Stephen Gaetz (right), professor and associate dean in the Faculty of Education, has received more than $2.5 million in funding over seven years to lead “Canadian Observatory on Homelessness”, with more than 27 researchers – including Professor Janet Mosher at Osgoode Hall Law School, Professor Valerie Preston in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) and Professor Stan Shapson in the Faculty of Education − and 29 partner organizations. The project, a non-partisan research and policy partnership, aims to evaluate current policy directions and programmatic approaches to preventing and reducing homelessness, address key policy questions, and support the development and implementation of effective and sustainable solutions to homelessness in communities across Canada. The goal is to mobilize research on homelessness so it has a greater impact on policy and practice, leading to more effective solutions to homelessness. The project, which will also receive more than $2.5 million in matching funding and contributions from partnering organizations, will leverage the collaborative, research and knowledge mobilization capacities of participating individuals and organizations.

Anna Hudson (left), professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts, has received more than $3.5 million over six years to lead a major project titled “Mobilizing Inuit Cultural Heritage: a multi-media/multi-platform re-engagement of voice in visual art and performance”, with 10 researchers – including Professor Susan Dion in the Faculty of Education and Professor Angela Norwood from the Faculty of Fine Arts – and nine partner organizations. The goal of the project is to conduct collaborative research on the contribution of Inuit visual culture, art and performance to Inuit language preservation, social well-being and cultural identity. The project will address the current disconnect for Inuit today between orality – being the voice that defines the self in relation to others – and materiality – being the environment in which one lives well together through three primary objectives: access to advanced information and communication technologies, connection of Inuit voice to objects of Inuit cultural heritage and expanded creation of Inuit cultural capacity. It will receive an additional $1.9 million in matching funding and contributions from partnering organizations.

Leah Vosko (right), Canada Research Chair in the Political Economy of Gender and Work and political science professor, LA&PS, has received more than $2 million in funding over five years to lead a major national project with 33 researchers – including Professor Mark Thomas in the Department of Sociology and Professor Eric Tucker at Osgoode Hall Law School − and 16 partner organizations. The project, titled “Closing the Enforcement Gap: Improving Employment Standards Protection for People in Precarious Jobs”, will examine the role of employment standards enforcement in ensuring minimum conditions in areas such as wages, working time, vacations and leaves for workers in precarious jobs in Ontario, characterized by job insecurity, low income and limited access to regulatory protection. The objectives of the project, which will receive more than an additional $1.3 million in matching funding and contributions from partnering organizations, are to map the nature and scope of employment standards violations and document enforcement practices to identify regulatory challenges and develop alternative models of enforcement that may be applied in Ontario and other jurisdictions within Canada and internationally.

“We are delighted by the results of these recent SSHRC competitions, enabling York to maintain our track record in leading the country in the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada’s large-scale awards competitions valued at $1 million or more,” said Robert Haché, York’s vice-president research and innovation. “The projects led by York Professors Stephen Gaetz, Anna Hudson and Leah Vosko enable our researchers to work together with research partners to address persistent, social and economic challenges facing our society today. It will also enable our researchers and graduate students to make important contributions to our country’s knowledge base.”

Two York researchers were also awarded more than $397,000 in SSHRC funding through the Partnership Development Grants program. The program encourages applicants to work collaboratively with partners to develop research in the social sciences and humanities. This funding will support partnerships between York researchers and Canadian and international universities, a charitable organization and an international association.

Gary Goodyear, federal minister of state for science and technology, announced the funding on Friday, May 31, at the launch of the annual Congress of the Humanities & Social Sciences.  In total, more than $63 million is being awarded over a period of seven years to support 78 research teams across the country through SSHRC’s Partnership Grants and Partnership Development Grants. An additional $104 million from SSHRC’s Talent Program will support more than 3,700 master’s, doctoral and postdoctoral scholarships and fellowships.

An analysis conducted by the Strategic & Institutional Research Initiatives Unit, in the Office of Research Services at York, revealed that between 2006 and 2013, York researchers received more SSHRC awards valued at $1 million or more than any other institution in Canada. SSHRC’s large-scale awards offered between 2001 and 2013 have included the Community-University Research Alliance (CURA), Major Collaborative Research Initiatives (MCRI), the Strategic Knowledge Clusters and the SSHRC Partnership Grants.

For a complete list of Partnership Grant and Partnership Development Grant awards, visit the website.

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The Principal’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Research will also be presented at the event.

“Glendon College is renowned for offering a bilingual education across a wide range of liberal arts disciplines, with a focus on public and international affairs and the study of languages and cultures,” said Robert Haché, York’s vice-president research & Innovation.  “This festival of research provides an opportunity for members of the York community to learn more about the diversity and broad range of research initiatives taking place at Glendon College.”

“I am delighted to welcome the York community to this first Glendon Research Festival. Our campus has more than 85 researchers conducting a wide array of projects in fields ranging from mathematics to drama studies, from neuroscience to political science," said Glendon Principal Kenneth McRoberts. The events held this year will feature exciting research on Quebec, education, Aboriginal linguistics and French-English translation. We will also recognize the recent achievements of our colleagues and honour the recipient of the Principal Research Award during an afternoon celebration. We hope that members of the York community can join us for the Glendon Research Festival and take this opportunity to visit Glendon's beautiful new facilities.”

The festival offers four research events: 

A bilingual conference on the student mobilization in Quebec will be held from 9:45am to 1pm in the BMO Conference Centre at Glendon College.  The conference is organized by Glendon political science Professor Francis Garon and the . Five panellists will explain the social and political origins of the “carré rouge” movement and explore its implications for student tuitions fees and for post-secondary education policies in both Quebec and Ontario.  for more details.

The education is presenting  a special lecture on linguistic and Aboriginal literacy by expert Barbara Burnaby from Memorial University in Newfoundland. The lecture will be an opportunity to learn about how public policy and educational initiatives can help to teach, develop and stabilize the Innu language in Labrador and elsewhere in Canada. The lecture is at the Glendon Auditorium, York Hall A100, from 6 to 7pm.

Professor Aurélia Klimkiewicz and the Glendon Translation Department are organizing a lecture (in French) on translation theory. Guest speaker Annick Chapdelaine, a translation theorist, translator and literary specialist at McGill University in Montreal, will discuss the challenges of dualist taxonomies in translation. She will draw examples from her work on celebrated American writer William Faulkner. The lecture will take place in the Senior Common Room, third floor, York Hall, from 6 to 6:40pm.

The principal’s office and the Glendon Research Services will host their annual celebration of Faculty research achievements by honouring the recipients of the Awards for Excellence in Teaching and in Research. This celebration provides an opportunity to recognize the success of those colleagues who have received research funding and those who have published books and articles since November 2011. Members of the York community are invited to attend the celebration in the Senior Common Room, third floor, York Hall, from 4 to 5:30pm .

For more information please contact Michael Ah Choon, acting research officer, Glendon College at ext. 66829 or mahchoon@glendon.yorku.ca.

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Dynamic and contemporary, the works were given by 37 of the society's members. They include watercolours, oil and acrylic paintings, photographs and drawings representing a wide variety of subject matter and styles.

Above: A Harmony in Grey and Yellow, 1897 by Mary Augusta Hiester Reid, OSA. Oil on canvas, 34.3 x 90.2 centimetres. Government of Ontario Art Collection, Archives of Ontario 619739.

The OSA has a long and impressive history of encouraging, supporting and promoting the province’s visual arts community. Founded in Toronto in 1872 by seven artists, the society’s goal was to provide better public access to art and art education. Its first exhibition was held in 1873 and featured 252 works by 22 artists. More than 5,000 people attended the inaugural exhibition.

A strong link between the society and the provincial government was formed at the 1873 exhibition when the government made some of its first art purchases there. Well over 200 years later, works from the OSA are finding homes in the Government of Ontario Art Collection.

Gifted is curated by the Archives of Ontario’s Outreach Officer Stewart Boden, and runs until Oct. 12 in the Helen McClung Exhibit Area at the Archives of Ontario building on York's Keele campus.

Members of the �첥��Ƶ community are invited to view the exhibit. The Archives is open Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm, Tuesday and Thursday to 8pm, and Saturday, from 10am to 4pm.

For more information, visit the website.

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The honour comes with a $10,000 grant to help Singh, of York’s School of Nursing in the Faculty of Health, promote her nursing education research through inquiry, mentorship and dissemination.

The annual award was created as a way for CASN to support research in nursing education being carried out by a Canadian scholar. Singh is the award's second recipient.

Mina Singh

Singh was chosen as the Pat Griffin Scholar for her influential research in the area of accountability in education and practice, curriculum development and design, as well as international development in nursing education. In addition, it was noted that she has a solid record of mentoring nursing students.

Her interests also include mental health and community health nursing. She is a member of York’s Faculty of Graduate Studies and a reviewer for the Canadian Journal of Neuroscience Nursing, formerly AXON, which is a peer reviewed journal published three times a year.

As part of the grant, which recognizes the leadership contributions of the late Pat Griffin, who was executive director of the CASN from 2005 to 2007, Singh will deliver the Pat Griffin Annual Lecture at the CASN council meeting.

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CCC is a new national initiative that creates supportive environments and works to remove institutional barriers to collaboration between the community and postsecondary educational institutions.

The initiative and the partners who made it possible are a subject of interest for David Johnston, the governor general of Canada.

On May 26, Johnston referred to the CCC initiative in his keynote address, , delivered to delegates at the 2012 Congress of the Humanities & Social Sciences. “The community-campus collaboration fostered by United Way-Centraide and the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council is quite simply a superb initiative," said Johnston. “It will help us ensure that social innovation is a key component of Canada’s innovation landscape. This initiative also provides us with a catalytic vehicle to apply knowledge and develop experiential learning.”

to view Johnston's address to Congress.

Over the past year, in response to a call for feedback on CCC initiatives at a meeting held in April 2011 attended by Johnston, Centraide Canada and Research Impact, working with �첥��Ƶ and UWCC, conducted a scan of university-community collaborative projects led by the United Way.  The organizations identified a total of 88 projects of interest.

Four of the projects identified by the scan were selected for further research to better understand the barriers and enablers of effective community and university collaboration. York Vice-President of Research & Innovation Robert Haché invested in funding the research, which was carried out by York education Professor Steven Gaetz and York's Knowledge Mobilization Unit.

One of the projects selected for further investigation was a collaboration between �첥��Ƶ and the United Way of York Region. This collaboration, which started in 2010, resulted in the creation of Strength Investments, a funding mechanism that has allowed UWYR to invest some $300,000 into citizen-led approaches to address community opportunities. For more information, read the article on Strength Investments that is available on the Mobilize This! Blog.

York, SSHRC and UWCC took their collaboration a step further and developed a paper on the CCC concept. The paper provided a platform for a round-table discussion that was held on May 26, and attended by the governor general. Haché and David Phipps, director, Research Services & Knowledge Exchange, were invited to participate in the round-table discussion, which included representatives from the Canadian Federation of Humanities & Social Sciences (CFHSS), SSHRC, United Way Centraide Canada and national stakeholders at the Congress of the Social Sciences & Humanities. The purpose of the meeting was to engage partners in advancing CCC.

Robert Haché

“The CCC initiative encourages communities and universities to work more closely together on engaged scholarship and learning,” said Haché. “York has many community-university assets to bring to this conversation, including our national leadership in knowledge mobilization, the TD Centre for Community Engagement and all of the initiatives funded by the Academic Innovation Fund that support students working in collaboration with community partners.”

“York's Knowledge Mobilization Unit has worked closely with our local community and public sector partners, especially UWYR, to develop services that support knowledge mobilization and engaged scholarship, and we are pleased to play a leading role in this pan-Canadian initiative,” added Phipps.

The CCC Initiative includes , with the , the , , , , , , , and .

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In September 2011, the dynamic process to revision the University’s existing Centre for the Support of Teaching (CST) was launched by Sue Vail, York’s associate vice-president teaching & learning.

Sue Vail

“This initiative represents the commitment of the Office of the Vice-President Academic & Provost to advance the priorities of the University Academic Plan through providing enhanced support for teaching and learning at York,” said Vail. “Further contributing to this important focus was the creation of the associate vice-president portfolio on teaching and learning and the establishment of the Academic Innovation Fund, which supported 39 projects this year.

“These inspired projects have contributed significantly to building systems for eLearning, experiential education and the first-year student experience.”

Vail established a CST Revisioning Work Group to consult with the University community and develop a new model for teaching and learning support. During March and April, members of the work group met with students, faculty and staff who shared their ideas, concerns and advice about teaching and learning support at �첥��Ƶ.

“A discussion framework document was circulated which set out a proposed name, vision, mission and areas of responsibility for a new teaching and learning support centre,” said Vail.

The Work Group responded to requests for consultation sessions from eight faculties, meeting with their teaching and learning committees or leadership teams. Consultations were also held with the Librarian Forum and graduate students. Input was sought from potential University partners, including the Career Centre, the University Libraries, the Learning Commons, Learning & Technology Services, the Writing Centre and Learning & Organizational Development.  Each of the partners welcomed the opportunity to work more closely with the Teaching Commons.

“The directions laid out in the framework document were well received, as was our proposed new name – the Teaching Commons,” said Vail. “The feedback was rich and thoughtful, and consistent with what was collected through the earlier green and white paper processes.”

“Colleagues felt strongly that the Teaching Commons must play a role in improving the culture of teaching and learning at �첥��Ƶ,” she said, “and that this culture shift will require open and ongoing collaborations with faculties.”

Areas of needed support identified through the consultations include: utilizing eLearning and experiential education as learning tools; writing learning outcomes and undertaking curriculum mapping; developing innovative pedagogy and teaching strategies for large classes; and building course assessment approaches.

“The majority of those consulted strongly encouraged the Teaching Commons to work with the Faculty of Graduate Studies to develop a comprehensive system of support for tutorial and graduate assistants,” noted Celia Popovic, an educational developer in the Office of the Associate Vice-President Teaching & Learning  and a member of the Work Group. “Many emphasized the need to provide new faculty members with orientation sessions, as well as ongoing professional support throughout the year.”

Work on a new model for teaching and learning support will continue through the spring. Discussions regarding the resourcing needs of the Teaching Commons are taking place within the context of a strategic planning process.

In the interim, to ensure that faculty and graduate students are supported through this developmental period, two new educational developers will be recruited to work with Popovic for 2012-2013. They will contribute to laying the groundwork for the new Teaching Commons, which is set to open in September 2012.

A second round of consultations with the University community will take place this fall. “We welcome all feedback as we continue to shape the Teaching Commons. Suggestions may be sent to Celia Popovic or me by e-mail to sperara@yorku.ca,” said Vail.

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The recent federal budget reinforced the importance the government is placing on putting its fiscal house in order with some programs receiving cuts in excess of 10 per cent.

Within that overall context of restraint is a welcome affirmation of the government’s strong commitment to research and innovation, with funding programs largely preserved and substantial new commitments made.  At the same time, the new investments focus predominantly on Canada’s innovation agenda, while the importance of supporting fundamental research is acknowledged in less tangible ways. It is explicitly stated on page 271 of the budget document that "programming in support of basic research, student scholarships and industry-related research initiatives and collaborations are preserved."

The budget has reaffirmed the importance of Tri-Council funding by returning mandated budget cuts in the form of $37 million in new investment, albeit with a focus on industry-academic partnerships. This leaves Tri-Council with stable overall budget envelopes in the present fiscal year and the hope that next year’s mandated budget cut of $31.3 million may be similarly rescued through the infusion of additional new monies.

The long-term investment in the Canada Foundation for Innovation ($500 million over five years, beginning in 2014) and the doubling of support for graduate students to gain workplace experience through the Industrial Research & Development Internship Program, are further positive signals of the importance the government places on high-quality university research, and in attracting and retaining top students and researchers.

Other notable investments in research and higher education include:

• $40 million over two years to support Canada’s Advanced Research & Innovation Network’s (CANARIE) operation of Canada’s ultra-high-speed research network;
• $60 million for Genome Canada to launch a new applied research competition in the area of human health, and to sustain the Science and Technology Centres until 2014-2015;
• $10 million over two years to the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research to link Canadians to global research networks;
• $5.2 million in 2012–2013 to establish and integrate a network of mental health-related researchers in the Canadian Depression Research & Intervention Network;
• $67 million to assist the National Research Council (NRC) refocus on business-led, industry-relevant research, as well as doubling the contribution budget of the NRC’s highly successful cross-Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) in aid of small and medium enterprises.

These investments can only be seen as encouraging and a reflection of continuing strong support for university sector research. They provide important building blocks to developing knowledge, creativity and innovation within universities, now and into the future.  This is a reality the government recognizes. We are fortunate to have experienced a significant upswing in university research investments over the last decade, with investments having nearly quadrupled since the mid-1990s and continuing to rise despite economic setbacks. Budget 2012 presents a stable agenda for research funding – delivering a longer term message on research and innovation that reinforces the government’s goal, “to position Canada for increased success in the global economy that depends more and more on knowledge and innovation as a key driver of long-term competitiveness.”

Canada’s societal well-being and future economic health depend greatly on our capacity to innovate and build a highly competitive advantage.  This is a vision that �첥��Ƶ shares and will continue to foster in benefiting our researchers. With the sustained support towards higher education and excellence in research and technology, we will continue to work with the government to ensure the continuation of these vital investments – and to reinforce the need to invest equally in the ongoing development of fundamental research.

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The launch will take place March 23, from 2 to 3:30pm, Founders Senior Common Room, 305 Founders College, Keele campus.

Reconsidering Knowledge (Fernwood Publishing) also explores current ideas about feminism in relation to knowledge, education and society, as well as the future potential for feminist research and teaching in the university context. It emerged from the Feminist Knowledge Reconsidered: Feminism and the Academy lecture series held at �첥��Ƶ in 2009.

Connecting early stories of women who defied their exclusion from knowledge creation to contemporary challenges for feminism in universities, this collection assesses how feminist knowledge has influenced dominant thinking and transformed teaching and learning.

Mary Jane Mossman

It also focuses on the challenges for feminism as corporatization redefines the role of universities in a global world. The essays reflect on both historical and contemporary themes from a diversity of disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives. These essays are united in their exploration of how feminism’s continuing contribution to knowledge remains significant, even fundamental, to the transformation of knowledge in the academy and in our world.

Meg Luxton

Mossman, director of feminist legal studies at the Institute for Feminist Legal Studies, is the author of The First Women Lawyers: A Comparative �첥��Ƶ of Gender, Law and the Legal Professions (Hart Publishing, 2006). Luxton is also the co-editor of Neoliberalism and Everyday (McGill-Queens University Press, 2010).

The event co-sponsors include Professor Enakshi Dua, director of York’s Centre for Feminist Research, and Professor Sonia Lawrence, director of Osgoode’s Institute for Feminist Legal Studies.

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Organized by the Faculty's Committee on Research Policy & Planning, the celebration comprises four themed presentations from noon to 1:30pm daily. Scheduled venues include the Senate Chamber, Scott Library Atrium and the York Research Tower.

On Monday, the week begins with "Ideas at Work: Special Research Team Edition" in the Senate Chamber, 9th Floor, North Ross Building. Learning to work with each other is an important learning outcome in university education. In "Ideas at Work", students will discuss how their research can advance knowledge, how their collaborations work and what they are learning from the collaborative research experience.

Presentations by 11 York undergraduates include topics such as the Stanford prison experiment of 1971, a look at the two Canadas through cheese production, supply chain economics and the environment, corporate tax cuts, and pornography and personal narratives.

Tuesday's presentations feature a series of one-minute lectures titled "Instant Knowledge Transfers" by LA&PS Faculty members in the Scott Library Atrium.

Presenting knowledge discovery in an accessible yet precise and concise way is a daily challenge. Faculty members will each present the essence of a discovery in 60 seconds. The lecturers from the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies include:

• Christopher Innes, Distinguished Research Professor and Canada Research Chair in Performance & Culture;
• Naomi Couto, Public Policy & Administration;
• Sophie Bury, business librarian in the Peter F. Bronfman Business Library, Schulich School of Business;
• Lisa Sloniowski, English literature librarian, Scott Library;
• George Georgopoulos, Economics;
• Marie-Helene Budworth, Human Resource Management;
• Luin Goldring, Sociology;
• Alison Kemper, Administrative Studies;
• William Wicken, History;
• Philipp Angermeyer, Languages, Literatures & Linguistics
• Sean Kheraj, History
• Niru Nirupama, Administrative Studies
• Sotirios Liaskos, Information Technology

Wednesday's lunch session in the Senate Chamber features conversations led by Wade Rowland (Communications Studies) with four York professors, titled "Up Close and Personal: Different Research Journeys". Professors George Fallis (Economics and Social Science), William Wicken (History), Darryl Reed (Social Science) and Ananya Mukherjee-Reed (Political Science) will talk about why they chose to become academics and share lessons learned from setbacks and successes in their personal research journeys. After the conversations, student researchers from the Student Council of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies will ask the scholars questions on what they would love to know but did not have the chance to ask before.

In Thursday's final session, in Room 956, York Research Tower, another group from Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies will take part in an interdisciplinary panel discussion titled, "Do the Right Thing: Self-interest vs. Societal Interest". Panel members include:

• Uzo Anucha, Social Work;
• Kym Bird, English;
• Tom Cohen, History & Humanities;
• Paul Grayson, Sociology;
• Richard Wellen, Social Science;
• Brenda Spotton Visano, Economics, Public Policy & Administration

All are welcome. For more information, visit the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies research website.

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TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conferences began in 1984 in Silicon Valley as a way for tech employees to share their ideas and innovations. TEDxYorkU, which is organized independently of TED, will include talks by 11 members of the York community. They will speak about a wide array of topics, including the impact of emerging technology on education, student activism, mobile technology and seniors, and how concussions affect athletes.

TEDxYorkU will be held in Theatre Glendon on the Glendon campus of �첥��Ƶ from 9:30am to 3pm. All of the talks will be streamed live at .

Featured speakers and topics include:

Mamdouh Shoukri, �첥��Ƶ president &  vice-chancellor – "Forty years later I traded a briefcase for a backpack... and I loved it". After 40 years, Shoukri revisited his time as a student thanks to York's inaugural President for a Day contest. The contest saw him swap roles with a student for a full day, in what may be a first for a Canadian university. In this address, he will talk about the contest, his experiences and what he learned from the day. (10:10 to 10:22am)

Patrick Monahan, York  University vice-president academic & provost – "The 21st-Century Revolution in Higher Education". Monahan will explain the transformation already underway in higher education worldwide, driven by technological advances that will enable – and also require – universities to respond to the learning needs of their students in new and different ways. The university in 2025 will be a very different place from what it is today. This transformation will mean more and better educational alternatives, better learning outcomes, and at a lower cost to students themselves. He will also explain how �첥��Ƶ aspires to be a university for and of the 21st century. (11:43 to 11:55am)

Mike Layton, Toronto city councillor (Trinity-Spadina) and a graduate of York’s master of environmental studies program – "Free Energy Retrofits". Layton proposes that to combat climate change, we must take action globally, nationally, locally and in our very homes. He focuses on the latter, outlining a number of things that people can do in their own homes to conserve energy and offset their effects on climate change, focusing on the support and use of municipal legislation. (2:26 to 2:38pm)

Barbara Crow, professor of communications & culture and associate dean, research, in York’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies – "Canadians at the Cross-Roads". Through her research on the impact of mobile technology on seniors, Crow explains the importance of bridging the gap between youth and seniors, as it relates to mobile technology usage. (10:49 to 11:01am)

The event will also include presentations by a number of other speakers. The time of each presentation will be updated on the website. These speakers include:

Lauren Sergio, �첥��Ƶ professor, School of Kinesiology, Faculty of Health – "Impact Matters. Literally". Using her research on the impact of concussions in athletes, Sergio explains that we need to rethink how we know when it’s safe for them to return to play.

Megan Bertasson, Whitebear Woman, York student – "Acimowin – to tell a story". Using Cree storytelling, Bertasson shows the power of stories as agents of resistance, cultural propagation and impact. She leaves the audience with the powerful story of Helen Betty Osborne, a Cree woman brutally assaulted and murdered in Manitoba, asking them to digest, interpret and apply the story in their own way.

Samantha Yamada, York student – "Measuring Impact". Using the example of Pine River, a centre for youth dealing with mental health issues and addiction, of which she is a co-founder, Yamada is arguing for the importance of program- and self-evaluation in being able to make an impact.  She highlights the courage required to acknowledge and overcome failure, and to learn and grow from it.  Evaluation may not be the flashiest form of research, but it is essential to making an impact and difference.

Alastair Woods, York Student – "In Praise of Troublemakers". Woods gives a call to action, praising troublemakers − those who stand up and make their voices heard, pushing governments to be more accountable, and finding ways to operate both within and outside of the existing (imperfect) political system.

Brian Crosby, York alumnus and comedy writer – "All Your Ideas Are Bad: A letter to myself". Presented as a letter to his younger self (and to all of the audience), Crosby is sharing the idea that impact is not something that happens, but a process.  Using examples of "bad ideas" he has come up with throughout his career as a comedy writer, he demonstrates that "failure" is not an end point, but a natural and necessary part of finding success with your passions and being able to make an impact.

Jeremy Laurin, president & CEO, ventureLAB – "Impact - My life as an entrepreneur". Using experiences from his own life, Laurin talks about the impact and influence of his family on his journey to becoming an entrepreneur.

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