Max Rudakov is a co-founder and business lead of Lapis Research, an AI-powered research management platform built to help research teams keep all their work – documents, lab notes, datasets, experimental decisions and project timelines – in one place. It was developed by a five-student team from York, Queen’s University, Western University, the University of Guelph and the University of Waterloo.

When notes, datasets and decisions are dispersed across emails, shared drives and personal laptops, there's no centralized place to see what's been done, why it was done or what the current project status is.

The idea sparked about a year ago with a Reddit post from the team asking whether people were struggling with how documents were organized and used. The strong response – 187,000 views and 350 comments – prompted the team to dig deeper, and conversations with researchers soon showed the issue was pronounced in academic research.

More than a year of interviews with over 100 professors, lab managers and researchers, along with about 20 design partners, kept surfacing the same issues: poor visibility across projects, fragmented documentation and knowledge departing when team members moved on.

For Rudakov, the path to Lapis was as much personal as practical. At Schulich, he found himself questioning the traditional routes into finance and looking for something that better matched his strengths.

"I realized that my skill set belongs in building something from the ground up," he says. "It feels good to know that I can make a change, especially in such a rigorous industry like research."

York's contribution to the development of Lapis is concrete. Rudakov led the business strategy, growth planning and early outreach from his side, and many of the early interviews were conducted with York-based researchers – including people working in kinesiology and oncology research – whose feedback helped shape core features.

The real-world insights helped inform the design of the tool, tailoring it to the specific needs of the academic community.

Lapis works by structuring research projects into linked workspaces. When a researcher finishes an experiment, they can save their data and notes directly to Lapis. The tool automatically records who added the notes and when, creating a clear record of progress.

This means a professor or lab lead can view the activity of multiple projects without sending a single email.

When a new team member joins, they can ask the Lapis AI system, Neural Core, questions such as "What approach did we try for this and why did we change directions?" and receive a summary drawn from the project's files.

“Onboarding can drop from months to a couple of weeks or even days because everything is preserved – the data, the decisions and the reasoning behind why things were done a certain way,” says Rudakov. “A new researcher can open the project and understand the full picture without having to ask everyone what happened before they got there.”

During development, York-based researchers found value in helping to shape those features. Duygu Biricik Gulseren, an associate professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, reviewed the platform and provided insight on how academics manage multiple projects, supervise students at different stages and keep track of different versions of documents and files as multiple people work on them.

"A platform like this can improve coordination and also make the work more transparent and traceable across people and projects," she says.

Eric Ginzburg, an undergraduate student completing an independent study in York's biomechanics lab, also shared feedback, noting he sees the appeal of more centralized system.

"It simplifies the process of handling a team and a larger research project," he says.

Lapis is currently running pilot programs at the University of Guelph and Queen's University.

Rudakov hopes to bring Lapis to York research teams in the next stage of its growth – a natural fit given its development was informed in part through York connections and conversations.

"York has over 50 research teams and the problems we solve are the same ones they deal with every day," he says. "We want the York research community to know Lapis exists, and that it was partly built by York students and shaped by York researchers."

With files from Mzwandile Poncana

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The initiative is part of the ’s fourth-year course Sport and International Development (KINE 4310) that engages students in community-driven projects with local and global organizations.

Led by Associate Professor Lyndsay Hayhurst as part of a community-service learning (CSL) initiative, 45 undergraduate students partnered with seven organizations – Jays Care Foundation, Commonwealth Sport Canada, Free to Run, Skateistan, Prezdential Basketball, Canadian Women & Sport and the International Platform on Sport and Development – to effect real-world change.

Working in small groups, students contributed approximately 25 hours over the term to support partner-identified priorities related to: gender equity; monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning; newcomer inclusion and belonging; climate justice; and youth development.

Each group developed a structured work plan, maintained regular communication with their partner organization and completed a midterm progress report and final report outlining their research, analysis and recommendations.

A core focus of the course was knowledge mobilization, with students producing accessible, action-oriented resources designed to be used in practice by organizations. These outputs included monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) toolkits, policy briefs, infographics, coaching resources and digital content strategies.

The course concluded with a final in-class conference where students presented their knowledge mobilization outputs to partner organizations followed by discussion and feedback from partners and peers.

Partner organizations said the presentations offered practical relevance, clarity and creativity of the presentations, noting that several recommendations would be adopted to inform ongoing programming, evaluation and policy development.

The work, Hayhurst notes, highlights how students are engaging with contemporary challenges shaping sport and development practice.

One project, for example, worked on a policy brief on trans and non-binary inclusion for Canadian Women & Sport just as the International Olympic Committee released new guidance on trans athletes participating in women’s sport.

“The real-time policy shift that is widely interpreted as excluding trans athletes from women’s sports brought urgency to the group’s presentation and sparked conversations about how community sport organizations in Canada can respond with more inclusive, equity-focused approaches,” says Hayhurst.

The Jays Care student group worked on researching how youth-facing barriers to sport participation – and the efforts to address them – shape access, retention and experiences in community baseball. The project maintained a specific gender analysis, with attention to girls’ participation in the broader community-based landscape. Working with Jays Care, students presented an infographic exploring how equity, access, safe spaces, inclusive environments and meaningful participation translate (or fail to translate) into tangible outcomes for girls in baseball across Canada.

Alexandra Blanchard, director of strategy at Jays Care Foundation and York alum, says working with the students was positive experience, noting they were enthusiastic, curious and a pleasure to engage with.

“It's energizing to connect with the next generation of students who are passionate about the field and I'd jump at the chance to do it again,” says Blanchard. “University partnerships like this are a wonderful way to bridge research and community practice, and we'd recommend the experience to any community organization looking to do the same.”

In addition to applied research experience, the CSL model supports skill development in research, communication, teamwork and problem-solving.

“This course has run for the last 10 years with the goal of moving beyond traditional learning by engaging students in collaborative, community-driven projects,” says Hayhurst. “Students are not only developing critical insights into sport, development and social justice, but importantly, they are also creating tangible knowledge mobilization outputs that will be taken up in practice by community partners.”

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Several times a month, a small drone rises above the trees at Swan Lake, following a precise path over the water. Parkgoers who enjoy walking, jogging or birdwatching might assume it’s there to capture scenic footage. Instead, the drone is part of a �첥��Ƶ-led effort to understand – and help restore – the health of an urban lake under pressure.

Swan Lake, a former gravel pit transformed into a stormwater pond and community green space, faces ongoing water quality challenges. As rainwater flows into the site from surrounding roads and neighbourhoods, it carries excess nutrients, road salt and other pollutants. Over time, this can fuel frequent algae growth, cloud the water and reduce oxygen levels, stressing fish and wildlife, limiting recreation and, in some cases, raising public health concerns.

Since April 2025, �첥��Ƶ researchers, led by CIFAL York, have been turning concern about the lake’s health into measurable data and practical action through the Swan Lake Citizen Science Lab (SLCS Lab). The initiative brings together York research centres, including ADERSIM and the One WATER Institute, with local partners such as Friends of Swan Lake Park, a community‑based volunteer organization dedicated to protecting and improving the area’s ecological health.

“Communities often know when something is not right with a local ecosystem, but it’s hard to act without clear, comprehensive and consistent information, as well as meaningful community engagement” says Ali Asgary, director of CIFAL York and professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. “The goal of the lab is to support those concerns with reliable data that can guide real decisions.”

"To assess a lake is to assess ourselves," adds Satinder Kaur Brar, director of the One WATER Institute and professor at the . "Its health card is a mirror of our environmental stewardship."

One way the lab is assessing the lake is through advanced technology, such as the use of multispectral and thermal drones operated by York research teams.

Equipped with special cameras that capture different types of light – including some invisible to the human eye – the drones can detect potential algae growth and subtle changes in water clarity as they scan the lake from above. Flying low and on demand, they provide detailed, up-to-date views of trends across the entire water body, offering a clearer picture than satellite images and a broader perspective than scattered and spot‑by‑spot water sampling.

The drones have already yielded valuable insights, recently shared in a York‑led, under-review study that monitored patterns from spring through fall 2025. By flying the drones roughly once a month and analyzing the findings over time, researchers were able to pinpoint where algae forms, how blooms shift across the seasons and how changes in water cloudiness are driven by biological growth rather than stirred‑up sediment.

The findings confirm what many residents and park managers have long suspected: the lake is rich in nutrients and prone to recurring algae growth. The drone data, however, also reveal something new.

Conditions vary significantly from one area to another, suggesting that targeted, location‑specific interventions may be more effective than broad, one‑size‑fits‑all treatments applied across the entire lake. Knowing where problems emerge helps guide chemical treatments, shoreline naturalization projects and future restoration efforts – and provides a better way to measure whether those interventions are working. "Interconnecting drone data with on-ground water quality can turn ecological signals into informed action that is vital for communities," says Brar.

“What the data made clear is that this isn’t a uniform problem,” adds Asgary. “When conditions vary so much from one part of the lake to another, it changes how you think about solutions. This kind of information allows us to be more precise, more proactive and more strategic in environmental management.”

In addition to monitoring Swan Lake, York‑led teams are working to make the data easier to interpret and use in planning. Researchers are developing AI tools to identify patterns in the drone imagery, anticipate conditions such as algae outbreaks and translate complex trends into clearer insights.

Other teams are using virtual reality and simulation to help users visualize the lake over time and explore how different interventions might affect conditions. Meanwhile, geographic information system (GIS) specialists are turning the results into interactive maps and dashboards that help the public and those involved in lake management understand what is happening across the site.

A core goal of the Swan Lake Citizen Science Lab is to encourage meaningful community engagement and shared stewardship.

“From the start, this was never about researchers working in isolation,” says Asgary. “The goal of the Swan Lake Citizen Science Lab is to create a shared process, where community knowledge and scientific tools come together.”

Local partners are not just observers; they are active partners in the research. Residents take part in field checks, help interpret findings, attend workshops and contribute to outreach efforts that share findings. Alongside them, �첥��Ƶ students gain hands‑on experience applying classroom learning to a real environmental challenge, working with researchers and resident members in a local setting.

For CIFAL York, which is affiliated with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, the work at Swan Lake is a pilot that could inform other communities facing similar pressures on small urban lakes and wetlands.

“The impact here is very tangible,” says Asgary. “Through drones, data and collaboration, we’re building a deeper understanding of how this ecosystem functions and how it can be protected over time. That kind of shared knowledge is what allows stewardship to last.”

Find out more about the SLCS Lab, and see it in action, in the video below.

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Faculty of Science Professor Cora Young and Associate Professor Trevor VandenBoer were recognized through the NASA Group Achievement Award for their contributions to the Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas (AEROMMA) campaign, a joint effort between NASA and the The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to study air quality and climate interactions across North America.

The award is reserved for those who have made exceptional contributions to NASA's mission and scientific endeavours.

AEROMMA combined aircraft, ground-based measurements and satellite observations to study how contemporary emissions from cities and oceans affect air quality and climate. NASA and NOAA approached York to lead the Toronto supersite, one of several measurement hubs established in major North American cities to contribute to the campaign's airborne data.

Young served as scientific lead, coordinating a team of 25 to 30 researchers; VandenBoer served as logistical lead, overseeing the physical transformation of York's rooftop laboratory – on the Petrie Science and Engineering Building – to host the research.

Also involved were York colleagues Mark Gordon, associate professor at the , and Rob McLaren, professor emeritus in the Department of Chemistry.

Collaborators came from across Canada and internationally, including Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and the University of York in the U.K.

York graduate and undergraduate students had the opportunity to work on the project with those visiting researchers.

"Our ability to bring together this strong team of researchers allowed us to ensure it was worthwhile for AEROMMA to include Toronto," says Young. "Otherwise, we would have missed out on this unprecedented opportunity to learn about modern air quality here."

The 2023 summer AEROMMA project unfolded during a period of intense wildfire smoke across the region, an unplanned development that offered a rare opportunity for study.

"Wildfires will exacerbate air quality issues," says VandenBoer. "Understanding the chemistry of wildfire plumes arriving in the city is going to be critical to informing the public on when and how to protect their respiratory health."

The existing Air Quality Health Index is not well-suited to wildfire conditions because the smoke differs from the other drivers of urban air pollution.

One of the first papers to emerge from the project, now in its final round of peer review, found that wildfire smoke changed chemically as it travelled, changing how health and climate impacts are understood and communicated.

York researchers have also been in dialogue with the team behind ECCC’s 2024 �첥��Ƶ of Winter Air Pollution in Toronto (SWAPIT). Together, the summer and winter datasets create a year-round picture of urban air quality in Canada’s largest city that could inform policy on everything from wood-burning smoke to the atmospheric impacts of road salt.

The work also validated NASA’s TEMPO satellite, a space-based instrument tracking air pollution across North America. Measurements from York’s site, alongside NASA research aircraft and ECCC sites, were essential in confirming the satellite’s early readings, helping move the tool into practical use for ongoing air-quality monitoring and research.

For York graduate students, the initiative created opportunities to build international networks. VandenBoer says students helped host collaborators by familiarizing them with York’s facilities and procedures, and in some cases were involved with operating, maintaining and responding to issues with visiting researchers’ instruments.

Those connections continued beyond the project. Graduate student Yashar Ebrahimi-Iranpour later spent two weeks collaborating at NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory, while graduate student Na-Yung Seoh went on to join an international University of York-led campaign in Cape Verde.

AEROMMA involved a range of York collaborators, including facilities staff, operations teams and University leadership.

"It's a York community undertaking," says VandenBoer. "A lot of people wanted to support us, and for no other reason than that's just the type of community that we have."

Young points to why the work is imperative today.

"There are a lot of chemicals being emitted into the environment we can't see or smell or taste," she says. "Just because we can't detect them with our own senses doesn't mean they're not a problem. We need to keep on top of it."

With files from Mzwandile Poncana

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In the course, students are asked present industry‑ready marketing campaigns directly to industry representatives. When Rachel Saarony's turn was up, she noticed her hands trembling as she walked into the offices of Penguin Random House Canada (PRHC).

The fourth-year professional writing student was about to present a full-scale marketing plan to the country’s largest book publisher, completing the final assignment for PRWR 3004/4004 – an upper-year course designed to bring real-world publishing exposure into the classroom.

For Saarony, the moment felt significant. “I felt a lot of pressure to leave a strong impression in front of industry professionals,” she says. It was her first encounter with the publishing industry, and the stakes felt real.

That opportunity was exactly what Matthew Bucemi, director of �첥��Ƶ’s Book Publishing Specialization in the Writing Department, had in mind when he helped reshape the program in 2022. Among his efforts was the desire to create meaningful connections between academic learning and the industry realities students would face after graduation.

“My goal was for students to get a level of hands-on experience that a classroom can’t provide,” Bucemi says.

As part of that push, Bucemi drew on industry connections at Penguin Random House Canada and approached Polly Beel, director of marketing and publicity, to explore collaborations. The result was PRWR 3004/4004, a course grounded in a shared idea that students learn best when they are asked to meet professional standards and should have the opportunity to present their work beyond the classroom. “What does it feel like to really present something to senior staff at a publishing house?” says Bucemi.

First, however, it was Beel’s who would present. In January, she and members of PHRC's marketing team visited Bucemi’s class to introduce a project where students would develop original, comprehensive marketing plans for Spoiled Milk, a debut supernatural gothic horror novel scheduled for release.

While students were given broad creative freedom, Beel outlined the same expectations a marketing team like theirs would face, including deliverables, timelines and creative standards. “It reframed the project from a classroom exercise into something that felt professionally real,” says Saarony.

The class was divided into five teams, each responsible for a different piece: a preorder push, influencer outreach, paid digital advertising, organic social media content and an in-person reader event. Over the course of three months, students worked collaboratively to build a unified, multichannel strategy that blended digital marketing with immersive, experiential ideas.

The final campaign leaned heavily into the gothic atmosphere of Spoiled Milk. Elements were timed around culturally resonant moments, such as Friday the13th and Halloween, with the aim of extending the novel’s eerie tone beyond the page. One proposed initiative – dubbed a “Summer-ween” reader event – imagined bringing the book’s haunted boarding school setting into the real world.

Saarony served as one of two team leads on the influencer mailer project, which focused on creating a tactile, interactive experience for book-focused creators on TikTok and Instagram. She and her team designed a themed mailer inspired by the novel’s setting.

The package took the form of a vintage steamer trunk and included story-linked objects such as tarot cards, a custom bookmark and a painted compact mirror featuring a rotting apple. Interactive elements encouraged recipients to explore the contents over time, including hidden messages revealed with a UV Ouija planchette (also known as a spirit board pointer).

“Our goal was to give influencers something they could return to,” Saarony says, “objects they could explore, decode and interact with.”

Another student, Lauren Russell, co-led the digital ads team, which developed a cross-platform advertising strategy tailored to online book audiences. The team identified platforms such as Goodreads and Book Riot, and created a range of static and animated banner ads, alongside short-form video content for social media.

For Instagram, Russell took on an acting role, posing as a fictional student from the novel’s boarding school in a character-driven mock interview. The team also produced a TikTok-style video showcasing gothic horror recommendations, positioning Spoiled Milk within a broader reading community.

At the end of March, students visited Penguin Random House’s Toronto offices to deliver their pitch.

After months of preparation, Russell says the key was stepping into the room with confidence. “We kept reminding ourselves that we knew our work was strong,” she says. “Our job was to show it clearly and enthusiastically.”

For Saarony, the nerves subsided quickly. “Once we started, I went into autopilot,” she says. “I trusted the preparation, and it went better than I could have hoped.”

Following the pitch, PRHC staff provided detailed, industry-aligned feedback to each group. Students were encouraged to think critically about their creative choices, audience targeting and feasibility. One piece of feedback resonated strongly across the class. “We were told that the presentation we had put together was corporate level,” says Russell. “I felt like all our hard work culminated in that moment.”

With the project complete, students reflected on what they gained. For Saarony, the opportunity helped build confidence in her ability to contribute to large projects, and to lead them – which sparked a new interest. During a post-pitch conversation with PRHC’s managing editor, Saarony mentioned her curiosity about the legal side of publishing – an exchange that led to an offer for her to connect with the company’s legal team to learn more.

Russell similarly described the experience as a turning point, noting how it sharpened her leadership, communication and research skills while demystifying how much planning and coordination goes into launching a book.

For Bucemi, those outcomes reflect the program’s broader purpose. Giving students the chance to apply their skills in a real-world context helps them see how theory translates into practice, and how their interests might evolve once they engage directly with the industry. “Understanding what professional life looks like before you graduate makes a real difference,” he says.

At the same time, he was pleased when Beel noted that the students demonstrated a level of ambition and creativity that would get them a job at any company in the industry.

“The biggest thing for me is helping students get practical opportunities that will support them as they enter the job market,” he says. “My hope is that putting something like this on their resume will be a real X-factor when they're looking for a publishing job."

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Created in collaboration with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the initiative brings together researchers, community organizations and international partners to build knowledge and capacity to respond to the global water crisis.

With Shooka Karimpour, associate professor at the , as academic director, the academy supports learning, strengthens global dialogue and bridges water knowledge with decision-making and public policy.

"Water insecurity means different things for different groups and different demographics," says Karimpour.

While some water challenges are shared internationally, she says, the academy also works to highlight local issues – from changing ice patterns in Canada to the impact of drought on specific communities elsewhere in the world.

That dual focus shapes everything the academy does. Its free online courses are open to learners worldwide at no cost. Offerings include “On Thin Ice: The Impacts of Climate Change on Freshwater Ice” and “An Introduction to Indigenous Relationships to Water on Turtle Island,” among others.

The courses aim to build practical knowledge of water systems, governance and sustainability at both local and global scales – whether the learner is a student, a community organizer or a policy professional.

In 2024, the academy engaged nearly 8,000 participants from 147 countries through courses, events and partnerships including United Nations conferences, international research collaborations and public exhibitions.

One of its most recent collaborations illustrates how that work translates beyond the classroom. For World Water Day 2026, the Global Water Academy partnered with the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto to present a Microplastics Discovery Station. This brought York scientists directly to the public to demonstrate how microscopic plastic particles move through aquatic ecosystems. Visitors examined water samples, identified microplastics and engaged with researchers first-hand.

For Karimpour, the event captured something central to the academy's mission: moving water science from the digital space into hands-on, in-person public engagement with communities.

There is also work happening with community-based organizations to surface stories and solutions that connect research to lived experience.

A with water activist Swani Keelson and the non-profit Global Water Promise examined how water insecurity in Ghana affects women's physical and mental health – and how limited access to clean water compounds broader inequalities, including period poverty and barriers to education.

"We are providing them with a platform and opportunity to share not only global water insecurity issues, but also innovative solutions that have been developed to mitigate this problem," says Karimpour. "Our goal is to raise awareness and ultimately inspire collective action."

That combination of training, storytelling and public programming reflects how the work aligns with York's broader sustainability agenda.

While its mandate is rooted in Sustainable Development Goal 6 – clean water and sanitation – the issues it engages consistently extend into climate resilience, health, gender equity and governance. The work around the Ghana story advances SDG 5 on gender equality, while the microplastics research supports SDG 14, life below water.

"You can't really confine the impact to one SDG because water availability is such a deep issue," says Karimpour. "It really affects and falls into a lot of other SDGs as well."

Karimpour credits strong institutional support from York, including from University leadership, as central to the academy's growth. Looking ahead, Karimpour says it will continue to build new courses and partnerships, with an emphasis on reaching communities that have the most at stake in global water insecurity.

With files from Mzwandile Poncana

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In 2023, a Canadian-wide review of undergraduate nursing programs found that of all 2SLGBTQIA+ topics, gender-affirming care was the least included in the curriculum. Haghiri-Vijehan, assistant professor in the Faculty of Health, was not surprised given her own experience as an educator.

“The literature shows that 2SLGBTQIA+ communities are not feeling safe and health care spaces are not affirming of their needs,” she says. “We need to include this as part of our education.”

As she considered how to incorporate more affirming care practices into her Community Health Nursing course, Haghiri‑Vijeh turned to an asynchronous learning tool called the Sexual Orientation Gender Identity Virtual Simulation (SOGI VS). The open‑access platform offers five‑ to eight‑hour modules featuring common patient scenarios, using interactive simulations to help learners identify appropriate, affirming approaches to care.

Haghiri-Vijeh integrated the tool into her course, but went a step further when she learned about York’s GNL initiative. The opportunity sparked a new idea: what if this simulation could become the foundation of a shared international assignment? It seemed like a powerful way to bring students in two countries into conversation, help them build intercultural competence and test whether a reflective, virtual global partnership could support that growth. Just as importantly, she hoped the project might serve as a practical model for other nursing programs.

To bring the collaboration to life, the GNL team at York connected Haghiri‑Vijeh with Alice Wong, a nursing lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU).

The process behind that has now been published in a paper in . Wong is a co-author along with York colleague Karen A. Campbell and York master’s student Camille Alcalde.

In the paper, the team outlines how they shaped the shared assignment. Early on, Haghiri‑Vijeh and Wong came together to learn about each other’s institutions, consult with their universities’ GNL offices, test the simulation tool and work together to design their co‑teaching approach.

They aligned the assignment timelines across their courses while keeping the activities asynchronous to accommodate the 12‑hour time difference. Students were required to complete the SOGI VS modules on their own and write a three‑page reflection connecting the experience to their specific placements or practicums. They also submitted an aesthetic piece of their choosing – a song, image, drawing or other creative representation – to capture how the coursework resonated with them.

From there, the students were paired across the two countries. York and HKBU partners exchanged reflections and offered constructive feedback. Guiding questions encouraged students to explore similarities and differences between their placements, and to reflect on at least one social determinant of health and one UN Sustainable Development Goal. Then students were asked to write a second reflection capturing what they had learned from the dialogue.

As the exchanges unfolded, both faculty and students began to see the impact of the work. Assignments and class discussions showed students learning about approaches to 2SLGBTQIA+ care in another country, but also about the social and institutional contexts shaping those approaches. Faculty gathered informal feedback through conversations and the student assignments, and identified increased awareness around issues such as cis-normativity, power dynamics in health care organizations and the importance of inclusive policies and representation in clinical settings.

When the project concluded, its success prompted Haghiri‑Vijeh to write about it with the hope of inspiring similar efforts across the field. A second paper is already under consideration with another major journal, this time exploring the data more closely to identify implications for nursing education. Three students are also developing autoethnographies based on their participation, and several alumni have presented their work at international conferences.

Haghiri‑Vijeh continues to advance her work through a recent to learn about migrant 2SLGBTQIA+ students’ sense of belonging and well-being.

For Haghiri‑Vijeh, student involvement has been among the most meaningful outcomes.

“Where possible, we engage students in the writing and co‑creation of knowledge,” she says. “Asking them if they would like to be involved builds capacity for them, as well.”

She is eager to continue the initiative, including with partners beyond nursing. Conversations are already underway with U.S.-based colleagues in psychology and social work.

“I'm a big believer that if you're doing anything that might be innovative or helpful for others, you have to share it,” she says. “You have to mobilize your knowledge.”

With files from Suzanne Bowness

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Ciuying Jian (associate professor, ), Trevor VandenBoer (associate professor, Faculty of Science) and Daanish Mulla (postdoctoral fellow, ) are three of 34 delegates selected to engage in dialogue with policymakers during the 2026 Science Meets Parliament – Ontario Program (SMP-ON).

The event creates opportunities for in-depth knowledge sharing, in which delegates from the academic scientific community gain insights into the legislative process and learn how to effectively communicate research to policymakers.

This is the second year for the Ontario cohort, which is an expansion of the SMP federal program launched by the Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC) in 2018. It serves as a non-partisan initiative to benefit scientists, members of provincial parliament (MPPs) and Ontarians.

The three York representatives will bring research expertise in water and energy, air quality and chemical instrumentation, and human movement to the Spring 2026 delegation.

“This initiative is important because it creates a structured space for direct exchange between researchers and policymakers,” says Jian, a professor of mechanical engineering. “This type of engagement helps ensure that decisions are informed by evidence and allows researchers to better understand how policy is shaped in practice.”

Jian’s research explores innovative ways to use carbon and water more effectively. Specifically, her research examines how to sustainably produce carbon-based functional materials and use them to clean wastewater and improve environmental monitoring and green energy systems. Her lab also uses computer modelling to understand the behaviour of materials and interfacial systems at a microscopic level.

She plans to highlight to policymakers the importance of supporting both applied and fundamental research and hopes to help build mutual understanding between scientists and MPPs about how each approaches complex decision-making. Jian says she will share insights learned with Lassonde and the wider York community, as well as external partners such as the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering. She will incorporate these new perspectives into her research practice moving forward, she says.

For VandenBoer, the delegation is an opportunity to help ensure that “science is a non-partisan entity in politics,” and looks forward to scientists and MPPs working together to serve Ontarians

Atmospheric and analytical chemistry is the focus of VandenBoer’s research at York, which develops new tools to track nitrogen from use as fertilizer to grow crops to the air, as well as in the air quality of urban environments including indoor spaces. The research team working with VandenBoer studies how these chemicals travel and change from microscopic interactions at atmospheric interfaces to impacts at a global scale.

VandenBoer notes that by giving MPPs access to experts, and CSPC teaching scientists how to translate research for policy relevance, the program ensures that provincial decisions can be grounded in the best available evidence.

“The collaboration aims to benefit all Ontarians by bringing a wide range of diverse, expert voices into government to solve real-world problems,” says VandenBoer, adding he plans to maintain relationships developed during the delegation.

Mulla, a postdoctoral researcher with Connected Minds at York, sees the delegation as an opportunity to ensure his research generates evidence that is scientifically rigorous, but also directly actionable for public health policy.

His research investigates how the brain and nervous system control movements. By using advanced computer models, he explores how individuals learn new skills or break old habits, with the goal of finding ways to help people learn physical tasks faster and safely.

"Visible collaboration between researchers and policymakers signals that evidence and governance are working together, not in silos,” Mulla says, adding that he’ll apply what he learns to his teaching and research, and will incorporate findings into lessons about science communication.

By participating in the initiative, York researchers will help strengthen connections between science and policy at the provincial level.

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The CFI invests in state-of-the-art research facilities and equipment at institutions across the country, enabling projects that address international challenges and deliver meaningful societal impact.

�첥��Ƶ researchers will play key roles in two newly funded initiatives – one focused on mapping life on Earth, and another on probing the fundamental structure of the universe.

Professor Elizabeth Clare, from the Faculty of Science, is a longtime contributor to the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (CBG), a global research hub led by the University of Guelph that has received $9,208,765 in funding. Clare has been involved with the centre for more than two decades, since its early development.

The CBG uses advanced genetic tools to identify species through DNA barcoding – an approach that uses short, standardized gene sequences to distinguish species from trace amounts of genetic material. In doing so, CBG can identify where species occur, estimate their numbers and explore how they interact and will use the data to inform conservation planning and ecosystem protection.

CFI funds will support modernization of the centre’s infrastructure. “The funds will allow the renovation and expansion of the CBG building, meeting the critical need for additional laboratory space,” says Clare. “It will also allow acquisition of advanced sequencing and computational hardware required to provide support to the Canadian and international biodiversity science community.”

Increased capacity will help position the centre for its next major initiative: Planetary Biodiversity, an ambitious effort aiming to document every multicellular species on Earth by 2045.

York will contribute to a second CFI-funded initiative focused on particle physics. Wendy Taylor, a Faculty of Science professor, is a collaborator on the ATLAS Tier-1 Centre and Distributed Computing project, which has received $5,376,964 in funding and is led by Simon Fraser University.

The project supports Canada’s role in the ATLAS experiment at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – one of the world's largest scientific collaborations. The experiment studies high-energy proton collisions that recreate conditions just moments after the Big Bang, offering insights into the fundamental laws of the universe.

At the core of this work is a powerful information infrastructure. ATLAS generates vast amounts of data, which are processed and analyzed through a network of high-performance computing centres. Canada’s Tier-1 Data Centre, located at Simon Fraser University, is a key part of this network and is operated by a national consortium that includes �첥��Ƶ.

“This data storage and analysis centre is a crucial Canadian contribution to the global ATLAS experiment,” says Taylor.

With the new funding, the facilities at Simon Fraser will undergo a major expansion to upgrade Canada’s ability to store, process and analyze LHC data. “This funding means that 160 researchers across Canada can continue to contribute to the world-class particle physics research program,” says Taylor.

Taylor is a contributor to the ATLAS initiative and the Tier-1 Data Centre, helping advance the experimental and computational research. She has been involved in developing the Inner Tracker detector, a critical component that records the paths of particles produced in collisions. Her team uses the Tier-1 Data Centre to run simulations and analyze the enormous datasets generated by the experiment.

Taylor's work helps guide computing infrastructure needs while enabling team members to search for rare and elusive particles, including magnetic monopoles – hypothetical particles that could fundamentally reshape our understanding of the universe.

“At �첥��Ƶ, we believe discovery happens when collaboration meets bold vision,” says Amir Asif, vice-president, research and innovation. “These projects reflect the power of our researchers, students and partners coming together to push the boundaries of knowledge  – from revealing the full diversity of life on our planet to unlocking the deepest mysteries of the universe. By investing in people, ideas and world-class infrastructure, we are not only advancing Canadian research but helping shape a more sustainable, informed and innovative future for the world.” 

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Caleb Morgan is the second York student accepted into the competitive international research internship at the National Institute of Informatics (NII) in Japan. The program offers graduate students the opportunity to conduct research at global partner institutions, enhancing international collaboration and research inquiry.

A final-year master’s of applied science candidate, Morgan will spend up to six months at NII working on AI systems that could accelerate the way scientists discover and design new tools, as well as inform real-world progress in AI applications for greener manufacturing, aerospace innovation and faster drug development.

Morgan will begin his internship in late March.

At NII, he will work under Associate Professor Mahito Sugiyama on knowledge graphs – a way of organizing information so AI models can understand individual data points and the relationships between them, much like the the relationship between list of names and a family tree.

Morgan shares an example of how this is applied in practice: in disease prediction, a knowledge graph allows a model to connect a patient's medical history to their location and a specific time period. This produces more accurate results than a model working from isolated data, says Morgan.

"If you throw data into a model without any knowledge graph, the model might learn about people and situations but not be able to relate them to each other," he says. "When we construct a knowledge graph, the model understands that this person was related to this event or this place, and that gives us a more generalized, more insightful output."

He will also work with transformer models – the same foundational architecture behind well-known AI tools like ChatGPT – to decode the language of chemical structures and materials. The goal refining AI systems to make reliable predictions even when data is scarce – a significant bottleneck in scientific research and engineering, notes Morgan.

NII's environment, he says, is what makes it the right place for this research. The institute draws researchers who develop novel AI architectures grounded in advanced mathematics – exactly the kind of computer science apporach he wants to bring back to engineering.

Morgan’s foundation for this field was cultivated at York. In the Lassonde-based Processing Structure Property Performance (PSSP) Lab, supervised by Associate Professor Solomon Boakye-Yiadom, he has been developing AI models to predict defects in metal 3D printing for high-entropy alloys – a newer class of metal blends engineered for extreme environments like aerospace and high-corrosion applications.

Representing atomic compositions as knowledge graphs has already improved prediction accuracy, he notes, and he has presented these findings at several conferences. This combined effort in research and knowledge sharing shaped his successful NII application.

Getting there took persistence, however. Morgan applied to the NII program once before and while he was not selected, he applied again with a sharper, more focused application – one that advocated for why an engineer should cross into computer science.

"I had to steer my application to say ‘Yes, I'm an engineer, but I want to delve into computer science to develop architectures for my domain,’" he says. "I was much more intentional about the second application."

Behind the scenes, York International has been closely involved in his preparation, helping with documentation and accommodation planning in Tokyo – support Morgan says has made the process seamless.

Day-to-day at NII, his work will largely be behind a desk: writing code, reading papers and running experiments with datasets and models to test how well they can extract meaning from structured knowledge.

He will return to York later this year with new collaborations, novel methods and a sharper way of thinking.

"I'm going to have the mindset of a computer scientist and keep my domain knowledge as an engineer and be able to merge them to do new things,” he says.

For York students eyeing similar opportunities, Morgan's path offers its own message.

"Be intentional, tailor your application," he says, "and don't be discouraged by rejection."

With files from Mzwandile Poncana

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