BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Drupal iCal API//EN X-WR-CALNAME:Events items teaser X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Toronto BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Toronto X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Toronto BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZNAME:EDT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:20250309T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZNAME:EDT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:20240310T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZNAME:EDT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:20230312T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZNAME:EDT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:20220313T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:EST TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:20251102T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:EST TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:20241103T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:EST TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:20231105T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:EST TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:20211107T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:EST TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:20221106T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:69f1cca36adb6 DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260307 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260308 URL:https://uwaterloo.ca/stratford-school-of-interaction-design-and-busines s/events/blend-2026 LOCATION:DMS - Stratford Campus 125 St. Patrick Street Stratford ON N5A 0C1 Canada SUMMARY:BLEND - Business + Design Conference CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:Join us in March 2026 for BLEND: Business + Design\, a conferen ce\ndesigned for professionals and students. Hear from designers\, leaders \,\nand innovators who share real stories and actionable strategies for\nt urning work into purpose\, leading through change\, and building\nmeaningf ul careers. With inspiring talks and hands-on workshops\, BLEND\nequips yo u with practical skills you can apply immediately. Connect\nwith a communi ty that values courage\, optimism\, and growth. X-MICROSOFT-CDO-ALLDAYEVENT:TRUE DTSTAMP:20260429T091723Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:69f1cca36e3a9 DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250404T143000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250404T170000 URL:https://uwaterloo.ca/stratford-school-of-interaction-design-and-busines s/events/capstone-showcase-2025 LOCATION:DMS - Stratford Campus 125 St. Patrick Street Stratford ON N5A 0C1 Canada SUMMARY:2025 Capstone Showcase and Grad Send off CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:Students will showcase their work and discuss their approach to the\n2025 Service Design Challenge\, an international competition focused on\nservice design for global issues. This year\, they collaborated with\ nIBM mentors to create innovative products and services that support\nsust ainable development and equitable progress. Join us on April 4 to\nsee fir sthand the skills and knowledge our students have developed. DTSTAMP:20260429T091723Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:69f1cca36ee9a DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250301T090000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250301T180000 URL:https://uwaterloo.ca/stratford-school-of-interaction-design-and-busines s/events/blend-hope-health-humanity LOCATION:DMS - Stratford Campus 125 St. Patrick Street Stratford ON N5A 0C1 Canada SUMMARY:BLEND: Hope Health & Humanity CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:BLEND: WHAT TO EXPECT\n\nAt Blend\, you'll connect with like-m inded professionals\, hear stories\nof designers and leaders facing the fu ture and redefining realities\,\nand participate in workshops that will he lp you in your industry.\n\nThis year features keynotes and workshops fro m industry leaders and\nthe BLEND after-party. And the best part? You'll be surrounded by\npeople who are just as passionate about breaking boundar ies as you\nare. We're talking about entrepreneurs\, creatives\, and\nboun dary-pushing thinkers who will inspire you to think bigger and\nbolder tha n ever before.\n\nOver the day\, you'll be inspired as we hear inspiring stories of\npeople in our community of designers breaking boundaries and\n overcoming obstacles to redefine our world.\n\nWe'd love for you to be par t of the conversation. We promise it'll be\nworth the investment.\n\nWHEN IS IT?\n\nJoin us on March 1\, 2025 at the Stratford School of Interacti on\nDesign and Business. This event includes refreshments\, lunch\, and\n light appetizers at our networking social evening.\n\nFor more information including schedule and speaker line up please\ncheck out the Blend websi te [https://www.blendconf.co/].  DTSTAMP:20260429T091723Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:69f1cca36fad2 DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20240302T090000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20240302T180000 URL:https://uwaterloo.ca/stratford-school-of-interaction-design-and-busines s/events/blend-business-design-conference LOCATION:DMS - Stratford Campus 125 St. Patrick Street Stratford ON N5A 0C1 Canada SUMMARY:BLEND: Business + Design Conference CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:BLEND: WHAT TO EXPECT\n\nAt Blend\, you'll connect with like-m inded professionals\, hear stories\nof designers and leaders facing the fu ture and redefining realities\,\nand participate in workshops that will he lp you in your industry.\n\nThis year features keynotes and workshops fro m industry leaders and\nthe BLEND after-party. And the best part? You'll be surrounded by\npeople who are just as passionate about breaking boundar ies as you\nare. We're talking about entrepreneurs\, creatives\, and\nboun dary-pushing thinkers who will inspire you to think bigger and\nbolder tha n ever before.\n\nOver the day\, you'll be inspired as we hear inspiring stories of\npeople in our community of designers breaking boundaries and\n overcoming obstacles to redefine our world.\n\nWe'd love for you to be par t of the conversation. We promise it'll be\nworth the investment.\n\nWHEN IS IT?\n\nJoin us on March 2\, 2024 at the Stratford School of Interacti on\nDesign and Business. This event includes breakfast\, lunch\, and ligh t\nappetizers at our networking social evening.\n\nFor more information in cluding schedule and speaker line up please\ncheck out the Blend website [https://www.blendconf.co/].  DTSTAMP:20260429T091723Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:69f1cca370663 DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20230920T170000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20230920T183000 URL:https://uwaterloo.ca/stratford-school-of-interaction-design-and-busines s/events/critical-tech-talk-black-media-philosophy-and-beyond-armond SUMMARY:Critical Tech Talk: Black Media Philosophy and Beyond with Armond R .\nTowns CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:Much of the contemporary research on race in communication medi a\nstudies begins with media representations. However\, for this talk\,\nA rmond R. Towns will focus on the relationship between the modern\nresearch university\, race\, and the development of communication and\nmedia studi es in the early and mid-twentieth century\, with a focus\nspecifically on US and Canadian communication and media studies. Like\nthe modern universi ty\, the discipline of communication and media\nstudies\, Towns argues\, h as a difficulty with understanding non-Western\nlife. This talk is a begin ning conversation on how to push toward new\nforms of understanding humani ty beyond Western life. The topic of who\ncounts as human is crucial in a context where big tech aims to control\nthe future of so-called humanity a nd the AI race closes the gap\nbetween human and machine communications.\n \nThis is a hybrid in-person and virtual event. Following the talk\,\nther e will be a short reception for in-person attendees at the Science\nTeachi ng Complex (STC) Room 0050. DTSTAMP:20260429T091723Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:69f1cca370f7c DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20230925T130000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20230925T140000 URL:https://uwaterloo.ca/stratford-school-of-interaction-design-and-busines s/events/black-virtuality-ade-games-communities-workshop-and-speaker SUMMARY:Black Virtuality - ADE for Games Communities Workshop and Speaker\n Series CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:Across digital media\, Black people are portrayed in ways that are\nderogatory\, inaccurate\, stereotypical\, demeaning\, and otherwise\n harmful. And Black culture is often depersonalized and extracted from\nBla ck bodies. Through projects like ‘Ye or Nay? and the Open-Source\nAfro H air Library\, artist A.M. Darke reimagines the construction and\nconsumpti on of Black bodies in virtual space\, discussing critical\napproaches to p ortraying Blackness in games and virtual space. DTSTAMP:20260429T091723Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:69f1cca3717ea DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20230920T110000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20230920T123000 URL:https://uwaterloo.ca/stratford-school-of-interaction-design-and-busines s/events/panel-emerging-voices-black-game-studies-ade-games SUMMARY:Panel on Emerging Voices in Black Game Studies - ADE for Games\nCom munities Workshop and Speaker Series CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:The following events are lectures\, panels and workshops hosted by a\nvariety of researchers across the globe\, discussing themes related to\ndecolonization\, equity\, accessibility and diversity in games and ga me\ncommunities. Times are EST/EDT\; they are tentative and may be subject \nto change. _Event registration details to come._\n\nThis panel highlight s emerging scholars in Black games studies.\nPanelists will present recent and/or ongoing work\, sharing a glimpse\nof the emerging research questio ns animating the field.  DTSTAMP:20260429T091723Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:69f1cca371f45 DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20221028 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20221029 URL:https://uwaterloo.ca/stratford-school-of-interaction-design-and-busines s/events/10-year-celebration-stratford-school-interaction-design-and LOCATION:DMS - Stratford Campus 125 St. Patrick Street Stratford ON N5A 0C1 Canada SUMMARY:10 Year Celebration of the Stratford School of Interaction Design a nd\nBusiness CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:10 Year Celebration of the Stratford School of Interaction Desi gn and\nBusiness X-MICROSOFT-CDO-ALLDAYEVENT:TRUE DTSTAMP:20260429T091723Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:69f1cca37291c DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20230124T180000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20230124T180000 URL:https://uwaterloo.ca/stratford-school-of-interaction-design-and-busines s/events/ai-tsunami-where-will-it-take-us LOCATION:Jobsite Brewing Co. 45 Cambria Street Stratford ON Canada SUMMARY:The AI tsunami – Where will it take us? CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:You’re invited to Research Talks\, a public event and panel\n discussion featuring guest speakers Kesha Bodawala - P & P\nOptica\, E van Jones - Stitch Media\, and Sirisha Rambhatla and Will\nZhao - Uni versity of Waterloo.\n\nArtificial Intelligence (AI)\, the study of machin es and software that\nexhibit intelligence\, is transforming every aspect of society\, from\nfinancial services\, technology\, healthcare\, manufact uring\, and more.\nAI is dependent on data\, that is\, AI uses data to mak e predictions so\nhumans can make data-driven decisions. With the explosio n of data over\nthe past two decades\, there is an AI tsunami on our thres hold. So\, we\nare left with the question\, “Where will AI take us?”\n \nCHALLENGE OF THE BOTS: EXPLORING THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF CONTEXTUAL\nCONVER SATIONAL AI\n\nWill Zhao\n[https://uwaterloo.ca/stratford-school-of-intera ction-design-and-business/people-profiles/will-zhao] is\nan Assistant Pro fessor at the Stratford School of Interaction Design\nand Business\n[http s://uwaterloo.ca/stratford-school-of-interaction-design-and-business/]\,\n University of Waterloo. He earned his Ph.D. from the French _Grande\nEcol e _EM Lyon Business school and pursued his postdoctoral research\nat Stan ford University. He is an interdisciplinary researcher\ninterested in stud ying innovation from organizational\, educational\,\nand engineering persp ectives\, particularly using multimodal methods\nthat draw on semiotics an d/or artificial intelligence techniques. His\nmost recent research on arti ficial intelligence has been published in\nleading journals such as _IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics._\n\nWHAT’S IN YOUR FOOD? ASSESSING THE QUA LITY OF FOOD PRODUCTS USING AI\n\nKesha Bodawala\n[https://ppo.ca/people-a t-ppo-kesha-bodawala-software-developer/] is\nthe Model Development Lead at P&P Optica [https://ppo.ca/] (PPO)\,\nbased in Waterloo\, ON. At PPO\ , she oversees the Machine Learning Team.\nShe works with the team to deve lop models to assess the quality of\nmeat products. Kesha has a Master's d egree in Electrical and Computer\nEngineering with a focus on machine lear ning and a Bachelor's degree\nin Electronics Engineering.\n\nINCORPORATING AI INTO STORYTELLING AND VIRTUAL REALITY\n\nEvan Jones [https://www.stitc h.media/team] is the founder of Stitch\nMedia [https://www.stitch.media/ ]\, an interactive media production\nservices company which tells stories using new technology and timeless\ntechniques. A two-time Emmy Award winn er\, Evan’s work combines web\,\nmobile and games with TV\, film\, radio \, and the real world. He has been\nrecognized as a 'Top 10 New Media Grou ndbreaker' by the Bell Fund and\nchosen as one of the ‘most innovative a nd influential minds in\nMcMaster history’ by his alma mater. His intera ctive documentary\nwork has won ‘Best in Electronic Culture’ at the UN ESCO World\nSummit and his experience with branded entertainment has won ‘Best\nin Digital Marketing’ by the Digi Awards. Evan has guest lectur ed on\nthe art & business of interactive story internationally at the\nCan adian Film Centre\, the Australian Film\, Television & Radio School\nand t he University of Southern California. He has consulted for the\nSmithsonia n\, Greenpeace\, Microsoft\, Disney\, NBC\, Universal\,\nNickelodeon\, and 20th Century Fox on the future of entertainment.\n\nAI AND THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE\n\nSirisha Rambhatla\n[https://uwaterloo.ca/management-sciences /profile/srambhat] is an\nAssistant Professor in the Faculty of Engineeri ng at the University of\nWaterloo\, where she leads the Critical ML Lab as the director. Her\nresearch focusses on developing deep learning-based re liable\nartificial intelligence (AI) models for critical real-world decisi on\nmaking in surgery and healthcare\, covid spread\, climate change\, and \nintelligent manufacturing and aviation using spatiotemporal modelling\,\ nrepresentation learning\, and explainable AI. Her inter-disciplinary\nwor k spans both theory and practice of machine learning (ML)\, has been\npubl ished at top ML venues such as NeurIPS\, ICLR\, KDD\, IJCAI\, AAAI\,\nand clinical venues such as AMIA\, Surgery\, American Association for\nthe Stu dy of Liver Diseases. Recipient of the 2021 Merit Award for\nExcellence in Postdoctoral Research at the University of Southern\nCalifornia\, Dr. Ram bhatla received her Ph.D. (EE) from the University\nof Minnesota -- Twin C ities in 2019.\n\nPizza and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided.\n\n Donations of non-perishable food items for the Salvation Army -\nStratford Food Bank will be accepted. DTSTAMP:20260429T091723Z END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:69f1cca37368e DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20230325T090000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:TRANSPARENT DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20230325T180000 URL:https://uwaterloo.ca/stratford-school-of-interaction-design-and-busines s/events/blend-conference LOCATION:DMS - Stratford Campus 125 St. Patrick Street Stratford ON N5A 0C1 Canada SUMMARY:BLEND Conference CLASS:PUBLIC DESCRIPTION:[BLEND Conference]\nBLEND: WHAT TO EXPECT\n\nAt Blend\, you'll connect with like-minded professionals\, hear stories\nof designers and l eaders breaking boundaries\, and participate in\nworkshops that will help you in your industry.\n\nThis year features keynotes and workshops from i ndustry leaders and\nthe BLEND after-party. And the best part? You'll be surrounded by\npeople who are just as passionate about breaking boundaries as you\nare. We're talking about entrepreneurs\, creatives\, and\nboundar y-pushing thinkers who will inspire you to think bigger and\nbolder than e ver before.\n\nOver the day\, you'll be inspired as we hear inspiring sto ries of\npeople in our community of designers breaking boundaries and\nove rcoming obstacles to redefine our world.\n\nWe'd love for you to be part o f the conversation. We promise it'll be\nworth the investment.\n\nWHEN IS IT?\n\nJoin us on March 25\, 2023 at the Stratford School of Interaction \nDesign and Business. This event includes breakfast\, lunch\, and light\ nappetizers at our networking social evening.\n\nFor more information incl uding schedule and speaker line up please\ncheck out the Blend website [h ttps://www.blendconf.co/].  DTSTAMP:20260429T091723Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR