Tuesday, April 8, 2025

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• The Waterloo Staff Conference starts today

• You're invited to celebrate Provost Jim Rush

• CPI unites cybersecurity and privacy graduate students across Ontario

• Changes to library building hours for spring term

The Waterloo Staff Conference starts today

A message from Organizational and Human Development (OHD).

Over the next two days, April 8 and 9, the Organizational and Human Development team along with 1,200 + participants will be taking over Hagey Hall of the Humanities and surrounding buildings for the 17^th annual Waterloo Staff Conference.

This two-day hybrid conference is free for University of Waterloo staff and will be experienced in the following formats:

• Day 1: April 8 – In-person spaces throughout Hagey Hall (HH), the School of Accounting and Finance and the Tatham Centre (TC); virtual viewing options via Microsoft Teams for keynotes
  • Note: Registration and doors open at 8:30 a.m.
• Day 2: April 9 – Virtually via Microsoft Teams and in-person viewing room options (AKA viewing parties) in East Campus 5 (EC5) and Arts Lecture Hall (AL) for the Envisioning Canada’s Healthiest Campus panel and this year’s closing keynote

It’s not too late to register! Registration will remain open on Portal until the end of April 9. Visit the Waterloo Staff Conference website for all the details and to register today.

Already registered? Visit the Know Before you Go page to get ready and to learn which sessions will be recorded and available after the conference.

You're invited to celebrate Provost Jim Rush

CPI unites cybersecurity and privacy graduate students across Ontario

By Regina Ashna Singh. This article was originally published on the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute's website.

The University of Waterloo’s Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute (CPI) hosted its inaugural Graduate Student Conference that connected master’s and PhD students across the province to showcase innovative research while gaining valuable feedback from fellow academics, faculty, and industry professionals.

In partnership with Waterloo’s Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs, the event was held on March 27 in the University’s Faculty of Engineering lecture hall and drew over 100 attendees throughout the day including students from Toronto Metropolitan University, York University, Ontario Tech University (Oshawa), Carleton University (Ottawa), and Concordia University (Montreal).

“It is a first-of-a-kind event bringing together cybersecurity and privacy grad students, and industry, from this region,” said Dr. N. Asokan, CPI’s executive director. An out-of-the-box concept originating from CPI’s 2024 interim executive director, Dr. Anindya Sen.

Fostering a vibrant academic environment where students conducting interdisciplinary research that intersect cybersecurity and privacy topics can share their findings, in addition to networking with peers and companies interested in research collaborations and/or hiring talent, was CPI’s realized vision of the conference. Dr. Diogo Barradas, CPI’s associate director and what some might call lead director behind the scenes of the event, was at the helm of the program committee that reviewed dozens of paper submissions which allowed for a packed, highly insightful and engaging agenda along with 40 poster displays.

“Submitting a poster also meant that the student had a chance to present their research via a spotlight talk to attendees. We [CPI] felt it was not only important to provide the forum for students to exchange ideas, but also the platform and opportunity to address all attendees at once, ” said the Cheriton School of Computer Science professor.

All of the presentations as well as posters were judged and eligible for cash awards made possible by the generous event industry sponsors. Congratulations, again, to the following recipients:

• Shanza Shanza, Waterloo - Outstanding Interdisciplinary Poster (Rogers)
• Ewan Lister, Waterloo - Outstanding Poster Presentation (Kyndryl)
• Iwona Sokalska, TMU - Outstanding Poster Design (Mastercard)
• Camryn Steckel, Waterloo - Outstanding Innovation Poster (BTQ)
• Ross Evans, Waterloo - Outstanding Spotlight Talk (ARM Technologies)

The day consisted of the following five sessions: Security and Privacy in Data Science, Human & Societal Aspects of Security and Privacy, Cryptography and Quantum-Safe Communication, Network Security and, Software, Hardware, and Systems Security.

Every presentation was intriguing and sparked discussion. For example, Shanza’s paper Toward Stronger Digital Privacy and Security: Culturally-Informed Solutions to Shared Device Use by Immigrant Families in Canada seemed to pique many people’s interest as her pilot study found that there was a high surveillance concern among women; meaning there were instances where parent’s kept track of women’s accounts to spy and monitor their private chats. Topics on the use of synthetic data in health care, among others, also led to buzzing conversations.

Kyndryl research shows 70 per cent of large Canadian organizations do not feel they are ready to handle cyberattack-related risks. In his keynote address, Sachio Iwamoto (Director, Principal Architect, Kyndryl Research), shared IT is the best line of defense to mitigate risks, yet most are in earlier stages of their tech modernization journey. Therefore, the continuous growth and alignment between business and technology, much of which originates from researchers in academia, is crucial.

Save the date for CPI's Annual Cybersecurity and Privacy Conference, October 28, 2025.

Changes to library building hours for spring term

 A message from the Libraries.

The Libraries are adjusting opening hours for our two main campus locations, Dana Porter and Davis Centre, for spring term as part of the University’s work towards financial sustainability: 

• Both libraries will close an hour earlier, Dana Porter at 10:00 p.m. and Davis Centre at 11:00 p.m. 

• Spring term hours will reflect the smaller number of students studying on campus, with shorter opening hours on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays 

• Monday through Friday, library buildings will open an hour before Library Help Desks are staffed  

• Both libraries will be closed on statutory holidays, except for any that occur during an exam period 

• Special Collections & Archives and the Geospatial Centre will be open for in-person consultations by appointment only 

Extended hours during exam periods will continue. 

We know students value our central locations as a place where they can focus on their studies, whether independently or with classmates. We will continue to monitor space usage data and user feedback to make any future adjustments to our building hours. 

Full details on building hours can be found on the library homepage. Questions about these changes can be directed to Ask Us.