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Women with York affiliations earn recognition as trailblazers

Group of women professionals posed boldly in office setting, stock image

Thirteen women with affiliations to York University are recognized as key figures in how the city of Toronto is shaped as part of the Myseum of Toronto’s latest project, The 52: Stories of Women Who Transformed Toronto.

The multi-year project celebrates the contributions of women to the city of Toronto in art, culture, politics, sports, technology, business and more, and debuted Sept. 23 during Nuit Blanche.

The work premiered as a participatory performance where the stories of the 52 women were brought to life through original monologues written by 24 playwrights. Participants had the opportunity to step into the shoes of one of the 52 women by reading excerpts from the monologues.

Among those honoured were six York alum, one former faculty member and six honorary degree recipients.

York University alum

Jill Andrew
Jill Andrew

Jillian Andrew (BA ‘01, ‘02, BEd ‘03, PhD ‘18) – MPP, Toronto-St. Paul’s
Jillian Andrew is the first Black and queer person elected to the Ontario legislature. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as an Ontario New Democratic Party member of provincial parliament in 2018. Since elected to office, Andrew has hosted several initiatives in support of arts and culture, housing, education, health care, gender equity, environment and more.

Cheri DiNovo
Cheri DiNovo

Cheri DiNovo (BA ‘94) – United Church of Canada minister, activist and politician
Cheri DiNovo is an ordained United Church minister who performed Canada’s first legalized same-sex marriage. DiNovo is a member of the Order of Canada, recognized for her contributions to politics in Ontario and for her dedication to championing social justice. As the former member of provincial parliament for Parkdale–High Park in Ontario, DiNovo passed into law more pro-LGBTQ2+ legislation than anyone in Canadian history, including Toby’s Act, which added transgender rights to Ontario’s Human Rights Code.

Saadia Muzaffar
Saadia Muzaffar (image by Saadia Muzaffar)

Saadia Muzaffar (BA ‘01) – tech entrepreneur and author
Saadia Muzaffar is the founder of TechGirls Canada, a leading platform for women in science, technology, engineering and math in Canada. Additionally, she co-founded Tech Reset Canada, a collective of business leaders, technologists and other residents advocating for innovation that benefits the public good.

Rosemary Sadlier close-up portrait
Rosemary Sadlier

Rosemary Sadlier (BA ‘75) – social justice advocate, researcher and author
Rosemary Sadlier served as president of the Ontario Black History Society for 22 years. She played a key role in the national declaration of February as Black History Month. She also successfully secured Emancipation Day (now, Emancipation Month) commemorations municipally in 1994, provincially in 2008 and nationally in 2021. Sadlier is also known for her contributions to the development of the African-Canadian curriculum and books on African-Canadian history.

Judith Snow (MA ‘76) – independent living advocate, community organizer and disability justice activist
The late Judith Snow was the first Canadian to receive government-mandated individualized care funding for personal assistance. Her activism enabled an additional 600-plus people in Ontario to receive funding. In the 1970s, Snow founded the Centre for Special Services for Handicapped Students at York University – Canada’s first post-secondary learning support program.

Kathleen Taylor
Kathleen Taylor

Kathleen Taylor (JD ‘84, MBA ‘84, LLD ‘14) – Chair of the Board of Directors of Royal Bank of Canada/ business executive, York University’s 14th chancellor
Kathleen Taylor is a Canadian business leader who became Chair of Royal Bank’s Board of Directors in 2014, making her the first woman to lead a major Canadian bank. She was appointed as a director of the board in 2001 and as Chair from 2014 to 2023, helping to oversee a period of significant growth and international expansion for the bank. Prior to this role, Taylor was the president and chief executive officer of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, where she was instrumental in building Four Seasons’ global portfolio and international brand over almost 24 years with the company. 

Former faculty

Menaka Thakkar (DLitt ‘93) – dancer and choreographer
The late Menaka Thakkar was instrumental in Canada’s appreciation for Indian classical dance with her establishment of Canada’s first professional Indian dance company, Nrtyakala: The Canadian Academy of Indian Dance. An accomplished choreographer and dancer, she later founded the Menaka Thakkar Dance Company in Toronto, where she continued to train new generations of dancers. Thakkar taught in cities across Canada, in York University’s Department of Dance and at the National Ballet of Canada.

Honorary degree recipients

Roberta Bondar
Roberta Bondar

Roberta L. Bondar (DSc ‘92) – Canadian astronaut and neurologist
Roberta L. Bondar is Canada’s first female astronaut and neurologist in space. Following her space mission, she led an international space medicine research team, working with the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) for over a decade. In recognition of her contributions, she earned the NASA Space Flight Medal as well as induction into the International Women’s Forum Hall of Fame and the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.

Adrienne Clarkson

Adrienne Clarkson (LLD ‘03) – governor general, journalist and author
Adrienne Clarkson, the Right Honourable 26th Governor General of Canada (1999-2005), was the first racialized person, the first individual of Asian heritage, and the first without a political or military background to be appointed to the vice-regal position. Prior to her appointment, Clarkson had an award-winning career in broadcast and print journalism as host and reporter of CBC’s “The Fifth Estate.”

Cathy Crowe
Cathy Crowe

Cathy Crowe (LLD ‘10) – nurse and health-care activist
Cathy Crowe is one of Canada’s first street nurses who dedicated her career to social justice with a focus on addressing homelessness. In 1998, she co-founded the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee, which declared homelessness a national disaster. In 2018, Crowe was honoured with the Order of Canada.

Karen Kain (LLD ‘79) – ballet dancer and artistic director
Karen Kain joined the National Ballet of Canada in 1969 at the age of 18 as a member of the Corps de Ballet and became one of its most celebrated principal dancers. Her talent was recognized internationally and earned her a reputation as one of the best classical dancers of her time. In 2005 she was appointed artistic director of the National Ballet, which she served as until 2021, making her the longest-serving artistic director since the National Ballet’s founder, Celia Franca.

Rosalie Silberman Abella
Rosalie Silberman Abella

Rosalie Silberman Abella (LLD ‘91) – Canadian Supreme Court justice
Rosalie Silberman Abella became Canada’s youngest judge with her appointment to the Ontario Family Court at the age of 29. In 2004 she made history again by becoming the first Jewish woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. She is best known for her significant contributions to Canadian law such as developing the concept of “employment equity” and shaping the first decision made under the 1989 Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Min Sook Lee (MES ‘14) – filmmaker and activist
Min Sook Lee is an industry-recognized filmmaker and an associate professor at OCAD University who is an advocate for social justice through art and social change. She has directed numerous critically acclaimed works, including: Tiger Spirit; Hot Docs’ Best Canadian Feature winner, Hogtown; El Contrato; and the Canadian Screen Award-winning The Real Inglorious Bastards. As an academic, Lee’s area of research and practice focuses on the critical intersections of art and social change in labour, border politics, migration and social justice movements.

Lassonde students explore the stratosphere

high altitude balloon

Student researchers, supervised by professors Regina Lee and Jinjun Shan in the Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering at York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering, launched and tested new space technologies into the stratosphere as part of the Strato-Science 2023 campaign, which provides post-secondary students with opportunities to design, build and test small payloads aboard high-altitude balloon systems.

The stratosphere – not quite as distant as outer space, but much higher than airplane-cruising altitude – is a layer of the Earth’s atmosphere situated in the perfect area to deploy space instruments and technologies, test their function and collect useful information.

The two payloads launched by Lassonde students were lifted off from the Timmins Stratospheric Balloon Base in northeastern Ontario during two different early-morning flights, and returned a collection of data and information to undergo analysis.

The two projects, and their experiential impact, were:

Resident Space Object Near-space Astrometric Research (RSOnar) v2

Professor Regina Lee and her students involved in the RSOnar v2 project
Professor Regina Lee and her students involved in the RSOnar v2 project.

Space is occupied by various satellites, rockets and debris known as resident space objects (RSOs), some of which are inactive or broken and can overcrowd space environments or interfere with space missions and assets. By tracking and monitoring RSOs through the practice of space situational awareness (SSA), scientists can use collected data to inform RSO removal and help establish sustainable space environments.

Joining space surveillance efforts, RSOnar v2, a CubeSat developed by a large team of undergraduate and graduate students in Lee’s Nanosatellite Research Lab, was launched up to the stratosphere to test its SSA abilities. Equipped with four independent imaging systems, RSOnar v2 was propelled to a cruising altitude of 37 kilometres, where it surveyed the stars and captured images of satellites and space debris as they passed by, using a dual-purpose star tracker concept.

“We collected a lot of data during this space mission and are now working on processing the images we obtained from the flight,” says Randa Qashoa, RSOnar v2 project manager and PhD candidate in earth and space science. “The images will be used by many members of the research team to test and verify our algorithms, including RSO detection and attitude determination. We also received a lot of valuable information on the impact of changing camera parameters to enhance the quality of resulting RSO images. This was a large leap forward in proving the dual-purpose star tracker concept for future space missions.”

In addition, this mission served as an important experiential learning opportunity for all students involved, promoting teamwork, critical thinking and skill building.

“As project manager, I learned many skills throughout this mission, from planning to operations,” says Qashoa. “My coding skills were improved through testing and debugging various components and I also developed my soft skills like team building and communication. The experience I gained from this mission was invaluable to my personal growth.”

Miniature Imaging Fabry-Perot Spectrometer (MIFPS)

Professor Jinjun Shan and his students involved in the MIFPS project
Professor Jinjun Shan and his students involved in the MIFPS project.

Supervised by Shan’s Spacecraft Dynamics Control and Navigation (SDCN) Lab, a team of student researchers ranging from the undergraduate to postdoctoral level developed the scientific instrument called the Miniature Imaging Fabry-Perot Spectrometer (MIFPS) to take accurate, high-resolution measurements of the molecular oxygen atmospheric band. These measurements provide useful information on various parameters that can help improve understanding of cloud and aerosol properties and inform solutions for climate and air quality concerns.

In preparation for its voyage above the clouds, MIFPS underwent extensive calibration and control tests to ensure the instrument demonstrated greater function than its predecessor, which was tested during a stratospheric balloon launch in 2017. Specifically, the team aimed to improve the finesse of MIFPS, a parameter used to define the accuracy of measurements.

“Our payload was launched successfully into the stratosphere, and we were able to acquire some data,” says Ingredy Gabriela Gomes Carmo, a master of science candidate in space engineering. “We also managed to establish successful wireless communication with our payload during the launch. This was a great opportunity for me to work on a high-profile project with an amazing team. Before joining this project, I had no knowledge of Fabry-Perot Spectrometers, piezoelectric actuators and the system optics involved, but I now have a better understanding of how these systems work. I also gained understanding on how space missions are designed and had the opportunity to work closely with personnel from the Canadian Space Agency and Centre National d’Études Spatiales.”

In addition to data acquisition, the research team successfully reached their goal of increasing the MIFPS finesse to meet the measurement requirements. The next steps for the SDCNLab are to fix the hardware issues encountered during the flight and re-fly the instrument. The team also hopes to implement new controllers to improve the instrument performance for future missions.

VR, immersive teaching strengthens York’s partnership with Bauhaus

child using virtual reality goggles

By Elaine Smith

The 20-year institutional partnership between York University and the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in Germany has been re-energized by a recent collaboration on advancing immersive teaching through gamification and virtual reality (VR).

When researchers at Bauhaus wanted to share their work in immersive, multi-user VR with colleagues outside of Germany earlier this year, they turned to York University, an institutional partner for more than 20 years.

Jadidi with VR
Mojgan Jadidi with VR equipment.

Mojgan Jadidi, an associate professor of civil engineering who works with extended reality (XR) tools in her GeoVA Lab, was intrigued when teaching and learning colleagues at the Lassonde School of Engineering referred the inquiry to her, given her own work with VR. She invited Anton Lammert and Tony Zöppig, researchers working for the head of the Virtual Reality and Visualization Research Group at Bauhaus, to spend a week at York and present a public workshop focused on immersive teaching and virtual reality.

“We discussed different educational applications for immersive, multi-user virtual reality,” said Lammert. “We focused on lecture scenarios, as well as guided tour scenarios, and discussed how immersive recordings (recordings of all interactions that happened in virtual reality) could be used for research and educational purposes.”

The discussion led several interested undergraduate students to approach Jadidi afterward and, as a result, she has recruited new research assistants. At the same time, the Bauhaus researchers also made some new connections at York and revitalized their relationship with York International.

Outside of the lecture, the German team spent time collaborating and exchanging ideas with Jadidi’s lab team. “The visit was a stepping stone for broader collaboration between our labs,” said Jadidi. “We’re aiming to implement their algorithm and concepts in game development to enhance our games for multi-players. There was a lot of knowledge exchanged; they are teaching VR using a VR platform and I teach engineering through VR, so this enriches us both.

“Researchers from other universities bring a different mindset with them, and it re-energizes our students and faculty.”

The new connection prompted Jadidi to encourage one of her research assistants, Alexandro Di Nunzio, to apply for a scholarship to study at Bauhaus this fall, so he’s preparing to leave for Weimar, Germany in September.

Di Nunzio, who is also a master’s candidate in digital media, met the visiting researchers and was impressed by their work.

“Once I met them, I became interested in their work on multi-player VR applications,” said Di Nunzio, “and then I learned that they’re teaching a class about developing virtual reality applications using their multi-player VR framework. We did a little work together while they were here, and when they voiced interest in having me come to Bauhaus, I hastily applied for the scholarship.”

Di Nunzio will study at Bauhaus from October to February, taking the course taught by Lammert and Zöppig, and will incorporate his new knowledge into his master’s research project. He is working on finding a way to implement his current research on real-time audio analysis and music visualization into a multi-player virtual reality setting.

“My main goal while abroad is to become very familiar with VR development,” he said.

Jadidi is pleased that Di Nunzio is taking advantage of an existing partnership – which epitomizes York University’s Internationalization and Global Engagement Strategy – to enhance his own skills and knowledge, as is Lammert.

“The framework exists, so why not use it?” Jadidi said.

Lammert agreed. “Through this exchange, we hope that the student exchange between our two universities will be strengthened,” he said.

York leads research initiative to explore populism in Canada

Observatory of Populism in Canada

By Ashley Goodfellow Craig, editor, YFile

York University will lead a new initiative that aims to increase understanding of the impacts of populism on Canadian politics.

Launched Sept. 27 at York’s Glendon Campus, the Observatory of Populism in Canada is a first-of-its-kind research endeavour that will work to generate, support and highlight empirical and theoretical research on populism’s role in Canadian society.

Rémi Vivès
Rémi Vivès
photograph of York Professor Emily Laxer
Emily Laxer

The Observatory is led by Emily Laxer (associate professor of sociology at Glendon and York Research Chair in Populism, Rights and Legality) in collaboration with Rémi Vivès (assistant professor of economics at Glendon) and Efe Peker (assistant professor of sociology and political science at the University of Ottawa), and supports the University’s priority to advance research on compelling developments of our time.

“There is a great deal of confusion and debate about what populism means, how it manifests and what its impacts are,” says Laxer. “The Observatory’s overarching objective is to bring clarity and specificity to the conversation about populism in Canada through robust social scientific research, for the benefit of researchers, the media and the interested public.”

Populism, which researchers say is globally on the rise, is the notion that society can be divided into two conflicting groups: the pure “people”; and the corrupt “elite,” who are thought to undermine the general will. Data from Google Trends published in an Observatory brief shows that searches of “populism in Canada” have increased dramatically in number since 2016 – the year that saw Britain exit the European Union (“Brexit”) and the U.S. election of Donald Trump. The highest peaks in interest were recorded in 2018, the year the People’s Party of Canada was founded, and 2022, during the “Freedom Convoy.”

And, despite a growing interest, Laxer says there remains a lack of clarity about what populism means, and about the distinct, context-dependent ways that it manifests in Canada.

“The Observatory of Populism in Canada aims to address this by promoting and generating original research that elucidates the manifold dimensions of populism in Canadian political life,” she says.

The demand for research on the topic is urgent; until recently, a widespread narrative of Canadian “exceptionalism” held that Canada had not seen the rise in populist parties and movements witnessed elsewhere in the world. This, says Laxer, downplays the multiple, ideologically and regionally diverse expressions of populism in Canadian history and precludes a clear understanding of populism’s role in Canada today.

The Observatory grew out of, and is partially funded by, the York Research Chair in Populism, Rights and Legality, held by Laxer. One of its collaborators, Vivès, is working with the Observatory to develop a large-scale database that will enable the use of advanced quantitative analysis techniques to study manifestations of, and support for, populist framing on social media in Canada.

The Observatory team also includes a number of researchers – among them several York graduate and undergraduate students who are pursuing independent research related to the theme of populism, in both Canada and elsewhere.

The Observatory is a public-facing, collaborative endeavour. Further information, including research findings, can be found at yorku.ca/research/robarts/observatory-populism. Members of the York community are encouraged to send any inquiries to observatory.populism@yorku.ca. 

Exceptional scholars earn Dahdaleh Global Health Graduate Scholarships

Global health

Ten scholars will advance York University’s growing global health research community as recipients of the 2023-24 Dahdaleh Global Health Graduate Scholarship.

The program was created to support graduate research and related scholarly and creative activities in line with the three themes of the Dahdaleh Institute: planetary health; global health and humanitarianism; and global health foresighting. The scholarship is granted annually to graduate students who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement in global health research.

This year, the Dahdaleh Institute renews seven exceptional scholars and welcomes three new graduate students from the Faculty of Graduate Studies, the Lassonde School of Engineering and Osgoode Hall Law School.

2023-2024 Dahdaleh graduate scholarship recipients
2023-24 Dahdaleh graduate scholarship recipients

This year’s new recipients are:

Alexandra Scott – The Myth of “Good Enough”: Law, Engineering, and Autonomous Weapons Systems

Scott is a PhD student, Dahdaleh Global Health Graduate Scholar, and Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council doctoral Fellow at the Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. Scott’s work explores the development and deployment of autonomous weapon systems (also known as “killer robots”) under international law and the role that engineers play in both.

“Beyond providing me with the financial means to pursue my PhD studies, my involvement with the Dahdaleh Institute has already allowed me to not only collaborate with and learn from esteemed academics, but become involved with research areas I had long hoped to delve into but could never quite figure out how,” says Scott. “The Dahdaleh Institute has already opened several doors to me and I am thankful to be part of such a welcoming and supportive program.”

Caroline Duncan – Optimizing Water Safety in Cambridge Bay Using Participatory System Dynamics

Duncan is a PhD candidate in civil engineering with a strong focus on optimizing drinking water in the Arctic using participatory approaches to system dynamics modelling. As part of the Lassonde School of Engineering, and under the guidance of Professor Stephanie Gora, her research seeks to understand the complex factors that affect the quality and accessibility of drinking water in the Arctic using an interdisciplinary and participatory approach.

Through her research, Duncan will work closely with the Municipality of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, collaborating with community members, government and non-governmental organization stakeholders involved with drinking water from source to tap. Through this collaboration, a model will be developed to test treatment and policy interventions to optimize drinking water safety.

Eyram Agbe – Digital deprivation: ICT education and social vulnerability in Ghana

Agbe is a master’s student in the Development Studies program. Her research seeks to understand the diverse psychosocial impacts of COVID-19 on basic school teachers in Accra, Ghana, and how these factors affect their ability to support new curriculum implementation as schools have returned to in-person classes. This study seeks to centre the critical role that social vulnerability plays in education, specifically how teachers’ health outcomes are situated within contentions over techno-political visions by stakeholders.

With the commencement of a new school year, the Dahdaleh Institute is excited to see the continued excellence and remarkable research of all the Dahdaleh Graduate Scholars. Those renewed will be exploring the following research areas:

  • Hillary Birch – More than Access: The urban governance of water quality in Lusaka, Zambia;
  • Michael De Santi – Improving Water Safety in Humanitarian Response with a Novel AI-Enabled Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment Model;
  • Nawang Yanga – Tuberculosis in Tibetan Refugee Settlements in India: Insights into Lived Experiences;
  • Nilanjana Ganguli – Assessing community resilience to the gendered health impacts of climate change in Malawi’s Lake Chilwa Basin;
  • Raphael Aguiar – Urban Political Ecologies of AMR and other interdependent threats;
  • Sukriti Singh – Building a Model of Global Mental Health Governance to Support the Mental Health of Health Professionals; and
  • Yuliya Chorna – Anthropology of global health policy-making and financing of Tuberculosis response.

To learn more about the research projects graduate student scholars are undertaking, visit yorku.ca/dighr/ten-exceptional-scholars-awarded-2023-2024-dahdaleh-global-health-graduate-scholarships.

Students earn awards for advancing work in Canadian studies

FEATURED image Research theses

By Ashley Goodfellow Craig, editor, YFile

York University’s Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies has announced the winners of two prestigious academic awards recognizing the best graduate dissertation and undergraduate paper in a fourth-year course that advances knowledge of Canada.

The Barbara Godard Prize for the Best York University Dissertation in Canadian Studies recipient is Min Ah (Angie) Park for “Diversity in ‘the Korean Way’: Transcultural Identities in Contemporary Diasporic Korean Literature and Media in North America.”

The recipient of the Odessa Prize for the best undergraduate paper in a fourth-year course is Christine Cooling for “Reimagining Broadcasting Policy in a Networked Canada: Debating Digital Sovereignty and Democratic Reform.”

The Barbara Godard Prize

Min Ah Park
Min Ah Park

Park, who is currently a postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Gender & the Economy at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, completed her doctorate in English at York University in 2022. During her studies at York, she also completed dual graduate diplomas in world literature (from the Department of English) and Asian studies (from the York Centre for Asian Research).

She is a recipient of the Mitacs Elevate Postdoctoral Fellowship, and her research focuses on the methods and best practices of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training in corporate environments.

Park’s winning thesis, titled “Diversity in ‘the Korean Way’: Transcultural Identities in Contemporary Diasporic Korean Literature and Media in North America,” explores literary and visual media representations of diasporic Koreans in Canada and the U.S., largely since 2010.

Her thesis, she says, demonstrates how these representations reflect the complex and evolving ways that Korean immigrants and descendants have been reimagining their identities beyond persisting stereotypes and across national and geographical borders, while grappling with local and global effects of racism, colonialism and capitalism.

“I particularly look at women’s narratives (in the form of memoirs and novels) and humour in television shows to examine how diasporic Korean identity is made complex by the movements between individual and communal identity construction, simultaneous experiences of exclusion and inclusion, and forces of capitalist markets and competing geopolitical histories,” says Park, adding that she chose this line of inquiry because, in recent years, she has been fascinated by the growing representation of Koreans and diasporic Koreans across diverse media industries.

Her thesis further aims to address a lack of knowledge and scholarly discussion regarding diasporic Korean expression and experiences, especially in Canada, and further in the U.S.

“I am so happy and honoured to receive this award because the three values of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies aptly reflect my personal aims for writing my dissertation: knowing Canada through people; situating Canada in its places; and connecting Canada to the world,” she said. “To be recognized by the prestigious Barbara Godard Prize gives me the pleasure and honour of knowing that I was able to contribute to these values through my research on a subject so near and dear to my own identity as a first-generation immigrant and person of Korean heritage in Canada.”

The Odessa Prize

Christine Cooling
Christine Cooling

Cooling, now a master’s student at York University and Toronto Metropolitan University, studying communication and culture, is a graduate of the Communication & Media Studies program in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.

Cooling shares that she chose her undergraduate program “without knowing virtually anything about media studies,” but “became quickly and deeply fascinated by how communication policy shapes ideologies surrounding national culture.”

In her current work as a master’s student, she plans to expand her thesis research on Canadian broadcasting policy to dive deeper into the relationship between historical and contemporary policymaking debates.

The Odessa Prize was awarded to Cooling for her thesis titled “Reimagining Broadcasting Policy in a Networked Canada: Debating Digital Sovereignty and Democratic Freedom,” which interrogated Twitter and online legacy newspaper coverage of the controversial Online Streaming Act, Bill C-11, that was recently given royal assent and made into law in Canada.

“This bill sought to bring online streaming platforms under the scope of traditional broadcasting regulation, which has covered radio and television since the 20th century and had not been amended since 1991. These media perspectives offered valuable insight into public opinion on what role online streaming services should play in Canada’s digital media environment, as well as what role the Canadian government should play in regulating internet platforms such as Netflix – an undoubtedly challenging task,” says Cooling.

This line of inquiry was of particular interest to her because of both the history of Canadian broadcasting policy as well as contemporary debates on Canadian broadcasting policy.

“Winning the Odessa Prize is truly one of my proudest accomplishments as a student with a passion for researching Canadian communication policy – a research area that may not always sound exciting but is incredibly rich and controversial,” says Cooling. “To me, the Odessa Prize affirms the importance of my research and recognizes my dedication to the field; upon finding out I won the prize, I felt instantly inspired and motivated to pursue a future career in academia, which is my ultimate goal.”

Applications open for Commercialization Fellowship

man using tablet with graphic image of lightbulb

The Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation (VPRI) will open the call for applications for the Commercialization Fellowship program that supports projects with commercial potential from across York University on Sept. 7.

The fellowship, organized by Innovation York, is open to postgraduate students and postdoctoral Fellows with approval from their academic supervisor. It provides $7,500 in funding to support commercialization of research. Applications close on Oct. 31.

The fellowships aim to support the research commercialization process by providing strategic, short-term funding to assist in the development of commercially viable projects. The goal is to prepare projects for commercial engagement with industry and/or community partners, with a view to licensing and/or co-development of the project intellectual property.

Visit the Commercialization Fellowship website to review program details and eligibility, and for more details on how to apply.

Two York researchers receive Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships

gold cup with golf star confetti coming out of it

Following a highly competitive selection process, York University postdoctoral Fellows Chiara Camponeschi and Ashlee Christofferson have been named among this year’s recipients of the prestigious Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships.

Awarded by the Government of Canada, the Banting Fellowship is valued at $70,000 per year for two years and supports postdoctoral researchers who will positively contribute to the country’s economic, social and research-based growth. The award is open to scholars who are devoted to research in three areas: health, natural sciences and/or engineering, and social sciences and/or humanities.

The ambitious work of Camponeschi and Christoffersen falls into major themes identified in York’s Strategic Research Plan, such as forging a just and equitable world, and supports York’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Chiara Camponeschi

Chiara Camponeschi
Chiara Camponeschi

Camponeschi is a postdoctoral Fellow conducting research at the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research. Her project, “Turning Moments of Crisis Into Moments of Care,” aims to rethink the approach to resilience and recovery in this age of systemic crises. By applying this model to the study of urban climate change, Camponeschi’s research provides practical solutions that can be leveraged in a variety of settings, from offering policy prompts for the design of infrastructures of care to making contributions to capacity-building and community practice.

“The lens of crisis has continued to be invoked to reinforce a reactive stance to change, one driven by narratives of enclosure, disconnection and austerity that are harmful to society – especially to already vulnerable groups,” says Camponeschi. “Crises, however, can be richly generative moments of rupture that reveal contradictions, incite action and stimulate new visions. They present us with the opportunity to turn moments of crisis into moments of care.”

Ashlee Christoffersen

Ashlee Christoffersen
Ashlee Christoffersen

Christoffersen is a postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Politics. Her proposed research aims to increase our understanding of how intersectionality can be applied in both policy and practice, with a unique focus on non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Titled “Operationalizing Intersectionality: Equality policy and NGOs,” the project aims to achieve positive change by highlighting the limitations of some existing NGO approaches and by impacting Canadian policy-makers’ interpretations of intersectionality.

“The question of how to apply ‘intersectionality,’ the Black feminist theory that social inequalities shape one another, is one that many across different fields have long struggled with,” explains Christoffersen. “This is because the predominant approach to inequalities has been to address these separately and thus ineffectively.”

Christoffersen underscores the importance of her research in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, which both deepened pre-existing inequalities and raised awareness of how they are intersecting.

The application deadline for the next round of Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships is Sept. 20. Learn more at yorku.ca/gradstudies/postdoctoral-fellows/funding/bpf-competition.

Students awarded Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

3d golden star golden with lighting effect on black background. Template luxury premium award design. Vector illustration

The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, presented by the Government of Canada, aims to support first-rate doctoral students studying social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and engineering, and health. This year, seven York University students have been named Vanier Scholars, earning them $50,000 annually for up to three years to support their research projects.

Candidates are evaluated based on three equally weighted selection criteria: academic excellence, research potential and leadership. This year’s scholars have proposed innovative solutions to challenging problems through their projects, each of which spurs positive change in their community, both locally and globally.

Marissa Magneson (Cree-Métis, citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario), Faculty of Education

Marissa Magneson
Marissa Magneson

Magneson’s application was ranked second out of 200 at the national competition for Vanier Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council files. Her proposed research contributes to the ongoing discourse of decolonial and artistic pedagogy, research-creation and Indigenous beadwork practices by challenging the ways education can look both inside and outside of the classroom.

Her project specifically seeks to uncover how beading supports Indigenous students in reclaiming culture, strengthening identity, fostering community, healing intergenerational traumas and developing a sense of belonging, while also contributing to Indigenous pedagogy through creative storytelling and supporting reconciliation.

“Beadwork as pedagogy actively responds to the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action, suggesting that beading not only strengthens identity but also fosters healing and reconciliation,” shares Magneson.

Greg Procknow, critical disability studies

Greg Procknow
Greg Procknow

Procknow’s doctoral research illuminates the experiential claims of inpatients found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder (NCRMD) to explore whether education leads to decarceration and to re-evaluate education as a non-psychiatric method for recovery.

His research will document the educative experiences of inpatients granted day-release privileges to pursue post-secondary education on campus to uncover what factors have facilitated or inhibited their inclusion in educational spaces, how education has advanced their recovery plans and how these inpatients perceive education’s role in qualifying them for an absolute or conditional discharge.

“This research is vital to learning how pedagogy impacts rates of decarceration, supports the reintegration of NCRMD into the community, reduces recidivism and rehospitalizations, and nurtures recovery,” opines Procknow.

Cole Swanson, environmental studies

Cole Swanson
Cole Swanson

Swanson’s PhD study will use material-based art to explore the dynamic ecology of a bird colony with a stigmatized reputation, the double-crested cormorants (Nannopterum auritum). Working against dangerous imaginaries on cormorants fuelled by religious, settler-colonial, and extractivist histories and politics, Swanson will examine life in the colony to illuminate the entanglements between avian, human and more-than-human worlds.

“Through socially-engaged art practice, the apparent divides between our species will be broken down, stoking empathy and a community-based investment in the well-being and protection of these ancient creatures and their colony constituents with whom we share our lands and resources,” says Swanson. 

The project will culminate in a multisensory art exhibition composed of photo, video and sound recorded from the colony, which will be shared with a diverse public for analysis useful in both scientific and social contexts.

Areej Alshammiry, sociology

Areej Alshammiry
Areej Alshammiry

Alshammiry’s project explores the practice of “double punishment,” where non-citizens or foreign-born individuals in Canada are criminalized and rendered deportable. The research particularly focuses on double punishment’s impact on those who are unremovable because they are stateless but inadmissible on the grounds of criminality.

“Driven by the politics of the War on Terror, these processes lead to increasing cases of statelessness by decisions like citizenship stripping of foreign-born persons or deprivation of citizenship to those without one,” states Alshammiry. “However, such measures often target already marginalized communities and are often arbitrary, as they are driven by racial, ethnic, religious and national discrimination.”

This innovative project undertakes the important work of revealing the lived experiences of stateless individuals and can positively contribute to policy frameworks on statelessness and abolition.

Jordan Krywonos, physics and astronomy

Jordan Krywonos
Jordan Krywonos

The PhD study proposed by Krywonos considers gravitational waves, which are ripples propagating across the fabric of our universe. As the gravitational waves travel, they carry information about their source, providing an avenue to study previously inaccessible sources such as an orbiting pair of primordial black holes that are proposed to compose a portion of dark matter. Thus, this groundbreaking research on gravitational waves could help illuminate the nature of dark matter.

“Given that the identity of dark matter is among the most important outstanding questions in cosmology, discovering primordial black holes would revolutionize our understanding of the universe, and provide a new means of probing its origin,” reveals Krywonos.

Austin Martins-Robalino, civil engineering

Austin Martins-Robalino
Austin Martins-Robalino

Martins-Robalino’s project investigates how new and emerging materials can be used in place of traditional materials when constructing shear walls, which are a key influence on how structures perform when subjected to loading from wind or seismic events. Martins-Robalino proposes that replacing traditional reinforcing steel rebar with a smart material like superelastic shape memory alloys and concrete with engineered cementitious composites could provide insight into making more damage-resilient and sustainable structures that recentre themselves after loading.

“Such resilient infrastructure would inherently improve the sustainability of structures, reducing the equivalent carbon emissions over their service life,” says Martins-Robalino.

This cutting-edge project can help with progress towards safer and more sustainable construction and communities in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Anna Waisman, clinical psychology

Anna Waisman
Anna Waisman

Waisman’s proposed research seeks to provide a novel, easily accessible approach to treating chronic post-surgical pain (CPSP). A study conducted at York University and the Toronto General Hospital, published in the journal Pain, with Waisman as the lead author, found that patients who recall a greater number of event-specific, pain-related autobiographical memories before surgery are significantly less likely to develop CPSP up to one year later.

Building on these findings, Waisman’s PhD project will develop a remotely-delivered intervention that will train individuals to be more specific in the retrieval of their memories after surgery, with the aim of preventing chronic post-surgical pain.

“This work addresses a significant public health need. By creating a brief and easily accessible intervention, our plan is to deliver effective pain management to virtually anyone with a computer,” shares Waisman.

New online workshop supports Black graduate student success

Woman laptop computer FEATURED

York University’s Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS) is hosting its inaugural Fostering Black Scholars Scholarship Success Workshop for incoming and current graduate students on Monday, Aug. 28 from 10 a.m. to noon. This online event aims to create a welcoming space to share experiences and resources and build peer-to-peer connections.

One of the goals of the workshop is to share new funding opportunities that support Black scholars, including the Bennett Family Graduate Scholarship for Black and Indigenous Students, as well as many other scholarships and awards. Attendees will learn how to complete award applications and leverage all the resources available at York, both internally and externally. Additionally, the workshop will provide attendees with resources and guides for developing successful grant proposals, writing reference letters for scholarship applications and making their applications stand out.

Students will also learn about the self-identification forms and questionnaires implemented by FGS. The optional self-identification questions in award applications are important to determine eligibility for funding opportunities targeting specific equity-deserving groups and to implement funding equalization measures. Students can include relevant information in the Special Circumstances form on their applications to explain any personal circumstances (including gender, race, diversity, ability, sexuality, health disparities, educational access etc.) that have played a role in shaping their path, to allow for a fair assessment of their research productivity.

The workshop will feature talks from seasoned Black faculty members, including: Professor Andrea Davis, Department of Humanities; Professor Jude Dzevela Kong, Department of Mathematics & Statistics; and Professor Tokunbo Ojo, FGS associate dean of students.

Attendees will also hear from a panel of graduate scholars who hold prestigious awards, including: Joseph Agyapong, a PhD student in mechanical engineering and a 2023 Susan Mann Dissertation Awardee; Balikisu Osman, a PhD student in environmental studies and a 2020 Vanier Scholar; and Danielle Washington, a PhD student in nursing and a 2023 Canadian Institutes of Health Research Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral Program awardee. The panellists will answer questions and speak about their personal experiences, scholarship successes and how to make the most of available resources.

This online event is hosted by the FGS Scholarships & Awards team, led by Richolette Freckleton, associate director of research, scholarships and awards. York University faculty and staff are encouraged to share event details with their incoming and current graduate students. For more information and to register, visit: tinyurl.com/572pp67v.