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Meet York University’s latest commercialization Fellows

man using tablet with graphic image of lightbulb

Four budding researchers completed York University’s Commercialization Fellowship program – now in its second year – at the end of April.  

The Commercialization Fellowship program is funded by the innovation arm of the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation at York. The program runs from January to April and provides graduate students and postdoctoral Fellows support and assistance to develop their academic research into a commercially viable product.   

The Fellows receive $7,500 as stipend, with a quarter of the funds earmarked for research activities like prototype testing, proof of concept projects, or validation studies. They also participate in workshops and seminars that focus on various topics related to commercialization, including design thinking, intellectual property, licensing, and partnerships. Additionally, Fellows work at and receive advice on patent searching, industry outreach, and pitching.  

“The fellowship provides a valuable opportunity to support and train the next generation of innovators and supports them on their entrepreneurial journey,” said Suraj Shah, associate director, commercialization and strategic partnerships.  

Aspire spoke with the four Fellows about the fellowship program and their products.

Kajanan Kanathipan
Kajanan Kanathipan

Kajanan Kanathipan, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Project title: Modular single-stage step-up photovoltaic (PV) converter with integrated power balancing feature 

Kanathipan’s doctoral research focuses on the development of new extraction techniques for renewable energy, particularly solar power. Solar energy can be tricky to harness for power due to varying atmospheric conditions, like cloud cover.  

Kanathipan is determined to find a way to circumvent this issue and build a device that not only streamlines the conversion process, but can maximize power extraction under all operating conditions. 

Solar energy starts with sunlight, which is made up of photons. Photovoltaic (PV) panels convert the sunlight into electrical currents. This is then converted to electricity that supplies power for machines, homes and buildings to run on. It’s a two-step process involving different converters. 

Kanathipan’s idea would reduce the power conversion to a single step, using the same converter. This converter would also be able to better balance and store power from the PV panels to not stress or drain one converter more than the others.  

The invention would allow the entire conversion system to safely operate under different weather conditions. This would reduce equipment costs and produce a greater amount of energy for PV plants.  

“We are looking to design and control photovoltaic conversion well enough that it provides an innovative solution in the solar technology industry,” says Kanathipan, who works out of the Advanced Power Electronics Laboratory for Sustainable Energy Research (PELSER) and is supervised by John Lam, associate professor at the Lassonde School of Engineering.  

Kanathipan says the fellowship program has provided education and training not found in the lab, like the workshops on how to protect your intellectual property, build business partnerships, or how to determine a potential customer.   

Right now, Kanathipan is working on a scaled down prototype, a key component of his dissertation.   

Kanathipan is a PhD student in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Lassonde School of Engineering.

Stephanie Cheung
Stephanie Cheung

Stephanie Cheung, Faculty of Education
Project title: VoteBetter 

Cheung created the VoteBetter app, a SaaS (software as a service) product, which aims to drive civic engagement in student politics. The application operates as a virtual election space for post-secondary student constituents, candidates and incumbents, and provides a central source for locating, contributing to and comparing campaign priorities. Users can view candidates’ profiles, submit questions, and view, rank and comment on crowd-sourced campus issues. Once the election is over, the app tracks the campaign promises of elected representatives and serves as a community forum.  

Under the supervision of Natalia Balyasnikova, assistant professor in the Faculty of Education, Cheung’s master’s research examines contemporary trends in political participation on diverse campuses in the Greater Toronto Area and explores how undergraduate student election voter engagement and turnout might be improved. The idea for the app was inspired by her research and Cheung’s own experience in student politics, in addition to a former role as a public servant with the provincial government.  

“VoteBetter can be used as a tool for students to deepen dialogue and focus more on the substantive issues their communities face than surface-level politics,” Cheung says. “Student groups can wield hefty budgets and their constituents deserve well-informed leaders who understand pertinent issues and are equipped to pursue sustainable change.”  

Cheung says the fellowship program has offered structure and guidance as she works through her research and development phase. She says she is interested in the commercialization of her master’s research not for profit, but to extend the impact of her academic work.   

“I am often asking myself how research can live off the page,” she says. “And I’m interested in my work facilitating opportunities for co-constructing knowledge and bridging theory to practice.”  

Currently, Cheung’s VoteBetter app is being validated with end users.  

Cheung is a part-time master’s student in the Faculty of Education and full-time staff at York where she works as manager, student success and stakeholder engagement at Calumet and Stong Colleges in the Faculty of Health.

Mehran Sepah Mansoor
Mehran Sepah Mansoor

Mehran Sepah Mansoor, Mechanical Engineering
Project title: A method of fabricating one-dimensional photonic crystal optical filters  

Mansoor works out of York University’s Advanced Materials for Sustainable Energy Technologies Laboratory. His research at the AM-SET Lab has led to him inventing a novel fabrication method for a photonic crystal optical filter, which can transmit sunlight over a broad range of wavelengths.  

Mansoor, under the supervision of AM-SET Lab’s founder Paul G. O’Brian at the Lassonde School of Engineering, believes the invention could have several applications, but it could be particularly useful to improve thermal energy storage systems, particularly those that store solar thermal energy.   

Thermal energy storage involves preventing losses via heat conduction, convection, and radiation. Mansoor’s photonic crystal filter more effectively controls solar radiation and thermal losses simultaneously and can transmit sunlight to be absorbed and converted to heat in a thermal storage medium.  

The filter can also reflect radiative heat from the medium, which has longer wavelengths than sunlight, minimizing heat losses. The stored energy can then act as a power source later when sunlight is no longer available.  

“The innovation is the way the materials in the photonic crystal filters have been fabricated and the treatment applied to them to achieve the optical properties needed to refract or bend light in a desired manner, as well as the way we have been able to stack all of the materials together,” said Mansoor. “Our method eliminates unwanted energy absorption in the photonic crystal while improving the energy transmission of the filter.”  

Mansoor cites the program’s design thinking workshop as a highlight of his time as a Fellow. He says the fellowship also provided him a greater understanding of how to patent technology. This invention marks his first patent.  

So far, Mansoor has completed simulations of the invention and has some preliminary results. He is in the early stages of creating a prototype.  

Mansoor is a second-year master’s student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Lassonde School of Engineering.

Abbas Panahi
Abbas Panahi

Abbas Panahi, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Project title: A novel portable platform based on field-effect transistor integrated with microfluidics for biosensing applications 

Panahi’s academic work studying biosensors – a device to detect and target molecules – grew stronger after a PhD internship at Mitacs. Now in his fourth year as a PhD student and under the supervision of Professor Ebrahim Ghafar-Zadeh at the Lassonde School of Engineering, Panahi has invented a new biosensing platform that can detect disease.  

The platform uses sensor technology that can be used on a portable device, like a smartphone, to analyze the specific concentration of RNA or any biomarker in a saliva sample.   

“This technology has huge potential for medical application,” Panahi says. “The device could be used in hospitals for non-expert users to run clinical tests and help detect viruses quickly and easily.”  

The portable sensor was developed entirely at York University’s Biologically Inspired Sensors and Actuators (BioSA) Laboratory – from the testing and modelling, to all the engineering – by a team of students and research associates under the direction, guidance and conceptualization of Ghafar-Zadeh. The development process involved a variety of tasks, including in-house testing, modelling and engineering design. 

For Panahi, the fellowship program gave him a complete education for what it takes to start a science-based venture. He says the fellowship allowed him to fully consider every aspect of the commercialization process and develop a strong business model. He also says the program’s teachings on how to match the technology with market needs was invaluable.  

Currently, Panahi is working on technology market matching, and readying the device to undergo clinical tests in the next year.   

Panahi is a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Lassonde School of Engineering.  

Student-led waste diversion project celebrates first compost harvest

Hands holding seeds and soil

By Alexander Huls, deputy editor, YFile

The Cross-Campus Capstone Classroom (C4) student-led project to create a full-cycle composing system at York University will soon distribute a metric ton of compost across the Keele campus, fulfilling its goal to divert organic waste from selected vendors at York.

The project creates a closed-loop system by turning the waste that would otherwise go to landfill into useful compost that can be used on campus.

Danielle Robinson
Danielle Robinson

The upcoming harvest, which began with the 2019 revitalization of the decaying three-tier composting systems in the Maloca Community Garden, is the result of woodchips received from the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, fruit and food from Grocery Checkout in York Lanes, as well as coffee grounds and more from the two Starbucks locations on campus. Partnerships with the businesses, and transportation of the waste to the Maloca composting system with a push cart, was all hands-on experience initiated by the students themselves – a significant objective for C4.

“Our approach to experiential education keeps students in the driver’s seat,” says Danielle Robinson, co-lead of C4. “The more that we let them take the lead, the more it shows them that we believe in them, that we think they have valuable skills and knowledges, and that they can do things in the world that matter.”

Ronan Smith
Ronan Smith

Changing the world, and righting the future, is especially important to the C4 initiative, which aligns its offerings with York’s dedication to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). “We organize all of our projects by SDGs at C4 because it helps students channel their efforts directly towards specific kinds of impacts outside the classroom,” says Robinson.

The C4 students’ composting system will also have a significant impact on campus. “Our whole idea is to keep this closed loop system where we’re getting our waste from campus and then we’re giving it back to campus in one way or another,” says Ronan Smith, a student who has been with the project since it started. Once the compost from the harvest is tested to see how nutrient rich it is, it will be distributed to several nearby recipients such as the community farmers at Maloca Community Gardens and Many Green Hand, a student club. Smith also hopes to have a seed a drive to get interested students set up with pots, plants and soil. Anything left over, would be distributed to different grounds across York, such as garden beds like those outside the Health, Nursing and Environmental Studies building.

From there, the group’s ambitions turn towards the future, Smith says. They want to scale up by exploring row composting or worm bins to create a greater diversity of compost sources, as well as processing more waste with composting hubs around the University in high density spots – like Central Square – to streamline the process. Generating more awareness will also be a goal, not only to draw in new students and volunteers, but illustrate the composting system’s success. “Our goal is showing that this can work, like how in just under a year we can process over a metric ton of waste,” Smith says.

They don’t need to show it can work to Robinson, however, who has been impressed by the efforts of Smith and his fellow compost collaborators. “I am constantly blown away by what our students can do, what they dream up, and the drive they have to create change in the world,” she says.

York Lions football captain drafted by CFL’s Roughriders

Matt Dean and his teammates at a 2022 York Lions football game

Matt Dean – a Lions football linebacker, captain through the 2022 season and graduate student at York University – was selected by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Canadian Football League (CFL) 2023 draft.

Matt Dean close-up portrait
Matt Dean

Dean garnered no shortage of attention throughout the Lions’ most recent season, having topped the majority of the team’s defensive statistics this year. Dean led the team in tackles, including 41 solo and an additional 13 assisted, for a total of 47.5. During the Lions’ mid-October bout with the Ottawa Gee Gees, Dean posted a season-high of 11 tackles – 10 solo and two assists. He earned 115 all-time tackles with the Lions – 90 solo and 53 assists. Dean also secured both of the Lions’ interceptions this season and averaged 5.9 tackles per game for a total of four yards lost.

Dean started in all eight of the Lion’s games this year and, for his impressive display throughout, was recognized as the latest Lions football MVP at York’s 54th annual Varsity Athletics Banquet in April.

Having ended his time with the Lions on what is arguably his best season to date, Dean had previously earned himself a variety of coveted accolades during his undergraduate and even high school football careers.

The six-foot-two, 220-pound, Oshawa, Ont. local joined the Lions for the 2018 season, during which he blocked a would-be game-winning field goal attempt to secure a victory against Waterloo. He was also named to the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) 2018 all-rookie team. In 2019, Dean started for all eight games and led the team in tackles for yards lost at 5.5. In 2021, he started for five games and led the Lions for total tackles at 23 – 18 solo and 10 assists. At Monsignor Paul Dwyer Catholic High School, Dean earned consecutive Lake Ontario Secondary School Athletics (LOSSA) gold medals in 2015 and 2016, as well as the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) Eastern Bowl title in 2015.

Dean was selected in the second round of the latest CFL draft, going 21st overall. His newest team – the Saskatchewan Roughriders – are one of the CFL’s preeminent franchises, having won four Grey Cups throughout their history in 1966, 1989, 2007 and most recently in 2013.

This marks the sixth consecutive year that a York Lions footballer has been drafted into the CFL, with Dean being the 10th drafted Lion in that timeframe.

To view the York Lions football schedule for the upcoming season, click here.

York student seeks to improve lives of refugees

By Elaine Smith

After graduating from York this spring, Tegan Hadisi, the daughter of Iranian refugees, will apply what she learned at the University to further study and assist migrants, contributing to a better future for them.

Hadisi’s academic pursuit of refugee studies is inspired, in part, by personal experience. She was born stateless in Turkey, after her parents left Iran, and came to Canada as a toddler. Growing up, she observed the challenges her parents faced learning a new language, finding employment and gaining financial security before finding their feet.

Tegan Hadisi
Tegan Hadisi

“I can only imagine what it is like to be successful in your own country, then be unable to translate your skills when you come somewhere new due to language and finances,” said Hadisi, who heads to the University of Oxford this fall.

Hadisi also struggled. Like many children of the diaspora, she felt stuck between two worlds, never feeling 100 per cent part of the community where she lived, and longing for her parents’ home country even though she never really knew it.

While earning her undergraduate degree at Western University in art history and museum studies, Hadisi’s understanding of the refugee experience led her to serve as president of Western’s chapter of World University Services Canada, an organization that provides refugee students scholarships to attend university in Canada. During the Syrian refugee crisis, “We had an influx of refugees to campus in one year. It was a really unique opportunity to connect to other lived histories,” she said.

“I realized the importance of higher education and access for historically oppressed and minoritized people. I thought about what I could do with this experience.”

Hadisi chose to enroll in York’s Centre for Refugee Studies, which, since its inception in 1988, has been recognized as an international leader in the creation, mobilization, and dissemination of new knowledge that addresses forced migration issues in local, national and global contexts. There she worked towards her second bachelor’s degree, with an honours specialization in human rights and equity studies and a certificate in migration and refugee studies.

During that time, Hadisi volunteered at Matthew House, an organization that offers a range of support services to help refugee claimants establish new lives in Canada. She supervised mock refugee hearings, preparing claimants for the experience. Her ultimate goal was to attend graduate school somewhere with a centre for refugee and migration studies that published solid research. Yvonne Su, an assistant professor in the Department of Equity Studies, encouraged her to apply to the University of Oxford to earn her MPhil in development studies, confident Hadisi would excel there.

“Tegan shows tremendous potential as a scholar,” said Su. “She has exemplary interdisciplinary research skills, strong critical thinking skills and strong academic writing capabilities. In addition, she is passionate about studying topics of displacement and refuge. She has what it takes to succeed at Oxford and I look forward to seeing where her studies will take her.”

Hadisi applied. “Sometimes, you need someone else to tell you just how capable you are,” she said.

While taking a morning walk in early March, she decided to take a quick look at her phone while standing at a street corner and noticed one from Oxford. She assumed it was simply spam until she opened it to find an acceptance letter.

“I was stunned,” Hadisi said. “It must have showed on my face, because a passerby came up to ask me if I was all right.”

Her two-year program at Oxford will begin with courses, followed by research and a thesis. Hadisi is not quite sure where she’s headed, but she is confident that she’ll discover many options. She loves research, but “My goal is to stay connected with the actual experiences of migrants and refugees, not to just sit behind a desk.”

One thing of which Hadisi is certain is that she’s committed to aiding refugees and migrants. Her passion reflects York’s vision of building a better future and creating positive change, as set forth in the University Academic Plan, along with its commitment to advancing global engagement.

“Refugees are so deeply connected to my own identity, and the work feels so important,” Hadisi said. “If I don’t do this, who will? Who is prioritizing these people? All the dehumanizing rhetoric is so inhumane and I can’t stand by and watch it happen.”

“Working with migrants and refugees is a mutual relationship and I feel so fortunate to be part of the process. What we get in return is just as important as what we give, and we have so much to learn from people who continue to be oppressed.”

As for her time at York, Hadisi is grateful. “York offered a fantastic opportunity to pursue the things I cared about and I knew I needed to take the leap,” she said. “I blinked and two years went by because I had such an incredible time at York. I made good friends and had incredibly inspiring professors; York will always have a special place in my heart.”

CJS event explores research gaps in study of Canadian Jewish life

orthodox Jewish men walking through a park

Questions, not answers, about the lives of contemporary Jewish Canadians will be the topic of conversation for an esteemed guest panel at “What We Don’t Know About Canadian Jewish Life,” hosted by York University’s Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies (CJS) on Wednesday, May 17.

What don’t we know about Jewish religious observance habits or changing attitudes toward ideological and political issues? What don’t we know about coast-to-coast-to-coast social and demographic detail or issues of aging, housing, marriage or leisure? What are the known-unknowns and what unknown-unknowns might we uncover for the benefit of deeper understanding and useful knowledge? These are some of the questions pondered by researchers at York’s CJS and beyond.

“Though Canada is home to the fourth largest Jewish population in the world, there’s surprisingly little scholarly research on it. It’s a remarkably diverse, ever-changing and living community,” says David S. Koffman, J. Richard Shiff Chair for the Study of Canadian Jewry, acting director at the CJS and moderator of the upcoming event.

This event will examine how Jewish Canadians, their families, institutions and communities are changing: this sizeable and dynamic diaspora is constantly in flux, yet Jewish Canada remains glaringly understudied. The topics of this event consider the state of both academic and applied social research on contemporary Jewish life in Canada.

“Virtually all scholarly events focus on the things we’ve just learned – they’re about sharing new knowledge. This event is unusual in that it’ll try to map what we don’t yet know. The right questions are, in a sense, harder than the answers,” says Koffman.

What we don't know about Canadian Jewish life vector art poster

“Facilitating this sort of program and hosting the globe’s foremost leaders fits right into the sweet spot for me as the J. Richard Shiff Chair for the Study of Canadian Jewry,” he adds. “These aren’t the questions I normally focus on as a historian, so bringing together social scientists and community policy and planning leaders is really important.”

The panel of leading researchers of Canadian Jewry features: Robert Brym, S. D. Clark Chair in sociology at the University of Toronto; Daniel Held, York alum and chief program officer at the United Jewish Appeal of Greater Toronto; Randal Schnoor, author, researcher and lecturer at York University; and Morton Weinfeld, Chair in Canadian Ethnic Studies at McGill University’s department of sociology.

This roundtable discussion will be led by Koffman and introduced by fellow social researcher of Canada’s Jews, York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton.

Koffman says “The Centre for Jewish Studies is very pleased with our current standing as a true centre for meaningful intellectual engagement about Canada-wide Jewish life, literature, scholarship, culture and politics.

“There are some great academic Jewish studies programs in Canada,” he adds. “But I think we’re the only centre that is trying to curate a platform for the whole nation.”

To register for this free virtual event, click here.

Centre for Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion launches new REDDI series

Equity, diversity, inclusion

In view of the upcoming launch of York University’s Decolonizing, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (DEDI) Strategy, the Centre for Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion (REI) is offering a curated list of summer REDDI sessions, covering a wide range of topics to ensure University community members are prepared to address systemic inequities.

In furthering the goals of the York University Academic Plan and the DEDI Strategy, the Rights, Equity, Diversity, Decolonization & Inclusion (REDDI) certificate workshop sessions are designed to provide opportunities for community members to learn, reflect upon and discuss ways to contribute to an equitable academic environment. Each session will run for approximately 90 minutes and will be offered virtually, to facilitate the attendance of participants on and off campus.

All students, staff and faculty are invited to attend REDDI workshops running from the beginning of June to mid-August. The series will kick off Pride month with a session on building positive spaces on campus and in the workplace. Sessions on bias, microaggressions, organizational change and employment equity will be offered for those interested in completing a full-length certificate, and the popular mini-series workshops will also be offered, which cover topics including challenging ableism, addressing racism and dialogues across difference. The series also features a new French session on ableism called “Démanteler le capacitisme : Briser les barrières à l’accès et l’inclusion.”

Participants who complete three full-length workshops will receive a REDDI series certificate. The 2023 summer workshops are also an opportunity for participants to attend and add on to their requirements for the REDDI mini-series certificates.

REDDI mini-series workshops also offer certificates of completion. For certificates to be awarded following a mini-series, three mini-series workshops plus one full-length workshop must be attended.

Registration for these workshops is required and can be accessed through the YULearn Learning Opportunities website. To learn more about York’s new DEDI strategy, click here.

School of Continuing Studies marks official opening of new building

School of Continuing Studies

York University’s School of Continuing Studies celebrates the official launch of its new, signature home – a state-of-the-art building with a unique, twisted design located at the York University Keele Campus.

“The York University School of Continuing Studies is transforming the Canadian workforce by reinventing traditional models of education and transforming barriers to education into opportunities. Our leading edge, cohort programs are co-developed with industry to develop graduates prepared to thrive in a skills-based economy. Last year alone we delivered more than a million hours of learning,” says Christine Brooks-Cappadocia, interim vice-president of continuing studies at York University.  

The May 1 event is an opportunity for the School of Continuing Studies to formally unveil its new facility – located at 68 The Pond Rd. – to the York University community and showcase how a post-pandemic learning space can blend in-person and virtual learning formats using the latest technology to support the needs of students.

School of Continuing Studies
An interior shot of the new School of Continuing Studies building

The building allows the School more capacity, space and resources to support York University’s Academic Plan 2020-2025. The York University English Language Institute’s pathway programs, for instance, are core to the University’s international student growth and help the University achieve its priority of reaching a 20 to 25 per cent international student population within the next five years.

This new building also enables the School to continue growing its programming and support York’s priority to create 21st century learning opportunities with innovative programs in emerging fields that meet the diverse needs of adult and non-traditional learners.

“The School of Continuing Studies embodies York’s commitment to 21st century learning which identifies access to a high-quality education and global engagement as core components of York’s University Academic Plan,” says York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton. “We have been a leader in the lifelong learning space since our inception and we had the goal to create dedicated space to accommodate the unique needs of continuing education students locally and from abroad, many of whom are seeking to complement degree programs and/or upgrade and reskill in a labour market that is being profoundly impacted by automation and AI.”

The invite-only event to officially mark the building’s opening includes a plenary session with speeches from Lenton and Brooks-Cappadocia, to be followed by a keynote address from world-champion Canadian hurdler, author, TV host and public speaker, Perdita Felicien.

Invited guests will be offered guided tours of the building, networking sessions attended by York University leaders and industry-expert instructors, and the opportunity to visit an exhibit hall with information on the School’s roster of programs.

York University staff and faculty are welcome to visit the new building and experience its features.

After nine years of planning, the School of Continuing Studies opened its doors to students in December 2022, uniting under one roof its programs, staff and students.

School of Continuing Studies
Inside the new School of Continuing Studies building

The building is designed by the architecture firm Perkins + Wills, with architects Safdar Abidi and Andrew Frontini leading the project. The signature twisted architecture of the building symbolizes the evolving nature of post-secondary education today.

The structure is built to ensure complete adherence to sustainability in design. The building is designed to meet LEED Gold standards as well as the City of Toronto Green Standards. Strategies used include a high-performing façade system, direct outside air system with heat recovery ventilation, and daylight harvesting. The building is well positioned to achieve net zero in the future due to its low energy consumption. Additionally, the building is designed with the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and sustainability. 

“Students, instructors and staff were included in both the scoping and design phases of the project. To ensure the building is meeting the needs of students of different ages, religions and cultural backgrounds we designed the structure with the highest accessibility standards,” says Brooks-Cappadocia.

“From having guide rails for students with sight impairment to touch-free surfaces to the lactation room for nursing mothers and a prayer and meditation room. Everyone is welcome and supported in pursuing their educational goals.”

Other key accessibility features include automated doors, standing desks in all classrooms, elevators and large hallways spaces for those requiring wheelchair access.

One student praised the design of the building, and how it shapes her approach to critical thinking. “The building is so open, meaning there aren’t walls everywhere, it’s not constricted. It helps you think out loud, and I really like that concept of the building,” says Shilpa Pradeep.

Another student said the accessibility features of the building are inspiring. “This building is amazing – from the exterior and once we enter the interior, everything is completely accessible,” says Ismail Sibgatullah Mohammed.

“We’re all in one area and we have access to these amazing facilities,” says Leigh Mitchell, instructor for the Post-Graduate Certificate in Digital and Content Marketing. “I think it is a game-changer for the engagement and also just getting to feel like you’re part of the community.”

Learn more about the School of Continuing Studies.

Research shows family members of those with mental illness feel stigmatized

A woman consoling a man

Family members of those with serious mental health issues are feeling stigmatized and alone, say York University researchers in a new study.

It’s well known that those who have serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia face a great deal of stigma in society, but what has been less understood is the concept of “stigma by association” – the discrimination people close to them experience.

Joel Goldberg
Joel Goldberg

A team of York researchers looked at just that in a recent study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, and found that one in three family members of those who have serious mental illnesses experience stigma. Ahead of Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Mental Health Week, starting May 1, Joel Goldberg, lead author on the study, describes this figure as “startling” and points to the need to do more outreach.

“We wanted to reach out to a group of people who we think have been especially marginalized and one of the things that we noticed right away, is that this is a group of people who have really not been well studied. And that really speaks to how isolated they are,” says Goldberg, a York Faculty of Health professor with the Department of Psychology. “We found that family members were not receiving the social support they needed, even from other family members.”

The researchers, including York graduate researchers Suzanne McKeag, Alison Rose and Heather Lumsden-Ruegg and York Psychology Professor and Canada Research Chair Gordon Flett, reached out to groups like the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario, Reconnect Community Health Services, the CMHA and The Schizophrenia Society of York and were able to connect with 120 family members who were living with relatives with severe mental health challenges.

In surveys, family members described chronic feelings of blame, failure and loneliness. Overall, the researchers found many felt stigmatized, unsupported, and that their lives don’t matter. This last main finding builds on other work by Flett, who studies mattering, which is essentially the idea that all of us need to feel like we matter, and feeling like we don’t, a concept Flett describes as anti-mattering, can lead to a host of problems.

About one per cent of the population is affected by schizophrenia, commonly characterized by auditory hallucinations (“hearing voices”), delusions, and disordered thinking that can affect daily functioning.

“Unfortunately, it’s a condition which has been really misrepresented in media portrayals. The few times when the public hears stories about people with schizophrenia, they hear about someone who hasn’t been taking their medicine, or acts of violence,” says Goldberg. “These ideas become the basis of the stigma, and families are then associated with it.”

Goldberg says that it is very probable that the numbers of family members facing stigma are actually much higher as the cohort they studied were people already connected to support groups. From a public health perspective, the study points to the need to reach out to not only those who have the illness, but also their families, who he describes as “very marginalized.”

“If you’re made to feel insignificant, if you are feeling like those around you treat you as if you’re invisible, this can have really harmful effects on your sense of well-being,” he says. “We’re hoping with this Mental Health Week that this will give great attention to family members, and let them know that we do not see their lives as being insignificant, that we don’t see them as being invisible, that their lives matter.”

Watch a video of Goldberg explain the research.

Learn more at News @ York.

New GPA Calculator built to support students, staff

Three people looking at a laptop screen

York University students can officially access the newly launched York Grade Point Average (GPA) Calculator, which helps students stay informed about their current grades and plan for future studies.

This new, easy-to-use calculator, which launched April 24, pulls information directly from student information systems and helps undergraduate students (and most Schulich graduate programs) calculate their GPA with ease.

The tool offers two interactive modes: the GPA Calculator mode, which automatically pulls grades from completed courses; and the Target GPA mode, which allows students to input and proactively plan for their desired GPA. This tool can be used along with other resources and supports that are provided to students in class, such as eClass, syllabi and more.

The calculator was created in response to feedback from the advising community, who highlighted the need for a central GPA calculator tool. The Office of the University Registrar’s records unit worked with the registrar’s systems teams and faculty members to plan and develop the pan-University tool, with inspiration and support from the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) and their version of the calculator tool.

“Having a central tool that all students can use, at any time, that is available centrally is part of service excellence” says Frankie Billingsley, associate registrar and director, student records and scheduling. “It has been a treat to execute on a project that came as a result of feedback from our colleagues in the advising community.”

Especially useful for new students, the York GPA Calculator supports students in becoming familiar with the GPA system and encourages proactive planning for academic success. Terms of reference are also provided to explain acronyms and other academic terminology.

Students are reminded, however, that the York GPA Calculator is a planning tool and not an official record of grades. Students can request official and unofficial records through the York Transcript webpage.

“This is a very insightful instrument,” says Mary Riccardi, senior undergraduate advisor in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design (AMPD). “This will allow students to monitor their academic progress.”

Explore this new tool and all that it has to offer by visiting the York GPA Calculator website to learn more.

Learn more about Cross-Campus Capstone Classroom

students black diverse woman

The Cross-Campus Capstone Classroom (C4) values the importance of interprofessional collaboration as it brings together individuals from different backgrounds to work towards achieving common goals while solving complex, real-world problems.  

C4 is hosting a series of virtual information sessions, taking place on various Fridays at 10 a.m. until June 23. The next information session will take place on April 28, where prospective C4 students can explore interprofessional collaboration in the classroom.

By applying this method of collaboration in the C4 classrooms, students develop and hone transferable skills while learning the value of multiple perspectives and approaches to research, design and problem solving. Students come together from across campus to work in small teams on real-world problems with social impact.

While some students may lack hands-on work experience during their undergraduate studies, and only participate in interdisciplinary team environments once they’re employed, C4 fills these gaps and gives students an advantage by exposing them to an applied learning environment that promotes intellectual diversity before graduation.

Register for an upcoming information session and learn more on the C4 website.