Wednesday, December 3, 2025

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• Office of Faculty Planning and Policy announces name change
• Save the date and get involved with the 18th annual Waterloo Staff Conference
• Striking images by grad students sweep research photo contest
• Joint legal studies seminar takes place on December 5
• Wednesday's notes

Office of Faculty Planning and Policy announces name change

Photo by Joe Petrik.

Save the date and get involved with the 18th annual Waterloo Staff Conference

A message from Human Resources.

Save the date! Join us for the 18th Annual Waterloo Staff Conference on April 7 and 8, 2026. 

The Waterloo Staff Conference is an annual two-day learning and development opportunity designed exclusively for staff at Waterloo. Featuring employee-led workshops and inspiring keynote speakers, the conference is hosted by Human Resources’ Organizational and Human Development (OHD) team and made possible through the Staff Excellence Fund. Best of all, it’s free for all staff to attend! 

Mark your calendars for this year’s event: 

• April 7: In-person activities with live-streamed keynote options. 
• April 8: Primarily virtual sessions, recordings and in-person keynote viewing rooms available. 

Don’t miss this chance to invest in your development and strengthen connections across the Waterloo community! Registration opens March 2026.

Interested in being part of the Waterloo Staff Conference beyond being a conference attendee? Do you have a topic that you’re passionate about sharing with others or the desire to volunteer?

Get involved with the Waterloo Staff Conference by:

1. Submitting your workshop proposal by Wednesday, January 21, 2026
   • We are looking for stimulating and interactive learning experiences focused on the professional and personal development of our university employees that align with the new institutional values.
2. Volunteering to support conference activities by Friday, February 13, 2026
   • Sign up for the times and roles that best fit your schedule. Our conference would not be possible without our amazing volunteers!
      

If you have any questions about proposals or about this conference, please reach out to Krystal Mittler, OHD Events and Programs Coordinator at ohd@uwaterloo.ca.

Striking images by grad students sweep research photo contest

This winning, forest-like image by chemical engineering graduate student Estatira Amirieh emerged from a laboratory bench, not nature.

This article was originally published on the Faculty of Engineering website.

Graduate students swept the top three spots in this year’s Waterloo Engineering contest to recognize striking photographs taken during academic research.

The first-place prize of $1,000 went to chemical engineering student Estatira Amirieh for a forest-like image that emerged from a laboratory bench, not nature. Its delicate structures were created through electrospinning, a process in which a liquid polymer solution is pulled by electric fields into ultra-thin threads that solidify as they travel through the air.

Mikhail Malmyguine, a mechanical and mechatronics engineering student, took second place and $500 for a digital microscopy image of a laser weld produced by the laser directed energy deposition (LDED) process. It features colourful streaks of iron and titanium oxides radiating out from a bright protusion at its centre.

Olivia Graham and Gaya Shnayder finished third and won $250 for an image of a nanopatterned tissue culture polystyrene chip. Nanopatterns diffract light, producing a rainbow of colours.

The 2025 Art of Engineering and Architecture research photo contest was open to all registered students, postdoctoral fellows, staff members and faculty members. The winning images will be featured in faculty communications throughout the year.

“Their work beautifully showcases the creativity, curiosity and innovation driving research within our faculty,” Dean Mary Wells said in an email announcing the winners today.

Explore all three winning images and browse past contest winners on the Research photo contest winners page. 

Joint legal studies seminar takes place on December 5

The University of Waterloo-St. Jerome’s University Legal Studies Seminar will take place on Friday, December 5 at 2:30 p.m.

Dr. Ravi Malhotra will be speaking on the topic of “Castoriadis and the legal politics of crip time.”

“Cornelius Castoriadis is well known for his work on radical democracy,” says the talk’s abstract. “However, his philosophy of time is less well-known. In this talk, Dr. Malhotra explores the possibilities of a Castoriadan reading of crip time for reinterpreting the duty to accommodate disabled workers. While there is a growing literature on crip time, or how disabled people experience time, much of this literature is not grounded in a materialist understanding of the oppression of disabled people. Building on the work of scholars such as Mike Oliver, Colin Barnes, and Marta Russell, Dr. Malhotra suggests that a Castoriadan reading has profound implications for developing what he calls a crip time from below. This holds out promise to develop a duty to accommodate that can more robustly facilitate the inclusion and empowerment of disabled workers.”  

Dr. Ravi Malhotra is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Law, Common Law Section and a disability rights advocate. He is the editor of an anthology honouring the late Marta Russell, titled Disability Politics in a Global Economy: Essays in Honour of Marta Russell (Routledge) and is working on a book on Castoriadis and crip time under contract for Bloomsbury Academic.

The lecture will take place online via Zoom. Register online.

The Joint Legal Studies Seminar Series features biannual seminars showcasing a range of legal studies scholarship. The series is hosted by the Departments of Sociology and Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo and St. Jerome’s University.  

Please contact Drs. Honor Brabazon (honor.brabazon@uwaterloo.ca), Allison Chenier (achenier@uwaterloo.ca), and Andrea Quinlan (andrea.quinlan@uwaterloo.ca) with any questions.

Wednesday's notes

The final installment of the Community Wellness fruit and veggie market for the fall term will be taking place in both Pearl Sullivan Engineering (formerly E7) and the SLC Lower Atrium today from 12 noon to 4:00 p.m. or until supplies last. Attendees can purchase a $10 bag of produce. "As it’s the season of giving, consider contributing to the Fruit and Veg Market Giving Wall," says a note from the Engineering Community Well-being team, who organizes the markets each term. "You can support our community by purchasing a voucher for another. If things are a bit tight this week, take a voucher from the wall and redeem it for a bag of produce—no questions asked."

The Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) is offering two events today that deal with how Indigenous Learning Circles can enhance teaching and learning in university classrooms. "Drawing on Indigenous pedagogies and community-based approaches to knowledge sharing, this workshop will introduce participants to the philosophy and practices of Learning Circles—spaces that emphasize respect, reciprocity, and relational learning," says a message from CTE.

• Bringing Indigenous Learning Circles into the Classroom - (CTE7558) Coffee and Continental Breakfast, 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in STC 1013
• Bringing Indigenous Learning Circles into the Classroom - (CTE7558) Lunch and Learn, 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. in STC 1013

"Join Waterloo Womxn and Nonbinary Wednesdays (W3+) and Feminist Think Tank for a moment of creativity, reflection and connection inspired by Suleika Jaouad's The Book of Alchemy," says a note from W3+. The event takes place today from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. in ML 109. Register on Portal.