Kim Samuel – Building Connection and Rootedness in the 21st Century

For the past two decades, Kim Samuel has been focused on a vision of human connection and rootedness. She is founder of the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness and an academic lecturer at institutions including Oxford, Harvard, and McGill universities. Kim combines research, writing, teaching, and direct programmatic work to support communities in overcoming diverse social, economic, and environmental challenges in the 21st Century.

Through the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness (SCSC), Kim directs research and programming in diverse areas, including education, global health, Indigenous reconciliation, sustainable development, forced migration, and inclusive architecture and placemaking. She spearheaded the SCSC Fellowship Program, which offers recent undergraduates the opportunity to pursue research projects related to social isolation and connectedness. In 2014, 2016, and 2019, Kim convened Global Symposia on Overcoming Social Isolation—bringing together leading thinkers, activists and community leaders from over 40 countries. The next Global Symposium will be held in 2021.

Kim is a member of the Board and Executive Committee of Special Olympics International, a Trustee of Temenos Academy, a Founding Member of the Global Philanthropists Circle, and a Member of the Disability Rights Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch. She has been a member and frequent speaker at the World Economic Forum for the past two decades.