York University readies the debut of a new campus, with innovative research faculty
York researcher traverses tick-infested terrain to beat back insect apocalypse PhD student seeks to understand the effects of climate change on insect decline
Beads of change: York U curator champions Inuit food sovereignty through international collaboration Research project promotes cultural significance and value of country food in the Arctic
York U researcher helps lead fight against homelessness in Canada
Education prof strives for research impact with the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness
Rhonda L. Lenton President & Vice-Chancellor Présidente et vice-chancelière
Welcome to York University’s magazine dedicated to research & innovation
From the Markham Campus opening this fall to the announcement of plans for a School of Medicine to the one-year anniversary of the York-led Connected Minds initiative, the University has gained incredible momentum for growing its research and innovation enterprise in 2024 and beyond.
York’s successes over the last year are the result of the hard work and dedication of the University community of faculty, staff and students, as well as the support and contributions of our partners and friends, including readers like you.
With all the exciting projects currently underway or upcoming, investments in York’s research excellence have never been more promising. Over the last decade, York has doubled its research revenue. Within the past fiscal year alone, the University’s total externally sponsored research income increased by 8.5 per cent to a record high of $121 million, against the backdrop of increased grant competition.
And in the latest Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, released in June 2024, York ranked 35 out of more than 2,100 universities, a testament to our collective successes in leveraging knowledge and innovation as tools for positive change. From the UNITAR Global Water Academy and Connected Minds to the SARIT electric vehicle project to our ever-expanding research into systemic inequality, this latest recognition proves that our community at York is making critical contributions to sustainability, both at home and abroad. York’s growth as a leading research-intensive university in Canada - and one of the
Amir Asif
Vice-President Research & Innovation Vice-président de la recherche et de l’innovation
most comprehensive post-secondary institutions in the country - is best told through its people. You’ll meet a select few of these celebrated changemakers in this issue.
In our cover story on pp. 5-8, you will learn about the outstanding faculty York has recruited to head up the Markham Campus, which will challenge the traditions of what a university can offer by way of state-of-the-art programming in technology and entrepreneurship, experiential learning opportunities, innovative partnerships and boundarybreaking discovery and research.
We look forward to seeing how York’s tech-forward campus and its researchers will transform the economy and communities of York Region, training highly qualified personnel to hit the ground running with practical skills, research proficiency and critical knowledge upon graduation.
Stories on pp. 15-18 demonstrate how York drives innovation through a myriad of initiatives, including a commercialization fellowship for young researchers, enhanced intellectual property services for faculty to bring their products or services more easily to market, and a startup pitch competition for Black entrepreneurs, which received a special visit from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
As you explore the pages of Ascend, we hope that its contents inspire you to stay engaged with the University. Thank you for your ongoing curiosity and commitment to York research and innovation.
As always, we invite you to continue to connect, collaborate and work with us in creating positive change for the future.
Happy reading.
Next stop: Markham
York University readies debut of innovative new campus in growing York Region
De-escalating robocops?
York study imagines future of crisis response
A psychology PhD candidate explores AI’s potential
Voice-activated sexism: exploring consequences of gendered technology
ComCult researchers examine trend of smart speaker unboxing videos
Connected Minds: one year later
York-led $318.4M research initiative celebrates first year of achievements
Lassonde research boosts accuracy of GPS in smartphones
Geomatics engineer develops new positioning technique
Ontario supports development of smarter, more sustainable transportation technologies with $1.5M funding to York
York to partner with Centennial College to design and test automotive technologies and smart mobility solutions
Young innovators look to commercialize research with York fellowship
Four budding researchers aim to bring their products to market
York entrepreneurs recognized by award, prime minister
Black-led alumni startups win pitch competition
Intellectual property services at York give startups innovation edge
VPRI and IP Innovation Clinic partnership enhances business development
York researcher traverses tick-infested terrain to beat back insect apocalypse
PhD student seeks to understand the effects of climate change on insect decline
York U health researcher tackles TB stigma through partnership in India
Professor works with patients to addresses social determinants of tuberculosis 09 10 11 13 14 17 05 15 18 21 19
Prof exemplifies York excellence in global health research through worldwide partnerships
Newly announced Canada Research Chair aims to improve air and water quality in Global South
York welcomes transformative investments in next phase to create a new School of Medicine
Community-based doctor education program slated to start in 2028
York and UNITAR tackle global water challenges on UN World Water Day
Partnership on Global Water Academy advances action, scholarship and learning
York-Queen’s art project combines VR with Indigenous philosophy to explore water’s hidden depths
Immersive 3D experience sparks critical conversations about global water crisis
York U researcher helps lead fight against homelessness in Canada
Education professor strives for research impact with the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness
Osgoode research analyzes Ontario’s sanitation infrastructure
Comparative study reveals key insights into sanitation disparities between Brazil and Canada
York partners with territory to offer specialized professional development program
Beads of change: York U curator champions Inuit food sovereignty through international collaboration
Research project promotes cultural significance and value of country food in the Arctic
Glendon researchers lead initiative to explore populism in Canada
Observatory of Populism in Canada is first-of-its-kind research endeavour
Voici la nouvelle édition de la revue de l’Université York consacrée à la recherche et à l’innovation. Bienvenue à nos fidèles lecteurs et lectrices!
Du campus Markham qui ouvrira cet automne à l’annonce de la future école de médecine, en passant par le premier anniversaire de l’initiative Connected Minds/Esprits branchés menée par York, l’Université a pris un élan incroyable pour déployer ses efforts de recherche et d’innovation en 2024 et au-delà.
Les succès de York au cours de la dernière année sont le fruit du travail acharné et du dévouement de sa communauté universitaire regroupant des membres du corps professoral, du personnel et de la population étudiante, ainsi que du soutien et des contributions de ses partenaires et amis et du lectorat de cette revue.
Avec tous ces projets passionnants en cours ou à venir, les investissements dans l’excellence de la recherche à York n’ont jamais été aussi prometteurs. Au cours de la dernière décennie, York a doublé ses revenus provenant de la recherche. Durant le dernier exercice financier, les revenus totaux financés par des sources externes ont augmenté de 8,5 % pour atteindre le chiffre record de 121 M$ malgré un contexte de concurrence accrue pour l’octroi de subventions.
Au palmarès Impact de Times Higher Education de juin 2024, York s’est classée 35e sur plus de 2 100 universités, ce qui démontre ses succès collectifs dans l’exploitation des connaissances et de l’innovation en tant que vecteurs de changements positifs. Des initiatives de l’Académie mondiale de l’eau de l’UNITAR et de Connected Minds/Esprits branchés au projet de véhicule électrique SARIT, sans oublier ses recherches croissantes sur les inégalités systémiques, cette récente distinction prouve que la communauté de York fait des contributions importantes au développement durable, tant au pays qu’à l’étranger. Les personnes qui travaillent et étudient à York illustrent bien l’essor de cette université de recherche canadienne de premier plan qui est aussi l’un des établissements d’enseignement postsecondaire les plus
polyvalents du pays. Dans ce numéro, vous ferez la connaissance de quelquesuns de ces illustres artisans et artisanes du changement.
En pages 5 à 8, notre articlecouverture présente les personnes exceptionnelles recrutées par York pour diriger son campus Markham qui remettra en question l’offre traditionnelle des universités en proposant des programmes de pointe en matière de technologie et d’entrepreneuriat, des possibilités d’apprentissage expérientiel, des partenariats novateurs et des découvertes et recherches révolutionnaires.
Nous avons hâte de voir comment le campus technologique de York et ses équipes de recherche réinventeront l’économie et les communautés de la région en formant un personnel hautement qualifié qui pourra mettre à profit ses compétences pratiques, sa maîtrise de la recherche et ses connaissances critiques dans la vie active.
Les articles des pages 15 à 18 montrent comment York favorise l’innovation à travers une multitude d’initiatives, notamment une bourse de commercialisation pour les jeunes chercheurs et chercheuses, des services de propriété intellectuelle améliorés pour permettre aux membres du corps professoral de commercialiser plus facilement leurs produits ou services, et enfin, un concours de présentation d’entreprises en démarrage dirigées par des personnes noires, qui a reçu la visite du premier ministre Justin Trudeau.
Nous espérons que le contenu du magazine Ascend vous incitera à vous mobiliser au sein de l’Université. Nous vous remercions de votre curiosité et de votre dévouement constants envers la recherche et l’innovation à York.
Comme toujours, nous vous invitons à nous contacter et à collaborer avec nous pour susciter des changements positifs pour l’avenir. Bonne lecture!
York University is engaging the world through global research partnerships
York University’s new Global Research Excellence Seed Fund is empowering its researchers to drive positive change around the world through international collaborations. The GRE fund supports York’s leading experts to build and lead impactful global research networks, working alongside leading universities, industry, government agencies, IGOs and NGOs.
Join us in creating positive change.
yorku.ca/global-engagement/gre-global-fundings
Researchers worldwide are invited to collaborate with York faculty on joint proposals to advance their research.
Ascend
Magazine / 2024 Issue
Editor in Chief / Editorial Director / Writer
Corey Allen
Contributors
Diana Senwasane
YFile staff
Art Direction & Design spark, sparkbranding.ca
Printing
RJM Print Group, rjmprintgroup.com
Special thanks to
YFile, York’s journal of record:
Alexander Huls
Lindsay MacAdam
Ashley Goodfellow Craig
Glendon Campus Translation Team
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
York is a leading multi-campus, researchintensive University located in Toronto, Canada. York University conducts purposeful research that advances knowledge and creates positive change.
Informed by a strong commitment to shared values, including the promotion of social justice, diversity, and the public good, we aspire through our research to better understand the human condition and the world around us and to employ the knowledge we gain in the service of society.
Together we are making things right for our communities, our planet and our future.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
York University recognizes that many Indigenous Nations have longstanding relationships with the territories upon which York University campuses are located that precede the establishment of York University. York University acknowledges its presence on the traditional territory of many Indigenous Nations. The area known as Tkaronto has been care taken by the Anishinabek Nation, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and the Huron-Wendat. It is now home to many First Nation, Inuit and Métis communities. We acknowledge the current treaty holders, the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. This territory is subject of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement to peaceably share and care for the Great Lakes region.
Office of the President:
Rhonda Lenton, President & Vice-Chancellor
Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation:
Amir Asif, Vice-President Research & Innovation
Barbara Edwards, Senior Policy Advisor
Jennifer Hyndman, Associate Vice-President Research
David Phipps, Assistant Vice-President Research Strategy & Impact
Jennifer Steeves, Associate Vice-President Research
York University Leadership:
Sarah Bay-Cheng, Dean, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design
Trevor Farrow, Dean, Osgoode Hall Law School
Marco Fiola, Principal, Glendon College
Jane Goodyer, Dean, Lassonde School of Engineering
Alice Hovorka, Dean, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change
Alice MacLachlan, Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies
John-Justin McMurtry, Dean, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Dan Palermo, Deputy Provost, Markham Campus
David Peters, Dean, Faculty of Health
Robert Savage, Dean, Faculty of Education
Rui Wang, Dean, Faculty of Science
Detlev Zwick, Dean, Schulich School of Busines
BY COREY ALLEN
Next stop: Markham
York University readies the debut of innovative new campus in growing York Region
In the fall of 2024, York University will embark on an exciting new chapter with the grand opening of Markham Campus.
Located in York Region, one of the fastest growing areas in Ontario and a hub for technology and life sciences companies, Markham Campus will embed the University in the heart of one of the most diverse and dynamic urban communities in Canada.
A new campus for research, teaching and training is a significant milestone for York, which is already a multi-campus institution, with two existing campuses in the Greater Toronto Area at Keele and Glendon, as well as centres globally in Hyderabad, India and Las Nubes in Costa Rica.
In keeping with York U’s synergetic traditions, Markham Campus will expand the University’s interdisciplinary, inclusive and collaborative research environment.
Researchers at the new campus will collaborate to explore work focused on the core themes of technology and entrepreneurship and how they are driving innovation throughout our society, across four research clusters: AI & Society, FinTech,Digital Cultures and Public Policy.
As anticipation mounts for opening day, Ascend spoke with four Markham Campus researchers about their areas of expertise and their excitement for the campus launch.
← From left: Marios Fokaefs, Assistant Professor, and Rebecca Caines, Assistant Professor
← The building at Markham Campus was designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects with multiple sustainability features, located at 1 University Blvd.
Rebecca Caines
Assistant Professor, Department of Theatre, Dance and Performance, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD)
Caines, a co-lead for the Digital Cultures Research Cluster, joined York from the University of Regina, where she helped build a cross-faculty art and technology program. Using her experience in the Prairies, she has co-developed a new Creative Technologies program for the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD), which will be offered exclusively at Markham Campus this fall.
“York is a place that values leading-edge artistic practice, but also a commitment to social change,” she says. “It’s the perfect combination and home for me.”
Caines, who holds a PhD in Performance Studies from the University of New South Wales in Australia, describes her area of research as being at the intersection of improvised art, technology and community.
One upcoming project Caines will work on alongside her students is in partnership with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation to support their long-running Moccasin Identifier initiative. Caines and her collaborators will explore new ways of storytelling with augmented reality, adding a digital layer over the top of moccasin stencils that will be physically added to the floor of the Markham Campus building. Visitors will be able to scan the stencils with their cellphones to view computer-generated content, including animation, videos and drawings by students and community members, to share and learn stories about the land.
For Caines, one aspect she’s most looking forward to at Markham Campus is the facilities and equipment.
“Our students will have hands-on learning with immersive technologies, including the latest tools in virtual reality and motion capture,” she says. “For faculty members, I’m incredibly excited for my colleagues and me to have the opportunity to research and teach at the cutting-edge of our fields.”
Marios Fokaefs
Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Lassonde School of Engineering
Fokaefs is no stranger to York, having spent two and a half years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University after completing his PhD in software engineering at the University of Alberta. Fokaefs was keen to return to York as a faculty member to help shape the University’s future at Markham Campus.
“Lassonde is building two new programs (Digital Technologies and Computer Science for Software Development) for Markham Campus that are unique in Canada,” he says. “As part of their degree, our undergraduate students will combine their studies with concurrent positions at major tech companies throughout the entire program; learning doing work and working doing learning.”
Fokaefs’ expertise is in the design, maintenance and evolution of software systems. His research is particularly focused on creating DevOps solutions, bridging the gap between the development phase (Dev) and the operation phase (Ops).
Much of this work for Fokaefs has primarily involved software applications for health. Previous research of his has involved collaborating with hospitals and clinics to create smart systems to automate tasks, improve reliability and streamline processes.
As a software engineer, Fokaefs says the proximity of Markham Campus to industry is particularly exciting.
“Software engineering is a distinct discipline where in order to achieve impact, it has to be put into practice,” he says. “Markham Campus faculty and students will be able to build strong relationships with regional businesses, contribute to commercialization efforts, and apply our skills and knowledge to real-world problems. The new campus will provide York and its partners the opportunity to take applied research to the next level.”
To learn more about Markham Campus, visit yorku.ca/markham
Robert Gehl
Associate Professor and Ontario Research Chair,
Department of Communication & Media Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Gehl arrived at York in 2022 as the Ontario Research Chair of Digital Governance for Social Justice. A critical scholar in digital media, cultures and practices, he was formerly at the University of Calgary as the Fulbright Canada Research Chair of Communication, Media and Film, a highly prestigious professorship.
Trained in the United States, Gehl was drawn north of the border because of Canada’s reputation in the media studies field.
“This country has some of the best communications researchers, philosophers and theorists in the world,” he says. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to be here at York. It’s wonderful.”
Gehl’s research seeks to understand groups of people who build alternatives to corporate social media (e.g. Facebook, X, Instagram) and how they use technology and these decentralized social networking systems (e.g. Mastodon) to govern themselves as a community, to engage in democratic deliberation and to strive for social justice.
Gehl explores this topic and more in his latest book project called Move Slowly and Build Bridges: Mastodon, the Fediverse, and the Struggle for Democratic Social Media, which is under contract with Oxford University Press.
At Markham Campus, Gehl will teach in communication, social media and public relations, a new stream in the Communication & Media Studies program, to be offered exclusively at the new campus. The stream emphasizes experiential education, with students putting learned skills into action through co-ops and internships.
Gehl says one of the advantages for Markham Campus will be its small cohort, both in terms of faculty and student body.
“It’s going to be a tight-knit group with lots of energy,” he says. “I think my colleagues are incredibly talented, and they have built an exciting program that teaches critical PR. I’m thrilled to be a part of growing this new community from the ground up.”
Kelly Bergstrom
Associate Professor, Department of Communication & Media Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Bergstrom is an alumna, who obtained her PhD from York, in addition to completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University. Before returning to York in as a Markham faculty member, she was based at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She says she traded in the year-round summer and beaches of Honolulu because the opportunity to conceive and design new programming at the brand-new campus was too good to pass up.
She says she was also motivated to return to York because of its founding vision, which is to be a welcoming and inclusive institution to a broad sociodemographic of students.
“I was a first-generation university student and York has always been about this idea that everyone deserves a university education, no matter your background,” she says. “That belief has always resonated with me, and it’s never left me, so I’m happy to be back.”
As a feminist media scholar, Bergstrom has a wide range of research interests related to digital cultures, but she has particularly studied the world of video games for more than a decade. Her gaming research focuses on understanding how people decide whether a particular game or community is for them, and what possible factors spur them to drop out or disengage.
To do this work, Bergstrom has travelled far afield to places like Iceland, conducting focus groups at fan conventions, speaking to current, former and non-players of a variety of popular games. Her research has uncovered various obstacles that hinder different societal groups from playing certain games, as well as how some games are marketed to make people feel exceptional while playing them.
For Bergstrom, she sees Markham Campus as a place for novel possibilities.
“I am already talking to engineering colleagues who will be part of our faculty cohort about potential research connections, which I would not have done before at a larger campus,” she says. “At Markham, we will be able to break outside our disciplinary boundaries and push towards new interdisciplinary collaborations, both with our students and the faculty.”
De-escalating robocops?
York study imagines future of crisis response
Kathryn Pierce Psychology PhD candidate
Picture this: a 911 operator in your city receives a call from a person in mental distress and needs to send help.
They could dispatch the police or an integrated unit of both police and mental health professionals. But instead, the operator sends a robot.
This scenario may sound like science fiction, but it’s the kind of futuristic thinking that has researchers at York University considering all angles when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) and crisis response.
Building more empathetic bots through interdisciplinary research
In a paper published in Applied Sciences earlier this year, psychology PhD candidate Kathryn Pierce and her co-authors explore the potential role robots could play in crisis de-escalation, as well as the capabilities engineers would need to program them to be effective.
The visionary paper is part of a larger project at the Lassonde School of Engineering that involves early-stage research to design and test robots to assist in security and police force tasks. The York engineers asked the psychology researchers to provide their social scientific lens to their forward-thinking work on humanizing machines.
“De-escalation is not a well-researched topic and very little literature exists about what de-escalation really looks like moment by moment,” says Pierce, who is supervised by Dr. Debra Pepler, a renowned psychologist and Distinguished Research Professor in the Faculty of Health. “This makes it difficult to determine what kinds of behavioural changes are necessary in both responders and the person in crisis to lead to a more positive outcome.”
No hard and fast rules for de-escalation, for both humans and robots
With limited academic understanding of what really happens in human-to-human interactions during a crisis response, let alone robot-to-human, training a robot to calm a person down poses an incredibly tall task.
Despite the challenge, Pierce and her co-authors were able to develop a preliminary model outlining the functions a robot should theoretically be able to perform for effective de-escalation. These functions are made up of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that engineers would need to be mindful of when building a robot for such a task.
Some of these strategies include a robot’s gaze – the way a machine and human look at one another – the speed in which they approach (slow and predictable), and the sound and tone of their voice (empathetic and warm).
But, as the researchers point out, ultimately, robots cannot be “programmed in a fixed, algorithmic, rule-based manner” because there are no fixed rules for how people calm each other.
“Even if there were algorithms governing human-to-human de-escalation, whether those would translate into an effective robot-to-human de-escalation is an empirical question,” they write.
It is also difficult to determine whether people will react to robots emulating human behaviour the same way they would if it was an actual person.
Advances in AI could add new layer of complication to the future of crisis response In recent years, the use and discussion of non-police crisis response services have garnered growing attention in various cities across North America, and elsewhere in the world.
Advocates for replacing traditional law enforcement with social workers, nurses or mental health workers – or at least the integration of these professionals with police units – argue that this leads to better outcomes.
Research published earlier this year showed that police responding to people in mental distress use less force if accompanied by a health-care provider. Another study found that community responses were more effective for crime prevention and cost savings.
Introducing robots into the mix would add to the complexity of crisis response services design and reforms. And it could lead to a whole host of issues for engineers, social scientists and governments to grapple with in the future.
The here and now
For the time being, Pierce and her co-authors see a machine’s greatest potential in video recording. Robots would accompany human responders on calls to film the interaction. The footage could then be reviewed for responders to reflect on what went well and what to improve upon.
Researchers could also use this data to train robots to de-escalate situations more like their human counterparts.
Another use for AI surveillance the researchers theorize could be to have robots trained to identify individuals in public who are exhibiting warning signs of agitation, allowing for police or mental health professionals to intervene before a crisis point is ever reached.
While a world in which a 911 operator dispatches an autonomous robot to a crisis call may be too hard to conceive, Pierce and her co-authors do see a more immediate, realistic line of inquiry for this emerging area of research.
“I think what’s most practical would be to have engineers direct their focus on how robots can ultimately assist in de-escalation, rather than aiming for them to act independently,” says Pierce. “It’s a testament to the power and sophistication of the human mind that our emotions are hard to replicate. What our paper ultimately shows, or reaffirms, is that modern machines are still no match for human intricacies.”
The paper, “Considerations for Developing Robot-Assisted Crisis De-Escalation Practice, ” was co-authored by Pierce and Pepler, along with Michael Jenkin, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science in the Lassonde School of Engineering, and Stephanie Craig, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Guelph.
The work was funded by the Canadian Innovation for Defence Excellence & Security Innovation Networks.
BY COREY ALLEN
Voice-activated sexism
Exploring consequences of gendered technology
New research from two PhD candidates at York University examines the trend of smart speaker unboxing videos on YouTube, arguing that women who create content about devices like Siri or Alexa are perceived as a kind of domestic technology themselves.
“Voice-activated personal assistants (VAPAs) use women’s voices as a default setting, and this gendered technology significantly influences the treatment of women tech experts by male audiences online,” says Stephen J. Neville, who conducted the work alongside Alex Borkowski, both of whom are in the Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture at York and Toronto Metropolitan University.
Unboxing is a popular video genre on YouTube and features people unwrapping and reviewing the latest high-tech gadget or product, like smart speakers. These videos often also offer a walk-through or demonstration of such a device.
“Today’s consumers learn about new tech products online before buying them, and unboxing videos are seen as providing a trusted third-party review,” says Borkowski. “We were curious to learn more about the resonance between VAPAs and women tech experts.”
Neville and Borkowski watched over 200 of the most popular smart speaker unboxing videos on YouTube, the majority of which featured men, studying their contents, structure and aesthetics. Videos of women doing the unboxing made up only 10.9 per cent of their initial sample and garnered far fewer views.
Analyzing over 4,000 comments on videos made by women revealed a troubling but rather
unsurprising finding: the women’s intelligence was often insulted, or they were sexually objectified.
The pair of researchers argue some of these comments treat the women as if they are broken machines – a concept developed in previous media studies research – and are issued commands like a smart speaker to stop talking (or shut up), go mute or turn off.
“Sexism and misogyny are pervasive online and offline, and it extends to YouTube, which creates a challenging environment for female content creators,” says Borkowski. “Our research shows the domestication of smart speakers has had a spillover effect in the media consumption of these unboxing videos and women tech experts.”
A substantial portion of the pair’s research focused on analyzing each woman YouTubers’ presentation or performance style, and the ways in which they engaged with the product.
Based on this analysis, Neville and Borkowski observed the female content creators showed technical prowess and a solid understanding of smart speakers overall, but one aspect of their performances contradicted this display of expertise.
In some of the unboxing videos, when the VAPA is turned on, the women’s reactions were over the top, with some acting overwhelmingly shocked or audibly gasping.
The pair see this exaggerated behaviour as indicative of the way women are forced to navigate society at large, being expected to conform to traditional femininity.
“Our findings suggest that some of these women can at times act ditzy to undercut their own authority and expertise with new technology,” says Neville.
“This behaviour functions almost like a pre-emptive defence to the negative reaction they anticipate receiving from the audience.”
According to Borkowski, the idea of a technologically savvy woman is threatening to some, so these women have learned to adapt their behaviour in an attempt to minimize the level of vitriol or hate they receive online.
“It’s a burden male tech experts never contend with,” she says.
Despite these negative conditions facing women online, there are grounds for optimism. Neville and Borkowski see potential for the concept of women as broken machines to be co-opted to promote equity and social justice.
“Albeit broken, women tech experts viewed as machines provides them with a platform
and channel to shape the way their audiences see and use technology,” says Neville. “They can also block trolls and disable comments as a way to resist online misogyny.”
“The popularity of these unboxing videos provides an opportunity for female content creators to discuss bigger issues with technology beyond the functionality or practicality of one product, including concerns about privacy, surveillance and control,” says Borkowski.
The research, “Broken domestication: The resonant politics of voice in gendered technology,” was published as a book chapter earlier this year in the Routledge Handbook on Media and Technology Domestication
↓ From left: Stephen J. Neville and Alex Borkowski, PhD candidates in Communication & Culture
ONE YEAR LATER
Connected Minds
It’s been over a year since President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton and Vice-President Research and Innovation Amir Asif announced that Connected Minds had received $105.7 million from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF), the “largest single federal grant ever awarded to York."
THE CUTTING-EDGE PROGRAM AIMS
to bring together experts across eight York Faculties and three Queen’s Faculties to 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. Some of the program’s proposed projects include explorations into a more inclusive metaverse, virtual reality and community organizing, neurotechnologies for healthy aging, Indigenous data sovereignty and how human brain function changes when people interact with artificial intelligence (AI) versus each other.
Since the funding announcements in early 2023, Connected Minds – the biggest York-led research project in the University’s history –has been busy.
“As founding scientific director, it’s incredibly gratifying see the progress we have made this first year, thanks to the very hard work of our leadership team, dedicated staff and the support of our board of directors,” says Doug Crawford, who is also a Distinguished Research Professor and Canada Research Chair in visuomotor neuroscience.
In addition to seed grants and PhD awards given out, over the past 12 months, Connected Minds has expanded its roster of experts by onboarding 14 research-enhanced hires across York University and institutional partner Queen’s University.
The new additions are part of the program’s efforts to attract and retain the best talent, as well as a fulfillment of its commitment to add 35 strategic faculty hires, research Chairs or equivalent levels of support to its interdisciplinary research ecosystem. The new Connected Minds members will benefit from support that includes $100,000 in startup research funding, salary top-up and/or teaching release, and a research allowance of $25,000 per year.
Connected Minds’ progress was also successfully commended by the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat – which administers the Canada First Research Excellence Fund – during a site visit showcasing the various research units affiliated with the program, and the progress its made.
To further demonstrate the program’s – and York University’s – leadership in socially responsible technology, Connected Minds has also been organizing events, like the Introductory Meeting on Law and
→
Connected Minds director Pina D'Agostino
↑The
Connected Minds leadership team, from left: Gunnar Blohm, vice director for Queen's, Doug Crawford, founding scientific director, Pina D'Agostino, director, and Sean Hillier, associate director
Neuroscience in Canada, which united experts from Canada and the United States for in-depth discussions on socially responsible research at the intersection of law and neuroscience at the renowned Monk School of Global Affairs in Toronto.
Connect Minds also hosted an event marking the culmination of its inaugural year: the Connected Minds Annual Research Retreat in February 2024. The retreat united members across diverse disciplines – including arts, science, health, law and more – to collectively shape the future of socially responsible technology. The goal was to help provide networking opportunities for members to get to know each other better and form the teams that will apply to grants and achieve the program’s long-term goals. It aimed to do so through information sessions, active participation in shaping Connected Minds’ Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) action plan, and highlighting research-enhanced hires, who delivered big-idea talks during the retreat.
The retreat also marked another notable milestone: a transition in leadership.
Crawford will be succeeded by Professor Pina D’Agostino, founder and former director of
Connected Minds Neural and Machine Systems for a Healthy, Just Society
Launched in spring 2023
The $318.4-million project has already achieved several milestones pushing forward the project – and York University – as a leader in socially responsible emerging technology
IP Osgoode and co-director of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Society, where her expertise is frequently sought by government bodies to address the evolving intersection of AI and the law. Now, it will be applied to leading Connected Minds into what will promise to be another year of accomplishments.
“I am thrilled to be taking the program to the next level by building on the strong foundation we now have and engaging with all of our incredible partners and communities to work towards our goals of a healthy and just society,” says D’Agostino, looking ahead to how Connected Minds will continue to thrive and make contributions to interdisciplinary research.
↓ York President & Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton explores Biskaabiiyaang, an Indigenous metaverse created by assistant professor Maya Chacaby, a Connected Minds researcher.
Lassonde research boosts accuracy of GPS in smartphones
York University engineers have developed a new technique that significantly improves the accuracy of global positioning system (GPS) tracking in Android smartphones
Professor, Department of Earth and Space Science, Lassonde School of Engineering
USING PRECISE SATELLITE TRACKING data currently unavailable to smartphone processors, the Lassonde School of Engineering research team reduced tracking errors by upwards of 64 per cent.
A considerable feat, given the fact that satellites transmit signals from more than 20,000 kilometres away in space and smartphone reception can be quite weak (a phone’s antenna costs less than a dollar to manufacture).
“Because these satellites are so high in orbit and a consumer product like a smartphone uses low-grade and lowcost hardware, the great engineering challenge is to find ways to make everyday technology more precise,” explains Sunil Bisnath, a professor of geomatics engineering, whose research team also includes PhD students Yi Ding and Jiahuan Hu.
For the trio, that meant “squeezing” as much information from the satellite data as possible, and as much as a smartphone’s computing processor could handle.
“Professional-grade GPS equipment that can measure millimetre distances costs tens of thousands of dollars. Smartphones are not designed to function at such a high level. Our positioning technique to fill in missing data gaps was able to significantly improve the accuracy and quality of the measurements.”
Their findings, published this year in GPS Solutions, detail their method, which involved manipulating specific types of satellite data called pseudorange and carrier-phase measurements, multiplying the speed of light by the time these signals have taken to travel from the satellites to the smartphone receiver.
The researchers used York’s Keele Campus as a living lab to test their work, mounting a GPS-enabled
smartphone on a car dashboard and driving on various roads at and around the University and on 400-series highways.
Currently, Bisnath and his team continue to refine their technique, working to enhance its precision even further, while exploring potential partnership interest from industry.
This latest innovation builds on more than 30 years of research by Bisnath, who began studying GPS in the early 1990s upon the suggestion of one of his professors.
“I didn’t know what GPS was at the time, but now it’s become so pervasive in our daily lives,” said Bisnath. “From getting your dinner delivered on an app to following package deliveries online to conducting transactions with your bank card, GPS plays an integral role in how modern society works.
“So what I thought was a one -time project turned out to be an entire career.”
Sunil Bisnath
Ontario supports the development of smarter, more sustainable transportation technologies with $1.5M to York
In May 2024, the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN), with support from the Ontario Government, announced $1.5 million in funding to York University and in partnership with Centennial College to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups in developing and testing innovative automotive technologies and smart mobility solutions.
Overall, OVIN is supporting an investment of $4.77 million including the Province’s $1.5 million contribution.
“Having secured over $43 billion in new electric vehicle and EV battery manufacturing investments over the last four years, our government continues to recognize the economic potential of advanced automotive technologies,” said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. “We congratulate York University and Centennial College on the launch of their SmartTO RTDS, and look forward to seeing their partnership with OVIN inspire innovation across the auto and mobility sectors.”
This investment launches York University’s Smart Mobility Applied Research and Testing – Toronto (SmartTO) as the newest OVIN Regional Technology Development Site (RTDS), located in the Greater Toronto Area. As part of the RTDS network, SmartTO will directly support entrepreneurs, SMEs and startups in the automotive technology and mobility sector, through access to industry-leading resources such as specialized equipment, supports for testing and piloting, business and technical advisory services, and opportunities for collaboration with regional partners.
SmartTO will enable SMEs in the province to move the dial on sustainability and work towards reducing the province’s carbon footprint by speeding up the development, testing, and commercialization of new technologies and driving developments in the field. SMEs will work with established industry partners to help advance their technological innovations and smart material development for the next generation of smarter, lighter, and more efficient electric vehicles and
↑ From left: President and CEO of Centennial College Craig Stevenson; Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, and Head of the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network at OCI Raed Kadri; Dean of the School of Transportation Alan McClelland of Centennial College; Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Vic Fedeli; Associate Dean, School of Transportation David Weatherhead, Centennial College; Vice-President Research and Innovation Amir Asif, York University; and CEO, Ontario Centre for Innovation Claudia Krywiak are given a tour of some of the electric vehicles at Centennial College.
infrastructure. This work will ensure that the Province continues to lead in the research and innovation space for electric, connected, and autonomous vehicle technologies.
“As an internationally recognized leader in sustainability, the Sustainable Development Goals are embedded in our teaching, research, and innovation activities and are the blueprint for all our partnerships,” says Rhonda Lenton, York University President and Vice-Chancellor. “With a net-zero commitment and a longstanding reputation as a living lab where cutting-edge solutions are tested and refined, we are dedicated to expanding our positive impact through collaborative projects such as this one. This funding from the Ontario government will enable York, along with our partners, to expand support for SMEs across the province as part of the RTDS network towards realizing a more sustainable future.”
SmartTO will operate in partnership with Centennial Colleg e’s School of Transportation, Canada’s largest transportation training facility, leveraging the power of research expertise, engineering, and unrivalled access to state-ofthe-art equipment, cutting-edge labs, vehicles, facilities, and expert technicians. SmartTO will also utilize resources from York University’s Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, Lassonde School of Engineering, and YSpace, a pan-university entrepreneurship and innovation hub, to support startups and SMEs in the GTA on their journey from technology development to commercialization.
“Centennial College is looking forward to working with York University and the Ontario government through OVIN to build Ontario's strength in connected, autonomous, SMART and electrified vehicles – presenting a unique opportunity not only to train our future
workforce in these emerging technologies but also to lead in their innovation,” says Dr. Craig Stephenson, president and CEO of Centennial College.
“Ontario has emerged as a global leader in the automotive and mobility sector as it transforms towards electric, connected, and autonomous vehicles,” said Raed Kadri, Head of OVIN.
“ Through the OVIN Regional Technology Development Sites, we are harnessing the strengths of our entire province, from the critical mineral wealth of Northern Ontario and to the manufacturing strength of Southern Ontario, and everywhere in between –cementing Ontario's role as the global hub for the vehicles of the future.”
Through the Province’s commitment to supporting the automotive and mobility sector, Ontario continues to reinforce its position as the global hub for automotive manufacturing, supply and technological innovation, evidenced by billions of dollars in transformational investments, particularly for EV and battery production. The creation of this new RTDS builds on this success and forms part of the Province’s 10-year plan, Driving Prosperity, which is driving economic development and a cleaner, safer and more efficient transportation future.
Young innovators look to commercialize research with
York Fellowship
Four aspiring researchers have completed York University’s Commercialization Fellowship program, advancing their potential to bring to market innovations driven by the latest in emerging technologies.
THE COMMERCIALIZATION FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
is aimed at preparing and supporting postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows in understanding the process of transforming academic research into a product or service.
Funded by the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, the program started in 2021, providing a group of annual fellows education on intellectual property (IP) and commercialization, exposure to industry and community partners, experiential learning opportunities, and a $7,500 stipend to use towards creating a proof of concept, testing their prototype and completing validation studies.
“Research commercialization can lead to real-world solutions, turning York community’s great ideas into products and services that provide both social and economic benefits.”
— Suraj Shah, associate director, commercialization and industry partnerships
Ascend spoke with this year’s fellows about the program and their products.
Hamed Esmaeili Mechanical Engineering
Project title: An accelerated strategy to characterize mechanical properties of materials
A PhD student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Esmaeili’s research leverages the power of machine learning to create new software that could have widespread application in the automotive manufacturing and construction industries.
His software innovation streamlines the way in which materials’ mechanical properties are characterized, eliminating the need for extensive physical testing.
“For designers and engineers, this software offers a way to prototype new parts or evaluate existing materials without ever having to set foot inside a lab,” said Esmaeili.
This could prove useful in many industries such as infrastructure – when it comes to designing and testing structures, like buildings and bridges, to ensure they can withstand forces and automotive manufacturing – where components of a car, like the doors or brakes, consistently operate under various load conditions.
Esmaeili’s software allows users to input specific parameters – such as material composition, environmental conditions and processing factors – resulting in a comprehensive prediction of a material’s behaviour when subjected to external loads.
While the project, under the supervision of Reza Rizvi, an associate professor at the Lassonde School of Engineering, is still under development, the implications are vast. Being able to predict how materials will respond in different environments –without the need to physically test each variation – can dramatically accelerate innovation, reduce costs and promote sustainability in manufactured components, making this an advancement in the manufacturing industry with far-reaching impact.
Esmaeili said the Commercialization Fellowship has helped him utilize code development software and allowed him to conduct validation experiments in the laboratory to ensure the software effectively predicts material behaviour.
He has completed the back-end code of his software and is currently working on developing the front end for the desktop version in the coming months.
Lauren Turner Kinesiology and Health Science
Project title: Digital Decision Support for Exercise and Type 1 Diabetes
A PhD candidate in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Turner’s doctoral research has resulted in the creation of a decision support platform designed to transform how individuals with Type 1 diabetes approach exercise.
Addressing the fine balance between maintaining glucose levels and staying active, the platform allows users to input data about their current glucose levels and planned physical activities. Based on an extensive database of research and insights, it provides personalized recommendations on carbohydrate intake to maintain safe glucose levels during exercise.
“Anyone with Type 1 diabetes can use it,” said Turner. “We’re also hoping that it can be a clinic tool to help individuals, especially those newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, understand how their needs may differ depending on their different types of activity and their current blood glucose levels.”
While exercising has numerous health benefits for individuals living with Type 1 diabetes, it can also make blood glucose management difficult and, in extreme cases, lead to potentially severe consequences, such as low blood sugar levels (hypoglycemia), which could result in dizziness, confusion, seizures or even death.
The platform, led under the supervision of Michael Riddell, a professor in York’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health, directly addresses and alleviates these risks, offering a layer of protection and confidence to those affected. And unlike traditional insulin pumps, which may only adjust glucose targets and/or insulin delivery, this platform offers actionable advice for its users.
Turner credits the fellowship with helping her to advance the project and said the monthly check-in meetings, advice on how to bring her idea to market, and hearing about events and opportunities were highlights of the program.
Turner and her team have been working closely with a web developer to develop the platform and they hope to launch it shortly.
Parham Mohammadi Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Project title: PowerSync: Intelligent V2G Charging with TinyML Analytics
A PhD student in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Mohammadi’s project hones in on tiny machine learning (TinyML) to infuse electric vehicle (EV) chargers with unprecedented levels of intelligence and autonomy, giving them the ability to make decisions without relying on a centralized control system.
TinyML uses artificial intelligence algorithms within the EV charger to independently manage and adapt its operations – ensuring grid stability, predictive maintenance, fault analysis and more. It aims to not only streamline operations but significantly mitigate the potential for system-level power issues as the number of EVs and chargers continue to enter the market.
The project, supervised by Afshin RezaeiZare, an associate professor at the Lassonde School of Engineering, reflects a broader shift toward a smarter, more efficient way of managing energy resources, especially as we pivot to renewable and clean energy solutions. Through the integration of TinyML technologies, EV chargers can seamlessly synchronize with the energy grid, efficiently distributing power without overwhelming the system.
“For the everyday consumer and the environmentally conscious, this project is a pivotal step toward sustainable electric vehicle adoption,” said Mohammadi. “By integrating smart, autonomous chargers into the energy grid, we’re looking at a smoother, more reliable transition to green mobility solutions across the globe.”
Mohammadi said the Commercialization Fellowship provided him with critical information for commercialization, IP management and connections with lawyers through the IP Innovation Clinic.
He is currently in the process of developing a prototype, which is anticipated to be completed mid-summer.
Siamak Derakhshan Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Project title: Fully Soft-switched AC/DC Bi-directional Converters with High Power Factor and Minimal Low-Frequency Voltage Ripple
A third-year PhD candidate in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Derakhshan’s research aims to revolutionize on-board EV chargers. Deviating from traditional unidirectional charging methods, which function only to charge, Derakhshan has created a bidirectional converter, allowing the charger to not just power a car but also harness its battery power.
The innovation unlocks tremendous possibilities – from lighting up homes during blackouts or emergencies to contributing power back to the grid during peak demand.
Under the supervision of John Lam, an associate professor in the Lassonde School of Engineering, Derakhshan’s converter enhances existing on-board EV chargers in the market by making modifications such as reducing the size of the traditionally bulky capacitor by 20 times, which improves the lifespan of the on-board charger, its efficiency and reduces the potential for thermal issues such as overheating.
“What we are trying to do is to improve the reliability, efficiency and power density of these converters,” he said. “We are designing better and more robust control systems to better support the power grid.”
Derakhshan says the fellowship’s workshops helped him understand the importance of IP and patenting his idea. He also found value in being able to connect with industry and showcase his work to industry partners.
Derakhshan has designed the prototype for his converter and has successfully tested it for charging. He is currently working on the next phase to test the bidirectional component.
York entrepreneurs recognized by award, prime minister
York University alumni Yemi Ifegbuyi (BA ’10) and Zainab Williams (BA ’07) are among the top three Black entrepreneurs named the inaugural winners of a startup pitch competition hosted by the Black Entrepreneurship Alliance (BEA) founded by the Black Creek Community Health Centre in partnership with York University’s YSpace.
The competition, the BEA Investment Bootcamp Demo Day, is the final assignment of a four-month program run in partnership with YSpace for early-stage and capital-ready, Black-led startups.
The Investment Bootcamp program is aimed at supporting Black-led tech startups with training, mentorship and fundraising insights to secure early capital.
With a community-driven approach, the program offers curated content and resources to support entrepreneurs through educational workshops, one-on-one coaching and peer founder circles, which provides a safe and open space for founders to connect and receive support.
Applicants to the competition were narrowed down from the 17 Black entrepreneurs who participated in the program to nine finalists who pitched their businesses to a live audience at an event on Feb. 1 celebrating Black excellence.
The Demo Day event, which also marked the start of Black History Month, was attended by a number of government officials, including Filomena Tassi, the minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. Judy Sgro, member of Parliament for Humber River – Black Creek, was also in attendance and was impressed by the entrepreneurs. “Witnessing the dedication and leadership of these young entrepreneurs has not only inspired me, but it reaffirms my belief in the incredible potential of our community’s future leaders,” she says.
First-place winner Ifegbuyi will receive $5,000 toward his business, Cozii Technologies, an artificial intelligence-driven property management platform tailored to multi-unit landlords. Ifegbuyi immigrated from Nigeria about 15 years ago and received his degree in international development and urban studies at York as well as a master’s degree in
entrepreneurship and innovation. As a founder known for his entrepreneurial drive, Ifegbuyi is excited for the future as his business continues to grow.
“This fund will be channelled into our sales and marketing endeavours, with the goal of reaching and serving more small- and medium-scale rental property owners and managers,” he says.
“It ’s not just a cash prize. It’s an investment in Cozii Technologies’ vision to revolutionize the way we approach property management.”
Second-place winner Williams, the founder of Fundevolve Inc., a pioneering platform dedicated to empowering women in their financial journey, will receive $3,000 to further her company. Williams developed her passion for business while studying business administration and management at York. Born out of an investment gone wrong, Williams became an independent financial planner and was determined to empower individuals to make the right financial decisions. Her business is quickly building momentum as she works to further develop the web-based platform and equip women with the tools to take control of their financials.
“We plan to use the prize winnings for testing before launching our platform,” says Williams. “This investment in security ensures not only our project’s safety but also our users’ trust.”
Both Ifegbuyi and Williams cite the boot camp’s collaborative spirit as a contributor to their startup’s success. “Participating in the program has been a transformative journey,” says Ifegbuyi. “The unwavering support and mentorship we received are catalysts for long-term growth.”
Special guest Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also attended a private event – where York President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton was also present – held before the awards to meet the finalists and learn more about their businesses.
“Meeting Justin Trudeau was a great honour and opportunity,” says Ifegbuyi. “It symbolized the recognition of our hard work and the federal government commitment to supporting the Black entrepreneurial community. It’s a reminder that our efforts are making an impact, and it inspires us to continue pushing boundaries and striving for excellence in everything we do.”
Both BEA and YSpace offer several innovative programs and events for entrepreneurs at all stages, including curated programming dedicated to under-represented groups like Black entrepreneurs and women founders. To learn more visit yorku.ca/yspace
↑ From left: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who met finalists at a special event before the awards were announced, with first-place winner Yemi Ifegbuyi and second-place winner Zainab Williams
Intellectual property services at York give startups innovation edge
BY DIANA SENWASANE
For more than a decade, the IP Innovation Clinic at York University has been helping inventors and entrepreneurs protect and grow their wide-ranging business ventures.
Based out of Osgoode Hall Law School, the first-of-its-kind and now largest intellectual property (IP) legal clinic in Canada has provided pro bono legal support to hundreds of community members.
Recently, the clinic partnered with the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation (VPRI) to offer streamlined services and a more efficient pathway for faculty to bring their product or service to market.
This new partnership enhances the clinic’s ongoing contributions to the business development of dozens of startups.
The IP Innovation Clinic continues to offer tailored support for inventors and entrepreneurs looking to protect and commercialize their ideas.
Backed by the expertise of the clinic and VPRI teams, these services give inventors and entrepreneurs the peace of mind that their intellectual property is protected. Clients can simplify a complicated process, avoid errors that can delay their journey to market, avoid costly lawyer or patent agent fees, and save valuable time.
Services offered by the clinic can include:
• guidance on how to identify and protect assets, best practices and information surrounding freedom to operate;
• patent searches and prior art searches;
• trademark searches;
• IP Agreement review; and
• IP Application drafting and review.
Those looking to bring their product or service to market or protect their idea can schedule free one-on-one consultations with the clinic by emailing ipinnovationclinic@osgoode.yorku.ca
Spotlighted below are three ventures that credit the clinic for helping them reach new levels of success.
NURO
Founded in 2017, NURO is a health-care technology company that uses neurotechnology to create a form of communication for incapacitated patients who suffer from conditions such as stroke, trauma and neurodegenerative diseases.
NURO’s second patented technology, The PAD, used for the detection and continuous monitoring of Alzheimer’s disease.
When the startup was first established, founder and CEO Francois Gand was referred to the IP Innovation Clinic to protect his intellectual property.
“This collaboration empowered us to assess and prioritize crucial aspects of our work with the aid of talented scholars, allowing for a much more intricate and in-depth organization of our IP portfolio,” says Gand.
The clinic provided pro bono patent searching that helped NURO assess the relevant patent landscape related to its technologies and helped the company begin the patent application process, resulting in NURO securing a patent and its IP more broadly.
Skygauge Robotics
Skygauge Robotics was founded by a trio of then-students, now York alumni, including two who were featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list: Nikita Illiushkin (BBA ’16) and Linar Ismagilov (BA ’18). Their company uses drones to create a workforce in the sky.
The drones do physical work for remote inspection and maintenance and can be used for painting, pressure washing, cleaning and even ultrasonic testing, which is used when inspecting large infrastructure like ships, bridges and piping.
The IP Innovation Clinic helped Skygauge Robotics secure their IP, which later contributed to them obtaining $3.3 million in funding led by BDC’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund.
↑ A Skyguage Robotics drone performing an inspection on a ship.
“What really set us apart from other companies competing for funding was the fact that we had our technology patented,” says Illiushkin. “We credit the IP Innovation Clinic for their guidance and support in the IP process and the expertise of the supervising legal team who continue to advise us today.”
Indigenous Friends Association
The Indigenous-led, not-for-profit organization created by then-student, now York alumnus Alejandro Mayoral-Baños (PhD ’21) first began as an app to connect and support Indigenous youth. Mayoral-Baños turned to the IP Innovation Clinic to understand how to best protect his IP, develop essential contracts and become incorporated.
↑ Founder Alejandro Mayoral-Baños (top middle) posing with the Indigenous Friends Association board of directors.
The clinic was instrumental in helping evolve the app into other projects and gain access to more funding, notably a $210,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
“Working with the clinic was a transformative journey in turning vision into reality,” says MayoralBaños. “It enabled me to critically navigate the complexities of IP, leading to the creation of reallife solutions that have propelled the Indigenous Friends Association forward.”
The Indigenous Friends Association now provides educational programs for Indigenous youth looking to enter the technology sector across the globe.
↑ Above: Hadil Elsayed collects a sample from a malaise trap.
↑ Bottom: Elsayed in the field.
← Elsayed inspects a collected specimen in the lab.
York researcher traverses tick-infested terrain to beat back insect apocalypse
Academic research is often perceived to involve a lot of books and library visits, but Hadil Elsayed’s PhD work studying insects at York University has involved choppy boat rides, off-road all-terrain vehicle (ATV) adventures and one particularly nasty trek through a swamp.
“I JOKE THAT MY PHD DEFENCE WILL INCLUDE a graph that shows the number of cuts and bruises I’ve had to endure for my research,” says the budding entomologist, who is in the fourth year of her PhD in the Department of Biology.
Jokes aside, Elsayed’s research into the effects of climate change on insects is no laughing matter. In fact, her work is adding to an increasing number of studies that reveal insects are disappearing. It’s a troubling phenomenon dubbed “the insect apocalypse.”
Current scientific evidence suggests insects across various species and regions are in global decline and are decreasing in terms of population, biomass and diversity.
This has serious consequences for the health of our ecosystems, as insects are crucial for pest control, soil quality and pollination, or plant reproduction. Insects travel between different plants, helping them grow by leaving behind pollen grains. These plants can then be harvested as an energy source for humans and other living organisms, including birds that depend on insects for food.
“Many of these decline studies are coming out of Europe, so my research explores to what extent we are seeing this same trend here in Canada,” says Elsayed, whose work is supervised by leading conservation scientist Sheila Colla, an associate professor in the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change.
“As far as I know, research into biodiversity loss within protected areas at this level has not yet taken place in this country or in North America.”
Elsayed’s research spans 13 sites, primarily in the Long Point Biosphere Reserve three hours southwest from Toronto, off the shores of Lake Erie. It’s an ecologically significant area, made up of several distinct natural habitats including woodlands, marshes, beaches, meadows and sand dunes, among others. Protected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization, the area is home to a wide range of plants and animals, including many aquatic birds and species at risk.
To collect all the insect specimens for study, Elsayed used malaise traps, tent-like structures that are set up in the direction of the wind to catch insects flying upwards into jars of ethanol. Elsayed collected hundreds of samples biweekly, or sometimes weekly, in the summery months of May through August.
Setting up all the traps in the right places and monitoring them means Elsayed often had to brave the wilderness and all its elements, including tick-infested terrain.
“I would have to stop every two minutes to pick ticks off me or shoo away all the mosquitoes,” she says. “I complained a lot while I was out there, but it’ll be worth it if it means I can help protect biodiversity and make a meaningful contribution to the field of entomology.”
With help from a guide from the Long Point Bird Observatory, Elsayed travelled to some sites that are only accessible by going off-trail – by ATV, by boat or by bushwhacking. The demanding task of collecting samples also entailed a month-long stint living alone in a cabin, where the only visitors Elsayed entertained were some rather unwelcome cockroaches.
Back at the lab, Elsayed processes her samples and sorts, weighs and analyzes hundreds of insects. Her research specifically focuses on the insects that live in protected areas, like Long Point, which should be safer from environmental stressors than insects found in urban ecosystems or cities – in theory.
But some of Elsayed’s early findings show these protected areas are also suffering, experiencing a decline of up to 200 grams in biomass. This translates to a loss of hundreds of thousands of insects. These findings are possible because Elsayed can compare data collected from the same sites in the early 1990s by the Canadian Wildlife Service against the data she has gathered 30 years later.
“Preliminary results indicate that climate change is a factor in insect decline, even in protected areas, and various climate stressors are behind their disappearance,” explains Elsayed. “For one group of insects, the main driver for their decline appears to be a decrease in rainfall. For another, it’s linked to an increase in temperature.”
In late 2023, Elsayed presented parts of her work at an annual conference held by the Entomological Society of America, with over 3,600 attendees. She was awarded first place in the Student Competition for the President’s Prize, recognizing her efforts to advance climate change research.
With her strenuous field work completed, Elsayed is currently working on writing her dissertation, with a projected PhD completion date in early 2025.
Her work is funded by York University, the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Entomological Society of Canada.
↑ An example of one of Elsayed’s malaise traps
York health researcher tackles TB stigma through partnership in India
BY COREY ALLEN
Amrita Daftary Associate Professor, School of Global Health and School of Health Policy and Management, Faculty of Health
AS A LEADING INTERNATIONAL TEACHING and research university, a key focus at York is global health research, particularly on pressing issues facing the Global South – developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and parts of Asia.
To conduct this purposeful research abroad, York faculty work with their counterparts in other countries to forge international partnerships, based on an inclusive and decolonizing approach.
Such work aligns with York’s Global Engagement & Internationalization Strategy, launched earlier this year. The strategy reflects a commitment to Advancing Global Engagement, one of the six priorities for action in the University Academic Plan.
One country that York has strong engagement with is India, particularly in the field of healthrelated research. York’s newly launched Global Research Excellence (GRE) Seed Fund prioritizes many new and existing partners in the country. The University is also a member of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes academic, government and business connections between India and Canada.
In India and elsewhere, York researchers draw on their expertise in health sciences, health management and health informatics, among other health-related fields, to collaborate on studies about infectious diseases, such as malaria, HIV and tuberculosis (TB), which affects many people living in the Global South. This work explores not only combatting the diseases themselves but also involves researchers working to understand their socio-economic consequences.
One such researcher is Amrita Daftary, an associate professor in the School of Global Health and the School of Health Policy & Management.
“Global health research requires trust and good will built upon long-standing relations, which York has allowed me to sustain,” she says. “My colleagues and I have many points of connection, not transactional in nature nor tied to a single grant. Through these international collaborations, I am grateful my work can have a global impact.”
Daftary’s research focuses on the social determinants of tuberculosis, primarily in South Africa. But Daftary grew up in India, a country with nearly 25 per cent of the world’s TB burden, where she witnessed first-hand the stigma and isolation faced by people living with TB.
“Tuberculosis is fully preventable and curable, but it’s rampant in forgotten populations,” says Daftary, who is also the founder of the Social Science & Health Innovation for Tuberculosis Centre, a virtual network of scholars who work to address the global TB epidemic. “Bringing attention to this neglected illness has always been a focus of my work, which is why my research partnerships in India are incredibly meaningful to me.”
Daftary has lived outside of India for more than two decades, but over the past several years, she has travelled to her home country to work in partnership with the Foundation of Medical Research (FMR), a national research organization affiliated with Mumbai University.
It is here where Daftary has been involved with several TB studies run by FMR, acting as an adviser on qualitative research methods and providing her expertise as a social scientist to improve clinical care for TB.
In one study, Daftary conducted a knowledge-building workshop with former patients, or TB survivors, to better understand decision-making when confronted with symptoms related to TB, such as coughing up blood, fever and weight loss, among others. The workshop helped highlight patient priorities in the clinical treatment of TB.
Using insights from the workshop discussion, Daftary co-authored an article alongside other experts, including FMR’s current director Nerges Mistry, and TB survivors themselves. Published in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, “Person-centred care in TB” advocates for a more holistic and human approach in health-care systems.
Daftary’s work in India also considers structural barriers, like gender inequality, that can impact how women with TB access health care and encounter various forms of stigma. She’s done some of this work by supervising Tahiya Mahbub, a postdoctoral Fellow at York, who was based in Mumbai.
With approval from FMR’s ethics committee, and collaborations with the Médecins sans Frontières’ Mumbai chapter, Daftary and Mahbub used photovoice – a unique research method that involves study participants photographing themselves and their experiences – to explore how women with drug-resistant TB dealt with stigma, and how photovoice helped mitigate it.
The findings, detailed in “‘One by One, TB Took Everything Away From Me’: A Photovoice Exploration of Stigma in Women with DrugResistant Tuberculosis in Mumbai,” shed light on their painful lived experiences encountering stigma, ranging from a loss of self, status and mobility to abuse and distress, and feelings of shame and hopelessness. More positively, the method was found to be useful in building a collective resiliency among the study participants.
The study helped inform patient counselling sessions and identified the participants’ needs for their families to be included in counselling, as well as a desire for improved communications skills among nurses and doctors who monitored them long term.
“Patients can often feel like they are robots or told they can’t leave their house or go near anyone,” says Daftary. “There’s a real demoralizing approach to care. We need to listen to people who’ve lived through it to tell us how we can do better.”
Daftary last visited India in late 2022 for her work. She hopes to continue her ongoing collaborations with FMR and others in India as new opportunities emerge, having now established such strong relationships in the country. She’s particularly interested in pursuing student and faculty exchanges in the future.
“My work with FMR and my collaborators in India is beyond any one project,” she says. “I hope that we can continue to collaborate on our shared goals to address TB, to engage with communities affected by the disease, and to strengthen knowledge exchange and quality research together.”
←
Amrita Daftary (third from left) and Nerges Mistry (fourth from left) in India
Prof exemplifies York excellence in global health research through worldwide partnerships
As a world leader in global health research, York University is fully committed to international collaborations across multiple sectors with academic, government, industry and community partners.
AMONG THOSE HIGHLIGHTING THE impact of these partnerships is Professor Godfred Boateng.
Forging strong relationships beyond geographical boundaries enables the York community to conduct meaningful work that defines the University’s approach to research and innovation: interdisciplinary, collaborative and equitable.
Among those leading the way in this is Boateng, a quantitative sociologist and epidemiologist who was recently appointed Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Global Health and Humanitarianism.
“Partnerships are key and without them, global health research isn’t possible."
Godfred Boateng Assistant Professor
“York University’s partnerships in the Global South greatly expand the scope of my research and allow me to reach populations and communities that would not be accessible otherwise.”
Boateng’s project looks to collect physiological, ecological, and demographic data from informal settlements in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
Using high-cost field equipment, the researchers will assess the quality of the air and water samples (stored, drinking and groundwater) found in and around the settlements.
This is particularly important in subSaharan Africa, where flooding due to climate change is a considerable health risk and bacterial infections like dysentery and waterborne illnesses like cholera are widespread.
The scales would help researchers and health-care professionals to assign a score to the environmental contaminants found in settlement households, which enables them to determine if water, for example, is safe for consumption without the need for further testing.
For local governments, this would streamline water, air, and housing quality assessments and provide valuable information to inform healthcare policy and decision-making.
Learn more about York University’s Global Engagement Strategy
One of Boateng’s latest research projects is related to his CRC appointment, which aims to measure and quantify different forms of resource insecurity, including food, water, energy and housing, as well as to advance our understanding of the overall health effects of environmental contaminants, both in the Global South and in Canada. This work exemplifies, he said, the importance of having international partners and collaboration.
The data will be used to validate scales, like the Household Water Insecurity Experiences Scale, co-developed by Boateng for use by public health practitioners, non-governmental organizations, government officials, and development agencies to monitor and assess progress on targets set out in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals around achieving equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water, as well as adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene.
“Our project will also produce the necessary data for comparative studies, so that this evidence can be used in other contexts, including in some Indigenous communities in Canada that face similar resource insecurity challenges,” said Boateng. The project is slated to start this summer with 300 households in Accra, Ghana, alongside Boateng’s partners from his alma mater, the University of Ghana, and the University of Cape Coast, before moving onto research sites in Nigeria, Kenya and Malawi, and subsequently to Colombia and Mexico. Last month, Boateng was also part of a York delegation that visited Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya. The Africa trip helped the University engage with prospective students and explore partnership opportunities with local universities and research institutions.
For Boateng, studying global health helps bridge the inequality divide.
“It’s important to identify the sources of health disparities and the structural determinants of health, so that proper interventions can be put in place,” he said.
“Global health research, when applied, can not only enhance the quality of life for the world’s most vulnerable populations – women, children and seniors – but it also has life-saving potential for people worldwide. It’s teamwork at its best.”
↑ Boateng and his former professor, Fidelia Ohemeng, during the York delegation’s visit to Ghana.
Godfred Boateng Assistant Professor, School of Global Health, Faculty of Health, Canada Research Chair in Global Health and Humanitarianism
→ Vice-President Research & Innovation Amir Asif (third from left) and Professor Godred Boateng (fourth from left) in Ghana.
York welcomes transformative investments
in next phase to create a new School of Medicine
← From left:
Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca, King-Vaughan MPP Steven Lecce, Premier Doug Ford, York President Rhonda Lenton and Deputy Premier Sylvia Jones.
Community-based
doctor education program slated to start in 2028.
YORK UNIVERSITY
has long been a leader in health education and research, and recent announcements by the Government of Ontario have enabled the University to further this vision, with a new School of Medicine. In April 2024, at the Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital, Premier Doug Ford announced that York University’s new School of Medicine will open its doors to its first cohort of future doctors in 2028.
“[This] announcement is part of our plan to connect more Ontario families to more convenient care, including primary care,” said Premier Doug Ford. “As the first medical school in Canada focused primarily on training family doctors, this new school will make an enormous impact in the lives of people in York Region and across Ontario.”
The premier also announced that York University’s School of Medicine has the province’s support for 80 undergraduate spots and 102 postgraduate spots when the doors open in 2028, going up to 240 undergraduate seats and 293 postgraduate seats on an annual basis once operating at full capacity.
By focusing on training primary care doctors, York University’s training model will devote approximately 70 per cent of the new postgraduate training seats to primary care.
The new commitments build on $9 million in start-up funding announced in March 2024 as part of the Ontario Budget 2024: Building a Better Ontario. Taken together, the announcements boost the development of the School of Medicine at York University significantly and accelerates the pace and path to new medical education in the fastest growing region in Ontario.
“These new investments to support increased physician education in Ontario come at a critical time and mark an important milestone in York’s trajectory as an internationally recognized leader in higher education. Amidst growing demand for family doctors and other primary care general specialists, I want to thank Premier Ford and his government for being responsive to this pressing need, for their vision and clear commitment to York’s School of Medicine – and a healthier future for Ontarians,” said Rhonda Lenton, president and vice-chancellor.
York University’s School of Medicine will prepare the next generation of talented frontline primary care doctors who represent the diversity of the communities in which they live, with plans to launch a unique bridging program to ensure no qualified future doctor goes without access to medical education.
The City of Vaughan has been an early supporter and valued partner throughout the planning and development of this critical education infrastructure project, and has agreed to transfer land to the University to build the School of Medicine within the Vaughan Healthcare Centre Precinct beside Mackenzie Health’s Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital.
Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca affirmed the city’s ongoing commitment, “I was thrilled to join Premier Ford to officially announce the approval and funding of York University’s School of Medicine, located in the Vaughan Healthcare Centre Precinct (VHCP). When ready, this new School of Medicine will help address the much-needed doctor shortage in our community.”
“Mackenzie Health is excited to be a lead partner on this journey with York University in the creation of a School of Medicine, located next to Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital and just a few kilometers from Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital. There is an urgent need for additional primary care providers in our community and for our health care system. Building capacity will ensure patients receive the comprehensive care they need and deserve, especially as they age and begin to experience more complex health challenges. We are grateful for the provincial government’s continued health care investments, and we look forward to working with York University to train the family physicians of the future who will care for the growing and aging community in western York Region and beyond,” said Mackenzie Health President and CEO Altaf Stationwala.
“Early support from York’s strong network of community health providers, hospitals, and municipalities with whom we have been working has been instrumental throughout the School of Medicine planning phase. I am grateful for our many highly skilled and thoughtful partners for their leadership and insights, and we look forward to continuing to grow and expand our work with them,” said Lenton.
York and UNITAR tackle global water challenges on UN World Water Day
What will it take to ensure that the two billion people currently without access to clean water around the world are not left high and dry?
Sharma UGWA Director and Professor, Faculty of Science
WITH YORK UNIVERSITY AS THE academic lead, the UNITAR Global Water Academy is mobilizing the scientific community and forging collaborations to address water scarcity and lack of access.
United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Global Water Academy (UGWA) reached its oneyear anniversary on UN World Water Day, March 22, 2024, the same day it hosted a side event panel with York as part of the United Nations (UN) World Water Day in Geneva – Addressing Water for Peace: Water Governance in Conflict and Humanitarian Settings –to spark collaborations and dialogue around the theme, Leveraging Water for Peace.
Two days later on March 24, the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto shined a light on water in Indigenous and Muslim traditions with a panel discussion on World Water Day: Exploring Indigenous and Muslim Water Stories Through the Arts, presented by the UNITAR Global Water Academy and York.
“Some 2.5 billion people live in water stressed countries where the supply cannot meet the demand, while 46 per cent of the world’s population lacks adequate sanitation services. Access to safe drinking water is inequitable and puts the safety of women and marginalized groups at risk,” says York Research Chair in Global Change Biology Professor Sapna Sharma, inaugural director of the UGWA and a freshwater expert in the Faculty of Science. “Conflict, changes in land use and climate change are exacerbating water insecurity in urban, rural and
agricultural areas. These are global issues that continue to worsen.”
York has a deep well of expertise in water research and action and along with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Global Water Academy (UGWA) will help develop scientific-based and governance solutions and applications to address water issues in some of the most underserved areas and for those most affected by climate change, flooding, and drought.
“Water is strongly linked to political instability and economic inequality, and as both a leader in sustainability as well as a progressive teaching and research institution, it is our responsibility to take action on this critical issue,” says Rhonda Lenton, York’s president and vice-chancellor. “Our thriving partnership with UNITAR to create a first-of-its-kind Global Water Academy is one example of how collaboration across sectors and borders can drive positive change for our global communities.”
With UGWA, York is advancing much needed scholarship and virtual and hybrid learning developed by global leaders in water research, resource management and policy development. The courses will be for all relevant parties, including researchers, governments, and the public on everything water from how to mitigate water shortages caused by climate change to making drinking water cleaner and more accessible.
“The collaboration with York University to create the Global Water Academy recognizes its vision and leadership to become Canada’s leader in research into water technologies spanning different sub disciplines including wastewater, drinking water, groundwater and surface water research. Together, we are developing
solutions to the world’s water issues,” says Nikhil Seth, UN assistant secretary general and executive director of UNITAR.
One of the goals is to empower learners everywhere to respond to water crises and to help achieve the UN SDG 6 – support capacity building of sustainable management of water especially for Indigenous communities and marginalized/equitydeserving groups.
An essential part of UGWA’s work is building a global network of water experts, scientists, and policymakers, and reaching out to local people in some of the hardest hit regions to learn about their specific water challenges to help address them through training and education. Building a space where people can connect, form partnerships and collaborate is essential.
Some places are going to be warmer and drier; others will become wetter and cooler. There is not one solution that can be applied across the world and that is why the network is so important. In their first year, the network has grown exponentially. Their most recent virtual panel at the United Nations in New York City attracted hundreds of people from 90 countries.
“For countries severely impacted by climate change and conflict, the lack of clean water can be life threatening,” says Sharma, who studies how lakes worldwide respond to climate change, including rapid ice loss, warming water temperatures, degrading water quality, and changing fish distributions. “Clean and safely managed water offers a way out of these crises. It’s why we must work together to advance goal six of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals – ensuring access to water and sanitation for all.”
Sapna
Nikhil Seth UNITAR
York-Queen’s art project combines VR with Anishinaabe philosophy to explore water’s hidden depths
A collaborative research-creation project between a pair of York University and Queen’s University artists that asks audiences to rethink their relationship to water is making a splash at exhibitions around the world.
Mary Bunch
Associate Professor, Department of Cinema and Media Arts, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design and Canada Research Chair in Critical Media Ecologies
Dolleen Tiswaii’ashii
Manning Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Science, Queen's University and interdisciplinary artist
CREATED BY YORK MEDIA ARTIST
Mary Bunch, alongside Queen’s interdisciplinary artist Dolleen Tiswaii’ashii Manning, the project combines virtual reality (VR) technology with Anishnaabe philosophy to create an immersive 3D experience where viewers can explore different planets made from microscopic images of water - and contemplate the unseen life within it.
“In a single drop of water, there are universes, microworlds animated by tiny life forms,” says Manning, an assistant professor in philosophy and cultural studies at Queen’s and a member of Kettle and Stoney Point First Nation. “Our project’s philosophy stems from my theory of Mnidoo-worlding, a way of being from Ojibwe
Anishinaabe knowledge, that sees human relations to niibii (water) as interrelated with spirit, potency, potential, process and energy, not human-centric, and more than a mere resource to extract.”
Titled Emerging from the Water, the project has been exhibited in multiple mediums at various venues, including at the United Nations 2023 Water Conference in New York (in front of dignitaries from across the globe) and more recently at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, as part of a 2024 World Water Day event co-hosted by the UNITAR Global Water Academy and York University.
Bunch and Manning hope the project will spark critical conversations about the power of Indigenous thought and knowledge, environmental stewardship, and our collective responsibility to water. They are particularly interested in
presenting the work to youth and have plans to bring similar projects and media workshops to
“As a non-Indigenous scholar, the project has made me think about the emergence of modern technology and how the microscope gave the West and the world another view of reality invisible to the naked eye. But Indigenous cultures already accounted for that,” says Bunch, an associate professor in the Department of Cinema and Media Arts in the School of Art, Media, Performance and Design (AMPD) and Canada Research Chair in Critical Media Arts Ecologies. Bunch is also a member of Connected Minds, a major Yorkled research initiative on socially responsible technologies.
Bunch continues: “What if that conversation between Western cultures and Indigenous cultures, instead of it being dominating and subjugating, had been a real conversation 500 years ago. Our sciences could have come together then, rather than more recently. More equitable relations have the potential to positively alter how we think and live. It could help to protect the environment and help improve the global water crisis.”
Emerging from the Water marks Bunch and Manning’s first research collaboration together. Funding for the project was provided by MITACS, the Native Women in the Arts, VISTA – Vision: Science to Applications (York’s first Canada First Research Excellence Fund program), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Media Arts program at York.
↑ Stills from Bunch and Manning's research-creation project.
BY COREY ALLEN
York researcher helps lead fight against homelessness in Canada and beyond
For more than 15 years, the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness (COH) has conducted evidence-based, nonpartisan research designed to generate the impact and solutions necessary to end homelessness across the country.
FEDERAL DATA REVEALS
50% of people who are homeless in Canada report having had their first experience with homelessness before the age of 25.
AMONG YOUTH,
40% have their first homelessness experience before the age of 16.
COH estimates around 235,000 Canadians experience homelessness each year, and roughly 35,000 people experience homelessness on any given night.
Stephen Gaetz Professor, Faculty of Education
LED BY YORK UNIVERSITY’S
Stephen Gaetz, a professor in the Faculty of Education, COH is based out of York and is the largest homelessness-dedicated research institute in Canada, and one of the largest in the world.
Gaetz’s research motivation to study homelessness stems from time spent away from academia. After completing his master’s and PhD at York, Gaetz worked for several years at community health organizations and for the City of Toronto, before returning to the University to become a faculty member.
“I’m so glad I had that break because it changed everything for me,” he says. “Working in the youth homelessness sector and learning about program planning, staff supervision, budgets, and leadership, it was like doing a different kind of PhD.”
Gaetz says it was a challenging time in the 1990’s to work in the sector because research on the issue of homelessness was undervalued.
“At the time, we had the dueling crises of modern mass homelessness and HIV/AIDs, and on that latter issue, research did matter. It was regarded as incredibly important for prevention, intervention, and solutions,” he says. “But research on homelessness was not seen in
the same way and people said we didn’t need it. They were wrong.”
According to Gaetz, one of the biggest misunderstandings about homelessness is not realizing how relatively new of a social phenomenon it really is.
“Modern mass homelessness emerged in the late 80’s and early 1990’s due to policy changes where we stopped building social housing in Canada,” he says. “Governments expected the private sector to leap in, but that never happened. It’s a failed experiment, and so the number of people who become homeless in this country keeps growing, with 2022 data showing a 20 per cent increase.”
For Gaetz, the biggest problem to solving modern mass homelessness is the lack of prevention.
“Sadly, the bulk of our investment and activity in Canada over the last 30 years has been focused on temporary shelters, day programs and use of law enforcement, and a major consequence of this approach has been a continuous growth in the number of people who become mired in the situation and become chronically homeless,” he says. “A better option is to focus our efforts on helping people not become homeless in the first place, and if they do, to help them exit the situation as quickly as possible with access to housing and supports. We created this crisis, and we don’t offer people much more than emergency shelters and a baloney sandwich, if that.”
To help stop the crisis, Gaetz says more dedicated funding should be directed towards supporting communities in prevention work, pointing to a successful model from the United Kingdom.
“In 2014, Wales introduced a piece of legislation that basically created a duty to assist,” he says. “It meant that the local authorities, once they are aware someone is at risk of homelessness, are obligated to offer assistance to anyone facing
eviction and at risk of becoming homeless. If the person agreed to the help, their homelessness had to be resolved within two months. The country’s homelessness numbers declined dramatically after this housing act was introduced.”
Another prevention strategy Gaetz advocates is for governments to prioritize and increase supports that address the issues that initially lead to youth homelessness, primarily family conflict, which is often the beginning of prolonged housing insecurity.
“We need to do more than wait for an emergency and act before people become homeless, traumatized and sick,” says Gaetz. “Preventing youth homelessness with proper supports would yield better outcomes for young people, their families and communities, and lead to a reduction in chronic homelessness. It would be one of the most significant impacts we could have in the long run.”
One of the latest research endeavours for Gaetz and COH is a multi-partner collaboration over the course of seven years (2022-2029), funded by the Social Sciences of Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
Led by Gaetz, the research is supported by a nearly $2.5 million SSHRC Partnership Grant and involves 40 other academics, 25 collaborators and 29 partner organizations to work together on projects that focus on eviction prevention and shelter diversion, training for service providers and strengthening community responses.
Ultimately, Gaetz and his research team aim to create enduring positive change, and to mobilize their collaborative efforts to get closer to mission accomplished: influencing policy and preventing and ending modern mass homelessness in Canada, and beyond.
“That’s always been the work: achieve impact,” he says. “Let’s do research that’s going to be helpful. And never give up.”
FACULTY Stephen Gaetz, Faculty of Education
Osgoode research analyzes Ontario’s sanitation infrastructure
A recent study by Brazilian scholar Claudio Antonio Klaus Júnior, who conducted part of his research at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School as an international visiting research trainee, unveils critical insights into the sanitation disparities between Santa Catarina, Brazil, and Ontario, Canada.
The study, titled “Law, Sanitation, and Sustainability: A Comparative Analysis Between Municipalities in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil, and the Province of Ontario, Canada in Light of Sustainable Development Goals 6 and 11, ” reveals a stark contrast in sanitation access and quality between the two regions, despite over 99 per cent of the population in both areas having access to potable water.
The research highlights that between 2019 and 2020, Brazil saw a slight increase in sewage collection, from 74.5 per cent to 75.7 per cent. According to the study, a significant portion of the population, 47.6 per cent, still lacked sewage collection services, and only 55.8 per cent were connected to the sewage network. This is in sharp contrast to Ontario, where efforts towards improving sanitation infrastructure have been much more consistent and effective.
Klaus’s work emphasizes the urgent need for informed policies and investments in Brazilian sanitation infrastructure. It illustrates that more than half of the municipalities in Santa Catarina, Brazil, lack sewage services,
and many still need plans to meet the sanitation universalization goal set by the legal framework.
This research serves as a call to action for Brazil to collaborate with Canada to exchange best practices to enhance quality of life and environmental sustainability through improved sanitation services.
This study has garnered attention and praise from the Ministry of Cities ombudsman in Brazil and Canada’s minister of environment, who acknowledged its alignment with Canada’s commitment to environmental sustainability.
With support from the Santa Catarina Research & Innovation Support Foundation (FAPESC) in Brazil, Klaus, who holds a master’s degree in development and society from UNIARP, focuses his research on the intersection between sanitation, law and sustainable development.
RECOGNIZING THE PIVOTAL ROLE OF adept project management in propelling strategic initiatives forward, in Fall 2021 the government of Nunavut set out to empower its workforce by partnering with York University’s Schulich Executive Education (Schulich ExecEd) to offer specialized professional development through the Masters Certificate in Project Management program.
To help meet the territory’s demand for skilled project managers within the public sector, the Schulich ExecEd program – which recently saw its third cohort of students graduate – allows participants to delve into various facets of project management, gaining the insights, tools and techniques essential for navigating complex projects successfully. From project planning and risk management to stakeholder engagement and resource allocation, participants emerge from the program equipped with a comprehensive skill set tailored to the unique challenges faced within the public sector.
“Our students in the third cohort of the program came from far and wide across this massive territory to learn how to manage projects of all types, spanning government policy, health care, technology, construction, engineering and more,” says David Barrett, national program director of the Masters Certificate in Project Management program. “It is a delight to work with our graduates at the end of our program, as they embrace a new set of tools, a new language and a new method of approaching all of their projects –regardless of size.”
With over 100 employees from the government of Nunavut and affiliated organizations participating in the program since its inception, the initiative has had a profound impact on the territory’s workforce. From urban centres to remote communities, public servants have seized the opportunity to enhance their project management acumen, driven by a collective dedication to professional growth and service excellence.
“We are immensely proud of our enduring partnership with the government of Nunavut,” says Rami Mayer, executive director of Schulich ExecEd.
“ This collaboration stands as a testament to our shared commitment to empowering public servants with the essential tools and knowledge needed to navigate the complexities of project management within the public sector.”
Beyond mere skill development, Mayer says this partnership is about fostering a culture of innovation in the territory and planting the seeds for a new generation of professionals.
“We recognize the profound impact of efficient project management on the lives of the Indigenous peoples of Nunavut,” says Mayer. “Enhanced project management skills enable the government of Nunavut to execute initiatives that directly benefit the Indigenous community – from infrastructure projects to health-care initiatives and cultural preservation efforts.”
In providing these professional development opportunities, Schulich ExecEd and the government of Nunavut are not only building a more efficient public sector but also fostering a stronger, more resilient Indigenous community. And they are committed to continuing to do so – together.
↑ The third cohort of the Schulich ExecEd Masters Certificate in Project Management program in partnership with the government of Nunavut.
To learn more about CINUK, visit cinuk.org
↑ Award-winning artist Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory
↑ Williamson Bathory's beadwork
Beads of change
York U curator champions
Inuit food sovereignty through international collaboration.
Anna Hudson Professor, Department of Visual Art and Art History, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design
AN INTRICATE BEADWORK OF VIBRANT BLUES, brown and green depicts an Arctic shoreline, stretching from the sky down to icy hills and out to the sea, wrapped within a round border of caribou hair.
The artwork is personal to award-winning Inuk artist and York University adjunct professor Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, who crafted the scene to resemble her mother’s birthplace of Appamiut in modern day Greenland, a townsite she says was abandoned after residents were forcibly relocated in the 1960’s.
Bathory’s beadwork is part of a much larger collaborative research project facilitated by Anna Hudson, an art historian and curator at York, and funded by the Canada Inuit Nunangat United Kingdom Arctic Research Programme, or CINUK, an international collaboration between Polar Knowledge Canada (POLAR) and the UK.
Titled Inuksiutit: Food Sovereignty in Nunavut and the Co-production of Country Food Knowledge (IFSNu), the project explores the interconnectedness of traditional Arctic food to knowledge, language and cultural practices of Inuit Nunangat communities in Nunavut, particularly in Kinngait (Cape Dorset) and Mittimatalik (Pond Inlet).
In the Inuktut language, inuksiutit is a term for country food, translated as “that which makes us human.”
The tradition of living off the land was made difficult for Inuit because of colonization, particularly with aggressive governmentimposed settlement after World War II that disrupted communities and forced children to attend Western models of schools, including residential schools,” says Hudson, who is also a professor in the Department of Visual Art and Art History in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD).
“Our project is about advancing Inuit self-determination in environmental health policy and re-understanding the nutritional value of country food, whether that’s walrus, whale, seal or caribou, and remembering ways to eat them.”
The interdisciplinary project team, led by Hudson and Dr. Nancy Wachowich at the University of Aberdeen, is made up of Inuit and non-Inuit academics, Elders and youth, whose collective expertise spans various fields including Inuit nutrition, public health and epidemiology, social anthropology, and more.
The team hopes to translate Inuit country food knowledge through social media, visual and performing arts and Indigenous curatorial practice, and to digitally document food preparation and preservation to support food sovereignty and climate change adaptation.
Climate change has dramatically altered the Arctic’s temperature, with the region warming three times faster than the global average. These changing conditions affect the meat fermentation process, increasing the risk of foodborne botulism if not preserved properly.
“Sanctions, bans and wildlife management of country food are disconnected from Inuit ways of being and circumpolar cultural sovereignty,” says Hudson, who specializes in socially
conscious and community-facing art practices. “Our project hopes to remind community members and non-Indigenous people of how beautiful country food is and how nourishing it can be, strengthening climate resiliency and advocating for Inuit food sovereignty, which the community has identified as a key step towards decolonization.”
One method to help remind people about the beauty and value of country food is through Williamson Bathory’s beadwork, which Hudson commissioned for IFSNu. The series of five beaded works, which Williamson Bathory describes as a labour-intensive and meditative project, is all about food, including the scene of her mother’s birthplace.
For that work, Williamson Bathory tanned the caribou hair herself, and caribou represents inuksiutit - or country food - a mainstay of her family’s diet.
“I am incredibly fortunate that my husband and I have been able to raise our family in Inuit Nunangat, to be on the land, to have a cabin and to fill our children’s bodies and minds with Inuit food and food thinking,” she says.
“Watching them figure out who hunted the food they eat and where they got it from is great satisfaction. My kids have formed a visceral connection to nuna (Inuit for land) and all it provides, and they are Inuit in the way that my family has always chosen to be.”
IFSNu is a three-year project, concluding in 2025, and will culminate in a book composed of recipes, written works, drawings, and art –including Williamson Bathory’s beaded works with accompanying prose.
It is one of 13 projects that are part of CINUK, which involves Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI), Polar Knowledge Canada (POLAR), the National Research Council of Canada, Parks Canada Agency and Fonds de Recherche due Quebec (FRQ).
Much of the aims of IFSNu will advance with Hudson’s next collaborative research project, called Curating Indigenous Circumpolar Cultural Sovereignty: advancing Inuit and Sámi homelands, food, art, archives and worldviews.
In 2022, the project received a nearly $2.5 million Partnership Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) over the next six years. Hudson says it will leverage curation to address the importance of cultural sovereignty for Inuit, Sámi and Alaska Native decolonization.
FACULTY Anna Hudson, School of
York leads research initiative to explore populism in Canada
YORK UNIVERSITY WILL LEAD A NEW initiative that aims to increase understanding of the impacts of populism on Canadian politics.
Launched in late 2023 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.
The Observatory is led by Emily Laxer, an associate professor of sociology at Glendon and York Research Chair in Populism, Rights and Legality, in collaboration with Rémi
Vivès, an assistant professor of economics at Glendon, and Efe Peker, an assistant professor of sociology and political science at the University of Ottawa. The Observatory 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.”
The Observatory is a public-facing, collaborative endeavour.
FACULTY GLENDON
BY ASHLEY GOODFELLOW CRAIG
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.
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.
& Innovation / York University
← From left: Peker, Laxer and Vives at the launch event for the Observatory
York chapeaute une initiative de recherche sur le populisme au Canada
Efe Peker
Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa
Emily Laxer
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Glendon College
Rémi Vivès
Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Glendon College
L’UNIVERSITÉ YORK chapeaute une nouvelle initiative visant à mieux comprendre les effets du populisme sur la politique canadienne.
Lancé à la fin 2023 sur le campus Glendon de l’Université York, l’Observatoire du populisme au Canada est un projet de recherche unique en son genre qui vise à générer, à soutenir et à mettre en évidence la recherche empirique et théorique sur le rôle du populisme dans la société canadienne.
L’Observatoire est dirigé par Emily Laxer, professeure agrégée de sociologie à Glendon et titulaire de la Chaire de recherche York sur le populisme, les droits et la légalité, en collaboration avec Rémi Vivès, professeur adjoint d’économie à Glendon et Efe Peker, professeur adjoint de sociologie et de science politique à l’Université d’Ottawa. L’Observatoire appuie la priorité de l’Université de faire avancer la recherche sur les développements marquants de notre époque.
« Il existe beaucoup de confusion et de débats sur la signification du populisme, sur ses manifestations et sur ses impacts, déclare Mme Laxer.
L’objectif principal de l’Observatoire est d’apporter clarté et spécificité à la conversation sur le populisme au Canada grâce à une recherche solide en sciences sociales, au profit des chercheurs, des médias et du public intéressé. »
La rhétorique populiste, qui est en hausse dans le monde entier selon les chercheurs, divise la société en deux groupes antagonistes : le « peuple » pur et « l’élite » corrompue, qui est censée saper la volonté générale.
Les données de Google Trends publiées dans un mémoire de l’Observatoire montrent que les recherches sur le « populisme au Canada » ont augmenté considérablement depuis 2016, l’année qui a vu la Grande-Bretagne sortir de l’Union européenne (Brexit) et l’élection de Donald Trump aux États-Unis. Les pics d’intérêt les plus élevés ont été enregistrés en 2018, année de la fondation du Parti populaire du Canada, et en 2022, lors du « Convoi de la liberté ». Malgré cet intérêt croissant, Mme Laxer estime que l’on ne sait toujours pas précisément ce que signifie le populisme et quelles sont ses principales manifestations au Canada, selon le contexte.
« L’Observatoire du populisme au Canada vise à répondre à ce problème en promouvant et en générant des recherches originales qui élucident les multiples dimensions du populisme dans la vie politique canadienne. »
— Laxer explique
Le besoin de recherche sur le sujet est pressant; jusqu’à tout récemment, un discours largement répandu sur « l’exceptionnalisme » canadien affirmait que le pays n’avait pas connu la montée des partis et mouvements populistes observée ailleurs dans le monde. Selon Mme Laxer, ce discours minimise les multiples expressions du populisme dans
l’histoire canadienne, idéologiquement et régionalement diversifiées, et empêche de comprendre le rôle exact du populisme dans le Canada d’aujourd’hui.
L’Observatoire est issu de la Chaire de recherche de York sur le populisme, les droits et la légalité, dont Mme Laxer est titulaire, et est partiellement financé par cette chaire. L’un des collaborateurs, M. Vivès, travaille avec l’Observatoire pour développer une base de données à grande échelle qui permettra d’utiliser des techniques d’analyse quantitative avancées afin d’étudier les manifestations et le soutien à un cadre populiste sur les médias sociaux au Canada.
L’équipe de l’Observatoire comprend également un certain nombre de chercheurs, dont plusieurs étudiants et étudiantes de premier cycle et de cycle supérieur de l’Université York qui effectuent des recherches indépendantes sur le thème du populisme au Canada comme à l’étranger.
L’Observatoire est un projet collaboratif tourné vers le public.
Vous pouvez trouver de plus amples informations, y compris les résultats de la recherche sur le site yorku.ca/research/robarts/observatory-populism
Les membres de la communauté de York sont invités à envoyer toute demande de renseignements à observatory.populism@yorku.ca
