The Daily Bulletin is published by Internal and Leadership Communications, part of University Communications
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Get up to $200 support to run an International Education Week event
A message from Waterloo International.
Every year, education institutions, governments, and not-for-profits join together to celebrate international education around the world for a week in November. This week serves as a great opportunity to recognize and promote the value of education abroad and at home, while bringing global conversations to campus. This year, from November 15 to 19, the University of Waterloo plans to join stakeholders from over 100 different nations in celebrating this important week by showcasing the merits to international education through a variety of programs, events, collaborations, debates, discussions, and an array of activities for the University of Waterloo community.
Waterloo International continues to seek interest from student groups, academic support units, departments and faculties to run international education-themed events during IEW.
Do you need financial support to make your event a success? Waterloo International is pleased to announce that to catalyze participation, it will provide 5 sponsorships of $200 to support University of Waterloo IEW events. Interested event hosts can apply before November 5 at 4:30 p.m. The top 5 applicants that demonstrate a financial need and/or meet the event criteria will receive $200 to support their event.
Please contact Aisha Shibli for more information and to register your event.
Nominations open for the 2022 AMTD Waterloo Global Talent Postdoctoral Fellowship
A message from Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs.
Applications for the AMTD 2022 Postdoctoral Fellowship are open. The AMTD fellowship funding includes an annual salary of $75,000, an engagement fund of $7,500 plus access to additional funds to create disruptive research dissemination opportunities.
These values exceed the Tri-Agency Banting levels of support. Applicants to the AMTD Fellowship must have the support from a University of Waterloo researcher; the application deadline is November 18, 2021. This program is intended to be the premier award for postdocs in Canada, and the support reflects this goal.
For more details, including eligibility criteria, the endorsement process, visit the University of Waterloo AMTD website, and take a few moments to read about the AMTD scholars who have joined the University in 2020 and 2021.
Adaptation and innovation key to Waterloo's participation in COP26 conference
By Anna McWebb.
The 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) is occurring in Glasgow, United Kingdom from 31 October to 12 November 2021, and as with so much during the era of COVID-19, COP26 is not unfolding as originally envisioned. The University of Waterloo, an official accredited observer to the annual Climate Change Summit for many years, has had to adapt the way in which it participates in the Summit, and innovate by developing new approaches to continuing its engagement in COP26.
The University of Waterloo will be sending three graduate students to engage virtually in several Summit activities, while networking with attendants from almost 200 countries. Attendees will be using social media to share their thoughts, and reflective blog pieces will be public, accessible on the Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change (IC3) website.
Waterloo will be further represented at COP26 by some of the university’s experts on global climate change. Professor Sarah Burch, Department of Geography and Environmental Management, Canada Research Chair, and Executive Director of IC3, will lead a panel discussion side-event, featuring speakers from Latin America, Sweden and Australia, that focuses on accelerating sustainability transformations among small businesses. Additionally, Professor Maria Strack, Department of Geography and Environmental Management and Canada Research Chair, will be supporting the UNEP-Global Peatlands Initiative at a side-event where speakers will discuss Canadian and international nature-based climate solutions. More information on COP26 side-events can be found online.
To augment the opportunity for international engagement in COP26, the Climate Connect Programme, spearheaded by the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, is designed to broaden networks and perspectives, with Waterloo’s participation in this initiative being managed and facilitated by IC3. A diverse group of third- and fourth-year undergraduate students were chosen by IC3 from all six faculties, to join other students from around the world in dialogue with each other, and program facilitators, on topics related to the realities of the climate crisis and outcomes of COP26.
IC3 will be facilitating the first conversation for Climate Connect on 17 November 2021, with participants from six universities, including the University of Waterloo, the University of Strathclyde, Peking University in China, Stellenbosch University in South Africa, University of Malawi, and KTH Royal Technical Institute in Sweden. The first conversation, facilitated by PhD students and postdoctoral fellows, will consist of discussions on country-specific impacts of climate change, with the following conversations tackling reflections on COP26 and perspectives on the Sustainable Development Goals, as presented at COP26. As all conversations will be occurring post-COP26, the discussions will be able to reflect on what is achieved in Glasgow, and where we need to go from here.
In collaboration with IC3 Managing Director Simon Glauser, Professor Angela Carter of Political Science and Balsillie School of International Affairs Fellow is Waterloo’s academic lead for Climate Connect and will be working with early career researchers and students to facilitate the upcoming conversations. Keep an eye on the Waterloo International and IC3 spaces for details on the outcomes of the first Climate Connect conversation.
Waterloo professors join COP26 Peatlands Pavilion
Two Waterloo professors will be representing the University at a COP26 event on November 11 at an event dedicated to the preservation of peatlands, an important influencer of climate change.
As part of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Global Peatlands Initiative (GPI) has created a “Peatlands Pavilion” as a hub to exchange knowledge and experience on peatlands policy, practice, research and innovation. World-wide, peatlands store a vast amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) which can be released through land disturbances such as fire or drainage.
Maria Strack, professor and Canada Research Chair, Department of Geography & Environmental Management and Fereidoun Rezenezhad, research associate professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, will represent the University at a Peatlands Pavilion virtual side event co-hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Global Peatlands Initiative (GPI), the University of Waterloo’s Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change (IC3) and the Water Institute, entitled “Canada’s Peatlands as a Nature-based Solution to Climate Change”.
“The University of Waterloo is thrilled to be hosting a COP26 side event to share state-of-the art peatlands science with stakeholders from around the world," says Professor Strack. "Canada’s peatlands represent a significant opportunity to reduce GHG emissions in managed intelligently and cooperatively."
The side event will explain how and why terrestrial carbon stocks, within Canada and internationally, are a key nature-based climate solution and how peatland management in Canada could result in annual greenhouse emission reductions.
Key outcomes will be presented from an early-2021 UNEP GPI - University of Waterloo national workshop series aimed at catalyzing the development of a pan-Canadian, multi-stakeholder peatlands network and identifying key research gaps and priorities to support a national peatlands assessment. The innovative virtual pavilion provides a window to the public and legacy beyond COP26 to carry the message that the world needs to protect, restore and sustainably manage its peatlands.
“The UNEP-GPI is thrilled to be partnering with the University of Waterloo, including on this COP 26 side event, in supporting knowledge exchange and actions aimed at effectively managing Canada’s huge peatland resource and preventing the loss of these carbon stocks," says Dianna Kopansky, policy & programme expert: Peatlands, Forests & Ecosystems and Global Peatlands Initiative Coordinator @UN Environment Programme.
Waterloo recognizes Treaties Recognition Week
Indigenous items used for traditional ceremony and social gatherings, including a hand drum, tobacco, sage, sweet grass, cedar, smudge bowl, and feathered fan. Photograph by Cory Bilyea, EagleEyes Photography.
A message from the Office of Indigenous Relations.
November 1 to 5 marks the second year that the University of Waterloo is officially participating in Treaties Recognition Week. This year, the Office of Indigenous Relations is excited to offer various opportunities to strengthen our understandings of where we live and work, and the importance of treaty rights and relationships.
Browse all events that take place this week, including the virtual screening and discussion of the acclaimed film Trick or Treaty? by Alanis Obomsawin.
The Office of Indigenous Relations will also be launching a new Knowledge Guide Series this afternoon, focused on Phil Monture’s lecture, Treaties from a First Nation Perspective. Each afternoon this week, a new Knowledge Guide will be released, along with an accompanying video that explores the historical and ongoing significance of treaties, focusing on the Haldimand Treaty. The Knowledge Guides and accompanying video will be released on the main Treaties Recognition Week webpage and through social media each afternoon, November 1 to 5.
Learn more about Treaties Recognition Week.
There's still time to register for the Presidential installation event
Vivek Goel will be officially installed as the University of Waterloo's seventh President and Vice-Chancellor at a special virtual event on Monday, November 8, 2021. The installation ceremony will be conducted by the University of Waterloo’s Cindy Forbes, Chair of the Board of Governors and University Secretary Karen Jack.
His Excellency Dominic Barton, Canada's ambassador to China and the University of Waterloo's Chancellor, will provide a greeting via video. Dr. Goel will then deliver an installation address.
The installation ceremony will be held virtually on Monday, November, 8, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. Register now.