Monday, December 16, 2024

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• Inclusive Research team reveals offerings for Winter 2025
• President Emeritus, former governor receive Order of Canada at ceremony
• Queen Elizabeth Scholars Program announces funding for new Waterloo initiative on climate change in Africa
• Notes as the last week of term begins

Inclusive Research team reveals offerings for Winter 2025

A message from the Office of the Vice-President, Research and International.

The Inclusive Research Team in the OVPRI is excited to continue supporting the learning journey for researchers on ways to embed equitable and inclusive practices in their research programs.

We are kicking off Winter 2025 with our established core offerings. All sessions will be virtual, and the season’s offerings can be found on the Inclusive Research Resource Hub.

January:

Overview and Introduction: Inclusive Research Resources (Introductory session)

Thursday, January 16, 2025, 11:00 a.m. to 12 noon

The Inclusive Research Team is dedicated to intentionally supporting faculty to build equitable and inclusive research practices for rigorous research. This presentation is focused on providing you with an introduction to the resources and supports provided by the Inclusive Research Team within the Office of the Vice President Research and Research and International, including how to navigate the Inclusive Research Resource Hub and how we support embedding EDI in grant applications.

Please register to receive the Zoom link to participate.

February:

Inclusive Research Tools: Identifying and Addressing Barriers

Thursday, February 6, 2025, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

A question that often comes to the Inclusive Research team from researchers is “what are the top three things I can do to embed EDI my work?” This session will help researchers identify ways to understand potential barriers that may exist in their research program, project and/or teams and will provide ideas for concrete and tangible actions to meaningfully address them.

Please register to receive the Zoom link to participate.

March:

The Foundation: Building Inclusive Teams

Friday, March 7, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Research shows that building inclusive research teams promotes research excellence. This presentation will take researchers through the necessary steps to identify EDI barriers on their teams, make a plan to address the barriers, and to review the outcomes of the actions they have taken and plan for the future.

Please register to receive the Zoom link to participate.

What is GBA+ Anyway? An Introduction

Monday, March 24, 2025, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) is an important tool for embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in every stage of research from design to sharing results and other outputs. But what is it, and how is it done? This presentation will go over the basics of GBA+ including examples that highlight its usefulness, steps researchers can take, and questions they can ask themselves to start the GBA+ analysis of their research.

Please register to receive the Zoom link to participate.

April:

The Decolonial “R’s” of Research: Principled Approaches to Engaging Indigenous Communities

Monday, April 28, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

This presentation will cover highlights of deceptively simple concepts theorized by Indigenous scholars for community-engaged research projects—known as the “Decolonial “R’s” of Research”—and together, we will consider their expansive meanings and implications in a typical university-based research project lifecycle. 

Please register to receive the Zoom link to participate.

President Emeritus, former governor receive Order of Canada at ceremony

President Emeritus Feridun Hamdullahpur and former Board of Governors member and Waterloo alumnus John Lounds received their Order of Canada insignias at an investiture ceremony at Rideau Hall on Thursday, December 12.

“Feridun Hamdullahpur has helped shape Canada’s research and higher education landscape,” reads his Order of Canada citation. “An esteemed academic leader, he served as dean and vice-president of several eminent universities where he promoted entrepreneurialism and participation in a global delivery education model. As president and vice-chancellor of the University of Waterloo, he developed the school’s co-operative education program into the largest of its kind in the world. A tireless advocate for women in education, he has consistently demonstrated his commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion through his work as a United Nations HeForShe Champion.”

Dr. Hamdullahpur served as the sixth President of the University of Waterloo from 2010 to 2021.

“For decades, John Lounds was the president and CEO of the Nature Conservancy Canada (NCC),” his citation reads. “Under his leadership, the NCC created and fostered relationships with governments, conservation groups and Indigenous communities to help protect more than 14 million hectares of land and water nationwide. He spearheaded the largest Canadian conservation fundraising campaign in history, which helped the NCC further protect the habitat of at-risk plants and wildlife. A past governor of the University of Waterloo, he continues to support community organizations and nature conservation initiatives.”

Both Hamdullahpur and Lounds were invested as Members of the Order of Canada, joining 61 other awardees recognized at the ceremony presided over by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada.

Hamdullahpur and Lounds were named members of the Order of Canada on December 29, 2022.

Queen Elizabeth Scholars Program announces funding for new Waterloo initiative on climate change in Africa

A message from Waterloo International.

The University of Waterloo has been selected as one of the winners of the 2025 Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships program (QES) for the proposal "Beyond Borders: Co-Learning to Tackle Climate Change and Plastic Pollution for Resilient Communities in Africa, in Egypt and Ghana.”

The Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF) and Universities Canada recently announced the winners of the prestigious QES award that aims to develop the leaders of tomorrow through enriched academic international experiences that will increase cross-cultural understanding and global community engagement. This year, the program is giving $6.2 million in funding to various Canadian universities and colleges to support international collaborative projects on climate adaptation, response and resilience.  

The new funding will be used to create an experiential field course for Waterloo undergraduate students to study the interconnected challenges of plastic pollution in coastal communities, the drivers of global and regional climate change, and efforts to build adaptive local capacity and resilience in collaboration with local communities and experts in Egypt and Ghana.  

"It highlights the incredible potential of academic diplomacy and exemplifies how academic institutions can come together across borders to empower communities, advance knowledge, and inspire transformative leadership," says Bruce Frayne, Dean of Environment.

Co-developed by five professors from the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Environment, who come from various disciplines such as environmental science, marine biology, sociology, public health, and international relations, the program curriculum will include studying the interrelated issues of plastic pollution, climate change, international development, and community resilience through diverse scholarly viewpoints.

"This is an exciting opportunity for students from the Faculties of Science and Environment to gain a global perspective and develop skills in collaboration, communication and critical thinking while addressing climate change and plastic pollution," says Chris Houser, Dean of Science.

Waterloo students will have the unique opportunity to collaborate with students from Ain Shams University (Egypt), University of Cape Coast (Ghana), and Ashesi University (Ghana). This collaboration will provide valuable insights into these challenges from a local perspective, fostering the development of sustainable and achievable solutions through shared learning and teamwork.  

In alignment with Waterloo's Global Futures framework, this innovative new program seeks to address complex challenges through international collaboration, interdisciplinary work and cross-cultural understanding to address present and future challenges by investing in young scholars who will be ready to tackle what lies ahead. The "Beyond Borders" initiative is just one more step towards exploring the new ways we can engage with our global partners in knowledge sharing and collaborative research as the Canadian educational landscape navigates continued pressure to find new frameworks for supporting internationalization across campus.

Notes as the last week of term begins

We are getting close to the holiday break — perilously close in terms of last-minute Christmas shopping — but that doesn't mean that campus is taking a break. Not hardly.

For example, today is the deadline to order your Holiday Dinner from Catering and Event Services. Check out the menu and ordering details.

WUSA is getting a jumpstart on next year's election cycle as their nomination period opens today. Nominations are open for the executive and Board of Directors positions, and potential candidates can submit nomination forms until January 23, 2025.

The next major election milestone will be the Candidate Information Session held virtually on January 14, 2025.

The Fall 2024 Joint University of Waterloo–St. Jerome’s University Legal Studies Seminar featuring Dr. Itamar Mann and Dr. Lihi Yona from the University of Haifa takes place today at 1:00 p.m. on Zoom.