Friday, January 19, 2024

Freedom of Expression and Respectful Engagement Task Force launches

A message from Scott Kline, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies and Christine McWebb, Associate Vice-President, Faculty Planning and Policy.

We are pleased to announce the launch of the task force to develop the University of Waterloo’s Principles for Freedom of Expression and Respectful Engagement. Thank you to everyone who shared expressions of interest in contributing to this important work. We received many submissions from faculty, staff, and students in response to our call for nominations.

After much consideration, we are pleased to confirm the following members:

• Wasem Alsabbagh, Associate Professor, Pharmacy; 
• Dan Davison, Associate Professor, Engineering; 
• Maura Grossman, Research Professor, Cheriton School of Computer Science;
• Neela Hassan, President, Graduate Student Association;
• Julie Joza, Director, Office of Research Ethics Science;  
• Laura Mae Lindo, Assistant Professor, Philosophy and Gender Studies; 
• Emmett Macfarlane, Associate Professor, Political Science;
• Rory Norris, President, Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association; and
• Beth Sandore Namachchivaya, University Librarian. 

Among the task force’s objectives, as outlined in the Terms of Reference, is the development of principles that will help create a campus climate of open dialogue and the respectful exchange of ideas. These principles will be developed in consultation with the University community and presented in draft form at the upcoming international conference entitled, “From Targeting in Academia to Promoting Trust and Understanding” (June 27 to 29, 2024) and the Senior Leaders Forum on “Institutional Approaches to Principles of Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom” (June 27 and 28, 2024), hosted by Universities Canada in parallel to the conference.

We look forward to collaborating with members of the task force and the University community as we work on this important initiative. To share your ideas, comments, and questions with the Freedom of Expression and Respectful Engagement Task Force, please write to us at avpfpp@uwaterloo.ca.

International student supports and programs for winter 2024

A message from the Student Success Office (SSO).

Living in Canada as an international student can be both thrilling and challenging due to the new surroundings and culture. Fortunately, there are many resources available to help students succeed.

Breakfast Seminars are getting a refresh starting with grad students

The Breakfast Seminar program has been revamped to better meet the needs of both undergraduate and graduate students. The revamped program launches this winter first as “On the Menu” for graduate students. The first session hosted on January 25 focuses on research writing support, featuring guest speakers from the Writing and Communication Centre and the Library.

International Peer Community (IPC)

The International Peer Community (IPC) is a great way for international students to connect with other students from around the world. IPC members can attend monthly events that provide opportunities for students to build their support network. Registration for IPC closes at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 25.

Supporting international students

Cyntia Brătan, International Student Supports Specialist (ISSS), provides direct individualized support to students and staff who support students. Cyntia is aware of and supports access to resources available for international students experiencing crisis and/or extenuating circumstances.

Immigration consulting sessions and resources

Understanding immigration policies can be difficult as there's a lot of varying information. The immigration consultants run timely information sessions throughout the term to help students wrap their heads around complex immigration topics. Students can also book appointments with the immigration consultants.

Furthering Research Data Management at the University

A message from the Office of Research.

The implementation of the University of Waterloo’s new Research Data Management (RDM) strategy is well underway through cross-campus collaboration efforts led by the RDM implementation working group. Since the strategy was published in March 2023, the working group has been actively engaged in efforts to realize the new strategy across campus, supported by two newly created Library roles with Anneliese Eber as the Research Data Management librarian, and Vicky Chung as a Research Data Management eight-month co-op student.

During the Fall 2023 term, the Library delivered six subject-specific RDM presentations to over 100 members of faculty and held two on-campus RDM workshops for undergraduate and graduate students. Programming plans are currently underway for a series of RDM and data-related events for International Love Data Week 2024.

The RDM working group has led to significant initiatives cross-campus. To further facilitate the delivery of computing and research services to faculty and students, IST recently launched the new IT Services for Researchers site which hosts a strong RDM presence.

The Office of the Vice-President, Research and International’s Inclusive Research team will be releasing Waterloo’s Indigenous Data Sovereignty Implementation Plan, Upholding our Commitments to Indigenous Data Sovereignty: Respectful Stewardship of Indigenous Data at the University of Waterloo, in the future. As part of this plan and the broader RDM strategy, the Inclusive Research team offered 6 virtual seminars and workshops in 2023 on the First Nations Principles of OCAP®, with more sessions planned in 2024.

Waterloo is also contributing to the broader conversation around Canada’s RDM environment.  At the end of September 2023, the Office of Research and the Library co-hosted “Building an Inter-Institutional and Cross-Functional Research Data Management Community: From Strategy to Implementation,” a two-day conference with attendees from 42 institutions across Canada, including library staff, IT professionals, and research administrators, with support from a SSHRC Connections Grant, University of Waterloo, University of Calgary, University of Ottawa, Canadian Association of Research Libraries, Digital Research Alliance of Canada, Compute Ontario, and OCLC. 

Exciting things are on the horizon for RDM across the University of Waterloo, stay tuned for more updates in the upcoming year.

If you have any questions, the RDM strategy implementation working group can be reached through Shaz Rahaman.