News

Earlier this fall, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)—the world’s largest technical professional organization—held their annual International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS) in partnership with the Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT). The 2021 symposium was a four-day virtual affair, bringing together speakers from across the world under the theme of “Technological Stewardship and Responsible Innovation.”

On September 23, 2021, Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement participants and staff and faculty from Conrad Grebel University College gathered in the Grebel Gallery for an evening of reflection and community in honour of Peace Week 2021.

Since the launch of the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement in 2014, our staff, participants, and partners marked the United Nations International C by celebrating innovative solutions to complex problems, advocacy to press decision-makers to work for justice, and efforts to bring communities together around the world. While the Centre encountered unanticipated challenges along the way, we never wavered in our mission to catalyze collaboration.

Community collaboration is key to advancing expansive and innovative understandings and practices of peace at the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centre has heard from many youth about the growing needs they are observing locally and their desire to work collaboratively with their peers and community members to deliver innovative solutions for these problems.

For Grebel Peace Incubator participant, Union: Sustainable Development Co-operative (Union Co-operative), summer 2021 has been marked with progress. As Union Co-operative moves closer to purchasing its first property, Member Engagement Coordinator, Melissa Bowman met with Centre for Peace Advancement Communications Assistant, Katie Fry to discuss Union’s recent and upcoming developments.

“What are you listening to right now?” has become a popular topic at Centre for Peace Advancement coffee breaks, and with good reason. As a popular medium for storytelling, podcasts have become instrumental in provoking nuanced and multidimensional dialogue around peacebuilding and conflict. Available on a wide variety of free and paid platforms, podcasts make peace dialogue more accessible, consumable, and enjoyable for many.

On Tuesday July 13^th, 2021, Grebel Peace Incubator participant GeoMate launched the first ever Accessible City Challenge (ACE). Created to help Canadian cities meet the population’s growing need for accessibility, ACE is GeoMate’s invitation to municipalities to collaborate for transformative change and embrace a more accessible future.

For the first time this Fall, a student enrolled in Conrad Grebel University College’s Master of Peace and Conflict Studies (MPACS) program will receive a new scholarship honouring the legacy of Malcolm X. Grebel Peace Incubator participant, Majid Mirza of ESGTree, was instrumental in bringing the Malcolm X Peace and Conflict Studies Scholarship to life with support from dedicated donors and the approval of Malcolm X's family. 

“If you don’t have anything to compare your data with, you don’t know where you are standing at,” reflects ESGTree Customer Success and R&D Lead, Pedro Alguindigue. After wrapping up its first year of business in April, incubator participant ESGTree shared that client feedback prompted the platform to grow in new and exciting ways. Rather than stopping at creating an outstanding reporting platform, ESGTree is expanding its services to help users address the question “Now what?”

Friday, June 11^th 2021 marked the end of another cycle of the Map the System pitch competition. Teams from around the world dedicated their time and effort to addressing systems change in their local campus semi-finals, national finals, and finally the global showcase throughout 2021.