The initiative, led by Stephanie Gora, assistant professor at the , received $250,000 from the Government of Canada鈥檚 New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) . The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) program supports bold, interdisciplinary research that tests new ideas and aims for real鈥憌orld impact.

Gora鈥檚 project focuses on drinking water quality in multi鈥憉nit rental housing, where water safety is impacted by the actions of water utilities, tenants, landlords/building owners and regulators.

鈥淭his funding gives us the freedom to step back and take a 鈥榩roblem-first鈥� approach to understanding and improving water safety in rental housing that prioritizes the lived experiences of tenants, as well as building owners and management,鈥� says Gora. 鈥淭he goal is to co-develop technologies and frameworks that address the real barriers to safe water in rental housing."

While Canada has invested heavily in protecting drinking water, quality of water from the tap 鈥� particularly in rental buildings 鈥� remains difficult to assess and address, she adds.

Expertise in engineering, housing and urban planning will come together to examine both the technical and social dimensions of water quality. Gora is joined by co鈥憄rincipal investigator Katherine Perrott (University of Waterloo) and co鈥慳pplicants Judy Duncan (ACORN Canada), Liam Butler and Razieh Salahandish (91亚色), along with Brian Doucet (University of Waterloo) for the project, titled 鈥溾�楥an I drink the tap water?鈥� An interdisciplinary action framework for water quality assurance in multi鈥憉nit rental housing.鈥�

According to Gora, research and policy following the 2000 Walkerton water crisis focused primarily on protecting municipal sources, treatment plants and distribution systems. However, conditions within buildings are a separate risk where aging plumbing, construction materials and maintenance practices can significantly affect water quality by the time it reaches residents鈥� taps.

These challenges are particularly pronounced in rental housing, where tenants have limited control over infrastructure and limited access to information.

Multi鈥憉nit buildings constructed before 1960 are more likely to contain lead-bearing plumbing components and lead solder, but water quality issues are not limited to older housing stock. Newer and high鈥憆ise buildings can also experience problems related to water stagnation and interactions between the water and materials used for plumbing.

In January 2024, more than 200 tenants were evacuated from a newly built student apartment building in Hamilton, Ont., due to poor water quality, highlighting the scope of the issue.

The 91亚色鈥憀ed project responds to these gaps by integrating scientific testing with lived experience.

Researchers will begin by testing water samples and interviewing tenants, building owners or managers to understand how water quality issues arise and how they are handled in real-world settings. The team will test how point-of-use and distributed water quality sensors monitor water safety in real time.

The findings will help the team develop a data-driven water safety framework for multi-unit rental buildings using an approach that considers social, environmental and economic impacts while encouraging collaboration among sector partners to clarify shared responsibilities.

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For decades, bird flu, a virus that affects avian species鈥� respiratory and digestive systems, has been treated as a problem related to poultry farms and migratory birds, says Moyles. In recent years, however, it has spread beyond those boundaries, appearing in mammals, infecting dairy cattle and, in some cases, humans.

That shift requires better understanding of how the virus is evolving and circulating. 鈥淎vian influenza needs to be monitored carefully, as its ability to adapt and move between species raises concerns about its outbreak potential,鈥� says Moyles, who teaches in the Faculty of Science's Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

As with other infectious diseases, researchers rely on mathematical models to explore how bird flu might spread in situations that are difficult 鈥� or impossible 鈥� to observe directly, including rare spillover events where the virus jumps from one species to another.

These frameworks help decision-makers estimate how quickly a virus spreads, which species are most at risk and how effective control measures might be. Their accuracy can directly shape how outbreaks are monitored and managed. While bird flu is not currently transferring easily between people, its growing ability to infect a wider range of animals has raised concerns that it could increase risk for humans.

Moyles and his collaborators, however, noted that as bird flu was identified in new species, including dairy cattle in 2024, there had been little review on whether existing models capture emerging risks.

鈥淭his prompted us to perform a modern systematic review of mathematical modelling literature related to avian influenza to identify gaps,鈥� says Moyles about the work now published in .

The research team examined 30 peer鈥憆eviewed studies published between 2023 and mid鈥�2025 on how bird flu spreads to assess whether current approaches reflect how the virus behaves today. The work was grounded in a 鈥淥ne Health鈥� perspective, which looks at connections between human, animal and environmental health.

What they found is most frameworks rely on a single, dominant approach. Nearly 90 per cent of the studies used compartmental models, which group populations into simple categories 鈥� for example, those who can catch the virus, those who are infected and those who have recovered. These models are relatively straightforward to work with and are often used to estimate whether an outbreak is likely to grow or fade.

The problem, researchers say, is many of these models are still based on earlier assumptions about how bird flu spreads, when infections were largely confined to wild birds and poultry. Since 2023, the virus has presented widely in birds, been detected in dozens of mammal species and, notably, has affected dairy cattle. Human infections remain rare, but are increasingly linked to contact with livestock. Despite this shift, most models overlook livestock almost entirely, limiting how well they capture bird flu transmission data and related emerging risks.

Studies using agent-based models, which simulate how individual animals or farms interact, and network models, which map how connections like trade or movement spread disease, was far less common. While these approaches can better capture real-world complexity, such as how poultry movements or farm networks influence transmission, they also require more detailed data and computing power.

The review also found broader gaps in how these models are built and tested. Many rely on assumptions or data from older studies, rather than being grounded in current outbreaks. Important features of the virus 鈥� such as how long it incubates, how immunity works or how it persists in the environment 鈥� are often simplified. Perhaps most striking, notes Moyles, is that very few models are tested against real-world data. Only two of the 30 studies compared predictions with actual outbreaks, raising questions about how reliable the methods for predicting virus behaviour is.

Models that leave out livestock, oversimplify immunity or fail to incorporate real evidence may give a false sense of certainty, especially when used to guide policy in fast鈥憁oving outbreaks where the virus behaves differently than in the past.

鈥淎 lack of understanding of the multi-host transmission and spillover of avian influenza creates gaps in surveillance capabilities,鈥� says Moyles.

To address this, the researchers recommend a shift toward more biologically grounded and data-driven modelling by accounting for livestock, incorporating data on how immunity works, including antibody responses and testing model predictions against real-world outbreaks. They also suggest using multiple approaches together, rather than relying on a single forecast, and call for better surveillance data and greater transparency in how models are built and reported.

鈥淲e hope that this review will motivate more One Health mathematical modelling studies and the collection and use of data that support them. This will improve the ability to design meaningful intervention strategies,鈥� says Moyles. 鈥淚n the long term, the goal is to develop models that better capture spillover risk, including early warning signs of the virus emerging in new species and its potential to cause outbreaks.鈥�

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This award, presented by Fairtrade Canada during the National Fair Trade Conference, marks 91亚色鈥檚 first time receiving the honour. The recognition builds on the University鈥檚 Silver Fair Trade Campus designation which it has held over the past two years and reflects its sustained leadership in embedding fair trade principles into everyday campus life.

91亚色 was recognized for its 鈥淔air Trade, Every Day鈥� approach, which has expanded the availability of fair trade-certified products across the University. As a result, tens of thousands of products are purchased each year, increasing access for the campus community while supporting ethical supply chains.

Fair trade-certified products 鈥� such as chocolate, coffee, tea and bananas 鈥� are available at various YU Eats locations including Stong College, Winters College, Central Square (Keele Campus) and Glendon Campus. The initiative also extends to apparel, with the 91亚色 Bookstore offering certified fair-trade T-shirts and hoodies through a partnership with Green Campus Co-op, a student- and faculty-founded organization established in 2011.

The award also acknowledges 91亚色鈥檚 broader leadership role in the sector. By hosting the National Fair Trade Conference in 2025 and maintaining an active presence in national conversations about fair trade in higher education, 91亚色 has become a hub for learning and collaboration.

91亚色 staff are frequently called on to share expertise on advancing fair trade in higher education. Sasa Netsorovic, director, Bookstore, printing and mailing services at 91亚色, recently shared insights on how campuses can translate fair trade values through procurement decisions, community partnerships and student engagement, drawing on 91亚色鈥檚 鈥淔air Trade, Every Day鈥� approach.

Nicole Arsenault, director of sustainability, says the award 鈥渞eflects years of dedicated work by students, faculty and staff who have championed fair trade and embedded it into campus culture.鈥�

These efforts, she adds, support the United Nations鈥� Sustainable Development Goals.

With national recognition as Fair Trade Campus of the Year, 91亚色 continues to demonstrate how institutional commitment and community-driven action can create meaningful change.

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Beyond the Academy is a six-week initiative developed by Zachary Spicer, associate professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) and head of New College, in partnership with 91亚色鈥檚 Co-op & Career Centre. Designed specifically for LA&PS doctoral students, the program guides a cohort of 25 PhD students through career exploration, translating academic skills for non-academic settings, networking, job search strategy and concrete next steps with emotional support built in from the start.

The program responds to a decades-long structural shift in academic hiring.

"There's just not enough academic jobs for the amount of PhD students that we are graduating," says Spicer. "It is not a reflection on any individual candidate. It is just a math problem."

Spicer speaks from experience. He spent time outside academia before returning to 91亚色 and has watched colleagues navigate the same transition with widely varying degrees of support. Over the past three years, New College has run webinars and workshops, and brought alumni in to speak about non-academic careers. Students appreciated those efforts, says Spicer, but kept saying they needed more.

"It felt kind of like a one-off," says Spicer. "They still had questions. I know I probably need to do this; I probably want to do this 鈥� but how do I actually get things going?"

Beyond the Academy was designed to answer that question in a sustained, structured way. Each week builds on the last 鈥� moving from career narrative and self-reflection through to LinkedIn, networking and an individualized career plan. The program also brings in an occupational therapist to help students work through the emotional weight that can accompany the transition.

"You're not just going towards the consolation prize," says Spicer. "You're going towards something that provides meaning and purpose."

The partnership with the adds another dimension. New College worked with the centre to scope the program, and its staff are leading three of the initiative鈥檚 six modules. Susan Pogue, career counsellor at the centre, delivered the program's opening session on rethinking the PhD career narrative. She says what sets Beyond the Academy apart from individual appointments or stand-alone webinars is the community it creates.

"It's the same 25 students going through each week," she says. "They're building rapport and trust, learning from each other, talking openly about exploring careers outside of academia 鈥� maybe for the first time. It normalizes that conversation."

For Lisa Smith, a PhD student in humanities whose research focuses on children's folklore, the program arrived at exactly the right moment. A former K to 12 educator who returned to post-secondary studies after two decades, she joined the program to think more seriously about her options if a tenure-track path does not materialize.

"I needed to be looking at Plan B," she says. "This was a start to preparing and looking at what other options are out there."

Though still in the early weeks of the program, she says it has already helped make a once-vague future feel more structured. Through the first sessions, participants were encouraged to think about the values, interests and the skills they developed through doctoral work 鈥� from long-term project management to research and critical analysis 鈥� and how that could translate beyond academia.

鈥淚 think my anxieties became reduced through this program,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he things that could happen in the future become more possible.鈥�

For Spicer, the first cohort is a pilot 鈥� one being formally evaluated by 91亚色's Office of Institutional Planning and Analysis. If it works, he hopes it can be replicated. More broadly, he says the goal is to make conversations about non-academic careers a more normal part of doctoral education.

"I am hoping that as a Faculty and as a school, we are more open to having conversations around non-academic careers," he says. "I'd like graduate students to leave excited and empowered about what comes next."

Smith concurs: "It ought to be open to all PhD students at 91亚色."

With files from Mzwandile Poncana

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DAAD, the German Academic Exchange Service, is the world's largest funding organization for international academic exchange. Through its Research Grants program, it provides funding to support doctoral students and post-doctoral research at a German university.

For Barakov, a political science PhD candidate with a master鈥檚 degree from 91亚色, the funding will help enhance his dissertation via archival research and interviews with local residents. His thesis compares urban outcomes across 35 years of state socialism and 35 years of capitalism in the cities of Berlin, Germany and Sofia, Bulgaria. He will be hosted at Humboldt University in Berlin, working in coordination with the Georg Simmel Center for Metropolitan Studies. Following his time in Germany, he will do similar research in Sofia.

鈥淚 plan on visiting a variety of different archives specifically with the aim of understanding East German approaches to urban planning, as well as conducting interviews with local residents,鈥� says Barakov.

Muci, also a political science PhD candidate, will be based at the Center for Post-Kantian Philosophy at the University of Potsdam for the first half of his time abroad, before relocating to the University of M眉nster. He will further his research on Marx and Marxism in Berlin by examining original sources related to the philosopher's doctoral dissertation at the University of Berlin from 1837-41, including letters from editors of a journal with which Marx collaborated.  

鈥淚'm looking at the origins of this conception of the world in the only philosophical work by Karl Marx 鈥� his dissertation with which he graduated at the University of Jena in 1841,鈥� explains Muci, whose work is supervised by 91亚色 Professor Marcello Musto. 鈥淚'm interested in broadening the genesis and I need the archives to do that.鈥�

HajiHosseinKhani is a computer science graduate student with a master鈥檚 from 91亚色, which she earned following an undergraduate degree in her home country of Iran. She will be joining the Institute for Data Science, Cloud Computing and IT Security (IDACUS) at Furtwangen University for a project that will focus on developing a comprehensive decentralized finance dataset. The project will then develop a self-defending AI architecture that will resist adversarial attacks, with stress-testing of the model to follow.

鈥淭he goal of this project is that we want to design a secure transformer-based AI model to detect and mitigate the malicious activities in the decentralized finance sector,鈥� says HajiHosseinKhani.

She notes this collaboration follows another that she participated in with the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Her supervisor, Professor Arash Habibi Lashkari, was also a DAAD scholar for his postdoc and helped HajiHosseinKhani design a collaboration with Professor Christopher Reich that saw her start at 91亚色鈥檚 Behaviour-Centric Cybersecurity Center (BCCC), and finish the final seven months at IDACUS.

Political science Professor Heather MacRae is a DAAD ambassador at 91亚色. She is also Barakov鈥檚 supervisor and a past DAAD scholar who did graduate fieldwork at the University of Freiburg. She is thrilled to have had so many successful applications from 91亚色 students.

鈥淭his is amazing. To my knowledge, after 15-plus years in my role, it鈥檚 the best record we鈥檝e had,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t really speaks to the way that 91亚色 International has been promoting the opportunity and working with people in our community. It helps put 91亚色 back on the radar for German scholarly communities as well.鈥�

MacRae notes the DAAD network is very active in Canada and provides opportunities for future funding.

Muci, who has spent time in Germany doing a joint degree with the University of Bologna in Italy and the University of Bielefeld, is looking forward to knowledge exchange with the research group.

Barakov says the DAAD funding has provided the means to advance his dissertation research.

鈥淭he longstanding tradition of academic exchange between Germany and Canada more broadly has very much played a foundational role in securing the possibility to actually go to Berlin in person, conduct work there and engage with their research community,鈥� he says.

Faculty members and students interested in learning more about the DAAD programs and funding available to support research and study in Germany can contact goglobal@yorku.ca.

With files from Suzanne Bowness

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Tracking Earth鈥檚 ecological limits over more than six decades, the latest figures shared by the University鈥檚 Ecological Footprint Initiative show human activity now requires the equivalent of 1.7 Earths each year to sustain current levels of consumption.

Eric Miller is director of 91亚色鈥檚 Ecological Footprint Initiative 鈥� a multidisciplinary group of scholars, students and organizations working to advance understanding of the world鈥檚 ecological footprint and biocapacity. He warns that data reflects a 70 per cent overshoot of the planet鈥檚 renewable capacity. 

The figures, released on Earth Day, include what researchers describe as the most comprehensive open-access dataset to date that measures human impact on the planet. Produced in partnership with the University of Iceland, the ecological footprint dataset spans 1961- 2025 and measures the land and sea area needed to produce food, fibres and resources people use, and to absorb associated waste, including carbon emissions.

The dataset was developed through an innovative sustainability training program at the International Ecological Footprint Learning Lab, a multi-partner research initiative that brings together faculty and graduate students from 91亚色 and the University of Iceland. The program trains students to work with large environmental datasets while advancing research into ecological footprint and biocapacity. 

Along with Miller, 91亚色-based co-authors include master of environmental studies (MES) alums Kiona Lo and Neha Basnet as well as MES students Bumika Srikanthalingam, Beatrice Foley and Anna Hao Long. Co-authors from the University of Iceland include Johanna Louise Van Berkum, Petra Toneva, Marina Ermina and Clara Klinkenberg. 

Anchor funding for this work was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) through a $2.5-million Talent-Stream Partnership Grant.

While the data suggest the rapid rise in global ecological pressure seen in recent decades may be slowing, there is still no clear evidence of a sustained decline.

鈥淔or the world to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, humanity must reduce its total ecological footprint by at least 59 per cent over the next 25 years,鈥� says Miller, who teaches in the . 鈥淭his metric goes beyond carbon 鈥� it reflects a broader scale of human demand on nature.鈥�

Looking closer to home, researchers note that Canada is rich in natural resources compared with other countries. Although Canadians only make up about 0.5 per cent of the global population, the country holds about four per cent of the planet鈥檚 biocapacity 鈥� the ability of Earth鈥檚 ecosystems to renew resources such as wood, food and clean water. 

Despite this advantage, Canada ranks eighth globally for per-capita consumption. In 2025, each Canadian used an average of 6.6 global hectares, roughly four times what would be sustainable at a planetary scale, and about double the per-person footprint of countries such as China or the U.K., notes Lo. Only the U.S. recorded a higher level.

鈥淐anada has a biocapacity advantage, but it is under pressure because of our large ecological footprint,鈥� says Lo. 鈥淐anada鈥檚 footprint is limiting opportunities for people elsewhere in the world to live well.鈥� 

Trade is also central to Canada鈥檚 ecological impact. In 2025, Canada drew on 3.1 per cent of the planet鈥檚 renewable capacity to produce and export resource-intensive food and forest products. Each dollar of Canadian exports required roughly twice the natural resources of each dollar of imports. 

About 60 per cent of Canada鈥檚 domestic ecological footprint was tied to goods produced for consumption in other countries. Globally, more than 30 per cent of what the world produced in 2025 was traded internationally 鈥� more than double the share recorded in 1961. 

鈥淐anadians consume a lot, but the footprint associated with what we produce and export is even larger,鈥� says Miller. 鈥淯nlike countries whose ecological footprints are driven mainly by imports, Canada is a net exporter and ranks 10th globally on that basis.鈥� 

He adds the national datasets can be used to examine biocapacity and ecological footprint at regional and municipal levels, and the initiative is expanding access to local data to support decision-making. 

鈥淲e are working to create more local, open-access data that leaders and policymakers can use,鈥� says Peri Dworatzek, partnership coordinator at the International Ecological Footprint Learning Lab. 鈥淭he goal is to empower countries, cities and individuals to better understand their impacts and identify where to go next.鈥� 

The initiative has launched the first open-access ecological footprint dataset for all Ontario municipalities. 

The ecological footprint and biocapacity framework is widely used by governments and organizations worldwide, including World Wildlife Fund, which has incorporated the metrics into public tools and awareness campaigns. 

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At 91亚色, researchers are addressing that gap by bringing patient partners into the conversation to learn from lived experience.

Through its Muscle Health Research Centre (MHRC), 91亚色 is advancing research that connects scientific inquiry with the lived realities of people affected by conditions and diseases that impact muscle health, ensuring that studies and knowledge-sharing efforts account for how mobility, independence and quality of life are impacted.

The approach recognizes that certain aspects of muscle health are difficult to fully capture without perspectives from those navigating these realities daily.

鈥淩ecognizing lived experience as a critical source of knowledge helps to inform future research, education and public understanding related to the real-world impacts facing those living with muscle health disease,鈥� says Christopher Perry, professor and director of the MHRC.

This perspective is particularly relevant for individuals living with mitochondrial disease, a rare genetic condition that affects how cells produce energy.

Working with patient partners, Perry says many report that muscle weakness, fatigue and changes in mobility can cause decline in the ability to execute everyday activities, plan long term and maintain independence. It鈥檚 these factors, he says, that are often difficult to capture through clinical measures alone.

鈥淔or individuals living with mitochondrial disease, changes in muscle function can emerge gradually or after long periods of stability,鈥� he says. 鈥淎s mobility declines, the impact extends beyond physical symptoms, requiring adaptation to both physical and emotional well-being.鈥�

Kate Murray, CEO of MitoCanada, says when this decline happens, individuals experience a sense of loss.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a grieving process for the life and independence they once had,鈥� she says. 鈥淔rom our perspective at MitoCanada, a big part of what we try to do is make sure lived experiences are part of the conversation and stay grounded in what people are navigating in their lives.鈥�

Adding to the challenge is the absence of disease-specific treatments. However, patient partners share one approach helps: exercise.

Resistance and strength training for those living with mitochondrial disease can help maintain function and independence 鈥� and Murray says it's important to rethink what exercise can mean in this context.

鈥淚鈥檝e heard community members describe exercise almost as a form of hope. They feel empowered and optimistic about the potential to slow their decline or maintain what they have,鈥� she says. 鈥淔or these individuals, exercise isn鈥檛 about performance or pushing limits, it鈥檚 about maintaining function, independence and quality of life.鈥�

Patient partner Louise Gibson, a mitoAmbassador and community advocate with MitoCanada, shares this perspective and will present her insights and experiences to 91亚色 researchers at the upcoming Muscle Health Awareness Day (MHAD), now in its 17th year.

As a patient advocate, she brings lived experience into research and education settings, helping inform health care teams, support patient education and advocate for greater awareness of rare diseases.

She also emphasizes the role of accessible exercise in maintaining function and quality of life for people living with mitochondrial disease.

鈥淚t is difficult to fully understand the conditions we study without hearing from people who live with them every day, which is why the Muscle Health Research Centre is focused on creating space for those voices and finding better ways to ensure they are heard,鈥� says Perry.

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Max Rudakov is a co-founder and business lead of Lapis Research, an AI-powered research management platform built to help research teams keep all their work 鈥� documents, lab notes, datasets, experimental decisions and project timelines 鈥� in one place. It was developed by a five-student team from 91亚色, Queen鈥檚 University, Western University, the University of Guelph and the University of Waterloo.

When notes, datasets and decisions are dispersed across emails, shared drives and personal laptops, there's no centralized place to see what's been done, why it was done or what the current project status is.

The idea sparked about a year ago with a Reddit post from the team asking whether people were struggling with how documents were organized and used. The strong response 鈥� 187,000 views and 350 comments 鈥� prompted the team to dig deeper, and conversations with researchers soon showed the issue was pronounced in academic research.

More than a year of interviews with over 100 professors, lab managers and researchers, along with about 20 design partners, kept surfacing the same issues: poor visibility across projects, fragmented documentation and knowledge departing when team members moved on.

For Rudakov, the path to Lapis was as much personal as practical. At Schulich, he found himself questioning the traditional routes into finance and looking for something that better matched his strengths.

"I realized that my skill set belongs in building something from the ground up," he says. "It feels good to know that I can make a change, especially in such a rigorous industry like research."

91亚色's contribution to the development of Lapis is concrete. Rudakov led the business strategy, growth planning and early outreach from his side, and many of the early interviews were conducted with 91亚色-based researchers 鈥� including people working in kinesiology and oncology research 鈥� whose feedback helped shape core features.

The real-world insights helped inform the design of the tool, tailoring it to the specific needs of the academic community.

Lapis works by structuring research projects into linked workspaces. When a researcher finishes an experiment, they can save their data and notes directly to Lapis. The tool automatically records who added the notes and when, creating a clear record of progress.

This means a professor or lab lead can view the activity of multiple projects without sending a single email.

When a new team member joins, they can ask the Lapis AI system, Neural Core, questions such as "What approach did we try for this and why did we change directions?" and receive a summary drawn from the project's files.

鈥淥nboarding can drop from months to a couple of weeks or even days because everything is preserved 鈥� the data, the decisions and the reasoning behind why things were done a certain way,鈥� says Rudakov. 鈥淎 new researcher can open the project and understand the full picture without having to ask everyone what happened before they got there.鈥�

During development, 91亚色-based researchers found value in helping to shape those features. Duygu Biricik Gulseren, an associate professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, reviewed the platform and provided insight on how academics manage multiple projects, supervise students at different stages and keep track of different versions of documents and files as multiple people work on them.

"A platform like this can improve coordination and also make the work more transparent and traceable across people and projects," she says.

Eric Ginzburg, an undergraduate student completing an independent study in 91亚色's biomechanics lab, also shared feedback, noting he sees the appeal of more centralized system.

"It simplifies the process of handling a team and a larger research project," he says.

Lapis is currently running pilot programs at the University of Guelph and Queen's University.

Rudakov hopes to bring Lapis to 91亚色 research teams in the next stage of its growth 鈥� a natural fit given its development was informed in part through 91亚色 connections and conversations.

"91亚色 has over 50 research teams and the problems we solve are the same ones they deal with every day," he says. "We want the 91亚色 research community to know Lapis exists, and that it was partly built by 91亚色 students and shaped by 91亚色 researchers."

With files from Mzwandile Poncana

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The initiative is part of the 鈥檚 fourth-year course Sport and International Development (KINE 4310) that engages students in community-driven projects with local and global organizations.

Led by Associate Professor Lyndsay Hayhurst as part of a community-service learning (CSL) initiative, 45 undergraduate students partnered with seven organizations 鈥� Jays Care Foundation, Commonwealth Sport Canada, Free to Run, Skateistan, Prezdential Basketball, Canadian Women & Sport and the International Platform on Sport and Development 鈥� to effect real-world change.

Working in small groups, students contributed approximately 25 hours over the term to support partner-identified priorities related to: gender equity; monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning; newcomer inclusion and belonging; climate justice; and youth development.

Each group developed a structured work plan, maintained regular communication with their partner organization and completed a midterm progress report and final report outlining their research, analysis and recommendations.

A core focus of the course was knowledge mobilization, with students producing accessible, action-oriented resources designed to be used in practice by organizations. These outputs included monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) toolkits, policy briefs, infographics, coaching resources and digital content strategies.

The course concluded with a final in-class conference where students presented their knowledge mobilization outputs to partner organizations followed by discussion and feedback from partners and peers.

Partner organizations said the presentations offered practical relevance, clarity and creativity of the presentations, noting that several recommendations would be adopted to inform ongoing programming, evaluation and policy development.

The work, Hayhurst notes, highlights how students are engaging with contemporary challenges shaping sport and development practice.

One project, for example, worked on a policy brief on trans and non-binary inclusion for Canadian Women & Sport just as the International Olympic Committee released new guidance on trans athletes participating in women鈥檚 sport.

鈥淭he real-time policy shift that is widely interpreted as excluding trans athletes from women鈥檚 sports brought urgency to the group鈥檚 presentation and sparked conversations about how community sport organizations in Canada can respond with more inclusive, equity-focused approaches,鈥� says Hayhurst.

The Jays Care student group worked on researching how youth-facing barriers to sport participation 鈥� and the efforts to address them 鈥� shape access, retention and experiences in community baseball. The project maintained a specific gender analysis, with attention to girls鈥� participation in the broader community-based landscape. Working with Jays Care, students presented an infographic exploring how equity, access, safe spaces, inclusive environments and meaningful participation translate (or fail to translate) into tangible outcomes for girls in baseball across Canada.

Alexandra Blanchard, director of strategy at Jays Care Foundation and 91亚色 alum, says working聽with the students was positive experience, noting they聽were enthusiastic, curious and a pleasure to engage with.

鈥淚t's energizing to connect with the next generation of students who are passionate about the field and I'd jump at the chance to do it again,鈥� says Blanchard. 鈥淯niversity partnerships like this are a wonderful way to bridge research and community practice, and we'd recommend the experience to any community organization looking to do the same.鈥�

In addition to applied research experience, the CSL model supports skill development in research, communication, teamwork and problem-solving.

鈥淭his course has run for the last 10 years with the goal of moving beyond traditional learning by engaging students in collaborative, community-driven projects,鈥� says Hayhurst. 鈥淪tudents are not only developing critical insights into sport, development and social justice, but importantly, they are also creating tangible knowledge mobilization outputs that will be taken up in practice by community partners.鈥�

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The study, published in , tested a multi-agent system built with large language models (LLMs) to simulate the work of a liver transplant selection committee 鈥� a multidisciplinary group that decides which patients are placed on transplant waitlists.

Using real-world transplant registry data, the AI system demonstrated high accuracy in identifying patients who are likely to benefit from a liver transplant and those for whom transplantation would be unlikely to help.

鈥淟iver transplantation is a rare case in medicine where access to a life-saving treatment is limited by organ availability,鈥� explains co-senior author Divya Sharma, assistant professor in the Faculty of Science. 鈥淒ecisions about who is waitlisted are complex, and committee deliberations can be subject to unconscious bias聽where a clinician's own background or identity may subtly influence their judgement,聽even when national guidelines are in place.鈥�

Researchers set out to test whether AI agents 鈥� each assigned a clinical role 鈥� could support more objective decision-making. To test the approach at scale, researchers evaluated the system against transplant outcomes data.

The study analyzed 20 years of data from more than 8,000 adult liver transplant recipients in the U.S. using the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. A simulated group of patients with known contraindications was also created to test the system鈥檚 accuracy in flagging cases that should be excluded from transplant consideration.

Results show the AI committee predicted one-year post-transplant survival with 92 per cent accuracy and six-month survival with 95 per cent accuracy. Contraindications were identified with an accuracy of more than 98 per cent, thereby identifying transplant candidates efficiently.

The research team also examined where errors occurred to better understand where the AI system works well, and where it needs careful oversight and improvement. The authors caution that continued monitoring is needed because transplant data can reflect broader inequities in access to health care.

鈥淥ur work positions LLM-based multi-agent AI systems as potential clinical decision-support tools, rather than replacements for human judgement,鈥� says Sharma. 鈥淲hile AI shows promise in making liver transplant decisions more objective, it鈥檚 crucial to emphasize that the final responsibility must always remain with transplant teams and human oversight is critical to address ethical considerations.鈥�

Sharma says while more research is needed to test the AI tools in real-world settings across different health systems, AI-supported committees have potential to help standardize complex medical decisions where resources are limited.

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