Announcing Graduate Student Poster Competition on "Nanotechnology and Sustainable Cities: Implications for Policy and Privacy" Deadline for submission of Abstract: February 28, 2025
The Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute, Future Cities Institute, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo are pleased to announce a graduate student poster competition, motivated by the Network for Sustainable Nanotechnology Global Summit 2025 which will be held in Barcelona, June 16 – 18, 2025.
The Global Summit is focussed on how nanoscience and nanotechnologies can contribute to the advance of UN SDG#11 – Sustainable Cities, beyond 2030, with four intersecting focussed areas: (a) Clean and Energy Efficient Transport; (b) Sustainable and Efficient Buildings; (c) Healthy Cities (including clean air); (d) Connected Cities (using energy efficient systems, IoT).
In support of this Global Summit, we are pleased to announce this poster competition for graduate students interested in how nanoscience and nanotechnology can contribute to Sustainable Cities. Abstracts should discuss the potential use and benefits of nanotechnological based innovative applications for cities (e.g., sensors, battery materials for electric vehicles, and advanced materials for green buildings) from a sustainability perspective OR detail potential privacy concerns associated with the use of such technologies.
There are two travel awards (each valued at $1,500) for the top two submissions. Awardees will be invited to attend the Global Summit 2025 and present their posters based on the submitted abstracts. The award will be paid via the travel claim process after attending the Summit. Travel advances can be made available for this purpose.
In addition to the two awards, other submitted abstracts will be given the opportunity to present their work at the Graduate Student Conference, organized by the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute on March 27th.
The graduate student competition is on two themes related to Sustainable Cities:
Theme I: Technology and Policy
Technology and Policy; which considers how specific nanoscience/nanotechnology innovations could be used by cities to become more sustainable. Abstracts submitted under this theme must address how municipal policies could enable the uptake of these types of innovations
Theme II: Technology and Privacy
Technology and Privacy; which evaluates how some nanoscience/nanotechnology innovations could impact the privacy of individuals through data collection and the types of policies municipalities might consider that protect privacy, while enabling municipalities to benefit from such innovations (for example, nanotechnologies might lead to better sensors capable of collecting real time data on pedestrian and traffic flows. Are there privacy concerns from collecting such data and what might be appropriate policies to protect individual privacy?).
Please submit one-page abstract, as per the suggested format, via email to win-office@uwaterloo.ca.
Please submit one-page abstracts on one of these two themes, as per the suggested format, via email to win-office@uwaterloo.ca. Abstracts should clearly state what theme they are falling under and all the relevant points that will ultimately be reflected in the poster.
Important Dates:
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Deadline for submission of Abstract: February 28, 2025
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Announcement of Winners: March 10, 2025
Please note that this competition is only open to graduate students at the University of Waterloo.
