October 17, 2024

The Government of Ontario has unveiled the next phase of its life sciences strategy and announced a $146M investment in the sector. The strategy aims to solidify the province as a leader in biomanufacturing and health sciences by focusing on four key efforts: advancing research and development, unlocking new streams of capital, supporting the existing ecosystem, and adopting a culture of innovation. Up to $46M will go to the Ontario Biosciences Research Infrastructure Fund to boost research capacity at postsecondary institutions and affiliated research hospitals, $15M will support a new wet labs program, and $5M will support Clinical Trials Ontario’s QuickSTART Initiative.

The Digital Research Alliance of Canada (the Alliance), the Government of Ontario, and Compute Ontario are providing the University of Toronto and University of Waterloo with new funds to upgrade their advanced research computing infrastructure. U of T received approximately $52.4M to upgrade the Niagara supercomputer, operated by SciNet, while UWaterloo received approximately $43M to renew the high-performance computing and cloud storage infrastructure of the Graham supercomputer, operated by SHARCNET. The investments will provide researchers with robust computing capacity and secure storage to support their research.

Thompson Rivers University is developing a pilot program called the TRUly Flexible initiative that will enable learners to access around 100 courses in three additional learning formats: blended delivery, hybrid delivery, and online synchronous delivery. “Think of it as a continuum — so on one hand you have fully asynchronous, online, and the other end of the continuum we have in the classroom, Monday to Friday,” said TRU Provost and VP Academic Gillian Balfour, who explained that “[w]hat’s in between are the flexibility pieces that we’ve agreed upon at senate.” The first phase of the pilot will see these new delivery options applied to up to six current TRU programs. An internal approval process will be required for courses to adopt the new delivery models.

The University of Manitoba has received $12.5M USD from The Gates Foundation to expand the work of the Institute for Global Public Health. The IGPH engages in research to identify barriers and improve access to life-saving family planning. With this grant, IGPH researchers will work with local governments to identify the strengths and limitations of the health systems in parts of Cote D’Ivoire, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Senegal. “Most of [these] regions have very little information about the supply and availability of family planning and maternal and newborn health services and commodities,” explained UManitoba IGPH Executive Director Dr James Blanchard. The work is expected to improve health outcomes for women, newborns, and their families. Winnipeg Free Press reports that UManitoba has received the most Gates Foundation grants of any Canadian university.

The Financial Times has released its Executive MBA 2024 ranking, which lists the top 100 executive MBA programs from around the world. Programs are assessed through two surveys that gather data on topics such as diversity, faculty research output, and alumni career outcomes. Participation in the rankings is at the business school’s request, with schools required to be accredited with Equis or AACSB. Four Canadian business programs have ranked among the leaders: York University’s Kellogg-Schulich EMBA (#36), the University of Toronto’s EMBA (#54), Western University’s Ivey EMBA (#56), and Queen’s University’s Smith EMBA—The National Program (#75). One international business program partially offered in Canada also appeared in the rankings: Queen’s and Cornell University’s EMBA Americas program (#35).

The University of New Brunswick has received a $2.2M commitment from the estate of alumnus Dr Margot Roach to support physics and medicine students. The funds will support initiatives such as paid high school internships in UNB’s physics department, undergraduate physics scholarships, and scholarships for UNB graduates who are continuing into Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick’s physician education program. “We are honoured that Margot chose to create new opportunities for students to succeed in the sciences at UNB,” said UNB President Dr Paul J Mazerolle. “These scholarships represent a perpetual legacy that will benefit students and society far into the future.”

Wagdy Sawahel of University World News discusses a recent study that questions whether high-quality research on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) actually informs policy development. The study found that 90% of published SDG papers have not been cited in any policy, while many of those that were cited typically only received one citation. There was also a significant disparity in the policy citations for different SDGs, suggesting that certain SDGs are better represented in publications and have more influence on policy making. According to the study, these findings suggest that “both researchers and policymakers need to broaden their strategies” for promoting and sourcing research for policy development. Sawahel also touches on other influential factors such as the use of SDG-related keywords in research papers and the lack of alignment between what policy makers are looking for and how research papers are evaluated.

The University of Saskatchewan’s Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives (CCSC) has received renewed support of $1.3M from Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL). The funds will support the Co-operative Retailing System (CRS) Chair in Co-operative Governance until 2029. This chair will engage in research and programming focused on the co-operative governance model. In honour of USask and FCL’s partnership, USask has also named a space in the Diefenbaker Building the Co-op Collaborative Room. This room will give students, faculty, practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and community partners a place to collaborate to address social and economic challenges facing the world’s communities.

Georgian College recently announced three new programs to prepare students for work in the community. All three programs—the one-year Justice, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging graduate certificate; the one-year Retirement and Assisted Care Management graduate certificate; and the two-year Electromechanical Engineering Technician – Mechatronics diploma program—will launch in 2025. Georgian VP Academic Dr Yael Katz explained that the justice and equity program will “address a pressing imperative for equity, inclusion, and belonging across sectors.”

Camosun College and Rogers TV have partnered to bring Camosun Chargers basketball and volleyball games to the Rogers South Vancouver Island community channel. The South Island community will have access to a broadcast featuring live commentators, instant replays, and graphics. “[Rogers TV’s] commitment to bringing local sports coverage to Southern Vancouver Island is important to the Chargers and also the Pacific Western Athletic Association (PACWEST) league,” said Camosun Manager of Athletics & Student Life Scot Cuachon. “Together we look to increase the reach of our home games while making it accessible for anyone to watch.”