Thursday, April 10, 2025

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• Shaping the future of health through innovation and entrepreneurship

• Report examines how PSE institutions are preparing the next generation of professionals to deal with climate change

• MFA thesis exhibitions will be on display at UWAG

• Thursday's notes

Shaping the future of health through innovation and entrepreneurship

The rapid evolution of digital health holds immense potential to transform patient care and improve global health outcomes. Building disruptive technologies is at the core of what we do, and since our inception, the University of Waterloo has been harnessing our expertise in health, technology and entrepreneurship and collaborating with partners to commercialize health-care solutions for real-world impact.  

This week, Waterloo expands its partner network to host the Times Higher Education (THE) Digital Health 2025 summit. The summit will run from April 10 to 11, with a focus on networking to strengthen partnerships and learn about the innovations happening here in Waterloo. Welcoming more than 200 leaders from health care, academia, government and startups, the summit brings together a global community to help shape a healthier future through innovation, entrepreneurship and partnerships.

Report examines how PSE institutions are preparing the next generation of professionals to deal with climate change

A message from the Waterloo Climate Institute (WCI).

As the climate crisis intensifies, students across academic disciplines need the knowledge and skills to understand and act on climate change. Researchers at the University of Waterloo examined how climate change education is being integrated into accounting, architecture, engineering and planning programs across Canada. This work provides a snapshot of the current state of climate change education and informs next steps for advancing integration into course curriculum. Led by the Waterloo Climate Institute, this research is part of a broader effort to accelerate climate adaptation education in professional degree programs.

From October 2024 to February 2025, researchers surveyed universities and colleges across Canada to assess the state of climate change education in four disciplines. The results, based on responses from 68 programs, are promising: 93 per cent of programs are incorporating climate content in some form, and 68.3 per cent of programs cover basic climate science. However, coverage varies: while over 80 per cent of Architecture, Planning, and Civil & Environmental Engineering programs include climate topics, fewer than 30 per cent of Accounting and other Engineering programs do the same. Encouragingly, respondents across all programs recognize climate change as relevant to students’ careers (relevance rated 4.21/5 overall).

The survey also found that 82 per cent of programs include Climate Change Mitigation, and 79 per cent cover Climate Change Adaptation to some degree in their courses, most commonly as a topic in an existing course. This suggests students are learning about critical topics like emissions reduction, energy efficiency, carbon taxes, climate risks, and adaptation strategies. More research is needed to understand how these topics are taught in practice and the degree to which curriculum efforts are helping students acquire the necessary climate literacy and competencies to take climate action in their careers.

To expand climate change education, we must address key barriers within institutions and programming. The survey identified the top barriers as time and financial constraints and a lack of instructor expertise. To overcome barriers and make progress in climate change education, programs and instructors need support in course development, access to teaching resources, and training in climate pedagogy. Without this, integrating climate content into “non-environmental” disciplines will remain a challenge.

With a deeper understanding of the integration of climate change education across disciplines, we can move forward with enhancing degree programs and student knowledge to support a more sustainable future. To dive deeper into the survey results, please read the full report, available on our website. This report is part of the Accelerating Climate Education for the Next Generation of Professionals (ACE) project being implemented by the University of Waterloo Climate Institute, with funding support from Natural Resources Canada’s Climate Change Adaptation Program.

MFA thesis exhibitions will be on display at UWAG

The Fine Arts department will be exhibiting the MFA thesis works of Jordan MacDonald and Cree Tylee beginning next week.

Jordan MacDonald - The Okanagan

The Okanagan combines sculptural objects and drawing that reflect the emotional impact of separation, distance, and the desire for connection. Using the Early Sunrise peach as both metaphor and material, the works examine the complexities of longing and absence through a physical presence that is at once tactile and fragile. The unruly nature of the peach—its soft skin, messy juices, and inevitable decay—mirrors the fleeting and imperfect nature of intimacy. Felted peaches, porcelain pits, and charcoal stains come together to form a landscape of emotional weight, capturing the tension between wanting closeness and enduring temporal distance. The pieces convey a quiet disintegration of intimacy, the slow fading of connection, and the rawness of yearning. Through the scale and materiality of the work, viewers are invited to navigate the space like one navigates a life—filled with moments of presence and absence, connection and disconnection. With its visceral materials and emotional charge, the exhibition invites the viewer to reflect on their own experiences of distance and closeness. It is an invitation to engage with the embodied nature of longing and the profound impact of separation.

Jordan MacDonald received her BFA in Studio Art from the University of British Columbia in 2023 and is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Waterloo, where she is a recipient of the prestigious Shantz International Research Scholarship. MacDonald recently had a solo show at the Kelowna Art Gallery, BC, and she has participated in numerous group exhibitions in regional and national venues. Primarily working in sculpture, her practice investigates absence, longing, and the complex relationships between place and memory.

Cree Tylee - In any way I can

In any way I can explores the home as a site of memory, investigating loss and identity through material and spatial remembering. Drawing from a personal family archive, the work considers absence and presence, constructing a material dialogue between ‘then’ and ‘now’. Using both photographic and sculptural techniques, the work employs materials which are mapped into memory—such as the tiles that were once behind the wood stove or the raspberry bushes in the backyard—the installation engages with emotional geographies, exploring memory through image and form. Additionally, materials from the current home interact with archived objects, creating connections across time. The work traces the transformation of past physical homes into inner landscapes, evoking layered narratives of place, loss, and belonging. It observes the histories of objects which were once attached to these places, the people we see in them, and the relational aspects and discreet narratives that emerge through their presence.

Cree Tylee is an interdisciplinary artist exploring themes of presence and absence investigated through the family archive. Considering memory, emotional geographies, and material connections to place, her work engages with domestic and natural elements, considering how spaces and objects hold traces of lived experience. Tylee studied Analogue Photographic Arts and Ceramics at Haliburton School of Art + Design and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minor in the History of Art and Visual Culture from Brock University.

The exhibition will run from April 17 to May 3 in the University of Waterloo Art Galley in East Campus Hall. An opening reception is scheduled for Thursday, April 17 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Thursday's notes

To improve emergency department (ED) flow and transform patient care, the Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN) has partnered with the University of Waterloo to launch the Innovation Challenge. The challenge is open to members of the University and the broader community, including: 

• Non-profits and public entities;
• Innovators and solution developers;
• Technology companies; and
• Interdisciplinary teams.

Individuals and groups who are passionate about health-care optimization are invited to submit a proposal. The deadline to apply is April 23 at 12:00 a.m. (midnight).

Validated, impact-driven solutions will be presented and proposed to the provincial government and funding partners for funding and broader implementation. For more information and to download the full brief visit the Innovation Challenge website.

Pre-registration will be opening soon for MobilizeU, offered by Research Impact Canada, an 8 week online course for beginner mobilizers interested in learning knowledge mobilization theory and skills. 

MobilizeU will run from June 2 to July 25, and more details can be found on the RIC website. There are limited spots available, so if you're interested, please contact Nadine Quehl as soon as possible.

"The VR for Workplace Wellness program, offered collaboratively by the Conflict Management Office and the SEF, is pleased to now provide access to Ovation VR," says a note from Organizational and Human Development (OHD). "Staff can practice challenging conversations, such as performance reviews, job interviews, or conflict resolution, using AI-driven avatars." 

"Join us for a Zoom orientation session Friday, April 11, from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. Contact Lynn Long (l3long@uwaterloo.ca) to register."