The Daily Bulletin is published by Internal and Leadership Communications, part of University Communications
Contact us at bulletin@uwaterloo.ca
Submission guidelines
Planning your Research Trajectory: Strategies for Success seminar on April 10
A message from the Office of Research.
Early career researchers (in the first three years of a tenure track appointment) are invited to learn how to develop a dynamic research trajectory and increase funding by attending “Planning your research trajectory: Strategies for success” on April 10.
Hosted by the Office of Research, this session will provide strategies for researchers to develop an effective research trajectory and achieve success in research initiatives in the long term. Some of the topics that will be covered include grant writing and development, navigating the research funding pathway, knowledge mobilization, research partnerships, safeguarding research and inclusive research. This workshop won a Quality & Productivity Award from the Canadian Association of University Business Officers (CAUBO) in 2020.
The workshop will be held in J.R. Coutts Engineering Lecture Hall (RCH 301) from 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon and will include a Q&A. Please register to attend.
Library publishes 2023 annual report
A message from the Library.
The Library invites you to discover our 2023 Annual Report, where we pay tribute to the place of the Library on campus, both past and present, while also looking ahead to consider how the Library can be re-imagined to provide services and collections that support scholars and researchers in a rapidly changing information landscape.
The report articulates Library accomplishments in three strategic areas – catalyzing learning and research, engaging with our community and strengthening our expertise and services – and demonstrates how the Library is a trusted partner to students, faculty and researchers at every stage of their Waterloo journey.
You can view the report now on the Library's website.
WatSPEED hosts discussion on AI with Canada's Chief Statistician
Join WatSPEED for an intimate and informative discussion with Canada's Chief Statistician Anil Arora.
“An effective leader needs to figure out how to work in the digital era. It’s about building capabilities and capacity, empathy, and investing in people and their skillsets,” says Arora.
With over 35 years at Stats Canada, Arora brings a wealth of experience, knowledge, and passion in service to Canadians. As he prepares to retire on April 1, Arora reflects on his past 40 years of service, the importance of data to the well-being of Canadians, the AI-powered future, and his views on leadership in the digital era.
Don't miss this opportunity to hear from one Canada's most impactful public sector leaders in an interview with Associate Vice-President, Innovation Sanjeev Gill.
Learn more and registe on the WatSPEED website.
QR codes improve medication adherence
By Milana Madzarac. This article was originally published on Waterloo News.
Being able to understand the medications you take should be a given. However, many people struggle to understand what to expect from the medications they’re taking and how to take them effectively.
Waterloo’s clinical associate professor, Dr. Tejal Patel, has teamed up with QRxDigital to include QR codes on medication bottles that link to an instructional video that patients can view at home. This seemingly small addition makes a big impact in improving patient knowledge about their medications and ultimately increases medication adherence.
Dr. Sammu Dhaliwall, a hospital pharmacist and relief community pharmacist, along with community pharmacist Navdeep Singh, worked together to create QR-coded medication counselling videos to make medication taking more accessible. Additionally, the pharmacists noticed an increase in diversity in the population and the patients they serve whose first language is not English. As a result, QRxDigital was formed alongside two other founders to bring this idea to the tech space and to create videos in other languages. What they needed next was a researcher to run the research study — this is where Patel’s team came in.
“The Canadian demographic is more diverse than ever. However, many diverse patients don’t have access to medication related information in a manner they can easily relate to,” Patel says. “QRxDigital is aiming to develop culturally appropriate videos that educate patients about medications in their primary language.”
Punjabi and Portuguese are the first two languages of focus because of the large population of patients in Brampton, Ontario, where the pilot pharmacy is located.
The initial medications to be targeted are ones frequently used by patients visiting the pharmacy — atorvastatin, which is used to treat high cholesterol, and metoprolol and ramipril, both used to treat high blood pressure.
“My research teams’ whole intention is to investigate the appropriateness and acceptability of each video,” Patel says. “We will measure these factors to improve the videos further and ensure they are culturally appropriate.”
QR codes will be affixed to the medication bottles. The pharmacy team will ensure the patients and their caregivers understand how to access the video at home.
“We want to understand what the challenges are, how it affects their attitude when taking medications, whether the videos are a good fit for their individual value system, what they liked and didn’t like about the videos and do they understand what the videos are trying to convey,” Patel says.
Patel will obtain ethical approval for the study and has helped develop methodology and tools to investigate the outcomes. The researchers’ next steps are to collect the data, analyze it and interpret the results to better improve the videos and process.
Overall, helping patients understand their medication use can increase health literacy and can impact medication adherence, which has downstream effects such as improving clinical outcomes and decreasing hospitalization.
Gamelan Ensemble celebrates 10 years of Balinese music on campus
By Jiho Mercer. This is an excerpt of an article originally published on the Conrad Grebel University College website.
“Hear with the ears, feel with the body,” said I Dewa Made Suparta, Artist-in-Residence of Balinese music and performing arts at Conrad Grebel University College. “You must use your eyes, your brain, and your heart. You must feel your surrounding players. If each player does not connect with the beat, the music cannot breathe together.” As Artistic Director of Grebel’s Balinese Percussion Ensemble course and Community Gamelan Warga Santi, Dewa is preparing for the 10th anniversary concert at the end of the term. The concert is a celebration of a unique branch of music that has flourished and grown within Grebel’s music community.
Gamelan – an Indonesian term for music ensemble – was introduced to Grebel in 2013 by Maisie Sum, an ethnomusicologist and Associate Professor of Music. “Exposure to the diversity of the world’s cultures through music is a fun and compelling way for people to experience and connect with something new,” she explained. “Balinese gamelan works particularly well because of its communal nature. In this unique, dynamic, and collaborative environment, students are also learning about key aspects of Balinese culture – that community and spirit of interaction are highly valued.” Sum also remarked on the resiliency of the students in her Music Ensemble course and how the supportive nature of the classroom allowed them to help each other and flourish in the exploration and understanding of an unfamiliar cultural practice. “It’s amazing to observe them gradually become familiar and grow comfortable; to see them open not only their ears, but their hearts and minds, too.”