At �첥��Ƶ, a team of researchers is currently collaborating to develop robots to protect and make life better for the elderly, with the potential for game-changing applications across the spectrum of elder care.

“The possibilities are endless,” says , a professor at the University’s Lassonde School of Engineering and Faculty of Health, who is co-leading CINTHeA: Co-creating Intelligent Neuro-Technologies for Healthy Aging, together with Professor Vincent DePaul from Queen’s University.

“Social robotics for older adult care has been explored for many years. But to date, most of the traction has been achieved with comfort robots – furry pets that people can hold and care for – and that’s great, but we know we can go further.”

Japanese companies were early out of the gate with life-like robotic pets to provide companionship to a massive aging generation. Paro, a therapeutic robot, with all the cuddliness of a baby seal, responds to touch, sound and eye contact in a way that can comfort elderly patients in hospitals. The more penguin-like LOVOT (short for love robot) coos when hugged, creating a bond with its human owner and, as it demands affection, a sense of purpose.

CINTHeA aims to get the technology to the next level, where robots move autonomously around places where people live and can provide social, cognitive and physical assessment and assistance.

Elder says that when integrated with recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), robots can contribute in many ways, helping to socially engage isolated seniors, and assess pain, emotional state and cognitive health. They may also help assess gait, posture and risk of a fall. Together, these contributions can help extend the health span of older adults and help health-care workers in assisted living and long-term care facilities.

“What we’ll see in the next 10 years is an expansion to more general capabilities for robots that will really make a difference to both older adults and staff,” he says.

“The possibilities are endless.” 

The project has set its sights high. Its mission is to reshape the future of aging with dignity, autonomy and inclusion by creating new AI and robotics technologies to help assess, assist and engage older adults and improve their quality of life. Success will rely on a wide diversity of expertise. Neuroscientists are working with engineers, social scientists and experts in elder care, and the project is also relying on the experiences of older adults, their families and caregivers.

It is publicly funded with a $1.5-million Canada First Research Excellence Fund grant through the massive, �첥��Ƶ-led Connected Minds program that seeks to understand the opportunities and risks to society associated with advancing technology. It is also tied to a $3-million infrastructure application proposal made to the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Partners who specialize in geriatric residential living, research and innovation, such as Baycrest Health Sciences, the Unionville Home Society, Seasons Retirement Communities and Oasis Aging Well, as well as technology companies like CrossWing, GlobalDWS and Esri Canada will help translate the research into practical solutions.

Mobility has long been recognized as a cornerstone of healthy aging. Without it, people can become isolated from social and physical activities, and unable to access resources in the community.

As part of CINTHeA, Distinguished Research Professor Shayna Rosenbaum, York Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory in York’s Faculty of Health and associate director of the Centre for Integrative and Applied Neuroscience, is focused on how mobility robotics can help older adults move around.

“We can train the robot to navigate and to make errors the way a human would, so that the robot would be better able to reorient a person who appears lost,” says Rosenbaum, vice-director of Connected Minds. She is researching what strategies older adults use in real-life situations to compensate when neurological conditions affect how they get around. The findings will play a role in how assistive robots are programmed to assess how elderly people navigate when they move into new health-care environments and make it easier to adapt, for example.

Rosenbaum has been interested in navigation and how it changes in aging adults since watching her four grandparents grow older – all immigrants to Canada, having to navigate new environments without drivers’ licenses. “None of my grandparents drove,” she says. “That was very striking to me. Their world was relatively small, at least when it came to space. It piqued my interest in how this type of diminished experience might affect brain function.”

“It became a critical question, ‘how can we deliver better later life care?’”

Elder, who is also York Research Chair in Human and Computer Vision, comes at it from a different perspective. His research has been focused on understanding human perception and building machine vision systems that are inspired by that understanding. “The framework is to try to build AI systems that are more human, and able to do human-like things. So, progressing from factory floor kind of automation to systems that can work in less controlled and more complex environments.”

Elder and Rosenbaum watched the pandemic’s devastating effect on older Canadians, especially those living in institutions, and want to leverage the spotlight COVID provided to do better.

“It became a critical question, ‘how can we deliver better later life care?’ And this seems like this is really a huge opportunity,” Elder says. “Not to replace human care, but to try to help these frontline staff who are really doing the angels’ work.”

Like anyone watching the increasing reliance on AI and its uncertain future, both Elder and Rosenbaum have an eye on the associated risks.

“These technologies can be incredibly useful in helping people lead independent lives longer, but at the same time, they might introduce levels of risk to privacy and security that we might not even anticipate. We have to look at how to mitigate risk while enhancing the benefits,” says Rosenbaum.

Another concern is that overuse of robotics can diminish the person’s ability to maintain flexible thinking.

“Eventually, it might lead to further decline,” she says. “We have to try to assess risk in ways that allow us to move forward, but do so cautiously.”

Elder agrees that there has to be a balance. “The goal is to maintain maximal human agency and only provide assistance when it’s required.”

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The research team, led by Assistant Professor of York’s Lassonde School of Engineering and Laboratory of Advanced Biotechnologies for Health Assessment (LAB-HA), is developing a wearable biosensing device that promises to revolutionize preventative health care.

The non-invasive wearable device integrates microfluidic technology and advanced sensors to offer real-time insights into various physiological states by analyzing sweat.

The project, Revolutionizing Preventive Healthcare: A Wearable Device for Continuous, Non-Invasive Health Monitoring, is backed with $150,000 in funding from the Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) Collaborate 2 Commercialize program, with an additional $150,000 provided by project contributor SynHiTech Inc., a biotech incubator. Through WearNovAi, Salahandish and team are aiming to take the technology from the lab to the market in the next couple of years.

Over the next two years, researchers will work to develop, test and bring this cutting-edge technology to market, offering the potential for early disease detection and timely intervention.

“Traditional medical assessments often require invasive procedures like blood draws and laboratory analysis, where our wearable biosensing device will offer a convenient, userfriendly alternative for ongoing health monitoring,” says Salahandish.

“This innovative approach to preventative health care empowers individuals to take charge of their health and has potential for wide adoption across the health-care sector.”

By continuously collecting and analyzing sweat samples, the device can detect subtle physiological changes associated with disease progression, providing early indications of potential health issues before symptoms appear, she explains.

“This makes it a valuable tool for individuals at higher risk of developing chronic conditions or those who wish to proactively monitor their health,” she says.

One of the distinct features of this device is its use of advanced artificial intelligence algorithms to recognize specific patterns in the collected data providing actionable insights tailored to each user. This personalized approach could offer individuals the opportunity to monitor their own health alongside their health-care providers.

 Salahandish says the device combines comfort, accessibility and precision, making it an ideal choice for continuous health monitoring.

“This innovative approach to preventative health care empowers individuals to take charge of their health and has potential for wide adoption across the health-care sector,” she says.  

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It felt like a near miss. Had I been on a later flight, I would have been caught up in the aftermath of airport operations disruptions and passenger confusion with hundreds of cancellations and delays over several days.

�첥��Ƶ experts in disaster and emergency management, artificial intelligence (AI) and software engineering say these kinds of crises require highly complicated and detailed responses involving multiple people and systems, from first responders and airport operations to government agencies, working seamlessly together. In a world where AI is bursting into the mainstream, two �첥��Ƶ professors believe the effect of AI on airports to help better choreograph the many pieces during a crisis could have a huge impact.

Research and Training on the Future of Airports is the newest project of y, director of CIFAL York and executive director of at York, and , associate director of CIFAL York. As part of the project, they will research and develop AI solutions for airports to help minimize risk and better coordinate response and recovery operations to ensure timely medical intervention, evacuation and safety in a crisis.

“During a disruption, there is the potential for AI to allocate staff, reroute baggage flows, or simulate different recovery scenarios to help airports respond and recover quickly and in a coordinated way,” says Nayebi.

The project positions CIFAL York as a global leader in how airports prepare for these challenges together with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research’s Airports and Economic Development Global Training Programme, with AI as an important piece.

“AI can help minimize the risks, help airports prepare for emergencies, respond better to emergencies, and recover or continue their operations after the emergencies."

The professors believe AI can have a much deeper role in operations. “There are possibilities for predicting potential hazards, impacts on airport operations using AI analytics, for example, considering external factors like weather conditions,” says Asgary. He is part of York’s undergraduate and graduate in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and Faculty of Graduate Studies – the only graduate program of its kind in Ontario and one of only two in Canada.

“AI can help minimize the risks, help airports prepare for emergencies, respond better to emergencies, and recover or continue their operations after the emergencies. In our view, because airports have robust data collection for many of their functions, they are ideal when it comes to implementing AI analytics to help with solutions.”

Although last winter the emergency was a plane crash, it could have been a hurricane, flood, earthquake, tornado or fire. A crisis could also include a strike by airline workers or a cyber attack. These types of internal, external and regional crises can affect airport operations as well as the larger community. The capabilities of AI in airport operations goes far beyond that of a chatbot for communicating with passengers or fixing baggage snags.

“The research teams have demonstrated that the true pain points lie deeper in the coordination of systems and actors that make an airport run. A digital interface may reassure passengers, but without integrated operations behind it, the experience remains broken. The research is instead focusing on AI for coordination of systems to connect airlines, ground handlers, security and local authorities to act faster and smarter together,” says Nayebi of York’s Lassonde School of Engineering.

“Airports today are more than transit hubs, they are miniature cities with complex infrastructures, vast workforces, massive temporary users and immense economic influence. They are critical infrastructures that must continue to function in the face of pandemics, extreme weather, system disruptions and large-scale events such as the FIFA World Cup.”

AI can be used to predict and mitigate weather disruptions to flights and help coordinate the movement of planes and people inside and outside, as well as identify how resources will be impacted and what will be needed.

Using internal data as well as external emergency preparedness data, AI models and simulations can help anticipate and alleviate the impact on airports and passengers when incidents happen by ensuring airports can respond better during a crisis. This could mean evacuating the airport, deploying fire, police and other emergency crews, crowd management or acting as a hub for aid distribution.

“Using tools such as cameras with AI-based computer vision, airports can now detect a lot of potential hazards on the runway, such as birds, cracks, snow and animals, to prevent a crash. These tools, for example, can detect or identify a wrong person coming into the terminal or understand how passengers will react to a particular incident, like a fire,” says Asgary. “In risk and emergency response, there’s a whole lot AI can do.”

GenAI tools can be used to inform passengers during normal operations, but also in emergencies. With airports being a multicultural and multi-language hub, that information could be translated into each passenger’s first language and sent to their cell phone. “You can’t expect people to respond or react if the emergency is only broadcast in one language,” says Asgary.

“The goal,” says Nayebi, “is to equip airports over the next two to three years with AI-enabled resilience strategies to improve reliability, coordination and ultimately public trust in these vital infrastructures.”

These could include evidence-based guidance for governments and airport authorities, AI systems that anticipate disruptions and optimize airport-wide responses, tools that use data and simulation to support crisis decision-making, and training programs to help decision-makers adopt these tools responsibly and effectively.

Safer, smarter, more resilient airports are possible, says Nayebi. “For governments, the message is clear: supporting innovation in airports is not just about better travel, it is about building national resilience, economic opportunity and public trust.”

CROWD CONTROL

Countless people have died the world over in crowd crush incidents, whether at political rallies, sporting events or concerts, including in Canada, Germany, India, the United States and Ghana.

Concert goers this summer at the Rogers Stadium in Toronto got first-hand experience in the messiness and potential danger of crowds, with some commenting after the first couple of events about the need for better planning, particularly as people were leaving the busy venue. As Toronto and Vancouver prepare to host several FIFA World Cup matches in 2026, averting disaster through proper crowd management is top of mind for Asgary and Nayebi, whose work also includes crowd disaster mapping and simulation.

“Crowd management at large gatherings has become a major focus at various levels,” says Asgary. “While large sports events are common in major Canadian cities, the crowd typical of the World Cup is unfamiliar to crowd managers in Canada.”

“Crowd management is no longer just about counting people; it’s about understanding patterns, predicting risks and adapting in real time."

Nayebi and Asgary say that new and emerging technologies can not only help prepare for crowd management in advance but also provide support during events. They are now integrating these tools with AI and drone technologies to enhance crowd emergency management.

“We tested some of these integration efforts in summer 2025 during the Canada Day event in Vaughan, where our AI and drone-based crowd monitoring team was embedded within the Emergency Management team,” says Asgary. “Our ability to dynamically count and measure crowd behaviour in time and space is a crucial part of crowd management. Using a combination of drone, AI, virtual reality, digital twin and simulation tools, crowd management can be significantly improved.”

With these new technologies, a virtual representation of a concert or sporting event can be created, allowing for a more in-depth view of how to improve crowd management at specific venues.

“Crowd management is no longer just about counting people; it’s about understanding patterns, predicting risks and adapting in real time. By integrating machine learning and simulation with affordable technologies like drones and digital twins, we can design software-driven systems that help prevent tragedies before they unfold,” says Nayebi.

With a recent Global Research Excellence Seed Fund grant from York International, Asgary and Nayebi will also focus on helping multiple African countries by using more affordable technologies like drones and AI for crowd monitoring. In collaboration with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana and the Africa Council of the International Association of Emergency Managers, the team hopes to develop a lasting partnership focused on research, training and knowledge exchange to reduce the occurrence and impact of crowd disasters.

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Professor Lora Appel is producing 360-degree experiences that simulate environments that make people anxious, then leveraging VR to immerse them in those situations in a controlled way, allowing the person to confront and overcome their fears in a safe space.

The scene could be a party, a busy shopping mall, a bus or the subway where someone with epilepsy might worry they will lose control if they have a seizure. It could be a podium in a packed lecture hall where an anxious student is expected to present a paper.

“If something causes anxiety in an individual, exposing them to this scenario gradually allows them to habituate and get used to it so that they can manage their emotions and deal with the situation,” says Appel of York’s School of Health Policy & Management, Faculty of Health.

“More and more, we’re considering health to be the ability to manage with your current situation. You might have cancer or you might be bipolar, but if you are able to manage your condition well, you can describe yourself as healthy – that’s the best-case scenario.”

With her team at York’s PrescribingVRx lab, Appel piloted a VR exposure therapy program for people with epilepsy and completed a randomized controlled trial at Toronto Western Hospital. The same platform is now being provided to people with dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, experiencing anxiety, apathy and aggression. For older adults with mental health issues, Appel is leading a University Health Network team to create soothing or engaging experiences patients can access through VR to improve their well-being.

The benefits for VR therapy are substantial and their potential applications enormous, says Appel.

VR can also be a valuable addition to clinical therapy and serve as a drug-free alternative treatment. It has the potential to be self-administered, a game changer in a health-care environment where people with mental health issues can wait months or years to see a therapist. VR can recreate anxiety-producing worlds for people with post-traumatic stress disorder that would be unsafe for them to return to. For example, rescue missions led by firefighters and first responders, and conflict zones experienced by soldiers.

If the anxiety can be controlled, says Appel, a world of new possibilities opens up for people who often avoid situations that are fear-inducing for them. Otherwise, they can become isolated from life, sometimes missing out on job and life experiences that would be rewarding.

Appel says artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to combine with VR to generate customized exposure therapy.

“As AI advances and VR headsets become more affordable, I can imagine a world where the technology would create customized videos for people to upload from their personal library, put on their headsets and use them for self-therapy,” says Appel.

York’s anxiety research is supported by Beneva, a Canadian mutual insurance company focused on anxiety prevention.

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Anyone stuck in a jam would agree, and as chunks of the Gardiner Expressway are removed or reconstructed the jam-ups in some spots seem to be getting worse.

Researchers at �첥��Ƶ are working on various tools to make moving through and about cities easier, regardless of mode of transportation. “We need reliable, sustainable, fully automatic traffic analytics systems that continuously provide accurate traffic metrics,” says Professor James Elder, director of York’s Centre for AI & Society (CAIS), and a member of York’s Centre for Vision Research, Vision: Science to Applications and Connected Minds research programs.

He also led the (ISSUM) project from 2017 to 2023, working with colleagues at York, the University of Waterloo and partners, including the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO), Esri Canada, Trans-Plan, Peel Region, and York Region, with close to $4 million in funding through an Ontario Research Fund - Research Excellence award. This project has led to several new initiatives to translate foundational research into prototypes and commercial products that have real-world impact.

“We are researching and developing AI [artificial intelligence] technologies for better, real-time understanding of mobility in urban environments and metropolitan areas, for sensing, analysis, simulation and 3D visualization primarily using computer vision to understand traffic flow,” says Elder of York’s Lassonde School of Engineering and the Faculty of Health, and York Research Chair in Human and Computer Vision.

Technologies developed in Elder’s lab use video data to derive accurate 3D geopositioning and classification of road users, including cars, trucks, buses, pedestrians and cyclists. From the raw data, critical mobility intelligence is extracted in the moment, including traffic density, speed and volume, used to optimize traffic signaling and planning, and identify traffic incidents.

Traditionally, traffic cameras are hardwired to the internet to transmit high-bandwidth raw video data to central traffic offices. In contrast, Elder’s team has developed specialized computing technologies that process the video data “on the edge” so only derived anonymized mobility intelligence is transmitted. He explains that this has the dual benefit of only requiring inexpensive and flexible low-bandwidth cellular transmission and preserving the privacy of road users.

This edge-computing approach also allows flexible deployment of traffic analytics systems using temporary camera installations, and increasingly, drone platforms, which have a privileged bird’s-eye view of complex traffic interactions.

“Processing the data in real time allows us to understand traffic flows and disruptions as they’re happening,” says Elder. These disruptions are often the result of major construction projects or sporting events.

“If you're running a FIFA World Cup event, you need to know within seconds or minutes how traffic is changing, so you can adapt – divert this road, open that gate, and so forth.”

His research aligns with CAIS’s mission to collaborate with domain experts and public policy leaders in seeking equitable technological solutions to priority societal challenges while respecting privacy and data ownership concerns.

“What we're working on now is a universal mobility platform that can integrate all three of these different modalities – hardwired and temporary terrestrial cameras and drones – to give a more complete picture toward mitigating congestion and emissions. If we can make traffic more efficient through better traffic analytics, then we can contribute to the economy by making the transit times of people and goods shorter. The big wins for society are more efficient commuting, lower costs, lower emissions and hopefully better safety, especially for vulnerable road users,” says Elder.

“Working with public sector agencies like the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and innovative Canadian transportation engineering companies, such as Trans-Plan, our goal is to translate this research into real products that improve quality of life for Canadians.”

Making the built urban environment accessible for wheelchair users is something Assistant Professor Mahtot Gebresselassie of York’s Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change is working on. She received a Connected Minds seed grant for her AI and Disability Accessibility in Toronto project as well as a Connected Minds travel grant to work with researchers at Mekelle University in Ethiopia.

She hopes to pilot the project in the Jane and Finch area of Toronto and at �첥��Ƶ’s Keele Campus.

“If you're a wheelchair user or a person with other types of disability, the built environment is not made for you, unfortunately.”

Planners, urban designers and architects don't always think about the user, she adds, and when they do, it is not usually a person with a disability. She should know as an architect and urban planner herself.

“Because wheelchairs require space, it’s really difficult for wheelchair users to maneuver the built environment if it is not made with their needs in mind,” says Gebresselassie.

That’s particularly true for pedestrian sidewalks and intersections where things like electric poles, potholes, or a slope that’s too steep, can become barriers. “Wheelchair users should be able to use pedestrian infrastructure like everybody else, but such barriers make it challenging for them.”

Just how accessible sidewalks are for wheelchair users is one of the main questions of her research. “The ultimate goal is to be able to scale this out where it can be used for different neighbourhoods or entire cities.” Using AI provides a quicker, more consistent and less expensive way to audit different areas of the city than potentially hundreds of human auditors doing it manually.

“We used the City of Toronto’s accessibility guidelines, extracting the information for wheelchair accessibility and any other pertinent data to develop an AI model combining it with an aerial map of the Jane and Finch area to see which sidewalks are compliant,” says Gebresselassie, who received a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Development Grant for some of her research. The model would also rank streets based on their accessibility.

“Because wheelchairs require space, it’s really difficult for wheelchair users to maneuver the built environment if it is not made with their needs in mind.”

The next step is to develop a smartphone app for wheelchair users that suggests the best routes for a particular destination based on the model’s ranking system. She is doing similar work in the city of Mekelle in Tigray, Ethiopia where she discovered most sidewalks are inaccessible.

Solving mobility challenges and building transportation systems that are safe, inclusive and sustainable are at the core of Professor Gunho Sohn’s research. He is Chair of the Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering at �첥��Ƶ’s Lassonde School of Engineering and the founding director of the , which brings together researchers, industry partners and public agencies to shape the future of smart mobility.

As director of the , Sohn led the creation of a 3D digital twin of �첥��Ƶ’s Keele Campus, developed in partnership with Esri Canada and the ISSUM team. As a dynamic virtual environment, it enables researchers to simulate the interactions between pedestrians, cyclists and sidewalk delivery robots in shared spaces. “We know our cities will soon include autonomous systems alongside humans,” says Sohn. “Digital Twin allows us to design for safety, accessibility and community benefit before deployment.”

His work also extends to large-scale, real-world transit systems. As a lead researcher in the Ontario Train Autonomy Collaboration with Thales Canada, he helped develop AI-based perception systems to support safer autonomous rail operations. Sohn also leads the 3D Mobile Mapping AI program – a $2.6-million collaboration with Teledyne Optech – focused on helping autonomous systems understand and navigate their surroundings without relying on GPS.

His team has developed mapping techniques that combine camera and laser sensing to allow vehicles to “see” and move safely through roads, pathways and public spaces. This work provides the spatial awareness that autonomous mobility systems need to operate reliably and safely in real-world environments.

Sohn’s newest project, Smart Mobility Advanced Research & Training (SMART), recently received $1.65 million in funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Collaborative Research and Training Experience program to train the next generation of experts in AI-driven, connected and sustainable mobility systems.

AI, digital infrastructure, mobility policy and community health experts will collaborate with the Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) and the Opaskwayak Health Authority in Manitoba to co-create mobility solutions tailored to community priorities.

“We’re tackling urgent challenges in health, transportation and accessibility – including the smart delivery of fresh food from OCN’s vertical farm to households, supporting wellness and food security,” says Sohn.

The SMART program builds on Sohn’s previous work with digital twin systems and includes real-time simulation and testing, AI-driven traffic optimization, sustainable mobility using electrification, data governance, and autonomous driving and navigation.

As more roads and highways are built or expanded, navigating the chaos whether a person, robot or vehicle, can be complicated. Sohn, Elder and Gebresselassie are working on solutions to ensure people will be moving seamlessly and safely.

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While that might not seem like a big deal when talking about writing assistance or entertainment, such as the use of GenAI for a building collapse in a Netflix sci-fi series, AI is rapidly becoming integrated into some of the country’s most critical systems – health care, power grids, nuclear power and transportation – and hackers are taking note. AI-enabled cyber threats are capitalizing on vulnerabilities in AI algorithms.

As director of the Behaviour-Centric Cybersecurity Centre (BCCC) at �첥��Ƶ, Associate Professor , Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity, is developing vulnerability detection technology to protect network systems against cyberattacks.

“By linking scientific innovation, creative outreach and international collaboration, we ensure advances in AI-driven cybersecurity contribute to a safer, more informed and globally connected digital society.”

“We are using artificial intelligence both to secure critical technologies and to ensure AI itself remains trustworthy. Our AI-powered models are applied to connected and autonomous vehicles, smart devices, decentralized finance systems and the cloud, where they learn patterns of normal behaviour and flag anomalies before harm occurs,” says Lashkari of the School of Information Technology, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.

“This means detecting malicious signals that could compromise road safety, identifying data leaks from smart homes and detecting fraudulent blockchain transactions across large financial networks.”

Most people will interact with AI via large language models like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, and GenAI platforms, but these systems are increasingly vulnerable to adversarial attacks, data poisoning and malicious misuse.

“Our work develops methods to harden these models, improve their transparency and ensure they remain resilient when deployed in real-world settings. In this way, we are working on both sides of the challenge – using AI to protect people, while also protecting AI from manipulation.”

As a leading cyber threat intelligence centre, the BCCC team investigates innovative ways to secure digital infrastructure by detecting, analyzing and mitigating these threats through real-world challenges.

"We are using artificial intelligence both to secure critical technologies and to ensure AI itself remains trustworthy."

The work is shared in accessible and innovative ways through the Understanding Cybersecurity Series, a global knowledge mobilization program, through books, blogs, open datasets, analytics platforms, workshops and even the international Cybersecurity Cartoon Award. The initiatives are strengthened through national and international collaborations, including with the National Cybersecurity Consortium, research partnerships with Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, academic and industry partners in the United States and ongoing work with research teams in Europe, including Ireland, Germany and Italy.

“By linking scientific innovation, creative outreach and international collaboration, we ensure advances in AI-driven cybersecurity contribute to a safer, more informed and globally connected digital society,” says Lashkari.

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AI can analyze huge, data-rich medical images and enormous quantities of data much faster than a human, but also sometimes better, observing the tiniest of details or changes that doctors cannot see, but that could necessitate a different course of patient treatment. These AI tools can also provide outstandingly accurate predictive analyses.

When it comes to cancer and liver transplant patients, it could mean the difference between a poor outcome and a higher survival rate. �첥��Ƶ researchers of the Lassonde School of Engineering and Divya Sharma of the Faculty of Science are developing AI tools for specific tasks that in some cases give clinicians information they otherwise would not have, with real-world implications for patients.

An associate professor, Sadeghi-Naini is developing AI tools coupled with imaging for brain, ovarian and breast cancers to characterize, monitor and predict different biological processes.

“We can scan these patients ahead of time using state-of-the-art ultrasound..."

He is the principal investigator of a new research project in collaboration with Women’s College Hospital with funding from the New Frontiers in Research Fund to develop a cost-effective, accessible AI platform to analyze the digital pathology images of ovarian cancer. The goal is to determine whether the patient has a genetic condition called homologous recombination deficiency without performing expensive genomic testing.

“It is an important factor in determining if the patient can benefit from available targeted therapies or not, but currently it requires genomic instability analysis to find out that is costly and not always accessible,” says Sadeghi-Naini, director of the Quantitative Imaging and Biomarkers Laboratory at York. That project is just beginning.

“I am also leading projects in collaboration with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre to develop AI frameworks that analyze digital pathology images of routine biopsy samples to predict treatment outcomes for individual breast cancer patients before they go through chemotherapy, to predict their response to treatment. It shows very promising results.”

Innovation York and Sunnybrook, where Sadeghi-Naini is a cross-appointed scientist, are currently in partnership to commercialize a couple of those tools for use.

In about 30 per cent of cases, chemotherapy does not work to shrink tumours effectively, as is the case with some high-risk breast cancers, but currently this is often determined months later after the completion of chemotherapy. “We can scan these patients ahead of time using state-of-the-art ultrasound to acquire raw signal data that after signal processing will generate quantitative ultrasound parametric images.”

The tool can then analyze those images deeper, faster and in more detail, as well as predict patient response to chemo before or shortly after it starts. It is important information that would allow oncologists to choose different treatment options if a chemo regimen is predicted not to work, which could significantly alter the survival rate of those patients who do not respond well.

“Studies show that the response of patients to upfront chemotherapy is linked to survival. Good responders show significantly better survival compared to poor responders,” says Sadeghi-Naini.

He is also working on an AI solution to a different problem, this time for brain cancer patients.

Following stereotactic radiotherapy for brain tumours, there is an up to 25 per cent chance a patient will experience radiation necrosis, a complication that can occur months to years later and is difficult for doctors to discern from brain tumour recurrence or progression.

“The problem here is that on the standard anatomical imaging, they appear very similar to each other,” he says. “That’s a challenge because radiation necrosis and tumour progression are two quite different things with different treatment approaches.”

In a recent study involving more than 90 patients with 230 brain tumours, Sadeghi-Naini and the team developed an AI platform that can analyze images of the brain using a new advanced MRI technique. Manually analyzing tumours on this multi-channel MRI is complicated, but with AI-guided methods it is much easier to distinguish between radiation necrosis, tumour progression or tumour recurrence.

“Our AI tools will not only help to predict but also improve long-term health outcomes for transplant patients by reducing disparities.”

He also leads development of an AI system to streamline analysis of repeated MRI scans for each brain cancer patient, a faster process that can better monitor and categorize tumour changes from one scan to another. In addition, he is working on an AI platform that can analyze early imaging of brain tumours and detect features invisible to the human eye, but that can provide information on the long-term outcome of the tumour, which may require a change in treatment.

“These are all cost-effective AI decision support tools for oncologists that inform personalized treatments and streamline their daily workflow, ultimately contributing to better patient care,” says Sadeghi-Naini. His research has garnered funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the National Research Council of Canada, the Terry Fox Foundation and others.

Sadeghi-Naini does not think AI can replace oncologists or radiologists, but says, “it can provide valuable complementary information, improve accessibility to precision therapeutics, save time and resources, and streamline and triage more complicated cases for expert review,” all providing added benefits to patients.

Sharma, an assistant professor and co-principal investigator on two recent CIHR project grants worth close to $3 million, is creating more equitable access to liver transplants through a national framework and developing a multimodal AI tool to improve success rates following liver transplantation.

The goal of the five-year national framework project with the University Health Network (UHN) and others is to understand the roadblocks to preventing fair access for all patients on the liver transplant waitlist, create an ethical, data-driven AI model framework to ensure equal access to donor organs going forward, and improve post-transplant outcomes.

“As part of developing an equitable AI-driven framework, we will include diverse voices in its development process. We will also analyze data on liver disease and transplants for all patients, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, sex and gender, to identify and address inequalities,” says Sharma, who leads York’s IMPACT-AI lab and is a scientist at UHN.

“Our AI tools will not only help to predict but also improve long-term health outcomes for transplant patients by reducing disparities.”

Some three million Canadians from all sectors of society are affected by liver disease. Although transplants can be life saving for those with end-stage liver disease, access is not equal and about 5,000 patients die from end-stage liver disease annually.

“Building trust and understanding around the new AI technology is an important piece of our project. By talking with patients, doctors and technology experts about what our AI model will do and how it can improve the process and the outcome, it can help ensure the adoption and clinical success of the framework,” says Sharma, who earned a 2025 Petro-Canada Emerging Innovator Award and a New Frontiers in Research Fund grant to develop genomic data-driven generative AI for pancreatic cancer.

“Ensuring the framework model is ethical from the beginning is key in reversing inequities to liver transplants some patients currently experience across Canada.”

"We will also analyze data on liver disease and transplants for all patients, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, sex and gender, to identify and address inequalities."

However, once a patient receives a liver transplant there is a high potential for serious complications. Up to 25 per cent of recipients will develop graft fibrosis or scarring from immunosuppressant medications or through organ rejection. Sharma’s second five-year project with UHN hopes to address this by developing a multimodal AI tool to predict patients at high risk of graft scarring.

“Our AI tools will not only help to predict but also improve long-term health outcomes for transplant patients by reducing disparities.”

Sharma says they previously used clinical and laboratory data from about 2,000 transplant recipients to develop a mathematical model to diagnose the condition. They will now expand the model’s capabilities using pathology and ultrasound imaging data so that it can also predict the future risk of scarring. The hope is it will lead to earlier diagnosis, and the development of better prevention and treatment strategies to improve outcomes.

The work of both projects are designed to have clinical benefits in hospitals and transplant centres that will result in improved and more equitable patient care. Sharma is also co-first author on a recent paper in the journal , which highlights the team’s work with GraftIQ, a neural network model designed to be a non-invasive diagnostic tool for liver graft injury.

These are some of the ways York researchers are capitalizing on the ability of well-designed, ethical and safe AI tools to provide real health benefits to patients, now and into the future.

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Creative Collectivities: Rehearsing Equitable Futures Through Participatory Technologies

Led by Professor of �첥��Ƶ’s School of Arts, Media, Performance & Dance (AMPD) and Assistant Professor Michael Wheeler of Queen’s University, this team will explore how AI, virtual reality and immersive theatre can reshape social connection and collective behaviour. Collaborating with equity-focused theatre companies and community groups representing Indigenous, 2SLGBTQIA+, racialized and disabled communities, they will co-create experimental platforms centred on diverse voices and expand access to cultural participation.

Wearable EEG for Personalized Epilepsy Management

Current epilepsy monitoring tools can be uncomfortable, inaccessible and limited when supporting real-time care at home. Led by �첥��Ƶ Associate Professor of York’s Lassonde School of Engineering and Queen’s University Professor Gavin Winston, this team is developing a smart, wearable EEG headset device designed for clinical accuracy, long-term comfort and ethical use in everyday environments. The device integrates AI-powered chips to detect abnormalities and forecast seizures in real time, while accounting for diverse anatomical and hair-type differences.

Co-creating Intelligent Neuro-technologies for Healthy Aging (CINTHEA)

Older adults often face challenges related to mobility, cognitive health and social isolation. Led by �첥��Ƶ Professor of York’s Lassonde School of Engineering and Queen’s University Associate Professor Vincent DePaul, the team is developing AI-powered systems, such as lab-grade mobile assessments and socially assistive robots, to monitor the cognitive, physical and social well-being of older adults while promoting independence and connection.

When People Talk, Listen Completely

Canadians with speech impairments face significant barriers to employment, often due to stigma and a lack of accessible workplace supports. A team, led by Queen’s University Associate Professor Claire Davies and co-led by �첥��Ƶ Associate Professor of AMPD, is developing AI-driven communication technologies, educational tools and workplace strategies to improve employment access for Canadians with speech impairments. The team is advancing four interconnected research streams: AI-powered assistive technologies, inclusive workplace design, employer education and long-term strategies for equity in employment.

The Biskaabiiyaang Indigenous Metaverse: Ethical Virtual Environments Rooted in Indigenous Knowledge

Indigenous communities face ongoing barriers to cultural preservation and digital sovereignty in spaces often shaped by colonial frameworks. This project is led by �첥��Ƶ Associate Professor , Glendon Campus, a research associate in the Centre for Indigenous Knowledges and Languages, and Associate Professor of York’s AMPD and program coordinator of creative technologies at the Markham Campus. It blends Anishinaabe knowledge with immersive technology to create Biskaabiiyaang, an Indigenous-governed virtual learning environment designed to support language revitalization, cultural resurgence and healing. Co-created with Indigenous communities, this project charts a path for ethical innovation that advances Indigenous cultural resurgence, strengthens digital sovereignty and reshapes how technology serves diverse knowledge systems. Chacaby also received Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council funding for this project.

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“As the world continues to address urgent global challenges such as climate change, global health crises and political polarization, and their impact on people and the planet, it is critical now more than ever for York to support novel interdisciplinary research collaborations that drive innovative solutions to these grand challenges,” says York President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton. “�첥��Ƶ is home to some of the brightest researchers in the world, and I am inspired by the talent, drive, and commitment of our researchers to making the world a better place.”

“York is pleased to invest in interdisciplinary research clusters that will continue to amplify York’s world class research excellence,” says Vice-President Research & Innovation (VPRI) Amir Asif. “The CIRC program brings together talented researchers from across disciplines and faculties, supporting research that will help address complex global issues identified in the UN SDGs, and driving positive change in our local and global communities.”

Seven projects will receive $150,000 per year over three years:

Catalyzing Interdisciplinary Research Cluster for Detection and Remediation of Water Contaminants (CIRC-DRWC)
UN SDG 6: Clean Water & Sanitation 

Led by Satinder Brar, Lassonde School of Engineering, with co-Principal Investigators (PIs) Pouya Rezai, Lassonde School of Engineering, James Orbinski, Faculty of Health, Sylvie Morin, Faculty of Science, and Ali Asgary, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS)

Catalyzing Collective Action at the Intersection of Global Health and the Arts
UN SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being 

Led by Caitlin Fisher, School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design (AMPD) with co-PI Steven Hoffman Faculty of Health, and Sharon Hayashi (AMPD)

From Colonial Genocide to Just Relationships
UN SDG 16: Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions

Led by Luann Good Gingrich (LA&PS) with co-PI Heidi Matthews, Osgoode Hall Law School

Technologies for Identification and Control of Infectious Diseases (TICID)
UN SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being

Led by Sergey Krylov, Faculty of Science

Geomatics for Analyzing Climate Change Effects on Ecosystems and Human Populations
UN SDG 13: Climate Action

Led by Tarmo Remmel, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change (EUC)

Translating Brain Signals Across Scales, Species, Sex and Lifespan
UN SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being 

Led by Jeff Schall, Faculty of Science with co-PI Shayna Rosenbaum, Faculty of Health

Designing Sound Futures: Inclusive Design and Transdisciplinary STEAM Learning
UN SDG 10: Reduced Inequality

Led by Kurt Thumlert, Faculty of Education with Co-PI Andreas Kitzmann (LA&PS)

In addition, six other proposals that were highly ranked by external reviewers will each be awarded two-year funding of $100,000 per year for two years for a total of $200,000 each. These proposals include:

Biomedical Engineering Cluster (BEC)
UN SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being

Led by Alex Czekanski, Lassonde School of Engineering with co-PI Peter Backx, Faculty of Science

Towards Inclusive and Accessible Data Visualizations and Analytics
UN SDG 10: Reduced Inequality

Led by Enamul Prince (LA&PS)

Overcoming Epidemics: Transnational Black Communities’ Response, Recovery and Resilience
UN SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being

Led by Mohamed Sesay (LA&PS) with co-PIs Sylvia Bawa (LA&PS) and Oghenowede Eyawo, Faculty of Health

Research Cluster on Data Economy, aligned with UN SDG: Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure
UN SDG 9: Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure

Led by Xiaohui Yu (LA&PS) with co-PIs Giuseppina D’Agostino, Osgoode Hall Law School, and Jennifer Pybus (LA&PS)

*Social and Business Implications of Introducing Micro-mobility Vehicles (at York) Implications for Disruptive Technologies and Experiential Education
UN SDG 10: Reduced Inequality

Led by Andrew Maxwell, Lassonde School of Engineering with co-PIs Marina Freire-Gormaly, Lassonde School of Engineering, Pilar F Carbonell (LA&PS), Manos Papangelis, Lassonde School of Engineering and Jose Etcheverry, (EUC)

*Towards Sustainable Extraction in the North, aligned with UN SDG: Responsible Consumption and Production
UN SDG 12: Responsible Consumption & Production

Led by Laura McKinnon, Glendon College with co-PIs Kamelia Atefi-Monfared, Lassonde School of Engineering, Gabrielle Slowey (LA&PS), Zachary Spicer, (LA&PS)

“We would like to acknowledge the members of the internal Adjudication Committee: Professors Rosemary Coombe, David Hood, Jane Heffernan and Dan Zhang, who have helped the Office of the VPRI support research excellence in ways that are equitable, diverse and inclusive,” adds Asif.

*Conditionally approved, subject to additional review. 

More about the Catalyzing Interdisciplinary Research Clusters Program

The Catalyzing Interdisciplinary Research Clusters (CIRC) program funds research excellence for interdisciplinary projects, crossing the mandates of at least two of the three federal granting councils, with the core team of at least five researchers for each project including members from at least two faculties and at least one early career researcher.

Modelled to replicate the success of interdisciplinary research clusters, the initiative empowers clusters to achieve research excellence and secure large-scale funding through highly competitive national programs, such as the Canada Excellence Research Chair, the Canada First Research Excellence Fund and the New Frontiers in Research Fund – Transformation stream. The CIRC program will scale the development of research teams and clusters to position the University as a key node in national and international networks in strategic areas of interest, while enabling impactful contributions towards the University’s Strategic Research Plan, the University Academic Plan and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

All proposals received were subjected to expert external peer review, with final decisions informed by an internal adjudication committee comprised of senior York researchers with additional representatives from the Office of the VPRI. 

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�첥��Ƶ’s Board of Governors appoints Kathleen Taylor as Chancellor

Kathleen Taylor began her three-year term as York’s 14^th Chancellor on January 1, 2023. An accomplished York alumna and business executive, Chancellor Taylor holds a Master of Business Administration from Schulich School of Business and a Juris Doctor (JD) from Osgoode Hall Law School. She was the first woman to chair the board of a major Canadian bank and is the first woman to serve as York Chancellor. 

�첥��Ƶ appoints Mike Layton as inaugural Chief Sustainability Officer

Mike Layton joined �첥��Ƶ in March 2023 as its first Chief Sustainability Officer. The former Toronto City Councillor is a York alumnus and holds a Master of Environmental Studies. Layton will lead York’s Office of Sustainability, play a key role in the development of the University’s new Sustainability Strategy, and drive new initiatives through the University’s Sustainability Innovation Fund. The Chief Sustainability Officer advances York’s contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

�첥��Ƶ appoints Alice Pitt as Interim VP Equity, People, and Culture

Alice Pitt, a long-serving York community member, was appointed interim vice president equity, people and culture on April 1 for a term ending on December 31, 2023. Pitt first joined York in 1995 in the Faculty of Education where she became dean, and then served as vice-provost academic from 2012 to 2020. Equity, People and Culture is a recently formed division at York and includes Human Resources, Labour Relations including Employee Relations and �첥��Ƶ’s Centre for Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion. 

Funding Annoucements

�첥��Ƶ awarded $1.65M NSERC grant to develop future pharmaceutical technology

In April 2023, a York research team led by Distinguished Research Professor Sergey Krylov received $1.65 million from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) grant funds the Technology-Enhance Pharmaceutical Discovery (TEPD) program, which will mentor and train graduate students to become highly qualified personnel and enhance Canada’s global competitiveness by fueling innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. Students will graduate with industrial and academic research expertise, ready to be leaders in Canadian pharmaceutical research and development.

New professorship in Modern Spanish History funded with $1M donation

A $1 million donation announced in March 2023 from the Mackenzie-Papineau Memorial Fund establishes an endowed professorship that supports scholarship, research and teaching in Modern Spanish History. Officially named the Mackenzie-Papineau Memorial Professorship in Modern Spanish History, the professorship helps York continue its long-standing scholarship and instruction on the role the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion played in the Spanish civil war. The new faculty position is scheduled to be in place by mid-2024.

Markham Campus receives $5M from York alumnus

In February 2023, the building’s frame for York’s Markham Campus was completed with a “topping-off” ceremony and the announcement of a $5 million donation for capital construction costs from Metropia, a real estate development company founded by York alumnus Howard Sokolowski. In honour of Sokolowski’s generous gift, the first and second floors of the new building will be named the Metropia Student Success Centre. Markham Campus will offer academic programs and conduct research related to technology and entrepreneurship. The campus is slated to open in spring 2024.

Research partnerships

�첥��Ƶ named academic lead for UN’s new global Water Academy

�첥��Ƶ, in partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), announced the launch of the Water Academy at the UN Water Conference in March 2023. The Water Academy will bring together several academic institutions and business executives from the five largest beverage companies in the world and advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals. As an education platform, the academy will deliver innovative training on pressing water-related issues, develop scientifically based water solutions to inform water policies and programmes, and forge skills, knowledge, and awareness for sustainable water management.

�첥��Ƶ partners with Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce to support economic growth for Black-owned businesses and social enterprises 

In March 2023, �첥��Ƶ signed a memorandum of understanding with the Canadian Black Chamber of Conference to boost economic opportunities for Black-owned businesses and social enterprises. The MOU commits both organizations to share knowledge and best practices with one another to help break down barriers and creates a pathway for CBCC members to fast-track applications in York’s first-of-its-kind Social Procurement Vendor Portal. The portal supports York’s commitment to community economic development, vendor diversity, and the innovative drive to change how the University buys goods and services. York was the first university in Ontario to open its procurement process to non-third party certified diverse vendors and social enterprises. 

�첥��Ƶ signs five-year MOU with Town of Newmarket to create positive change

In September 2022, �첥��Ƶ signed a memorandum of understanding with the Town of Newmarket, located a half hour drive away from Keele campus. The MOU is a five-year agreement that formalizes the partnership and focuses on three main areas: exploring new opportunities for the Town of Newmarket to host or develop programming, experiential learning opportunities for York students in the town of Newmarket, and research collaborations and community education opportunities between both parties.

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