2026 Conference:

Catalysts for Change: Interdisciplinary Approaches for One Shared Future

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In a world shaped by rapid technological advancement, environmental urgency, and deepening social inequity, no single discipline or community holds all the answers. Addressing today’s complex global challenges, such as climate instability, health disparities, sociopolitical polarization, and more, requires individuals and communities capable of bridging disciplines, cultures, and historical perspectives to generate meaningful and sustained impact.

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2025 Conference:

Connected By Compassion: Bridging Cultures to Reimagine Tomorrow

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As we learn to navigate through a world increasingly intertwined yet fragmented by socio-cultural differences, we harness the power of empathy and shared understanding. From global insecurity, environmental challenges, or economic downturns, issues that once affected only a few now have global repercussions. By fostering compassionate dialogue across cultures, we hope to highlight strengths of individual cultures woven into creating a stronger, resilient international community. Through compassionate engagement across cultures, we will delve into strategies for developing collaborative, creative solutions. Featured speakers have gone above and beyond to deliberately include open-mindedness and empathy in their efforts to solve global problems. Through their experiences, we aim to cultivate  meaningful cross-cultural partnerships and embrace open-minded leadership to build a better tomorrow.​​

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2024 Conference:

Embracing the Unknown: The Path Less Traveled

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Choosing the path of most resistance may seem counterintuitive, but reframing challenges as opportunities can allow us to discover new paths to achieving our goals. Whether it is starting a business, developing AI technology, preparing for the next pandemic, or promoting the arts, we all have to face a future filled with opportunities and uncertainties. How we choose to embrace the uncharted possibilities of the future will be a key factor in determining the outcome of our endeavors. Many changemakers in the world have experienced countless failures or have been told their work was “impossible” yet continued down their path anyway. By featuring speakers who have taken unconventional paths and defined their own goals, our conference aims to educate attendees about embracing uncertainties and taking a leap of faith.​​

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2023 Conference:

Starting Small, Thinking Big: Change Starting From Our Local Community

 

No big issue can be solved overnight. Instead, solutions often emerge from the ground as local community members identify and address problems. Throughout the conference, we will work towards a collaborative understanding of how tangible steps taken on a seemingly smaller scale can catalyze larger impacts. A range of experts will share how they have improved the lives of community members, and, in turn, revolutionized global movements. It doesn’t take a professional nor an academic to be an agent of change — changemaking can be made accessible by bringing together a community to reimagine the world through the agency of local actors.

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Speakers included Jean Shein, Dr. Shujen Wang, Dr. Hussain Lalani, Dr. Joseph Allen, Michael Puett, Dr. Grace Chao, Jamila Raqib, Ms. Rushan Abbas, Carolyn Nash, Professor Olivier de Weck, Dr. Metta McGarvey, and Eduardo Briceno.

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2022 Conference:

Interdisciplinary Innovation: New Ways to Approach a New World

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As the modern world faces pandemics, climate crises,
and social tensions, the Harvard College in Asia Program will explore global efforts and initiatives in the HCAP 2022 Conference: Interdisciplinary Innovation. Through speakers, experiments, and case studies, we will examine the ways in which individuals and communities cope with the changes and challenges in our lives and learn about the importance of the roles we play in shaping the future.

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Speakers included James Robson, Daniel Koss, Amy Smeed, Young Joo Lee, Jeffrey Schnapp, Kattesh Katti, Glenn Lau-Kee, Sam Ransbotham, Benny Luo, Hidetoshi Nishimura, Professor Jun Arima, and Tim Ritchie.​​

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Past Conferences:

 

2021: Resilience and Reform: Adapting to a Changing World

2020: Breaking Boundaries: Tech and Media

2018: Redefining Leadership

2017: Mind, Body, and Society

2016: Equality, Tolerance, and Freedom

2014: Building Sustainable Cities

2013: Civil and Minority Rights

2012: Technology and Social Justice

2011: Global Healthcare Systems

2010: Social Entrepreneurship