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 “social pharmaceutical innovation,” why it is important and how he hopes to foster it. 

Douglas’s presentation is part of a larger international collaborative project called “Social Pharmaceutical Innovation for Unmet Medical Needs,” with partners from the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), Mines ParisTech at the Université 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 cd512@yorku.ca.

The post STS Seminar Series looks at social pharmaceutical innovation for rare diseases appeared first on Research & Innovation.

As Tier 1 CRCs, Haas and Fogel will each receive $1.4 million over seven years. The CRC is part of a package of CRC appointments announced Oct. 12, by Gary Goodyear,  minister of state (Science and Technology).

“Our government’s top priority is creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity,” said Goodyear. “By investing in talented people through programs such as the Canada Research Chairs, our government is supporting cutting-edge research in Canadian post-secondary institutions. This fosters innovation by helping researchers bring their ideas to the marketplace, where they can touch the lives of Canadians.”

In all, the government announced an investment of $121.6  million to fund the appointment of 155 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs at 42 Canadian degree-granting post-secondary institutions.

“The appointment of Professor Christian Haas as Canada Research Chair in Arctic Sea Ice Geophysics and the renewal of Professor Joshua Fogel as Canada Research Chair in the History of Modern China recognizes the excellence of their research and provides them with opportunities to further develop their exceptional research programs,” said Robert Haché, vice-president research & innovation at 91��ɫ. “Through the CRC program, 91��ɫ continues to build on its research strengths and enhance opportunities for graduate training.”

Christian Haas

Haas, a professor of geophysics, in the Department of Earth & Space Science and Engineering in the Faculty of Science & Engineering, is examining the underlying reasons for the recent, rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice and the consequences for the Arctic climate system and ecosystem, for Northerners, and for better access to Arctic resources and shipping routes.  His research also addresses the role of changes in winds and ice drift as well as of variations in atmospheric radiation and temperature and ocean salinity and temperature on ice thickness and areal coverage.

A thorough understanding of the reasons for the recent Arctic sea ice decline will help fuel predictions of future scenarios and identify links to possible human-induced causes for climate change.

Ice information obtained by Haas’ research utilizing airborne and ground-based field campaigns in the Arctic and Antarctic, satellite remote sensing and numerical modeling provides important information for safe and environmentally responsible resource exploration and extraction, as well as shipping and over-ice travel.  His research contributes unique information on ice thickness, one of the most important sea ice properties for the design and regulation of offshore structures and ships, safe ice utilization and assessment of oil spill development.

Fogel, a professor in the Department of History in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and member of 91��ɫ’s Centre for Asian Research has been examining the dynamic cultural and political relations between China and Japan over the past two centuries.

Joshua Fogel

The history of modern China cannot be fully or properly understood, Fogel maintains, without examining the dynamic cultural, political, and economic interactions between China and Japan over the last two centuries. Fogel’s research focuses on this interaction and the importance of Japan in China’s modern development.

He is presently writing a comprehensive history of Chinese-Japanese relations from antiquity through the present as well as a more focused monograph on the history of the Japanese expatriate community in Shanghai (1862 to 1945). His work is premised on the fruitful assumption that the modern history of China is incomprehensible without a full consideration of modern Japanese history.

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

The post The University recruits a new Canada Research Chair and gains a renewed Canada Research Chair appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Participating in the panel are University of Western Ontario  Professor William Turkel; University of Toronto Professor Michelle Murphy; Queen's University Professor Sergio Sismundo; and 91��ɫ Professor Darrin Durant. It will be moderated by 91��ɫ anthropology Professor Natasha Myers.

A professor of history, Turkel is also the project director, for the Social Science & Humanities Research Council of Canada Strategic Knowledge Cluster . His research and teaching draws on, integrates and tries to extend a number of different disciplines, including environmental and public history, the histories of science and technology, 'big history', science and technology studies, computation, and studies of place and social memory.

Murphy's research interests include the history of technoscience, sex, gender, race, environmental politics and capitalism in the United States through transnational and post-colonial theoretical perspectives.  She is the author of Sick Building Syndrome and the Politics of Uncertainty: Environmental Politics, Technoscience and Women Workers (Duke University Press, 2006), which examines history of low-level exposures and the production of uncertainty in twentieth century American environmental politics, with a focus on labor and office buildings.

Sismundo's research explores the philosophical consequences of seeing science as a thoroughly social activity. He is examining how historical and sociological work on the practice of science affect our views of a diverse set of issues in the philosophy of science, from the realism/anti-realism debate to the scope of standpoint epistemologies.

Durant's primary field of research concerns nuclear waste disposal, specifically debates over technical assessments and policy-making priorities between credentialed experts, the lay public and social movements. His theoretical interests focus upon the links between topics in STS (such as lay public involvement in technical controversies) and political philosophy (such as different notions of democracy, the issue of minority and majority rights, the controversy over the role of social identities in democratic decision-making, the perils of counter-cultural thinking, and the unfortunate withering of the idea of a common good).

Meyers is an anthropologist working in the field of science and technology. Her research examines the lively visual cultures that thrive in contemporary life science laboratories and classrooms. She is curious about how laboratories operate as spaces for producing scientists and tracks how pedagogy and training shape forms of knowing, ways of seeing and modes of embodiment in the practical cultures of technoscience.

The panel is free and open to the community. For more information, visit the Science & Technology Studies website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post Panel to examine the future of Science & Technology Studies today at 12:30 pm appeared first on Research & Innovation.

“The First (Known) Statistical Graph: Michael Florent van Langren and the 'Secret' of Longitude” will take place Tuesday, Nov. 30, from 12:30 to 2pm in Norman’s, 203 Bethune College, Keele campus. All are welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served.

Right: Michael Friendly

Chair of the graduate program in Quantitative Methods at 91��ɫ and an associate coordinator with the , Friendly knows a thing or two about statistics. He has broad experience in data analysis, statistics and computer applications.

In addition, he is the author of SAS System for Statistical Graphics, 1st Edition, and Visualizing Categorical Data, both published by the SAS Institute. He is also an associate editor of the Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics.

His recent work includes the further development of graphical methods for categorical data and multivariate linear models, as well as work on the history of data visualization.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

The post Professor Michael Friendly to give statistical graphs talk today at 12:30 pm appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Throughout November, the Vari Hall Rotunda will play host to displays and demonstrations featuring our faculty and graduate researchers. Drop by between 10 am and 2 pm each Wednesday to learn what 91��ɫ's researchers are doing.

The Research Month index on 91��ɫ's Research website contains complete information about the researchers, research centres and research support groups participating in the event.

Social sciences and humanities research – Nov. 3

Confirmed participants include:

• Institute for Science & Technology Studies
• 91��ɫ Centre for Education & Community

Science and engineering research – Nov. 10

Confirmed participants include:

Health research – Nov.17

Confirmed participants include:

• Professor Joseph DeSouza, Faculty of Health, Department of Psychology
• Professor , Faculty of Health, School of Nursing
• Professor Jennifer Kuk, Faculty of Health, School of Kinesiology & Health Science
• Professor Gail Mitchell, Faculty of Health, School of Nursing
• Professor Jennine Rawana, Faculty of Health, Department of Psychology
• Professor Rose Steele, Faculty of Health, School of Nursing
• LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence & Conflict Resolution
• 91��ɫ Institute for Health Research

Fine and performing arts research — Nov. 24

Confirmed participants include:

Want to participate?

Do you have completed works, prototypes, technology, or works in progress that you could demonstrate? Do you have graduate/undergraduate students working with you who could assist and help talk about the work? If you have other ideas, we would love to hear about them.

Interested faculty members or research centres should contact Elizabeth Monier-Williams in the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation at ext. 21069 or eamw@yorku.ca. Please note that space is limited and allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Other research-related events

These research-related events will also be running in November:

• Nov. 6 – , featuring Professor Poonam Puri from Osgoode Hall Law School and Professor Steven Gaetz from the Faculty of Education among other speakers.
• Nov. 10 – Toward a Behavioral Neuroscience of Parenting, sponsored by the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Health.
• Nov. 24 & 25 – at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (by invitation only).
• Nov. 26 – Campus visit from Suzanne Fortier, president of the .
• Nov. 30 – Campus visit from David Malone, president of .

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer

The post November is Research Month: 91��ɫ celebrates with a series of events appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Left: Naomi Oreskes

Oreskes, who is an adjunct professor of geosciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and provost of Sixth College at UC San Diego, began her career as an exploration geologist working in the mining industry in the Australian outback. For the past 20 years, she has studied the process of consensus and dissent in science.

The central questions that inform her research are: How do scientists decide when a fact is established? How do they judge how much evidence is sufficient to deem something scientifically demonstrated? And what happens when scientists can’t agree?

Oreskes will be at 91��ɫ to talk about her new book, Merchants of Doubt (Bloomsbury Press, 2010).

In the book, Oreskes and her co-author Erik Conway, an historian of science affiliated with the California Institute of Technology, explore how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists, with extensive political connections, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades.

In seven chapters addressing tobacco, acid rain, the ozone hole, global warming and DDT, Oreskes and Conway roll back the rug on this dark corner of the American scientific community, showing how the ideology of free market fundamentalism, aided by a compliant media, has skewed public understanding of the most pressing issues of our era.

Oreskes’ lecture marks the official launch of 91��ɫ’s new Institute for Science & Technology Studies. The institute, which launches today, was created to be a focal point for science and technology studies in Canada. Science & Technology Studies is a burgeoning field not only in Canada, but also the world, as scholars in humanities and social studies develop increasingly sophisticated intellectual and methodological tools for engaging with techno-scientific knowledge, practice and artifacts.

For more on the new institute, visit the Science & Technology Studies website.

The post Institute for Science & Technology Studies launches inaugural lecture series today appeared first on Research & Innovation.