News

AI, tech and social justice: U of T Groundbreakers EP4
What is the relationship between pollution and colonialism in Canada? How can AI and related technologies avoid perpetuating racism and gender bias? These are some of the questions explored in episode four of the Groundbreakers video series when host Ainka Jess speaks with researchers from two of the University of Toronto’s Institutional Strategic Initiatives: the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology […]

New ISI ready to tackle Climate Change
Canada has formally committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – and since 78 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions globally are related to energy, finding cleaner sources is a big part of the puzzle. Researchers at the University of Toronto have responded to this challenge by forming a new research network: the […]

Groundbreakers: The Future is Robotic
Can tiny, worm-like robots revolutionize the way surgeons work? How will human-robot interactions be improved? Can AI and robotics create self-driving cars that make winter driving safer? These are just some of the questions explored by the University of Toronto Robotics Institute, one of U of T’s Institutional Strategic Initiatives. In episode three of the […]

Anatole von Lilienfeld appointed inaugural Clark Chair
Machine learning and physical chemistry specialist Anatole von Lilienfeld has been named the inaugural holder of the Clark Chair in Advanced Materials at the Vector Institute and the University of Toronto, becoming a pivotal faculty member at the Acceleration Consortium Read more about the appointment, the Clark Chair and U of T donor Edmund Clark → A leading expert in […]

Groundbreakers: U of T’s Acceleration Consortium rethinks the laboratory to optimize the discovery-to-commercialization process
What does the lab of the future look like? When it comes to advanced materials, can we accelerate the process of discovery to commercialization from 25 years to 10, five or even one? These are some of the issues explored by Alán Aspuru-Guzik, director of the Acceleration Consortium at the University of Toronto, and polymer […]

Critical Digital Humanities Initiative to examine history through lens of power, social justice
From wampum belts to historical photographs, Cara Krmpotich and Heidi Bohaker are seeking to digitally reunite thousands of Indigenous artifacts from the Great Lakes region with the communities who once created them. The pair of University of Toronto researchers lead an international team that aims to decolonize museum practices by creating a database, or “knowledge sharing system,” that, for […]

The people behind the research': Video series focuses on unique collaborations launching across U of T
November 29, 2021 - 'The people behind the research': Video series focuses on unique collaborations launching across U of T (utoronto.ca) Inequality, climate change, infectious diseases – these are just a few of the global problems that leading researchers at the University of Toronto are working to solve, says Christine Allen, associate vice-president and vice-provost, strategic […]

Preventing the next pandemic: U of T’s EPIC consortium
The University of Toronto’s Combined Containment Level 3 (C-CL3) unit, equipped to safely study pathogens that cause infectious disease, was among the first labs in Canada to enable researchers to work with SaRS-CoV-2 samples. While similar facilities elsewhere had closed after the 2003 SARS outbreak, the U of T lab remained open – supporting a vast […]

Indigenous Research Network deepens and extends Indigenous research at U of T and beyond
The newly launched Indigenous Research Network (IRN) will make it easier to find information and share resources – for students, established researchers, partners and communities. The IRN is the culmination of two years of careful consultation.

U of T’s Black Research Network to support Black scholarship and excellence
U of T’s Black Research Network to support Black scholarship and excellence (utoronto.ca) Scott Anderson Beth Coleman, an associate professor at the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology at U of T Mississauga, is the inaugural director of the Black Research Network (photo courtesy of Beth Coleman) A University of Toronto-wide initiative to support […]

Can a ‘problem’ be a solution? U of T’s School of Cities rethinks Toronto’s aging apartment towers
“Towers in the Park: A Prospective for Equitable Resilience,” led by Fadi Masoud, aims to evaluate the social and environmental value of public and private open-space assets as they relate to the city’s overall resilience goals. It will also explore the potential for integrating adaptation and mitigation strategies in the tower neighbourhoods. It is just one of the innovative interdisciplinary research projects supported by U of T’s School of Cities.

Groundbreakers: U of T’s Data Sciences Institute to help researchers find answers to their biggest questions
September 16, 2021 Berton Woodward | Link to the original article. Researchers working with the multi-university CHIME radio telescope in B.C. are collaborating with experts at U of T's Data Sciences Institute to solve computational and processing problems (featured photo courtesy of the Chime Collaboration) When University of Toronto astronomer Bryan Gaensler looks up at the night sky, […]