World Water Day: A Solutions-Driven Workshop on Climate Impacts on Freshwater was co-hosted by CIFAL 91亚色 and the Office of the Provost, in partnership with the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, 91亚色. The event is part of CIFAL 91亚色鈥檚 In-Focus Knowledge Exchange Series for Nature, Climate, and People curated by Idil Boran.

The convenors of the workshop were , Associate Professor of the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, CIFAL 91亚色 and Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, and , Associate Professor in the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Provostial Fellow.

The event participated in World Water Day events, which have been held around the globe since 1993.

Professor Sharma observes that today, two billion people do not have access to clean water at home, while in Canada, more than 800 communities are subject to long-term drinking water advisories. Among communities that have not had clean water for more than ten years, two-thirds are Indigenous, characteristic of the inequitable distribution of fresh water in Canada and around the world. These facts frame the discussions for the workshop, bringing together concerns about access to fresh water and inequities within and across nations during an era of climate change.

Keynote speaker Professor Orbinski, Director of the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, began with the observation that freshwater is precious. The contemporary narratives about our relationship with the natural world are inadequate, however, to the challenges we face, given shrinking freshwater supplies due to climate change and inequitable access to water. 鈥淲e need a different story about how we view ourselves, how we view our relation to each other and to the biosphere,鈥� Professor Orbinski emphasized, adding, 鈥淭his demands an understanding of the complexity of the hydrosphere and more broadly the biosphere within which all human life exists.鈥� We are now an urban population of close to eight billion people on this fragile earth. The impact of climate change and biodiversity loss is massive, making it very difficult to make accurate predictions about the consequences of these disruptions for the biosphere and human communities. We do know, however, that as climate change diminishes the access to freshwater, competition and conflict increases, as different communities struggle to secure water access for fishing, farming and other subsistence and cultural activities. To begin to address these challenges, Professor Orbinski argues, requires us to let go of tenacious ideas about human dominion over nature so that we may grasp the fundamental truth that, 鈥淲e are part of nature and we depend on nature for our very being and survival.鈥�

Professor Daniel Olago, Chair of the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, spoke about the continent of Africa, which holds 25% of the world鈥檚 surface water. Despite the abundance of freshwater sources, these have been negatively impacted by human activity, including deforestation and overfishing, as well as by climate change. Biodiversity suffers with cascading consequences. Flamingo populations in Lake Nakuru are decreasing, negatively affecting tourism and the economic health of the region, while in Lake Malawi, the loss of native fish leads to hunger and malnutrition among communities dependent on healthy fish stocks. Solutions are made complex by the dozens of political jurisdictions acting in lake areas and sectoral approaches to management, leading to poor coordination in addressing systemic challenges. An Integrated Lake Basin Management approach is required, Profesor Olago argues, bringing a holistic approach that balances conservation with sustainable development goals.聽

As Dr. Syed Imran Ali, Research Fellow at the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, observes, floods and droughts are the spectacular face of climate change and its devastating effects on freshwater sources. Equally important, but less noticed, are changes to the quality of the world鈥檚 water due to contamination. Inadequate sanitation always poses risks to the quality of the water supply, but these risks are experienced unequally. Worldwide, rural populations and refugees displaced due to conflict and disaster experience acute difficulties in accessing clean fresh water. The consequence is the proliferation of deadly water-borne infectious diseases, like cholera, watery diarrhoea and hepatitis E. Preventing deaths means improving water quality through chlorination at the point of consumption, where World Health Organization 鈥渦niversal standards鈥� for chlorination are inadequate in many humanitarian crisis contexts. To improve water quality in refugee camps and similar contexts, Dr. Ali and his team have developed machine learning and numerical modelling tools that determine adequate levels of chlorination to ensure water remains safe. This is one example of solutions-driven research that responds to the challenge of providing clean water in crisis situations and that is now in use by seven major humanitarian organizations working around the world.

Dr. , Assistant Professor in Gender, Feminist and Women鈥檚 Studies and a member of the Bigstone Cree Nation in Treaty 8 territory, observes that water crises are not only outside of Canada, but affect many First Nations communities on lands claimed by the Crown. She warns:

鈥淭here is something happening beneath our feet. It will stop the rivers from flowing and the water from filling the lakes in the spring. We will lose our fish, our moose and our traditional ways of living鈥he water will be stolen鈥� All Canadians should be concerned, because the hunger of the oil industry has no limits. If we contaminate waters upstream, we contaminate all water downstream and the ecosystems upon which they depend.鈥�

If Indigenous nations have shown remarkable resilience, they have been impoverished by the colonial theft of Indigenous land and left traumatized by genocide, including the infamous residential school system that sought to extinguish Indigenous kinship and ways of knowing and doing. The oil industries step into this context, making false promises to Indigenous communities that feel they have few choices as they seek to recover the power and knowledges that colonial actors have forcibly wrested from them. Dr. Alook emphasizes that this must end now through the recovery of Indigenous sovereignty, especially taking up responsibilities towards the land: 鈥淎s long as the sun shines, as long as the rivers flow, let it be the sovereignty of our people that takes precedence over the capitalist and colonial theft of our lands鈥his is our land, this is our water, and let us be stewards of all that the Creator has bestowed upon us.鈥� 

Dr. Catherine Febria is Canada Research Chair of Freshwater Restoration Ecology at the University of Windsor. Dr. Febria describes the Healthy Headwaters Lab, which she directs, as seeking to 鈥渃onnect land, water and people for future generations鈥� using a decolonial, community-centered interdisciplinary approach. River restoration now involves billions of dollars worldwide but moving forward demands more than money 鈥� it requires coordinated actions at every level from the most local to the global. In coordinating, Dr. Febria emphasizes, 鈥淪cience matters, but so does communication if diverse communities are to be meaningfully involved in river restoration. Best practices foreground local involvement.鈥� In Canterbury in Aotearoa/New Zealand, M膩ori community members, farmers and community groups came together with scientists to create healthy rivers. 鈥淭he relationships come before the science鈥� Professor Febria observes, 鈥淚t鈥檚 about building trust by listening and mobilizing lived knowledge alongside science.鈥� 

Human and environmental health depends on clean fresh water. On World Water Day 2022, these researchers came together to emphasize the importance of holistic approaches that take up science in collaboration with those most immediately affected by the contamination of freshwater sites, including Indigenous and other communities marginalized from power and decision-making. New ways of doing science with diverse knowledge holders and new/old ways of understanding human relationships within the natural world are necessary, they emphasize, for freshwater to be restored and for the flourishing of all life in generations to come.

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From there, the western honey bee (Apis mellifera) expanded independently into Africa and Europe creating seven separate geographically and genetically distinct evolutionary lineages traceable back to Western Asia.

The western honey bee is used for crop pollination and honey production throughout most of the world, and has a remarkable capacity for surviving in vastly different environments 鈥� from tropical rainforest, to arid environments, to temperate regions with cold winters. It is native to Africa, Europe and Asia, and was recently believed to have originated in Africa.

The research team sequenced 251 genomes from 18 subspecies from the honey bee鈥檚 native range and used this data to reconstruct the origin and pattern of dispersal of honey bees. The team found that an Asian origin 鈥� likely western Asia 鈥� was strongly supported by the genetic data.

鈥淎s one of the world鈥檚 most important pollinators, it鈥檚 essential to know the origin of the western honey bee to understand its evolution, genetics and how it adapted as it spread,鈥� says corresponding author Professor聽聽of 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Science.

The study also highlights that the bee genome has several 鈥渉ot spots鈥� that allowed honey bees to adapt to new geographic areas. While the bee genome has more than 12,000 genes, only 145 of them had repeated signatures of adaptation associated with the formation of all major honey bee lineages found today.

鈥淥ur research suggests that a core-set of genes allowed the honey bee to adapt to a diverse set of environmental conditions across its native range by regulating worker and colony behaviour,鈥� says 91亚色 PhD student Kathleen Dogantzis of the Faculty of Science, who led the research.

To learn more, watch these videos:  and .

This adaptation also allowed for the development of some 27 different subspecies of honey bees.

鈥淚t鈥檚 important to understand how locally adapted subspecies and colony-level selection on worker bees, contributes to the fitness and diversity of managed colonies,鈥� says Dogantzis.

The sequencing of these bees also led to the discovery of two distinct lineages, one in Egypt and another in Madagascar.

The researchers hope their study finally lays to the rest the question of where the western honey bee came from so future research can further explore how they adapted to different climates and geographic areas.

The paper,听鈥�,鈥� was published today in the journal聽.

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According to Douglas, there is something wrong with the way the pharmaceutical industry researches and develops drugs. Of the roughly 7,000 currently identified rare diseases, he says, only about 570 treatments have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat about 11 per cent of those rare diseases. As a result, millions of patients around the world go untreated. Some of the challenges facing research and development in this space are scientific and technical; however, there are also a number of critical issues that are thwarting more rapid development of drugs that are more associated with social, economic and political factors that have come to characterize the current innovation paradigm within the pharmaceutical industry.

This presentation will argue that the current model of pharmaceutical innovation alone will not deliver the quantity of products needed to address the unmet needs faced by rare disease patients, nor at a price point that is sustainable for health-care systems. As a consequence, radical transformations are needed across the pharmaceutical research, development and deployment life cycle that stand to offer alternative, supplementary and hopefully transformative pathways to a greater number of increasingly accessible treatments. Douglas will explain how principles of social innovation have been developed and deployed in other sectors and how those principles can be applied in the pharmaceutical sector. He will briefly introduce social innovation and its key features before demonstrating what he calls 鈥渟ocial pharmaceutical innovation,鈥� why it is important and how he hopes to foster it. 

Douglas鈥檚 presentation is part of a larger international collaborative project called 鈥淪ocial Pharmaceutical Innovation for Unmet Medical Needs,鈥� with partners from the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), Mines ParisTech at the Universit茅 PSL (France) and Utrecht University (Netherlands). The Canadian component of the study is funded through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and more information about the project can be found at .

Now in its 28th year, the STS Research Seminar Series features seminars on a wide range of STS-related topics. Sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology Studies and co-ordinated by its members, the series has hosted over 500 speakers from Canada and around the world.

All events in the series will run on Tuesdays from 12:30 to 2 p.m. They are all free and open to the public, with no registration required. They will be delivered via Zoom in the fall term, with the winter term to be determined. To receive a Zoom link for this event and others in the series, contact Conor Douglas, seminar series co-ordinator, at聽cd512@yorku.ca.

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Aruliah will share his perspectives on building a professional career based on a mathematical education 鈥� in particular, his academic experiences both as a student and later as a university professor that prepared him in unexpected ways for his duties as a director and executive in industry. In his remarks, Aruliah will outline some of the hard lessons he has learned over the course of his career and how these lessons provided important insights into people and about organizations such as universities, corporations and startups.

Aruliah earned a PhD in computer science from the University of British Columbia following his BSc and MSc degrees in mathematics from Simon Fraser University. He was a postdoctoral Fellow at the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences and at Western University before joining Ontario Tech University. He worked there as a professor in the Faculty of Science for 11 years before accepting a role at Anaconda, Inc. as the director of training. Since moving to industry, Aruliah has worked as an independent contractor and is currently with OpenTeams, Inc.

This event will be presented virtually over Zoom starting at 4 p.m. on Oct. 7. The meeting identification is 925 7107 2670.

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The CCDM 2021 China-Canada Symposium on Modelling, Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases was hosted by Northeast Normal University and co-organized by the Center for Mathematical Bioscience and the Chinese Society of Mathematical Biology.

The goal of the event was to understand worldwide challenges and cutting-edge developments related to mathematical modelling of infectious diseases, and to share the timely research findings and experiences. It also provided an excellent experiential education opportunity for young researchers and students from China and Canada to interact with leading modellers and get hands-on research experience.

鈥淢athematical models have played an important role in understanding disease transmission and informing policy-making for public health,鈥� said Faculty of Science Professor Huaiping Zhu, who directs CCDM and served as the scientific co-chair for the symposium. 鈥淭he symposium this year looked at how non-pharmaceutical interventions, vaccination strategies, and social and environmental determinants affect transmission, and how data-driven mathematical modelling contributes to the prevention, mitigation and control of COVID-19. It was another successful international collaboration of CDM during the pandemic.鈥�

A big focus of the symposium was on modelling COVID-19 infection and immunity, transmission, vaccination and other public health strategies; however, mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile virus and dengue fever, and other infectious diseases like HIV and tuberculosis, were also discussed. Distinguished lectures on the first two days of the symposium were organized for young researchers and graduate students and focused on reflections and lessons related to COVID-19. The other invited talks were presentations of recent research findings.

The 91亚色 faculty involved in the symposium were: CCDM Communications Director and Professor聽Jane Heffernan聽of the Faculty of Science; and CCDM members and professors聽Marina Freire-Gormaly聽from the Lassonde School of Engineering, and聽Jude Dzevela Kong,听Iain Moyles听补苍诲听Carly Rozins, all from the Faculty of Science, with each presenting talks at the event. Additionally, 91亚色 postdoctoral Fellow聽Juan Li, also from CCDM, participated in a panel discussion. 91亚色 postdoctoral Fellows and CCDM members聽Elena Aruffo聽and PhD student聽Pei Yuan聽served on the supporting committee. Twelve other CCDM Canadian network members also presented at the meeting.

Courtesy of YFile.

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The YSSA program provides awards of $10,000 to high-achieving, passionate science students entering the Faculty of Science. Half of the award is an entrance scholarship and the other half pays for a summer research position following the first year of study. The research opportunity has proven to be a positive experience for everyone involved, supervisors and students alike.

鈥淚 consider training them an investment for the future,鈥� said chemistry Professor聽Sergey Krylov, who accepted three YSSA students into his lab this past summer. 鈥淣ot only did these students learn a lot, but they also contributed significantly to the research projects in which they were involved. I鈥檇 be happy to take new students through this program next summer. I鈥檇 be even more happy to have the same students return to the lab and apply their knowledge from their first summer. That would be a 鈥榬eturn on investment.鈥欌��

One of the students in Krylov鈥檚 lab was Ailiya Rizwan, who went on to receive second prize for her oral presentation, 鈥淪ingle-cell analysis of cell population heterogeneity using CRRC for the development of chemoresistance biomarkers,鈥� at the Faculty of Science鈥檚 .

YSSA recipients Ethan Sooklal, Claire Del Zotto and Elizaveta Yakubovskaya also swept up half of the awards for poster presentations at the NSERC Summer Research Conference.

Sooklal鈥檚 summer research focused on using fungus to investigate the interactions and localization of three major proteins involved in driving the circadian rhythm in eukaryotes. For him, the best parts of the research position were experiencing the research process and learning new skills outside of the classroom.

鈥淚 really enjoyed the process of working on the research project, seeing its progression, gathering the results and sharing them with my peers at the end of the summer,鈥� said Sooklal.聽鈥淭his experience, above all, strengthened my laboratory techniques and skills.聽It also gave me the opportunity to learn outside a classroom setting, which was not only refreshing, but also much more impactful.鈥�

His supervisors, biology Professor Patricia Lakin-Thomas and PhD student Rosa Eskandari, also touted the program as an opportunity for the lab to recruit an enthusiastic and highly competent student assistant. In fact, Sooklal has been offered the opportunity to continue working with them as a  student in the fall and winter terms. 

鈥淓than distinguished himself in our lab by his fantastic work, excellent laboratory style, tremendous help and neat results,鈥� said Eskandari.

Yakubovskaya, one of the other poster presentation winners, was among three YSSA students working with Professor聽Andrew Skelton聽in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics this summer. Her research project involved creating evidence-based modules to help first-year students build their study skills 鈥� specifically time-management 鈥� to the level necessary to succeed in university math.

鈥淚 really enjoyed how this research project broadened my understanding of education as a field and as a science,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he experience gave me an opportunity to practise and refine skills that I had developed in first year. Specifically, this project helped me improve my research and science communication skills.鈥�

Skelton was impressed by Yakubovskaya and the other YSSA students and he felt they made important contributions to his team鈥檚 research.

鈥淚 was continually floored by the high calibre of these students and the substantial impact they had on our project,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 strongly believe that the project would not have been successful without their contributions.鈥�

The program is now into its fourth year with another cohort of YSSA students just beginning their studies at 91亚色 Science. More information about the YSSA program is available on 迟丑别听Faculty of Science website.

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Appointed for one year, each of the recipients will work to enhance collegial capacity at an institutional level to advance the priorities of the University Academic Plan (UAP) in demonstrable ways. The Provostial Fellowships also provide an opportunity for a diverse group of tenured faculty to gain hands-on experience in university leadership.

鈥淚 am thrilled to have these four faculty members dedicating some of their time and energy to help lead the implementation of our UAP. The University will benefit from their expertise and ideas, and I hope they too will find this a valuable opportunity to grow and develop as leaders and institution builders,鈥� said Provost and Vice-President Academic Lisa Philipps. 鈥淭he launch of Building a Better Future: 91亚色 Academic Plan 2020-2025 established six exciting and important priorities for 91亚色. As a community, we now look to work together in advancing these.鈥�

Fellows will work with the provost and relevant members of the senior leadership on a project or initiative intended to advance one of the UAP priority areas at an institutional level.聽Each project also seeks to enhance and intersect with the University-wide challenge to elevate institutional contributions to 迟丑别听United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Professor, Public Policy and Strategic Management
Schulich School of Business

Professor Eberlein鈥檚 project, 鈥�91亚色鈥檚 Journey toward Carbon Neutrality,鈥� seeks to identify and advance specific and impactful initiatives that the University can take to reduce its carbon emissions.

Associate Professor, Department of Biology
Faculty of Science

Professor Sharma鈥檚 project, 鈥淲orking Towards Equitable Access to Clean Water,鈥� looks to address the billions of people worldwide, including in Canada, who do not have access to clean freshwater. This project will seek student, faculty and staff collaborations across the University with a goal of raising awareness and identifying solutions to this critical issue, and will culminate with an event celebrating聽.

Associate Professor, School of Nursing
Faculty of Health
Associate Professor, School of Gender, Sexuality and Women鈥檚 Studies/Children, Childhood & Youth Studies Program.
Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies

Professor van Daalen-Smith鈥檚 project, 鈥淢ore than Bees and Trees: Seeing the SDGs in our Curriculum 鈥� A Pan-University Community Development Initiative,鈥� seeks to track, weave, inspire and amplify curricular SDG initiatives and advance 91亚色鈥檚 commitment to interdisciplinarity.

Associate Professor
Faculty of Education

Professor Zha鈥檚 project, 鈥淩eimagining and Transforming Liberal Arts Education with a Trans-Continental Partnership,鈥� looks to explore a new model for practising liberal arts education in the current contexts of mass higher education, knowledge societies and globalization, including the prospects for infusing the concepts derived from the SDGs and promoting global competence.

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鈥�91亚色 is delighted to see that professors Girard, Hyndman, Johnson, Petrowska Quilico and Heffernan have been recognized by the Royal Society of Canada,鈥� said Amir Asif, vice-president research and innovation. 鈥淭hese exceptional researchers embody our vision to enhance our impact on the social, economic, culture and overall well-being of the communities we serve.鈥�

Royal Society Fellows

Philip Girard
Osgoode Hall Law School

Philip Girard鈥檚 prize-winning work on the legal history of Canada has shaped the field and redefined its agenda for the 21st century. Tracing the roots of today鈥檚 legal pluralism to the historic encounter of two European empires with Indigenous peoples in northern North America, he stresses how this pluralism allowed Quebec civil law to flourish on a continent of common law and now creates space for the renaissance of Indigenous law.

Jennifer Hyndman
Centre for Refugee Studies
Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change
Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies

Jennifer Hyndman studies geographies of forced migration, ethnography of the international refugee regime, feminist geopolitics, critical refugee studies and extended exile. Her research addresses violence in relation to diaspora and displacement among Tamils and other people on the move, international humanitarianism in war zones, as well as refugee and migrant inclusion in Canada.

Michele Johnson
Department of History
Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies

An international leader in Black history, Michele Johnson is esteemed for rigorous and methodologically innovative studies of cultural production and performance, race and racialization, gender relations and labour among persons of African descent in the Caribbean and Canada. Equally committed to networking and communicating with multiple audiences, Johnson has employed her global prominence to benefit students and scholars around the world, and to promote wider community engagement with Black history.

Christina Petrowska Quilico听颁.惭.
Department of Music
School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design

Appointed to the Order of Canada 鈥渇or her celebrated career as a classical and contemporary pianist and for championing Canadian music,鈥� Christina Petrowska Quilico, professor of musicology and piano performance at 91亚色, has opened the ears of students and audiences with numerous premieres of music of our time, featuring many women composers and repertoire ranging from baroque to the present in solos, chamber works, 45 concertos and on over 50 internationally acclaimed CDs.

RSC College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists

Jane Heffernan
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Faculty of Science

Jane Heffernan is a recognized international leader in infectious disease modelling. Her Modelling Infection and Immunity Lab tackles important questions in mathematical epidemiology and in-host pathogen dynamics, using mathematical and computational modelling to ascertain key characteristics of pathogens, individual hosts, and populations that allow for disease spread and to determine public health and medical intervention strategies that will be needed to contain or eradicate an infectious disease.

These 91亚色 faculty are among 89 new Fellows who have been elected by their peers for their outstanding scholarly, scientific and artistic achievement, and 51 new members of the RSC College. Recognition by the RSC for career achievement is the highest honour an individual can achieve in the arts, social sciences and sciences. The RSC College consists of mid-career leaders who provide the RSC with a multigenerational capacity to help Canada and the world address major challenges and seize new opportunities, including those identified in emerging fields.

鈥淭his year, the Royal Society of Canada welcomes an outstanding cohort of artists, scholars and scientists, all of whom have excelled in their respective disciplines and are a real credit to Canada,鈥� says RSC President Jeremy McNeil.

On Friday, Nov. 19, the RSC will welcome the Class of 2021 new RSC Fellows and new members of the RSC College and present awards for outstanding research and scholarly achievement.

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With a scarcity of COVID-19 vaccines in many African countries and the rise of new variants of concern, 迟丑别听Africa-Canada Artificial Intelligence and Data Innovation Consortium聽(ACADIC) is playing a pivotal role in providing locally nuanced analysis of data to inform public health decision making, as well as vaccination rollout strategies.

The interdisciplinary consortium is directed by 91亚色 Professor  from the Faculty of Science. Also serving on the executive committee from 91亚色 are: Distinguished Research Professor , director of the  in the Faculty of Science and ACADIC co-president; Professor James Orbinski, director of the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research and ACADIC executive committee member; and LA&PS Associate Professor , associate director of the  and ACADIC executive committee member. ACADIC brings together an interdisciplinary team of data scientists, epidemiologists, physicists, mathematicians and software engineers, as well as AI, disaster and emergency management, clinical public health, citizen science and community engagement experts. It is leveraging big data and AI-based techniques in nine African countries, with experts from 11 different countries 鈥� Botswana, Cameroon, Canada, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

These techniques help identify and analyze emergent COVID-19 hotspots and outbreaks, and develop strategic, highly targeted and staged delivery plans for vaccines to priority areas. The team is also using ongoing monitoring to enhance COVID-19 testing to ensure public health interventions are equitable and effective.

Half of the world鈥檚 doses of vaccines have been secured by a handful of economically developed countries, but most African nations have received very few and continue to prepare and test their vaccination campaigns for when sufficient vaccine doses are made available.

A defining challenge is to develop local strategies that will reduce the number of COVID-19 cases, even as variants of concern circulate amidst a dearth of vaccines.

Some areas of focus for 91亚色 researchers involved in ACADIC include:

• making big data and AI actionable for real-time delivery of reliable and comprehensive information to predict the spread and impact of an epidermic, and to guide governmental policies and best practice in an epidemic;
• the role of big data and AI in understanding and intervening in pandemics;
• big data, AI and COVID-19 in Africa;
• 迟丑别听;
• vaccine acceptance/hesitancy across Africa;
• incorporating AI and mathematical modelling for smart vaccination rollout in vaccine-limited regions;
• clinical public health practices in epidemics and pandemics;
• intervention systems in disasters and health emergencies;
• disease dynamics and modelling;
• transferring lessons learned from mass vaccination simulation to Africa;
• disease modelling and simulation in refugee camps in Africa; and
• use of AI to model economic impacts of COVID-19 in Africa.

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This two-year award, valued at $70,000 per year, seeks to address underrepresentation in many disciplines and fields by providing Black and Indigenous scholars with the ability to dedicate their time to pursuing new research, while accessing the collegial resources, faculty supervision and mentorship for which 91亚色 is well known.

91亚色 has a strong commitment to the pursuit of justice. Integral to this pursuit is an understanding of knowledge as multifaceted and plurally constituted. For the sake of knowledge, diversity is fundamental. While the Provost鈥檚 Postdoctoral Fellowship Program provides new opportunities for Black and Indigenous scholars, most importantly it seeks to attract superb scholars who will help to push the boundaries of knowledge in necessary ways.

Professor Lisa Philipps, 91亚色鈥檚 provost and vice-president academic, believes that 鈥渂uilding new paths and welcoming spaces for diverse voices to thrive in the academy and beyond is vitally important.鈥� She continues by saying that the Provost's Postdoctoral Fellowships for Black and Indigenous Scholars are 鈥渁 reflection of the inclusive higher education environment that we are committed to creating at 91亚色.鈥�

Professor Thomas Loebel, associate vice-president graduate and dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, adds: 鈥淎s a program, these fellowships manifest a challenge that 91亚色 has put to itself, which is to work with emerging scholars in individualized ways and to understand their needs as these emerge through the research process. Our goal is to help connect postdoctoral scholars to the incredible community that is 91亚色, so that with this program we can create something truly career developmental.鈥�

Godwin Dzah (Osgoode Hall Law School)

Dzah comes to 91亚色 having recently completed a doctorate in law at the University of British Columbia. His research proposes a fundamental re-evaluation of how international environmental law deploys concepts of crisis in ways that limit the potential for more sustained and complete forms of transformation. "The historical significance of this award is an ever-present reminder of the unfinished task of addressing systemic challenges," says Dzah. "I am looking forward to advancing this cause by expanding my teaching and research interests, which sit at the intersection of international law and the environment, by demonstrating the common interests and connections between the peoples of the Global South and their counterparts 鈥� the Indigenous Peoples in the Global North 鈥� in the context of the law and politics of international environmental law. I am grateful to the leadership at Osgoode Hall Law School; my supervisor, Professor聽Obiora Okafor; and especially to 91亚色 for this exciting opportunity."

Don Davis (Faculty of Science)

Davis is currently a postdoctoral researcher at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg. His research investigates a novel approach to the causes of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, arguing that processes of forgetting are naturally amplified in major neurodegenerative diseases. 鈥淭he Canadian Indigenous population has an increased prevalence and earlier onset of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease than the Canadian non-Indigenous population," he says. "This opportunity will allow me to establish a research program to study Alzheimer鈥檚 disease within the Indigenous community and accelerate growth in scholarly diversity through development of an academic pipeline for Indigenous scientists. I am very grateful for the advice from Dr. Steven Connor, who will be mentoring me during my postdoctoral fellowship.鈥�

De-Lawrence Lamptey (Faculty of Health)

Lamptey is currently a postdoctoral Fellow at Mount Saint Vincent University in Nova Scotia. His research introduces an intersectional approach to the study of the material, social, and financial barriers Black children and their families are faced with in Canada. 鈥�91亚色鈥檚 commitment to support Black and Indigenous scholars is very remarkable," says Lamptey," and I am proud to be an inaugural recipient. This fellowship is a recognition of the unique and complex challenges that Black and Indigenous scholars often confront as we pursue our career ambitions. My research will be exploring the intersectionality of race/ethnicity and disability among children and youth in Canada. I look forward to making a positive difference in society through this fellowship.鈥�

Ruth Murambadoro (Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies)

Murambadoro is currently a lecturer at the Wits Schools of Governance at the University of Witswatersrand in South Africa. Her research explores how women who have experienced state-sanctioned violence in Zimbabwe deploy narratives to advance the goal of gender justice. 鈥淢y project, 鈥楪ender justice and narratives of violence by women in post-colonial Zimbabwe,鈥� involves working with women鈥檚 social movements and the diaspora to produce new insights on how networks of women provide avenues for healing, justice and peace, outside the auspices of the state," she says. "This work focuses on women鈥檚 encounters of state-sanctioned violence and living under dictatorial rule for the past 40-plus years. I am delighted to join the Centre for Feminist Research at 91亚色 to work closely with Dr.聽Alison Crosby聽as a Fellow under the Provost鈥檚 Postdoctoral Fellowships for Black and Indigenous Scholars.鈥�

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