Welcome to Brainstorm for January 2018

Brainstorm, a special edition of YFile publishing on the first Friday of every month, showcases research and innovation at York University. It offers compelling and accessible, feature-length stories about the world-leading and policy-relevant work of York’s academics and researchers across all disciplines and faculties, and encompasses both pure and applied research.

In the January 2018 issue:

  • York-led research shows racialized and Indigenous university faculty score low on power, prestige and influence; points the way to policy change at the university level and a greater institutional commitment to equity.
  • Professor Christine Till undertakes a pilot study that suggests memory training is feasible for patients with early-stage Huntington disease. This could lead to new directions for treatment.
  • Deborah McGregor, a York University professor and Canada Research Chair, undertakes remarkable project that provides new and unique place for dialogue on Indigenous environmental justice.
  • When Theatre Professor Eric Armstrong got the call from his agent about made-up science fiction languages, he was up for the challenge. In this Q&A, he talks about his contribution to a constructed language for a hit television series.
  • Policy-relevant research from York University’s Faculty of Health reframes mainstream obesity discussion to highlight socioeconomic inequity  ̶  nothing short of a paradigm shift.

Launched in January 2017, Brainstorm is produced out of the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation in partnership with Communications & Public Affairs; overseen by Megan Mueller, manager, Research Communications; and edited by Jenny Pitt-Clark, the YFile editor.