Fall 2020
What made South Korea’s COVID-19 response so successful?
Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2020, 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Location: Online, Registration Required
With a population of 51 million people, South Korea is reporting fewer than 30,000 cases of COVID-19, making it a major success story in the fight against the pandemic. Yong-Kyun Kim MC/MPA '08, the director-general of South Korea’s National Disaster and Safety Control Center, will join Arnold Howitt, faculty co-director of the HKS Program on Crisis Leadership (PCL), to discuss the country’s overall response to COVID-19, its successes, and the challenges it has encountered.
This conversation is part of a year-long, virtual discussion series: Crisis Leadership in a Pandemic: Lessons Learned in the Fight Against COVID-19, sponsored by PCL and the Ash Center.
Dr. Kim earned his MC/MPA at Harvard Kennedy School and his Ph.D. from Yonsei University. He is the author of Disaster Characteristics of Korea and Its Management (2018) and co-author of Disaster Risk Management in the Republic of Korea (2017) and Disaster Management (2020).
Virtual Event Details
Registration is required for this event. Please register through the Ash Center event page (https://ash.harvard.edu/event/what-made-south-korea%E2%80%99s-response-covid-19-sucessful) to receive details via email for how to join the virtual discussion. This event will be recorded and a link to the recording will be sent out afterward to all who register.
You can submit questions to the panelists in advance during the registration process. A live Q&A will also be available during the event with an option to submit questions in real-time.
The Ash Center encourages individuals with disabilities to participate in its events. Should you wish to enquire about an accommodation, please contact our events team at info@ash.harvard.edu prior to the event.
Additional questions? Email the Ash Center events team at info@ash.harvard.edu.
About the Crisis Leadership in a Pandemic: Lessons Learned in the Fight Against COVID-19 Series
Leaders across the world have been combatting the effects of COVID-19 for several months, gaining extensive, in-the-moment crisis management experience as they seek to grapple with an incredibly difficult set of challenges. Through a year-long series of virtual conversations, the Ash Center’s Program on Crisis Leadership (PCL) at Harvard Kennedy School will engage with leaders from several different continents to learn how they and the communities they represent are responding to COVID-19, the challenges they have encountered, and the preliminary successes/failures they have experienced and observed.
The series will explore both the similarities and differences of the response across jurisdictions. For instance, although the primary containment strategies – masks, social distancing, testing, and quarantine and isolation– remain generally the same, different regions have applied them in different ways and to different degrees. And while most jurisdictions share a primary focus on protecting the public’s health and mitigating the economic fallout from the virus, some face unique additional pressures, such as ongoing crises due to food insecurity, natural disasters, non-COVID disease outbreaks, and civil unrest.
By featuring leaders from North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific, and Africa, PCL will provide students with a comparative perspective – and the opportunity to develop a nuanced understanding of the range of interventions and leadership approaches that have been employed to date in the battle against the pandemic.
Spring 2020
Ash Community Speaker Series--Risk, Resilience & Reflection: Looking Back at Hurricane Dorian in The Bahamas
Date: Friday, April 3, 2020, 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Location: Online
Seven months ago, Hurricane Dorian, one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, hit the islands of The Bahamas. With wind speeds as high as 185 mph and moving at an excruciatingly slow pace, the storm devastated the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama Island, while causing extensive damage throughout much of the rest of the archipelago as well.
Exposing the need for global support, public-private sector partnerships, and community engagement, Hurricane Dorian was a defining moment for Prime Minister Hubert Minnis, elected just two years before. Based on research conducted with the support of the Ash Center and its Program on Crisis Leadership, Sienna Leis, HKS Midcareer '20, will reflect on leadership lessons from Dorian, and examine the challenges the Bahamas faces as it seeks to rebuild in the face of new crises and an impending hurricane season. Moderated by PCL Associate Director David Giles.
About the Ash Community Speaker Series
The Ash Community Speaker Series features discussions with students, faculty, fellows, and alumni whose research or other academic work is supported by the Ash Center. The series is a forum to discuss new ideas, innovative work, and ongoing projects that are related to the Ash Center's mission to make the world a better place by advancing excellence and innovation in governance and public policy through research, education, and public discussion.
Ash Community Speaker Series—Collaborative Compassion: Emergent Relief Works of the Tzu Chi Foundation
Date: Friday, February 7, 2020, 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Location: Ash Center Foyer, 124 Mount Auburn Street, Suite 200N
Join us for a discussion with Ash Center Spring 2020 Fellow Rey-Sheng Her, Spokesperson and Director of Humanity of Tzu Chi Foundation, Associate Professor of Tzu Chi University and Chief Advisor of the Center for Goodness Study in China. Moderated by Arnold Howitt, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy and Faculty Co-Director of the Program on Crisis Leadership.
About the Ash Community Speaker Series
The Ash Community Speaker Series features discussions with students, faculty, fellows, and alumni whose research or other academic work is supported by the Ash Center. The series is a forum to discuss new ideas, innovative work, and ongoing projects that are related to the Ash Center's mission to make the world a better place by advancing excellence and innovation in governance and public policy through research, education, and public discussion.