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Antagonistic Responses to Science and Technology in the Academy
A message from the Faculty of Arts and the Office of Research.
The Faculty of Arts and the Office of Research present the second panel discussion in the Antagonism and Intimidation in Academia speaker series, led by the Special Advisor on Interdisciplinary Research, Suzan Ilcan (Professor in Sociology and Legal Studies and University Research Chair) on Wednesday, November 29.
Panel presentations will explore several important topics such as opposition to science and technology solutions for sustainable agriculture; what it means to be a public-facing healthcare expert during the pandemic; the anxieties and antagonisms surrounding automated artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, including generative AI; and challenging encounters characterizing the relations inside and outside the science classroom, and ways of promoting inclusivity. There will be time for audience members to engage in a question-and-answer period following the panel presentations.
Panel Participants
Dr. Trevor C. Charles is Professor of Biology, Founder of the company Metagenom Bio, Executive Director of the LiftOff Black Entrepreneurship Program, and Director of Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research. He was trained as a microbiologist and bacterial geneticist. His work is situated within the context of Circular Bioeconomy.
Dr. Lai-Tze Fan is a Canada Research Chair in Technology and Social Change, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Legal Studies. She leads the Unseen-AI Lab. Her recent projects focus on systemic biases in technological design, including AI, critical code and software studies, and research-creation.
Dr. Kelly Grindrod is an Associate Professor in the School of Pharmacy. Dr. Grindrod and her colleagues have been working closely with public health, first with the roll-out of the take-home naloxone program in the Waterloo Region and later with the vaccine program. Dr. Grindrod was a public-facing expert on COVID vaccination and treatment during the pandemic.
Dr. Maura R. Grossman is a Research Professor in the School of Computer Science and the School of Public Health Sciences, an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, and an affiliate faculty member at the Vector Institute of Artificial Intelligence. She is Principal at Maura Grossman Law, an eDiscovery law and consulting firm in Buffalo, New York.
Dr. Kirsten Müller, Professor and Chair of the Biology department is the moderator for this discussion.
First Nations Principles of OCAP seminar coming soon
A message from the Inclusive Research Team in the Office of Research.
The Inclusive Research Team in the Office of Research is hosting a two-part virtual workshop on the First Nations Principles of OCAP®, facilitated by Leslie MacGregor from the First Nations Information Governance Centre.
The First Nations principles of OCAP® establish how First Nations’ data and information will be collected, protected, used, or shared. Standing for ownership, control, access and possession, OCAP® is a tool to support strong information governance on the path to First Nations data sovereignty. For more information, please visit the FNIGC website.
Part 1 will take place on Tuesday, November 21st from 10am-12pm, and Part 2 will take place on Thursday, November 23rd from 10am-12pm. There are still a few spots left! For more information and to register, please complete the registration form.
Your Voice Matters: the 2023 Employee Engagement Survey has arrived
A message from Michelle Hollis, Chief Human Resources Officer.
In a recent communication to all Waterloo employees, President Vivek Goel announced that the University is launching an employee engagement survey in the coming weeks. This survey is a follow-up to the 2019 one so that we can benchmark our growth and progress in improving our work culture and environment. To ensure confidentiality, we are partnering again with Korn Ferry, a leading management consultant, to administer and provide aggregate reporting on the survey results.
Your voice matters.
Your candid feedback is essential to improve our work culture and environment and will be used to create bothdepartmental and institutional action plans based on your responses and input.
The link for the survey began arriving in employees’ UWaterloo email on November 13 from KF Surveys Canada. All individual responses will remain strictly confidential and only aggregated results will be provided back to the University of Waterloo.
Participate in the employee engagement survey and have your voice heard in improving our workplace.
If you would like to learn more, please visit the Employee Engagement Survey website. Please contact HRhelp@uwaterloo.ca if you have questions about the survey or require the survey in an alternate format.
Waterloo joins Research Impact Canada
A message from the Office of Research.
The University of Waterloo is the newest member of Research Impact Canada! Membership in this pan-Canadian network dedicated to maximizing the impact of research for the public good, will provide Waterloo students, staff and faculty members with resources and networks to enhance knowledge mobilization.
Knowledge mobilization is about getting the ‘right information’ to the ‘right people’ in the ‘right format’ at the ‘right time.’ As knowledge mobilization is the pathway to impact, it includes the many ways that the incredible research being done here at Waterloo gets into the hands of policy makers, non-profit partners, hospitals and other leaders to make our world a better one for all of us. Waterloo Researchers and those who assist with knowledge mobilization, including staff at research centres and institutes, will be enabled to maximize research impact both at a local level, and on a broader scale.
Waterloo is delighted to add the benefits of membership in Research Impact Canada to our growing list of resources to support knowledge mobilization. Research Impact Canada benefits include access to knowledge mobilization centres of expertise for regional/provincial collaboration, cooperative knowledge sharing of best practices and resources, Research Impact Canada scholarship programs for graduate students, training in numerous areas including impact planning, effective stakeholder engagement, impact evaluation, and much more! We look forward to drawing on the Research Impact Canada resources to increase the translation of our research for governance and policy and continuing to solve complex, real-world problems.
Contact Nadine Quehl, Senior Manager, Knowledge Mobilization & Partnerships, at nquehl@uwaterloo.ca for details of how to access Research Impact Canada resources.
Retirement reception for Scott Nicoll coming up in December
By Amy Bender.
Friends and colleagues of Scott Nicoll, Director of Space Planning, would like to invite you to join them for a retirement reception in his honour on Friday, December 8, in the Black & Gold Room (SLC 2143/2144).
Scott has worked at Waterloo for 47 years and has been a monumental influence in the growth and expansion of the University. He began his career working in the Book Store unpacking boxes in 1976. Scott also worked in the Chemistry department, spent summers as a UW student painter, and worked in the Biology Animal Facility before moving into the Manager position for Chemistry Stores. After that, Scott became a Department Manager for Chemistry, then worked on Special Projects for the Faculty of Science until 2012 when he moved into a newly formed department named the Space Planning Office.
Scott has evolved and grown the SPO since that time and has been part of many space planning projects over the past 12 years. He has guided strategic space planning for the University based on his extensive institutional knowledge, and his personal drive to create a better campus environment for faculty, staff, and students. Scott has been involved with everything from minor renovations to larger scale builds such as, but not limited to, the Environmental Safety Facility, Physics Addition, Pharmacy, Quantum Nano Centre, Bright Starts Daycare, Research Advancement Centre, Science Teaching Centre, Applied Health Science (addition), Needles Hall (addition), and Student Life Centre/Physical Activities Complex (expansion).
The retirement open house will be held from 3:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m., with speeches beginning at 4:00 p.m. Please join us in celebrating Scott’s many contributions and achievements and wishing him well in his upcoming retirement. Please RSVP by Friday, November 24, to Amy Bender, albender@uwaterloo.ca.