Dr. Lawrence H. Gerstein (Professor) Ball State University, Indiana, USA Topic: Sports for Youth Development and Social Change		Dr. Glenn Williams Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, England Topic: How You Can Enhance Your Individual & Collective Resilience for a More Sustainable and Just Way of Life
	Dr. Hans Koot (Professor) Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands Topic: Dealing with child problem behavior: The why, what and how of early interventions		Jeremy DW Clifton University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, USA
	Dr. Susmita Halder Department of Psychology, St Xavier's University Kolkata. India Topic: Digital addiction and mental health in youth		Dr. Anila Kamal (Professor) Vice Chancellor, Rawalpindi Women University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
	Dr. Seema Pervez (Rtd. Professor)		Lindsey Blom (Professor) Ball State University, Topic: Sports for Youth Development and Social Change Muncie, USA
	Dr. Aparna Nadig (Associate Professor) McGill University School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Montreal, Canada Topic: Towards the inclusion of adults on the autism spectrum in employment: the value of employment support services

Summary of Keynote Lectures

In connection with NIP’s two-day 8th International (virtual) Conference on ‘Mental Health and Productivity: Emerging Challenges for Youth’, an online keynote lecture was delivered by Dr. Aparna Nadig, Associate Professor at McGill University Montreal, Canada on 9th Nov. 2021. The topic of the keynote lecture was: Towards the Inclusion of Adults on The Autism Spectrum in Employment: The Value of Employment Support Services and it was offered in the hybrid mode (both online and in person for those interested.

The speaker highlighted the importance of providing a more inclusive environment as well as giving employment support services to people on the autism spectrum. She shared that statistics have shown that employment rate and quality of life among autistic adults are lower than that of any other disability groups. She further added the differences in inclusive employment settings explaining that integrative and competitive environments exist and that not all employment settings are equal when it comes to inclusion. The stakeholders involved for ensuring employment success exist in each element of the ecosystem which includes researchers, community organizers, employment support practitioners, autistic adults and their family members. She further shared that in a research project, she and her fellow researchers designed a multiple case study in collaboration with a community organization that provided employment support to autistic individuals. She mentioned that this research was the first multiparty analysis of its kind and further suggested that more converging/diverging perspectives could improve the future employment support services for the said group.

In connection with National Institute of Psychology, Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad’s two-day virtual international conference titled Mental Health and Productivity: The Emerging Challenges for Youth, a keynote lecture and a scientific session was conducted virtually on 20th Oct. 2021.

The keynote lecture was delivered by Dr. Susmita Halder, associate professor from the Department of Psychology, St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata, India. The title of the keynote lecture was ‘Digital Addiction and Mental Health’ and was moderated Ms. Saadiya Abbasi (PhD Scholar from NIP). In the opening statement of the keynote lecture, Dr. Halder stated that we can’t deny the fact that we live in a digital world and we have more access to digital media than ever before and the youth now-a-days can’t live without being connected to the digital world. She continued that though the increased dependency on social media has made human life easier; it carries its own unwanted effects and has made us emotionally and physically vulnerable. She highlighted the different types of addiction and how they affect our lives through addictive cycle of trigger-action-reward. Further on, she shared the relevant statistics from Europe and the Middle East respectively and mentioned ways to manage the additive states effectively. Most important message to be taken from the keynote lecture was that we should not have an “I’m addicted attitude” and instead should learn how to accept responsibility and develop self-control with technology. The participants, displayed keen interest in Dr. Halden’s lecture by asking pertinent questions from her that she graciously answered.