now, and After in Parental Trauma Following Neonatal Admission”
• Mags McAllister (Speech and Hearing Sciences, UNC-CH)
  “The Importance of Time in Developmental Disorders Research”

FedEx Global, Atrium

Open to all conference participants. Lunch provided.

FedEx Global, Room 1005

On the “Time Now in Higher Education” Roundtable, brings together a mixed group of current students, Royster alumni, and professors to discuss relevant topics concerning the challenges facing higher education today.

Moderated by Millie West, Royster Fellow, Art History.

• Catherine Edwards, Associate Professor at University of Georgia
• Danai Fannin, Associate Professor at NC Central University
• Amy Shirong Lu, Associate Professor at Northeastern University
• Ana Ramirez, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
• Brenda Isabel Murrugarra Retamozo, current Royster Fellow in the Department of Anthropology

FedEx Global,
Room 4003

Enjoy snacks and some relaxed time between sessions.

FedEx Global, Room 1005

Bringing together past and present Royster faculty with the founding Dean of the Royster Society of Fellows, panelists reflect on Royster’s enduring contributions over the past thirty years, while looking toward its future.

Moderated by Kumi Silva, Caroline H. and Thomas S. Royster Distinguished Professor for Graduate Education, 2024-current

• Dr. Linda Dykstra, Dean Emeritus, The Graduate School, 1996-2008
• Dr. John P. McGowan, inaugural Royster Director, 1997-2001
  English and Comparative Literature
• Dr. Tom Kawula, Royster Director, 2006-2008
  Microbiology and Immunology
• Dr. Marsha Collins, Caroline H. and Thomas S. Royster Distinguished Professor for Graduate Education, 2016-2018
  English and Comparative Literature
• Dr. Tori Ekstrand, Caroline H. and Thomas S. Royster Distinguished Professor for Graduate Education, 2021-2024
  English and Comparative Literature

Ackland Art Museum
101 S. Columbia St, Chapel Hill

Open to all conference participants. Drinks and heavy hors d’oeuvres provided.

FedEx Global, Atrium

Open to all conference participants. Light breakfast provided. 

FedEx Global, Room 1005

Carlee Forbes and Madelyn Percy, an art curator and science teacher respectively, share an interdisciplinary friendship that has sparked unexpected collaborations, from museum material analysis to new ways of understanding air quality through art. Turning to their friendship and collaborations, this conversation highlights the lasting professional and intellectual connections fostered by the Royster community.

Introduction by Hannah Robison, Royster Fellow, Human Movement Science.

• Carlee Forbes, Art History Ph.D. ’20
  Associate Curator of African and Oceanic Art, Baltimore Museum of Art
• Madelyn Percy, Geological Sciences Ph.D. ’20
  Science Teacher, Denver Public Schools

FedEx Global, Room 1005

Introduction by Tara Di Cassio, Royster Fellow, Geography and Environment.

• Brenda Isabel Murrugarra Retamozo (Anthropology, UNC-CH)
  “Artificial Intelligence, Surveillance, and Racialization in the Migration Context: Perspectives of Lawyers in Latin America and Spain”
• Christian Zik Nwonsu (Political Sociology, Queen’s University Belfast)
  “Between Past and Future: Political Non-Alignment and Latent Attitudinal Structures in Post-Conflict Northern Ireland”
• Jaweria Sarfraz Cheema (Media Studies, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen)
  “Unravelling the Agency of Pakistani Women Migrants in Pursuit of Health Information: A Qualitative Study”
• Harshada Bhaskar Ohol (Social Policy, Queen’s University Belfast)
  “Before Recognition, After Stigma, Now Precarity: Temporal Inequalities in the Lives of Women Lavani Artists in Maharashtra, India”

FedEx Global, Room 1005

A select group of standout Carolina faculty will each share a fast-paced five-minute glimpse into their scholarship, research, or creative practice, all through the lens of the conference theme. This is a lively chance to hear big ideas, spark new connections, and join the conversation in a Q&A to follow.

• Dr. Francesca Tripodi, Associate Professor in the School of Data and Information Sciences, Principal Investigator at CITAP
• Daniel Wallace, J. Ross MacDonald Distinguished Professor of English, author of six novels including “Big Fish”
• Dr. Chérie Rivers, Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment, founder of Dandelions’
• Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta, Senior Scientist at the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center, MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship recipient
• Dr. Kathleen DuVal, Carl W. Ernst Distinguished Professor of History, Pulitzer Prize recipient

Open to all conference participants. Lunch provided.

FedEx Global, Room 1005

Introduction by Madelina Marquez, Royster Fellow, Biology.

• Kenshiro Fuse (Neurology, Epidemiology, and AI/Machine Learning, Nagoya University)
  “Beyond Time Zero: How AI and Years of Patient Observation Uncovered a Hidden Timeline before Diagnosis”
• Anneliese Brei (Computer Science, UNC-CH)
  “Are Tales Really as Old as Time? The Impact of Narratives on AI Alignment”
• Ryan Brooks (Political Science, UNC-CH)
  “Simply Conservative: When Ideology Matters for Ethnic Minority Partisanship”
• Victoria A.E. Kratel (Communication and Leadership, Kristiania University of Applied Sciences)
  “Tenacity in Turbulent Times Revisited: A Study On News Avoidance”

Pleasant Family Assembly Room, Wilson Library, 200 South Rd, Chapel Hill

A fast, fun structured mixer pairing returning alums with current students in themed rounds. Cross-disciplinary, mentorship-driven, and quintessentially Royster.

Open to all conference participants. Iced coffee and cookies provided.

University Room, Hyde Hall, 176 E Franklin St,
Chapel Hill

Open to all conference participants. Dinner and drinks provided.