Winner of the Best Academic Presentation 2026
Troy Glover is a professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at the University of Waterloo, Canada, and director of the Healthy Communities Research Network. His research examines how social relationships contribute to individual and community well wellbeing, with a particular focus on social capital, connection, social infrastructure, and placemaking. Much of his work explores how parks, public spaces, and other everyday settings create opportunities for people to connect and build meaningful relationships. His scholarship draws together perspectives from recreation and leisure studies, urban planning, public health, sociology, and human geography. Through applied research and collaboration, he seeks to translate knowledge about social capital into policies and practices that foster healthier, more connected communities.
Social capital matters because relationships can give people access to the support, information, influence, and opportunities they need to get by, get ahead, and navigate difficult moments. I understand social capital as the return potential of relationships—a potential that develops through repeated interaction, trust, reciprocity, and mutual obligation. Research helps us understand how that potential is cultivated, why it is distributed unevenly, and what conditions allow more people to develop relationships they can rely upon. In an increasingly disconnected world, those questions have rarely been more important.
Winner of the Best Practitioner Presentation 2026
Nimisha Suresh is currently working as a UX Researcher at Bosch with a background in Product Design from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and Service Design from the Glasgow School of Art. Her work sits at the intersection of human-centred design, systems thinking, and social innovation, with experience spanning healthcare, mobility, emerging technologies, and community-centred research. She has worked across academic, nonprofit, and industry contexts, including the Ford Foundation, NHS Scotland, and IIT Hyderabad, using qualitative research, participatory methods, and design to explore complex social and technological challenges. Her research interests focus on understanding how people navigate systems and how design can contribute to more inclusive and meaningful forms of social change.
Social capital can be difficult to study because it is deeply embedded in the relationships, communities, and informal systems that shape people’s everyday lives. My research made me think about social capital not simply as something people possess, but as something that is continuously built through relationships, trust, reciprocity, and access to networks and opportunities. I found the Social Capital Conference particularly valuable because it creates a space to bring these different dimensions together and examine how social connections can influence people’s ability to navigate larger social and institutional systems. I was especially grateful to receive the Bridges of Connection Scholarship, even though I was unfortunately unable to attend the conference in person due to the war. Being recognised by the conference and having the opportunity to share this work has nevertheless been very meaningful to me.
