In his presentation, Hach茅 noted that the feedback from the community consultations indicates the 91亚色 community identifies that the plan should be inclusive,聽 individual research should be supported and the plan should articulate a strong, ambitious vision with clear priorities, while providing flexibility to explore new opportunities.

Robert Hach茅

More than 1,200 members of the 91亚色 community have engaged in the consultation process to date, with more than 60 members of the 91亚色 community attending the open forum.

鈥淏ased on the input received from the 91亚色 community, we have developed six draft themes that are reflective of the broad spectrum of research conducted at the University,鈥� said Hach茅.聽 鈥淲e invite the community to provide feedback and input on the themes as we work towards creating a new Strategic Research Plan that will help us achieve our vision of becoming a more recognized research-intensive University 鈥� an ambition reflected in the White Paper and University Academic Plan.鈥�

Those present at the forum were asked to share their thoughts about the themes. In summary, the forum participants said they welcomed the inclusiveness of the draft themes and expressed appreciation for for the comprehensiveness and scale of the SRP consultations.聽 Among the comments聽offered, there was聽 the aspiration that the importance of international research and the role of organized research units be reflected in the plan. Additionally, participants spoke to the importance of highlighting graduate and undergraduate student engagement in research.

Hach茅 explained that the goals of the consultation process are to engage the 91亚色 community in an open, collaborative and ongoing discussion about the University鈥檚 core research values and to develop a plan that is meaningful to the community.

He was joined in the open forum by the Strategic Research Plan facilitators Celia Haig-Brown, who is a professor in the Faculty of Education, and Gary Miller, instructor in the MBA program at the Schulich School of Business and Schulich Executive Education Centre.

As part of the ongoing nature of the consultation process, 91亚色 students, staff and faculty are invited to take the or on the development of the Strategic Research Plan. 聽Visit the聽聽聽website to view the draft themes.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

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尝别诲听产测 David Phipps (left), executive director of research & innovation services, and colleagues from 91亚色's Knowledge Mobilization Unit (KMb), the group put聽pen to paper to highlight their聽experiences in summarizing academic research according to clear language writing and design principles over the past four years and how that practice has made research more accessible to the community.

The article titled, "A Field Note Describing the Development and Dissemination of Clear Language Research Summaries for University-Based Knowledge Mobilization", highlights best practices for the development, evaluation and dissemination of clear language research summaries as tools for research outreach, research communication and knowledge mobilization.聽 It is co-authored by Michael Johnny, manager, 91亚色's Knowledge Mobilization Unit, Krista Jensen, knowledge mobilization officer at 91亚色聽and Gary Myers, a community based researcher and author of the KMbeing.com blog.

鈥淲orking with our partners and faculty to identify relevant research helps make 91亚色's research accessible and useful to our community partners" says Phipps.

91亚色 piloted institutional knowledge mobilization with the University of Victoria in 2005 under a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences聽& Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Since then, 91亚色 has grown its knowledge mobilization collaboration with the University of Victoria to include the other four ResearchImpact-R茅seauImpactRecherche universities: Memorial University of Newfoundland & Labrador, Universit茅 du Qu茅bec 脿 Montr茅al, University of Guelph and University of Saskatchewan.

91亚色 currently has聽more than聽220 clear language research summaries in a series titled聽ResearchSnapshot, which is published on聽聽blog. Working with a cohort of senior undergraduate work study students, the University's KMb Unit produces between 40 to 50 research summaries every summer.

"91亚色 is proud of the work of our award-winning KMb Unit in connecting researchers and students with community partners for social innovation.聽 As a recognized leader in knowledge mobilization initiatives, 91亚色鈥檚 work and reputation in this field continues to grow both nationally and internationally,鈥� said Robert Hache, 91亚色's vice-president research & innovation. 鈥淭he article written by David Phipps and his KMb colleagues provides a framework for others interested in learning more about best practices and 91亚色鈥檚 initiatives in this area.鈥�

"SRC and its readers are very interested in the communication and use of knowledge as mediated by processes such as knowledge mobilization," says Rowland Lorimer, SRC editor and director of the Canadian Centre for Studies in Publishing at Simon Fraser University. "The work of David Phipps and his knowledge mobilization colleagues at 91亚色 is of growing interest to scholars and research partners who are interested in communicating and using knowledge to benefit Canadians. SRC is pleased they have chose to publish their work with us."

91亚色's KMb Unit and the University of Guelph Institute for Community Engaged Scholarship have recently partnered in support of a project funded by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to produce clear language summaries of research at the University of Guelph. The KMb Unit is also working on clear language research summaries with the Centre for Addiction聽& Mental Health Evidence Exchange Network and the Knowledge Network for Applied Education聽& Research, a knowledge mobilization network funded by Ontario's Ministry of Education of which 91亚色's Faculty of Education is a partner. With these partnerships in place, 91亚色 will be hosting over 500 ResearchSnapshot clear language research summaries.

To read the full text of the聽article,聽click . To view the ResearchSnapshot聽for this article,聽click

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

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Robert Hach茅, vice-president research & innovation, and Lorne Sossin, dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, are co-hosting the event, which takes place from 12 to 2pm in Room 1014, Ignat Kaneff Building, Osgoode Hall Law School, Keele campus. Everyone is welcome to attend the free celebration, but an RSVP is requested. You can RSVP or call Lia Cavaliere at ext. 33782. Light refreshments will be provided.

The panel features Osgoode Hall Law Professors Trevor Farrow, Giuseppina D鈥橝gostino, Dayna Scott and Stepan Wood. Each professor will deliver a short presentation on the panel theme 鈥淐elebrating Community Engagement鈥�.

Farrow will discuss the dilemma faced by low income Canadians who find themselves unable to access the justice system. His presentation will discuss the various research initiatives that are designed to look at the complex problems associated with accessing justice and access to legal services, as well as the related problem of not providing meaningful access to legal services in today's complex and pluralistic societies.

Trevor Farrow

聽Many low income Canadians find themselves unable to access the justice system, says Farrow. Courtrooms are filled with litigants who struggle to navigate the complex demands of law and procedure 鈥� often without representation by counsel. Early and effective resolution is central to avoiding the clustering and escalation of legal problems.聽 However, Farrow posits, a lack of knowledge about how to seek help, coupled with a pervasive sense of powerlessness, limits meaningful action for those who need it most. The most advanced justice system in the world is a failure if it does not ultimately assist in providing justice to the people it is meant to serve, he says. A number of stakeholders have a direct or indirect connection to the issue of access to legal services, including the bench, the bar, the academy, governments, NGOs, the private sector and the public.聽

Speaking in her capacity as founder and director of IP Osgoode, Osgoode Hall Law School鈥檚 flagship Intellectual Property (IP) and Technology Program, D鈥橝gostino will outline three initiatives she spearheaded through IP Osgoode, along with their promises and challenges, to assist the University in playing a more active role in the complex IP and technology research communities in Canada and around the world. 聽

Giuseppina D鈥橝gostino

She will discuss the IP & Technology Intensive Program piloted in the Fall of 2011, which provides students with on-site research opportunities in government, industry and expert organizations in IP and technology; the Ontario Centres of Excellence and IP Osgoode Innovation Clinic, a needs-based innovation-to-market legal clinic staffed by volunteer law students piloted in 2011-2012; and the first blog of its kind, the IPilogue, promoting evidence-based research and showcasing new and unexplored viewpoints to public policy discussions.

Engaged scholarship implies a different set of relationships and expectations as between a community and a university researcher. For legal scholars, these can be even more complicated dynamics. In this short presentation, Scott will share some of the tensions encountered in a four-year research partnership with the Health and Environment Community of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation. The project explored questions of environmental justice stemming from the Band's experience of chronic pollution emanating from Sarnia's nearby Chemical Valley. Scott and the research team employed participatory action research techniques and arts-based methods such as PhotoVoice, to learn from and with community members, including youth.

Dayna Scott

Wood will focus on the challenges and opportunities surrounding community-engaged research in relation to various research projects affiliated with 91亚色's Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS). His presentation will look at research on local community empowerment in water governance in developing world megacities, community members' perceptions of international corporate social responsibility standards in Colombia and Canada, and University-community collaboration on sustainable furniture design for the new Centre for Green Change in the Jane-Finch community.

Stepan Wood

Following the presentations, visitors will have an opportunity to engage with the panelists. Osgoode Hall鈥檚 research celebration is part of an ongoing series of events that highlight interesting and innovative research underway at 91亚色. For more information on each of the presenters and other research underway at the law school, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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鈥淚 am proud that 91亚色 continues to implement initiatives that will promote and enhance environmental awareness on our campuses,鈥� says President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri. 鈥淎s a large institution, it is important that we fulfil our social, economic and environmental responsibilities and integrate sustainable practices into our daily activities. The new website, as well as the Green Office and Sustainability Ambassadors programs, demonstrates our ongoing commitment to sustainable teaching and practice.鈥�

The University's new Sustainability website has been developed to serve聽as a hub for those interested in learning more about all things related to sustainability at 91亚色. The website features information on a wide variety of ongoing initiatives at both the Keele and Glendon campuses, including ways to get involved, such as聽taking a pledge to show your commitment to the environment.

The Sustainability Ambassadors Program encourages volunteers to assist other community members in learning about and acting on sustainability. 鈥淚 volunteered to be a Sustainability Ambassador at 91亚色 because of my passion and concern for the environment,鈥� says Kelly Lui, a Glendon Student living in Maison Verte in undergraduate residence and a former Residence Environmental Ambassador. 鈥淪ustainability is an important issue as it has a direct impact on our quality of life.鈥�

Sustainability ambassadors

The Green Office Program builds on the existing efforts of 91亚色wise, ZeroWaste and other initiatives that help staff, faculty and students make greener choices in their offices. Interested offices can download the Green Office checklist for tips and resources on dozens of sustainable options in waste, energy, transportation, purchasing and innovation.

The Centre for Human Rights was one of the first offices to enrol. "We are very keen to be part of the Green Office Program, promoting individual awareness and understanding about the impact we each have on our planet, and how individuals can make positive change鈥� says No毛l Badiou, director of the CHR. 鈥淭he ability for individuals to make positive change, no matter how seemingly small, is vital if we are to preserve our planet and create inclusive workplaces."

Green Office Program

There are many ways to get involved to continue to make 91亚色 a leading university in Canada on sustainability. So take a sustainability pledge, volunteer to be a Sustainability Ambassador, or get your office involved with the Green Office Program today.

For more information, visit the new website or send an e-mail聽to sustainability@yorku.ca.

Be sure to watch for Earth Week events March 20 to 22聽in Vari Hall.

Submitted by Pavel Graymason, sustainability engagement coordinator, and Andrew Plunkett, sustainability project coordinator

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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The Environmental Cooperation and Israel-Palestinian Peace event will take place March 15 at 1pm at 280A 91亚色 Lanes, Keele campus.

Environmental cooperation has been much-lauded as a force of peace in the Middle East and has been leveraged in support of Track I peacemaking processes between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. It has been pursued as a practice of peace-building, valued for its ability to foster partnership-building, cooperation, identity change and sustainability. Still, the Israel-Palestinian conflict persists, even manifesting through cooperative environmental relations.

笔补苍别濒濒颈蝉迟蝉听 (right), an international development, peace-building and dialogue researcher-practitioner, and聽Stuart Schoenfeld (left), chair of the Department of Sociology聽at 91亚色鈥檚 Glendon College, will present and discuss the issue. Drawing on their direct experience of working with practitioners, governments and stakeholders in the Middle East, they will critically examine assumptions and practices of environmental cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians. Abitbol and Schoenfeld co-chaired the AVOW initiative (Adaptive Visions of Water in the Middle East), hosted at IRIS from聽2007-2009.

Abitbol specializes in hydropolitical issues, with a particular interest in Israeli-Palestinian relations. A Chevening Scholar and associate Fellow at IRIS, he is pursuing a PhD in peace studies at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom, while teaching university courses at the nexus of environment and peace. As a consultant, he recently conducted the Conflict and Peace Effects Study of the Israel-Palestinian Authority-Jordan-World Bank "Red Sea Dead Sea Conveyance" initiative.

Schoenfeld's research on regional environmentalism in the Middle East began in the late 1990s. A network of Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians began to work towards a common understanding of issues of water, energy, waste, transportation, consumption, biodiversity and sustainable development, and to fashion a way of turning that common understanding into one of the elements for peace and human security in the region.

The project continues to investigate this network and other regional frameworks. The project has produced publications on transboundary environmental networks, environmental peace building, approaches to regional environmental governance and the role of empathy in environmental peace-building.

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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In 鈥淏attle Lines Drawn: Resisting Ableism Through Creative Intervention鈥�, will explain how to use cultural warfare 鈥� online publishing and publicity stunts such as stairbombing and chair mobbing 鈥� to put the lie to common myths and stereotypes about disability, with humour.

Right: Jeff Preston in a聽snowbank, in a photo聽on his website getmobilized.ca

Following his talk, his hosts, Access 91亚色鈥檚 Disability Education & Awareness Subcommittee, are taking his advice and staging a stairbombing on the Keele campus. They will block off a major stairwell using caution tape and place a sign stating: 鈥淐aution: These stairs are out of service. Inconvenient, eh? This is only one example of what persons with disabilities experience every day."

Preston made headlines when he drove his electric wheelchair from London to Ottawa to raise awareness about inaccessible transportation. In 2010, Preston and Clara Madrenas created Cripz, an online comic strip about two high school boys in wheelchairs that aims to entertain through humour while satirizing myths about disability.

Left: Image from webcomic Cripz

The disability advocate gives talks in which he argues that mainstream media, from 鈥淒aredevil鈥� to 鈥淕lee鈥�, rarely speak to the lived experience of disabled persons. Such TV shows are based more on the skewed perspectives of nondisabled creators, who draw heavily on stereotypes infused with pity and paternalism when portraying disabled characters.

Hear Preston speak in Winters College dining hall, 001 Winter's College, Feb. 7 from noon to 2pm. To attend, RSVP by Feb. 3 to kaley@yorku.ca.

This event was organized by Access 91亚色 with assistance from the Centre for Human Rights, the Office of the Vice-President Students, and the Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability.

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During the next instalment of the McLaughlin College Lunchtime Talks, taking place today at noon, Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Stepan聽Wood (left)聽will argue that leverage is a source of responsibility where there is a morally significant connection between the company and a rights-holder or rights-violator, the company is able to make a contribution to ameliorate the situation. Wood will argue that it can do so at modest cost and the threat to human rights is substantial.

In such circumstances, posits Wood, companies have a responsibility to exercise leverage even though they did nothing to contribute to the situation. He argues that such responsibility is qualified, not categorical; graduated, not binary; context-specific; practicable; consistent with the social role of business; and not merely a negative responsibility to avoid harm but a positive responsibility to do good.

Wood teaches climate change law, environmental law and property law. He is editor-in-chief of the Osgoode Hall Law Journal and acting director of the Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS). His research focuses on corporate social responsibility, sustainability, globalization, transnational private governance, voluntary standards, climate change and environmental law.

Wood is currently directing an interdisciplinary research project on the dynamics of interaction among transnational business governance initiatives in fields as diverse as accounting standards and sustainable forestry certification.聽He is co-author with Stephen Clarkson of A Perilous Imbalance: The Globalization of Canadian Law and Governance (2010, shortlisted for the Donald Smiley award for best book on Canadian politics), co-editor of Climate Law and Developing Countries (2009) and co-editor of Environmental Law for Sustainability (2006). He is founder and co-chair of the Willms & Shier Environmental Law Moot for Canadian law schools.

Wood鈥檚 talk is hosted by the McLaughlin College Master鈥檚 Office. It will take place today from noon to 1:30pm in the McLaughlin Senior Common Room, 140 McLaughlin College. All talks are free and open to the public.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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On Thursday, Ewa Modlinska, an MES student in environmental studies, and Alex Todd, an MA candidate in geography, will share their observations on the panel, in 120E Stedman Lecture Hall from 3 to 5pm.聽

Right: 91亚色 delegates, from left, MES student Ewa Modlinska, Curtis Kuunuaq Konek and Jordan Konek from the Arviat Youth Project, and MA student Alex Todd

The COP 17 Debrief panel is hosted by 91亚色鈥檚 , which, as a non-government organization, successfully applied for delegate status to the conference, and sponsored Modlinska and Todd.聽

Modlinska will speak about the importance of listening at international climate change conferences. It is the topic of her fourth and final posted about the conference.聽

is short for the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Established in 1992, it meets annually to set intergovernmental frameworks for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate change. COP 17 took place from Nov. 28 to Dec. 9.

Modlinska went back and forth between the official conference inside聽and meetings organized by聽NGOs and other interest groups outside. She heard 鈥渁 plurality of voices bringing different perspectives to the issue of climate change.鈥� Official delegates focused on equity and development rights, while the protesters stressed climate justice, she said. 鈥淭he biggest problem,鈥� she told YFile, 鈥渨as that there was not enough interaction between inside and outside.鈥� Inside, they were proposing market-based mechanisms to mitigate climate change, profit-based solutions opposed by those outside.

Todd spent most of his time with protesters, so will have a different perspective on the conference, says Modlinska.

On the panel with her and Todd will be three others. Youth delegate April Dutheil attended the conference to set up a booth about how climate change is affecting Arviat, her home on the shores of Hudson Bay. From the Faculty of Environmental Studies, Professor Ellie Perkins specializes in globalization and the environment, and postdoctoral fellow Rachel Hirsch, in climate change and food insecurity in the North.

If you cannot attend the panel discussion, join the conversation聽.

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The talk, 鈥淥rangutans: Research & Rainforest Protection in Borneo鈥�, will take place Nov. 10, from noon to 1:30pm, at 305 91亚色 Lanes, Keele campus. There will also be a panel discussion with representatives of BOS Canada. Light refreshments will be served.

The event is designed to help spread the message about the work Russon is doing in Kutai National Park, about the work of聽BOS Canada and about the many potential opportunities for research available in this incredibly unique and threatened wilderness.

Russon specializes in research on wild orangutan intelligence and has recently taken over Camp Kriu in Kutai National Park in Indonesian Borneo, where she studies a large population of wild orangutans. Her work is represented in Canada as part of BOS Canada.

In 2002, Borneo suffered massive fires. Kutai National Park was heavily damaged and聽was thought to be a write-off by many conservation biologists. As Russon will discuss during her talk, this was anything but the case. Secondary growth in the forest of Kutai has taken off, providing an incredibly rich habitat for wildlife with faster growing plants and more available fruit than in a primary forest setting.

Left: Anne Russon

Consequently, a healthy wild orangutan population is now thriving there. The park, however, is not unthreatened. Across the narrow Sangata River that divides Kutai from private land, there is a coal mine large enough to be seen from space. Like the rest of Borneo, the park risks being re-zoned for timber, mining or palm oil, should its value as a nature reserve come into dispute.

It is important to note that this region of Indonesia represents the second most biologically diverse area of the world after the Amazon. It is quickly being swallowed by the oil, timber and mining industries with little regard for the indigenous peoples who live on the land.

Russon鈥檚 profile in the park, as someone living and working there, helps to keep it protected. To continue building the profile of her project and expanding the research activities at Camp Kriu, Russon is welcoming interested students and researchers to join her.

For more information, visit the .

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鈥淓nvironmental History of the Glendon Campus & Forest: Challenges of Conservation & Sustainability in the 21st Century,鈥� part of the Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS) Speaker Series, will take place Oct. 27, from noon to 1pm, in the Senate Chamber, Glendon campus. Light refreshments will be served.

Right: A path through the Glendon campus forest

Schoenfeld will provide an overview of the website, while Psathas, a senior fellow at IRIS,聽will provide an update on the forest.

鈥淭he project was designed with two goals. First, to share the knowledge about our campus more widely. Second, to document the history and current state of environmentalism at Glendon,鈥� Schoenfeld writes in an on the website.

鈥淭he project is intended to be a contribution to the common culture of those who work and study here. We are the custodians of a remarkable place. Knowing more about it, we can better appreciate the gift we have been given of working and studying here. We can also appreciate that the Glendon campus has been taken care of, and that responsibility continues.鈥�

One of the things the new website offers is聽an overview of how conservation issues and environmental issues have become part of the local culture and how Glendon is responding to the current challenge of sustainability. It has taken much work to keep the upper portion of the Glendon campus landscaped and to perverse the forest in the valley, as well as introduce new environmental practices.

For more information, visit the website.

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