social Archives | Research & Innovation

91��ɫ students win Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

muellerm — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ graduate students Pierre-Yann Dubé Dolbec, Douglas Hunter and Juha Mikkonen are the 2012 recipients of Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships, Canada’s most prestigious awards for doctoral research. Each will receive $50,000 per year for three years.

Vanier scholars are selected for their exceptional leadership skills and for realizing the highest standards of scholarly achievement in graduate studies in natural sciences, engineering, and the social sciences and humanities.

Pierre-Yann Dubé Dolbec (left) is a doctoral student in 91��ɫ’s Graduate Program in Administration, offered through the Schulich School of Business. A world traveller, Dubé Dolbec has conducted research, studied and fostered collaborations in more than 30 countries, including India, France and Denmark.

Dubé Dolbec has an undergraduate degree in business administration from Laval University and a master’s of science in marketing from HEC Montréal. His previous research on brand experiences is set to be published in the coming year.

“Pierre-Yann is motivated, highly involved and enthusiastic,” said Allan Hutchinson, dean and associate vice-president graduate, “and he has an exemplary drive for research innovation.”

Dubé Dolbec's research is aimed at helping create public spaces that encourage more socially responsible behaviour when people come together in large groups, perhaps avoiding destructive riots and creating an environment that fosters more peaceful discussion.

Douglas Hunter (right) is completing his doctoral studies in 91��ɫ’s Graduate Program in History. A nationally known and award-winning author, public intellectual, popular historian, journalist and artist, Hunter is dedicated to educating a national audience by making Canadian history accessible.

“With an unusual academic background for a doctoral student in history, Mr. Hunter’s work in historical nonfiction has been exceptional, incisive and richly informative,” said Hutchinson.

The winner of the National Business Book Award in 2002 for The Bubble and the Bear: How Nortel Burst the Canadian Dream (Doubleday 2002) in which Hunter analyzed the rise and fall of Nortel Networks, Hunter is also the author of six history books on topics as diverse as hockey and North American exploration, and numerous articles on historians and historical artifacts. With an undergraduate degree in humanities from McMaster University and an advanced degree in securities, Hunter's career has included working as a journalist, editor, illustrator and graphic designer for newspapers, magazines and publishing houses, before he started his own business in 1993.

Now focused on his doctoral research at 91��ɫ, Hunter is exploring “cryptohistory”, looking at how scholarly histories have influenced and been influenced by public prejudices. Similar to conventional histories, cryptohistorical ideas bolstered the celebration of the racial and cultural superiority of European colonists and later immigrant communities. Douglas is interested in particular in how cryptohistorians appropriated indigenous records, particularly in rock art, oral traditions and archaeological material, to support claims of pre-Columbian European visitors.

Juha Mikkonen (left) is working toward a PhD in health policy and equity studies. Working in Finnish, French and English, Mikkonen joined 91��ɫ with impressive background in research. With more than 50 professional and academic contributions geared towards linking academic and non-academic fields, he also has more than a decade working in health promotion in Helsinki and in poverty reduction in 27 European nations.

Mikkonen joined 91��ɫ`s Health Policy and Equity Studies Program with undergraduate and master’s degrees in social sciences from the University of Helsinki, Finland. As a visiting scholar at 91��ɫ, he co-authored a report, Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts with 91��ɫ Professor Dennis Raphael. The report aims to educate the public and health advocates about social determinants of health and shifting thought processes surrounding well-being.

His doctoral research, a comparative analysis of Canadian and Finnish public health policy, will help in developing future policy in both countries and beyond. “Creative motivated and thoughtful, Mikkonen will provide many insights into current health policy debate in Canada,” said Hutchinson.

“We are, of course, incredibly proud of our Vanier scholars,” says Peter Mulvihill, associate dean, Graduate Studies at 91��ɫ. “They have each demonstrated their talents at bringing their research out into the world, and the world into their research. I look forward to seeing their progress and the evolution of their work over the next few years.”

Administered by Canada’s three federal granting agencies, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Vanier Canada scholarship program’s goal is to build world-class research capacity in Canada by recruiting and supporting top-tier doctoral students who will positively contribute to Canada's economic, social and research-based growth.

The Vanier scholarship program is available online at .

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

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Get a jump on planet-friendly events with Sustainability at 91��ɫ

fmaquito — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:00:00 +0000

With Earth Hour and Earth Day on the horizon, 91��ɫ is getting a jump on planet-friendly events by launching new sustainability initiatives. Sustainability at 91��ɫ has a new website and there are two new programs, the Sustainability Ambassadors Program and the Green Office Program.

“I am proud that 91��ɫ continues to implement initiatives that will promote and enhance environmental awareness on our campuses,” says President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri. “As 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.”

The University's new Sustainability website has been developed to serve as a hub for those interested in learning more about all things related to sustainability at 91��ɫ. 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 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. “I volunteered to be a Sustainability Ambassador at 91��ɫ because of my passion and concern for the environment,” says Kelly Lui, a Glendon Student living in Maison Verte in undergraduate residence and a former Residence Environmental Ambassador. “Sustainability is an important issue as it has a direct impact on our quality of life.”

Sustainability ambassadors

The Green Office Program builds on the existing efforts of 91��ɫwise, 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” says Noël Badiou, director of the CHR. “The 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��ɫ 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 to sustainability@yorku.ca.

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

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

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

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Boys shrug off pain, girls 'catastrophize': 91��ɫ U study

fmaquito — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Teenage boys who experience “persistent” pain aren’t all that fazed by it – at least not compared to girls – a 91��ɫ study finds.

The study, conducted at the Ontario Science Centre, looked at more than 1,000 children and adolescents from ages eight to 18. While boys and girls reported the same frequency of persistent pain – lasting three months or more – teenage girls experienced more anxiety and tended to catastrophize over pain to a greater degree than their male peers.

“Boys who experience pain may feel less comfortable expressing their feelings because they are deemed socially inappropriate – or it may be that boys simply experience less anxiety in relation to pain,” says study lead author Samantha Fuss (MA ’10), a PhD student in psychology at 91��ɫ. “Even teenage girls who haven’t experienced persistent pain showed significantly higher levels of pain anxiety than boys their age.”

Overall, 27 per cent of participants reported experiencing persistent pain. The study is published in the latest issue of the journal .

Study co-author Joel Katz, a 91��ɫ psychology professor and , says more research is needed to understand the psychological factors relating to pain in youth.

Left: Joel Katz

“Persistent pain in children and teenagers isn’t a rare occurrence. There are gaps in our understanding of the time course of pain and the developmental trajectories,” Katz says. “For example, how does the presence of pain in these life stages relate to pain in adulthood?”

Researchers looked at psychological variables including anxiety, anxiety sensitivity and pain catastrophizing – a tendency to worry about pain and feel helpless in the face of it.

Boys 12 to 18 years of age were significantly more likely to experience persistent pain than younger boys, while there was no difference between age groups for girls.

Fuss points out that girls more frequently seek medical attention for illness and pain than do boys – which makes their findings all the more intriguing.

“Our sample wasn’t drawn from a clinical setting – such as interviewing patients at a walk-in clinic,” she says. “This is a fairly representative sample of Toronto children and adolescents who happened to be visiting the Science Centre with their parents.”

Katz notes that the greater prevalence of chronic pain in women versus men may be tied to psychological factors that appear in childhood.

“Anxiety sensitivity is thought to be a vulnerability factor for the development of chronic pain. The finding that girls had higher levels of anxiety sensitivity than boys may partly explain why the prevalence of chronic pain is greater in women than men,” he says.

“It’s a complex web to untangle in terms of physical versus psychological,” says Fuss. “Is it that the psychological experience of pain differs between the sexes – or even age groups – or is it differences in the physical experience of pain? How are they linked? These are certainly important questions in terms of diagnosis and pain management.”

Fuss’ research is supervised by Katz. Their work is funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Canada Graduate Scholarship to Fuss, and a Canada Research Chair in Health Psychology to Katz.

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

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