Congress 2023 mural reflects community, attendee artistry

May 28, 2023

By Elaine Smith

Congress 2023 attendees at York University are invited to take part in the creation of a community mural that addresses the conference theme, Reckonings and Re-Imaginings.

Throughout Congress 2023, two local artists and five student artists from Westview Centennial Secondary School in the nearby Jane-Finch neighbourhood will be painting this three-panel mural on the patio of York’s Second Student Centre. They will be on site daily to work on the mural and answer questions about the concept and process. Everyone is welcome to stop by and add some colour to their creation.

“This project was conceived as a way for Congress 2023 to mark a milestone in our commitment to supporting the communities in and around our campus,” said Joel Ong, a professor in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design and member of the Congress 2023 Scholarly Planning Committee. “This amplifies the work of initiatives like the Jane Finch Social Innovation Hub and the York U-TD Community Engagement Centre to provide opportunities for students and faculty to contribute to the relationship-building process between the University and its neighbours.”

Local artists Andre Lopez and Philip Saunders, and the students who are part of a specialized arts and culture group at Westview Centennial, are the main artistic team for the mural. It will depict Canada and the diverse faces that have contributed to our country. Attendees are invited to stop by en route to their meetings to see the mural develop over the week.

“The students involved in this project have vision and creativity, but haven’t had the opportunity to work on a big project before,” said Kayode Brown, who is driving the project. Brown is a graduate student in the Faculty of Education and founder of Just BGraphic, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to revolutionize arts education by challenging and decolonizing arts as they are currently taught in the educational system. “The group took the words Reckonings and Re-Imaginings and brainstormed about what it meant to them. The mural will draw on the history of different cultures who have contributed to Canada and emphasize those voices.

“The border will be wrapped in Indigenous words and imagery and the inside panels will depict natural features with diverse faces blended into them.”

Brown is working with Ong, and Ana Medeiros, head of the arts at Westview Centennial Secondary School, to bring the mural to fruition. Westview Centennial has just been named an arts school, and Brown sees the mural as “modelling a way to decolonize the arts.”

The artists and student artists will also work with Brown to create a 10-minute podcast that gives addition context. A QR code posted on site will give visitors audio access to their perspectives.

After Congress 2023 comes to a close, the finished mural – approximately 7 metres by 1 metre – will be installed on the ground floor of Ross Hall outside the offices of the Jane Finch Social Innovation Hub (N141) – a campus space where York students from the local community have access to study groups, tutoring, information workshops and trips – all services that help with navigating the academic, social and administrative elements of university life.

It will serve as a perfect reminder of York’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) such as reduced inequality; sustainable cities and communities; and partnerships for the goals.

York University and the Federation for Humanities and Social Sciences will host Congress 2023 from May 27 to June 2. Register here to attend, community passes are available and term dates have been adjusted to align with timelines for this year’s event.

Project with York co-principal investigator receives mpox research grant

May 26, 2023

Doctor with face mask looking through a microscope

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) awarded a $412,000 grant to a research team, which includes Assistant Professor in Mathematics and Statistics Iain Moyles as co-principal investigator, that will analyze the influence of human behaviour in disease dynamics.

Titled “Epidemiological modelling of behavioural impact on Mpox mitigation strategies,” and led by Bouchra Nasri, an assistant professor in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the Université de Montréal’s School of Public Health, the project is part of an investment of $6.35M from the Government of Canada to support 13 teams across Canada that will carry out national and global health research projects on mpox and other zoonotic threats.

“Canada is not immune to future transmissions of mpox or other zoonotic diseases which is why investing in research that will strengthen our response is so important. Through this funding, researchers in Canada are taking the lead in understanding transmission, mitigation, and prevention to help Canada and countries around the world be better prepared for future zoonotic threats,” says Jean-Yves Duclos, minister of health.

The goal of Moyles and his collaborator’s project is to build upon limited knowledge around on mpox dynamics and the impact of behavioural changes on the virus and outbreak. Behaviour plays a critical role in how infectious diseases are spread, as well as the willingness of an individual to seek preventative health measures.

Driven by data from scientific literature and near real-time behavioural information from social media on prevailing attitudes towards mpox, the team will look to create a centralised repository of behavioural information in the context of infectious diseases that can provide reliable and updated knowledge for decision-makers and researchers.

The project will place a particular emphasis on the gay, bisexual and other men-who-have-sex-with-men (gbMSM) community, which has been disproportionately impacted by the mpox outbreak.

It will work closely with the gbMSM community, creating a community advisory board that includes experts and members of the gbMSM community in order to develop culturally sensitive and adequate strategies and ensure timely knowledge translation of our results to a broad audience, such as open-access publications and best-practice documentation.

The $412,000 grant from CIHR will fund two years of the project, with the result at the end of that period being translating findings into actionable information.

Risk and Insurance Studies Centre receives $11M grant

May 23, 2023

Contributed by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Alliance (NSERC), the funding will go towards developing better ways of managing risk and protecting Canadians from increasing threats, such as pandemics, climate catastrophes and financial crises.

Professor Edward Furman of the Faculty of Science at York University leads the team at the Risk and Insurance Studies Centre (RISC) that will use the grant over five years for a new program called New Order of Risk Management (NORM): Theory and Applications in the Era of Systemic Risk. NORM looks to address an acute need for a fundamental transformation in how people think about and manage that risk.

“Risk management is key to promoting economic growth and improving welfare in Canada and in other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED) countries by taming conventional risks, but it has not had the desired results in today’s increasingly interconnected world. In fact, some call it a failure,” says Furman. “We hope to lead a paradigm shift around what constitutes best practices and regulation for systemic risk, one that has a broader view of what risk entails and that encompasses the complexity of its systemic nature.”

Given recent socioeconomic, demographic, technological and environmental changes, the researchers say change is overdue.

Systemic risks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the global financial crisis which started in 2007, often spill across socioeconomic boundaries, disproportionately impacting vulnerable populations and magnifying social inequities. The pandemic has already driven Canada’s annual deficit to $348 billion and its national debt is on target to hit $1.2 trillion, while the global financial crisis resulted in a severe recession with sharp declines in national gross domestic product.

Climate change is creating multiple systemic risks as sea levels rise, wildfire season becomes longer with a greater potential for catastrophic fires and extreme weather events increase, such as flash flooding and storm surges, which can result in widespread devastation to coastal and inland communities in Canada and globally.

A better understanding of systemic risk is needed, says the NORM team, which includes York Professors Jingyi Cao of the Faculty of Science, Ida Ferrara of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, Dirk Matten of the Schulich School of Business and Shayna Rosenbaum of the Faculty of Health, as well as professors from University of British, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo and Western University.

With their industrial collaborators, the NORM team will develop novel theories, operational tools and regulatory mechanisms to address the increasing systemic nature of risks, while also accounting for unequal susceptibility to systemic risk, pursuing equity and building resilience.

“NORM’s impacts mean not only an academic breakthrough in how we conceptualize systemic risk, but also fundamental transformations in how we manage and govern this new type of risk more effectively through strategies that reflect and consider equity and vulnerability,” says Furman.

Systemic risk is a global threat. NORM brings exceptional depth and breadth of relevant scholarly expertise from actuarial mathematics, business, economics, psychology and statistics together with industry collaborators, including Sun Life Financial, Canada Life, CANNEX Financial Exchanges, Aviva Canada and Wawanesa Insurance, to tackles the issues.

Learn more at News @ York.

York students earn prestigious titles at debut pan-Canadian Model European Union

May 16, 2023

York University Department of Politics students at the first official pan-Canadian model EU.

Seven York University students were among the nearly 100 participants from 13 universities across Canada to compete at the first-ever officially sanctioned model European Union (EU) in Ottawa from May 5 to 7.

The two-day policy negotiation simulation invited undergraduate students from across the country with an interest in international and translatlantic relations.

Department of Politics Associate Professor Heather MacRae nominated students from both the Keele and Glendon campuses for the simulation. Travelling with MacRae to Carlton University, which hosted the event, were Karmen Galamb, Lily Tureski, Colin Maitland, Phoung Tran-Vo, David Miranda, Anna Huusko and Juliette Castillo Martinez – many of whom recently completed the Debates in Contemporary European Union Politics (AP/GLBL 4517) senior undergraduate course, or other similar politics courses.

Throughout the simulation, students were tasked with emulating the proceedings of a meeting of the European Council – which convenes four times per year in Belgium with its 27 member states – as it discussed the terms of a proposed EU arctic policy. That arctic policy would outline the approach that the EU would take to matters of economics, defence and international cooperation in the arctic throughout the next decade and onward.

The Debates in Contemporary European Union Politics course is similarly structured to familiarize students with the various proceedings of EU institutions through smaller classroom simulations. This semester, the course challenged students to deliberate the merits of a hypothetical European army. For MacRae and her students, the model EU in Ottawa served as the perfect experiential learning opportunity, providing a testing ground to demonstrate the skills that had been honed through their coursework at York.

“[Contemporary European Union Politics] is designed to help students to better understand the way supranational organizations work and the need for compromise in negotiations,” MacRae says. “Students develop a variety of professional skills – often without really realizing it – such as public speaking, collaboration, networking, consensus building and active listening, while also building research skills and knowledge about the European Union, its institutions and some of the major issues facing the EU and Europe more broadly.”

Speaking to the efficacy of the Department of Politics’ curricula, each of the seven York students performed throughout the event, with Huusko and Galamb – who comprised Team Finland – earning the title of “most likely to work in the EU,” one of only six titles bestowed to competitors throughout the simulation.

Students, professors and EU delegates mix and mingle at the pan-Canadian model EU reception.

“I’m very pleased with my decision to attend the conference and if another opportunity arose I would gladly attend again,” says Huusko. “The whole weekend was well organized and everything went according to plan. The opening ceremony was so inspiring and, throughout the event in general, the opportunities for networking were invaluable.”

“My favourite part of the conference was definitely the networking aspect. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people, both students and professionals, who I’ve learned a lot from,” Galamb adds.

Serving as breaks in the simulated negotiations, several receptions and communal meals gave participants the chance to mingle with their peers, as well as meet with their real-world EU delegate counterparts and other European ambassadors in attendance. Opening remarks were delivered by Ambassador of the European Union in Canada Melita Gabric, while representatives from the German, Greek and Slovenian embassies offered encouragement and guidance to the students and professors.

“It was fantastic to see so many like-minded students working together to solve intricate policy challenges,” says Maitland. “The levels of professionalism on display were profound and the experience was something I’ll never forget. I would definitely participate in this challenge all over again if the chance arises.“

“For me, it was a fabulous experience to see our students putting their skills to use outside the classroom setting. Seeing students confidently engaging in in-depth conversations with diplomats about the country’s position on various current events is extremely rewarding for me as an educator,” MacRae adds.

The broad success of the event is also an achievement for MacRae on a personal level, considering that in years prior she had taken her students to EU-sponsored events in the U.S., and was instrumental in rallying support a similar, official event to come to Canada.

“In the past I have taken students to model EUs in the U.S., but this year we were able to arrange a Canada-specific event,” she says. “It will hopefully be the first of many.”

Schulich ExecEd partnership brings innovative upskilling programs to Atlantic Canada

May 12, 2023

Schulich ExecEd has announced its new strategic partnership with 5D Corporate Teaching and Learning Centre (5D) based in Halifax, N.S., which will offer executive education programs in both leadership and management training, with the aim of providing practical solutions to combat labour force challenges in Atlantic Canada.

Halifax-based programs from Schulich ExecEd will connect local managers, senior leaders, human resource professionals and learning development professionals from various private, public-sector and non-governmental organizations, who look to implement strategies for employee retention, inspiring change in the workforce and building capacity from within their organizations. Executive education plays an important role in teaching working professionals, in a focused and accelerated format, how to effectively empower individuals and teams and create transformational leaders within their companies. This method of education aims to promote positive changes happening sooner and foster strategic foresight to avoid future roadblocks.

The Schulich ExecEd and 5D partnership will extend the reach of the tier-one business school into local provincial communities resulting in increased access to high-quality education; Schulich ExecEd Executive Director Rami Mayer attested to the importance of broadening the Schulich ExecEd scope.

“We are excited to partner with the 5D Corporate Teaching and Learning Centre to create a program that fosters the career journey of Atlantic Canadian leaders,” he said. “By creating opportunities to grow their skills, enhance their careers and enable them to contribute to their local community, we are confident that we will be able to elevate 5D even further.

“Schulich ExecEd has partnered with a myriad of communities across Canada to support local organizations and leaders by upskilling, reskilling and growing their business and leadership capabilities,” Mayer added. “These partnerships with local community organizations are vital in ensuring the relevance and success of these programs by providing insight into the unique needs of these communities as well as offering practical support before, during and after the formal program is completed. This ensures employees are retained locally and further contribute to the health, success and well-being of their communities, municipalities and ultimately, the province and country as a whole.”

Central to this partnership are programs which will be provided to participants in their home province of Nova Scotia, with in-person and hybrid options maximizing accessibility. All programs within this partnership will include additional support that will lead to sustainable changes in local organizations, such as action planning, leadership coaching sessions and sessions from local educators post-program to further participants’ knowledge while they work. The goal is to not only deliver education but to provide solution-based learning to solve real challenges.

Nancy Thompson close-up portrait — Nancy Thompson

As a registered non-profit with more than 23 years of experience in educating corporate leaders and managers in Atlantic Canada, 5D is uniquely positioned to facilitate Schulich ExecEd’s growth in the region. 5D CEO Nancy Thompson offered insight into the impact this partnership will make within the community.

“The 5D-Schulich ExecEd partnership is a powerful combination. 5D’s understanding of the complex real-world challenges that face organizations within Atlantic Canada brings a customized approach to the development of the educational content that will be delivered through this partnership. We believe through the collaborative efforts of 5D and Schulich ExecEd that a stellar leadership program has been created to serve the needs and priorities of the corporations in Atlantic Canada.”

Through this partnership, Schulich ExecEd strives to advance a commitment to expanding accessibility and helping organizations and businesses facing challenges which can be resolved through executive education, thereby building a strong and more resilient workforce with local and global reach.

The Schulich ExecEd-5D executive education program is currently scheduled to launch in Winter 2023. For more information on this program and others like it, see the Schulich ExecEd programs page.

Faculty of Health targets anxiety with support from Beneva

May 10, 2023

York researcher Lora Appel demonstrates a VR headset during a recent TO Health gathering

Four innovative and community-focused Faculty of Health studies will shed new light on anxiety, thanks to an investment in York University mental health researchers by Beneva, the largest mutual insurance company in Canada.

The $200,000 Anxiety Research Fund, powered by Beneva, aims to enhance assessment and treatment supports for individuals coping with anxiety – a debilitating and frequently hidden affliction experienced by one in five Canadians.

“Anxiety prevention is the main focus that guides Beneva’s social and philanthropic action nationwide,” notes Beneva President and Chief Executive Officer Jean-Francois Chalifoux. “We are proud to have teamed up with York University to create the Anxiety Research Fund, dedicated entirely to accelerating research which will have an immediate and positive impact on the community, bringing new insight and change around this important issue.”

“York’s partnership with Beneva will have lasting benefits, not only for individuals struggling with anxiety, but for society as a whole,” says Faculty of Health Dean David Peters. “Through strategic collaboration with their community partners on these projects, our researchers will ensure their findings are used to address one of the most critical mental health issues today: anxiety.”

Four projects were selected for funding through a competitive application process led by the Faculty of Health Research Office.

Exposure Therapy Using Virtual Reality

With her team in York’s PrescribingVRx lab, School of Health Policy & Management Professor Lora Appel is using virtual reality technology to pilot an Exposure Therapy program focused on anxiety experienced by people with epilepsy. Project participants have identified common anxiety-provoking themes, which will be recreated virtually into 360-degree videos.

After conducting randomized trials in a controlled environment at Toronto Western Hospital, the study will move into the community (recruiting through Epilepsy Toronto), where therapy can be administered in people’s homes. While the results are expected to have a direct impact on people with epilepsy, the researchers also envision applications to others who suffer from anxiety.

Retooling Black Youth Anxiety

Headed by School of Global Health Professor Godfred Boateng, who is director, Global & Environmental Health Lab and Faculty Fellow, Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, this project will address anxiety and mental health issues of Black youth and their families, resulting from encounters with the criminal justice system and the child welfare system.

Partnerships with the Ghana Union of Canada (GUC) and Gashanti Unity (GU) will play a critical role in implementing this project to their communities. Researchers will recruit participants, identify key needs and work with clinical professionals to provide interventions. An online resource centre and sensitization programs aimed at improving the mental well-being of Black individuals and Black families will be created.

Reducing Anxiety About HPV Tests

A School of Nursing project led by Professor Catriona Buick focuses on anxiety that is anticipated in response to upcoming revisions to Ontario’s Cervical Screening Guidelines. In other countries, anxiety has been minimized by introducing evidence-based communications with patients around Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection and cervical cancer.

The project will assess whether an infographic education intervention about primary HPV testing can decrease anxiety and increase understanding and acceptance of the upcoming changes to existing screening guidelines. The intent is to manage anxiety, dispel myths and misconceptions, normalize HPV, and improve acceptance of primary HPV testing for routine cervical cancer screening.

Decision-making in a Global Health Crisis

This project will investigate how mental health issues can interfere with people’s compliance with important public health measures – such as mask wearing and vaccination – during a global pandemic. The team, led by Department of Psychology Professor Shayna Rosenbaum, studies “delay discounting” (undervaluing or discounting future benefits when making health decisions).

The researchers will seek methods to reduce anxiety and optimize decision-making during global crises. Their findings will inform action by the Public Health Agency of Canada on the wider impact of COVID-19 and which sectors of society to target through technical briefing.

Thanks to Beneva, the Anxiety Research Fund in the Faculty of Health aims to support critical, community-focused projects to better identify, manage and help reduce the manifestations of anxiety.

York satellites headed to space

May 9, 2023

By Alexander Huls, deputy editor, YFile

One CubeSat – a square-shaped satellite the size of a Rubik’s cube – created by York University students, and another with hardware supplied by students, will launch from the Kennedy Space Center and be placed in orbit by International Space Station astronauts.

Funded by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), since 2017 the Canadian CubeSat Project (CCP) has provided the opportunity for students to gain greater access and experiential learning to better prepare for careers in the aerospace industry by designing and building their own satellites.

“In the past, students who wanted to learn the design of space instruments and satellite technology never had the hands-on opportunity to build, launch and operate their own. Everything was on paper. This gives them opportunities,” explains Zheng Hong (George) Zhu, director of the Space Engineering Design Laboratory at York’s Lassonde School of Engineering.

Zhu led the team of students who created an entirely York-made satellite set to enter space this summer. The Educational Space Science and Engineering CubeSat Experiment (ESSENCE) is the first satellite to be designed and built mainly by undergraduate students across engineering programs at Lassonde. A previous York-made satellite was launched in 2020, but was designed, built, integrated and tested by graduate students led by Zhu.

The ESSENCE carries two science payloads expected to contribute to understanding of the effects of climate change, aligning the project with the York University Academic Plan 2020 – 2025, and the School’s dedication to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

The first payload is a high-resolution 360 degree by 187 degree fisheye camera which will be used to capture images of Canada’s Arctic Region from a height of 400 km to monitor the thawing of permafrost and Arctic ices. The camera can also capture images of stars and space debris. The team will collaborate with scientists at Defense Research and Development Canada to observe and monitor space debris with these images. The second payload is a proton detector, developed by the University of Sydney in Australia, which will collect data on energetic solar protons from solar storms in low Earth orbit, providing insights into the impact of climate change on Earth.

The ESSENCE was a collaborative effort between students, four co-investigators from Lassonde (Franz Newlands, Mike Daly, Andrew Maxwell and Alexsander Czekanski), as well as strategic partnerships with the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) and the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), which provided novel attitude control algorithms to point the camera in desired directions.

The ESSENCE Satellite team — The ESSENCE CubeSat team saying goodbye to their satellite before it was shipped off for launch preparation

The second CubeSat to be launched into space this summer, thanks to York students, is also a product of an external partnership. However, while the ESSENCE was a York-led satellite relying on hardware from other institutions, a University of Manitoba-led CubeSat project draws on innovative hardware provided by Lassonde students.

Supervised by Regina Lee, professor of space engineering, a team of students was asked by the University of Manitoba CubeSat team – who named their satellite “IRIS” – to create a critical component to help realize the partner school’s CubeSat goal of consistently exposing geological samples to solar radiation in space and study the effects.

“Our job was to design the subsystem to go into their satellite that would figure out which direction it’s pointing in within space, and make sure it’s pointing to the sun,” explains Ryan Clark, who worked on the project, and is a former member of the Nanosatellite Research Laboratory at York.

“They set a general guideline for the hardware component development, and our contribution was the sun sensor, magnetorquers and then the board that contains the full Attitude Determination and Control System that fits on the CubeSat,” says Peter Keum, who was part of the team.

Lastly: “We were focused on testing, calibrating and – once we were done – shipping it off,” says Gabriel Chianelli, the remaining member of the team, who is part of the Nanosatellite Search Group at York.

The two CubeSats – the ESSENCE and IRIS – are now being readied for their space-bound journey, and both teams are preparing to see them launched this summer. Zhu and 20 of his students are planning to travel to the Kennedy Space Station Center to witness the launch, some of them from within a NASA VIP room that is only five kilometers away from the launch pad. Others, like Lee’s team, will eagerly be watching via YouTube livestreams.

For both professors behind the work on the two satellites, the launch will mark the fruition of a desire to see their students work on something that won’t just make it to space, but impact their futures. “My goal was to make sure that my students have hands-on experience so they can graduate and do well in their career,” Lee says. Zhu shares that sentiment. “I have a passionate love for space engineering, and I like my students to have the same life experience I do,” he says.

Projects like the ESSENCE might be the first satellite to be designed and built mainly by undergraduate students at York, but it’s unlikely to be the last. “When I was an undergrad, starting to 2014, there were no internships or placements for undergrad space students,” Clark says. “Now, there are so many more placements, so many opportunities available, it seems like just the barriers to entry are coming down, and a lot more people are getting into space.”

York explores research partnerships with South Africa

May 3, 2023

Hand holding light bulb with illustration on blurred background

York University hosted two major institutional conversations with South Africa during the 2022-23 academic year to explore opportunities for future partnerships.

In late April, the University hosted a delegation of South African university vice-chancellors and deputy vice-chancellors for research, the CEO of Universities South Africa and representatives from the country’s National Research Foundation.

South African university vice-chancellors, deputy vice-chancellors and CEOs gathered with members of the country's National Research Foundation at York University. — South African university vice-chancellors, deputy vice-chancellors and CEOs gathered with members of the country’s National Research Foundation at York University.

The delegation was part of a much larger visit by South African research councils and South African universities to Toronto and Ottawa, organized by South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF) to deepen research collaborations with Canada’s research funding agencies and universities. York University kicked off the Toronto-leg of the visit when it hosted the delegation at the Keele campus.

This follows a visit in Fall 2022 by South Africa’s Member of Parliament and Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Buti Manamela. The deputy minister’s visit was facilitated by Higher Health South Africa with virtual participation from NRF and South African researchers.

“York University greatly values our partnerships in South Africa, and we were pleased to host the South African delegation last week, and the Honourable Buti Manamela last fall,” says President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton. “Engaging in global research and innovation, and elevating our global partnerships are priority areas outlined in our new Internationalization and Global Engagement Strategy and complement our Academic Plan 2020-2025 priorities. I look forward to seeing the research and innovations that can result from these important conversations, and how we can work together to drive positive change.”

President Rhonda Lenton meeting with the Honourable Deputy Minister Buti Manamela and his entourage — President Rhonda Lenton meeting with the Honourable Deputy Minister Buti Manamela.

NRF followed up on the deputy minister’s visit to continue exploring the possibility of a joint calls for research with York University. Concurrently, NRF was also working with South African universities and other Canadian universities to develop a South Africa-Canada university research network.

During both visits to York, researchers from social sciences, humanities, engineering, health and sciences participated in the conversations, discussing opportunities for collaboration in space engineering, AI and society, water, decolonization, health equity, refugee studies, disaster management, planetary health and many other fields of mutual interest.

“I was happy to see the diversity of topics that are prime for collaboration”, said Professor Amir Asif, vice-president research and innovation who co-hosted the April visit. “York University professor Jude Kong’s timely, successful and collaborative leadership in building pandemic modelling networks with South Africa and other African countries with funding from both governments also made a strong impression on South African leaders.

“We look forward to strengthening our existing collaborations and building new ones in South Africa.”

During the April visit, York University colleagues also met with NRF leadership, where NRF reinforced their interest in developing a bilateral relationship with York.

“It is not often a G20 and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) member government representing a country with enormous political, economic, cultural and scientific reach on a continent engages an overseas university to develop bilateral research partnerships,” said Kong, who participated in all the meetings and is the executive director of the Africa-Canada Artificial Intelligence and Data Innovation Consortium. “Other global funding agencies, universities and foundations will pay attention to this.”

During consultations for York’s Internationalization and Global Engagement Strategy and conversations with Global South partners, a recurring theme in fostering north-south collaboration was the challenge in mobilizing resources for collaborations.

“York, like other Canadian universities, has benefited significantly from the contributions of our colleagues throughout Africa and from other parts of the Global South,” said Lisa Philipps, provost and vice-president academic, who co-hosted the visit on April 24. “Investing in a relationship with South African institutions resonates with York because we have common interests and strengths in advancing United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including commitments to anti-racism and decolonization frameworks.”

York’s connection to South Africa stretches back to the 1980s during the country’s anti-apartheid struggle. In 1989, York conferred an honorary doctor of laws degree upon Nelson Mandela in absentia “in recognition of his profound contribution to humanity and the creation of a more just society.” York University faculty have also worked to preserve and c e lebrate Mandela’s legacy on campus.

Members of the York community have also cultivated long-standing research connections of their own. “Professor Amrita Daftary holds an adjunct appointment at University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) and has extensively co-published with her South African counterparts,” said Vinitha Gengatharan, assistant vice-president global engagement and partnerships.

The April visit concluded with the launch of a binational universities research network by the South African universities and the government with support from many Canadian universities. This interest in partnering with Canadian universities is also the result of momentum generated through the efforts of Canada’s High Commission, funding councils and International Development Research Centre. Carleton University’s Professor David Hornsby was the Canadian architect of this network.

Jude Kong with delegates from South Africa's National Research Foundation. — Jude Kong with delegates from South Africa’s National Research Foundation.

“A well-resourced academic network can be invaluable and can address gaps in sustaining long-term binational academic cooperation,” said Lenton. “We hope that Canada will consider supporting such a network as part of its soon-to-be launched Africa strategy, and I am looking forward to visiting South Africa soon.”

York university colleagues interested in deepening their engagement with South Africa and learning more should contact Skandha Sunderasen at York International.

York University receives largest-ever research funding grant

April 28, 2023

La version française suit la version anglaise.

Dear colleagues,

Today marks a new level of achievement for York University research and our outstanding faculty.

We are thrilled to share with you all that York University – in partnership with Queen’s University – has been awarded a monumental grant of nearly $105.7 million from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF). The funding from the Government of Canada is the largest single federal grant ever awarded to York and is in support of Connected Minds: Neural and Machine Systems for a Healthy, Just Society.

As a research-intensive University committed to positive change, the Connected Minds program and its successful CFREF application elevates York’s research enterprise and allows our researchers to push the boundaries of purposeful research even further.

This innovative, new research program will be led by the inaugural directorate of:

Doug Crawford, Distinguished Research Professor, Faculty of Health, York University, Connected Minds Inaugural scientific director
Pina D’Agostino, associate professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Connected Minds vice-director
Gunnar Blohm, professor, School of Medicine, Queen’s University, Connected Minds vice-director
Sean Hillier, assistant professor, Faculty of Health, York University, Connected Minds associate director

In addition to the directorate, the core Connected Minds team includes York’s Shayna Rosenbaum, James Elder, Danielle Elliott, Robert Alison and Laura Levin, as well as Catherine Donnelly from Queen’s.

This historic CFREF grant awards York University with $82.8 million and $22.8 million to Queen’s University. When combined with the contributions (including in-kind) from multi-sector partners, municipal governments and collaborating institutions, the total value of the Connected Minds project is $318.4 million, making Connected Minds the biggest York-led research program in the University’s history.

Connected Minds is a pan-University effort and brings together experts in multiple fields, including the arts, humanities, engineering, law and life sciences, located across eight York Faculties and three Queen’s Faculties. Our researchers will examine the ways in which technology is transforming society – dubbed the “techno-social collective” – and will work to balance both the potential risks and benefits for humanity.

Connected Minds will fund 35 strategic faculty hires, three new Ontario Research Chairs, as well as partner-focused seed, team, and prototyping grants, knowledge mobilization and commercialization activities, and an ambitious multi-institutional micro-credential training program with 385 trainees and cross-sector stakeholders. All activities will require an interdisciplinary participation, and projects that benefit Indigenous and other equity-deserving groups will be prioritized.

Learn more about Connected Minds here: https://yorku.ca/research/connected-minds.

Click here for York’s official announcement: https://www.yorku.ca/news/2023/04/28/york-university-leads-318-4m-first-of-kind-inclusive-next-gen-technology-research-initiative/.

On behalf of the entire University, we want to express the community’s pride and excitement for today’s news and what this will mean for the future of York research.

Congratulations to the Connected Minds leadership team and for everyone involved in bringing about this significant milestone.

It’s a new era for research and innovation at York University.

Sincerely,

Rhonda Lenton
President and Vice-Chancellor

Amir Asif
Vice-President Research and Innovation

L’Université York reçoit la plus importante subvention jamais accordée à la recherche

Chers collègues, chères collègues,

Aujourd’hui, un nouveau palier a été franchi par la recherche à l’Université York et notre remarquable corps professoral.

Nous sommes ravis de vous annoncer que l’Université York, en partenariat avec l’Université Queen’s, a reçu une subvention colossale d’environ 105,7 millions de dollars du Fonds d’excellence en recherche Apogée Canada (FERAC). Le financement du gouvernement du Canada est la plus importante subvention fédérale jamais accordée à York; elle appuie le projet appelé Esprits branchés /Connected Minds : Systèmes neuronaux et mécaniques pour une société saine et juste.

En tant qu’université à forte intensité de recherche engagée en faveur de changements positifs, le programme Esprits branchés/Connected Minds et sa candidature fructueuse auprès du FERAC rehaussent l’effort de recherche à York et permettent à nos chercheurs de repousser encore plus loin les limites de la recherche ciblée.

Ce nouveau programme de recherche innovant sera dirigé par l’équipe de direction inaugurale du programme de recherche :

Doug Crawford, professeur distingué de la Faculté de la santé, Université York, directeur scientifique inaugural d’Esprits branchés/Connected Minds
Pina D’Agostino, professeure agrégée de l’École de droit Osgoode Hall, Université York, vice-directrice associée d’Esprits branchés/Connected Minds
Gunnar Blohm, professeur de l’École de médecine de l’Université Queen’s, vice-directeur associé d’Esprits branchés/Connected Minds
Sean Hillier, professeur adjoint de la Faculté de la santé, Université York, directeur associé d’Esprits branchés/Connected Minds

En plus de la direction, l’équipe principale d’Esprits branchés/Connected Minds comprend Shayna Rosenbaum, James Elder, Danielle Elliott, Robert Alison et Laura Levin de York, ainsi que Catherine Donnelly de Queen’s.

Cette subvention historique du FERAC attribue 82,8 millions de dollars à l’Université York et 22,8 millions de dollars à l’Université Queen’s. Si l’on ajoute les contributions (y compris en nature) des partenaires multisectoriels, des administrations municipales et des institutions collaboratrices, la valeur totale du projet Esprits branchés/Connected Minds s’élève à 318,4 millions de dollars, ce qui en fait le plus grand programme de recherche dirigé par York dans l’histoire de l’Université.

Esprits branchés/Connected Minds est une initiative panuniversitaire qui rassemble des experts dans de nombreux domaines, notamment les arts, les sciences humaines, l’ingénierie, le droit et les sciences de la vie, répartis dans huit facultés de York et trois facultés de Queen. Nos chercheurs examineront la manière dont la technologie transforme la société — appelée « le collectif technosocial » — et s’efforceront d’équilibrer les risques et les avantages potentiels pour l’humanité.

Esprits branchés/Connected Minds financera le recrutement stratégique de 35 professeurs; de trois nouvelles chaires de recherche de l’Ontario; des subventions de démarrage, d’équipe et de prototypage axées sur les partenaires; des activités de mobilisation des connaissances et de commercialisation; ainsi qu’un ambitieux programme multi-institutionnel de formation aux microcrédits avec 385 postes de stagiaires et des intervenants intersectoriels. Toutes les activités nécessiteront une participation interdisciplinaire, et les projets bénéficiant aux autochtones et aux autres groupes en quête d’équité seront prioritaires.

Pour en savoir plus sur Esprits branchés/Connected Minds : https://yorku.ca/research/connected-minds.

Cliquez ici pour l’annonce officielle de York : https://www.yorku.ca/news/2023/04/28/york-university-leads-318-4m-first-of-kind-inclusive-next-gen-technology-research-initiative/.

Au nom de toute l’Université, nous tenons à exprimer la fierté et l’enthousiasme de la communauté à l’égard de l’annonce d’aujourd’hui et de ce qu’elle signifie pour l’avenir de la recherche à York.

Félicitations à l’équipe dirigeante d’Esprit branchés/Connected Minds et à toutes les personnes qui ont contribué à la réalisation de cette avancée majeure.

Une nouvelle ère commence pour la recherche et l’innovation à l’Université York.

Sincères salutations,

Rhonda Lenton
Présidente et vice-chancelière

Amir Asif
Vice-président de la recherche et de l’innovation

CIFAL York hosts two-part symposium on Turkiye, Syria earthquake aid

April 25, 2023

Person sitting in chair amid debris from damaged buildings in Antakya, Hatay, Turkiye.

A two-part virtual symposium will examine the responses of Canada and other cooperating countries to the recent crises in Turkiye and Syria resulting from the Feb. 6 earthquake. The symposium will strive to create better understanding of barriers to deploying humanitarian resources internationally on May 3 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Hosted by CIFAL York and Y-EMERGE, the “Canada’s Response to Earthquake in Turkiye and Syria” symposium features a range of confirmed guest speakers from agencies such as International Development and Relief Foundation Canada (IDRF) and Samaritan’s Purse International Disaster Relief, as well as potential appearances by featured guests from Care Canada, Canadian Red Cross, Islamic Relief Canada and Global Medic.

The February earthquake was among the deadliest natural disasters of the century, spanning multiple countries and resulting in the deaths of nearly 60,000 people, with over two million more being injured or displaced. To mitigate the effects of this catastrophe, 105 countries, including Canada, pledged to support those in need and contribute to humanitarian aid efforts.

Designed to engage academics, students, policymakers, first-responders and the general public, the symposium will analyze and critique Canada’s ongoing response to the earthquake in order to better understand and surmount emergency response obstacles in the future.

The first instalment of this series, titled “Canadian NGOs Response to the Earthquake in Turkiye & Syria” focuses on the role of Canada’s non-governmental organizations and highlights opportunities for collaboration between public and private sector actors. Speakers Rebecca Tjon-Aloi and Hanan Maolim, of the Programs and Operations Office at the IDRF, will explain how their foundation responded to the earthquake and share lessons learned for future emergency responses. Melanie Wubs, technical specialist in the International Health Unit at Samaritan’s Purse, will also explore cross- and multi-sectoral cooperation in humanitarian responses.

The second instalment of the symposium, titled “Canadian Government Response to the Earthquake in Turkiye & Syria” takes place on June 14, with guest speakers to be announced at a later date.

Free registration for these online events is required. For more information on the symposium and featured guest speakers, click here.

About CIFAL:

CIFAL York is part of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) global network of training centres for knowledge-sharing, training and capacity-building for public and private leaders, local authorities and civil society. CIFAL Centres are local and regional hubs for innovative, participatory and co-creative knowledge exchange opportunities to support decision-making processes, build capacity and accelerate the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals. Established in 2020, CIFAL York started its operation in June 2021 as the first CIFAL Centre in Canada. Health and development training and knowledge sharing is among the key focusing areas of CIFAL York.

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