News

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) just announced a $2.5 million Partnership Grant for a 7-year research initiative in support of gender equity in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.

The Engendering Success in STEM research consortium is a unique partnership bringing together academic experts – including from UWaterloo’s Department of Psychology – on gender bias and diversity with elementary schools, camps, museums, universities, and industry leaders who share a commitment to increasing opportunities for girls and women in STEM.

Professor Hilary Bergsieker of Waterloo’s Department of Psychology co-directs Project RISE, working closely with industry partners to identify and test science-based solutions for creating a gender-inclusive culture, enabling employees to work together effectively and to reach their fullest potential. She is leading initiatives to map the micro-networks of teams within these organizations to build a culture of inclusion from the ground up.

From romantic dramas to tensions at work, we’re often better at working through other people’s problems than our own—while we may approach our friends’ problems with wise, clear-eyed objectivity, we often view our own problems through a personal, flawed, emotional lens.

But new research suggests that not everyone may struggle to reason wisely about their own personal problems. People who are motivated to develop the best in themselves and others don’t show this bias—they tend to reason just as wisely about their own problems as they do for others.

Video can help you not get mugged by one-armed bandits

Novice gamblers who watched a short video about how slot machines disguise losses as wins have a better chance of avoiding gambling problems, according to new research.

Each year at fall convocation, the Alumni Gold Medal is presented to a master’s and a doctoral student to recognize their academic excellence.  This year’s MA level award is being presented to Madison Stange from the CNS division.  The award winners are selected based on their record of scholarship, including evidence of originality and creativity.  According to her supervisor, despite having completed her MA this summer, she has already become one of the world’s leading experts on a hugely popular form of gambling – namely scratch cards.  She has already published four articles on the psychological and physiological impact of scratch cards on gamblers, with a number of other studies in the works.

                           Congratulations Madison! 

Geoffrey T. Fong is one of this year’s new Fellows!

Geoffrey T. Fong from the Department of Psychology at University of Waterloo is one of the world’s leading global health researchers. Geoff created and leads an immense research program that is evaluating the population-level impact of tobacco control policies in over 25 countries, covering over two-thirds of the world’s tobacco users. The International Tobacco Control (ITC) Project has made ground-breaking contributions to advancing science and policies to accelerate and strengthen governmental and advocacy efforts to combat the global tobacco epidemic.

Congratulations  Geoff!

Psychology's Geoff Fong, winner of second annual CIHR-IPPH Trailblazer Awards

Senior Career Category
Geoffrey Fong
Professor, University of Waterloo
Senior Investigator, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research

Social impact grants for GreenHouse innovators

Six GreenHouse social ventures received a total of $13,000 at the latest Social Impact Showcase, which highlights the work of each term’s innovators.

New research shows both groups report similar levels of work-family conflicts—but is it really equal?

Can anyone really "have it all" anymore?

The research of PhD candidate Robin Mazumder will have important insights and implications for 21st century urban planning – especially for mitigating the negative effects of tall buildings on the wellbeing of citizens. His dissertation project, titled The Downside of Building Up: An Exploration Into the Stress Impact of Exposure to Skyscrapers in Urban Centres, has recently received a prestigious boost of confidence from a federally funded Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship.

The Faculty of Arts proudly congratulates student Sarah Wiley for receiving Ontario’s Draw-The-Line Post-Secondary Sexual Violence Prevention Award, a new award to recognize students, student leaders, institutions, college and university community members for their outstanding efforts in sexual violence prevention.