More than ayear after Russia invaded Ukraine,universities around the world are taking steps to support scholars affected by the fighting in their country.To date,more 170 Ukrainian institutions of higher education have been damaged and more than 20 have been completely destroyed.Academics who remain in Ukraine now conduct their research,teaching,and public service in very challenging circumstances.On March 17-19,the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs&Public Policy will host adigital benefit conference with keynote talks by world-renowned author and Uof Talumna Margaret Atwood,acclaimed historian Timothy Snyder and two of Ukraine’s leading public intellectuals:Mychailo Wynnyckyj and Volodymyr Yermolenko.All money raised by the event,titled‘What Good Is Philosophy?–A Benefit Conference for Ukraine,’will support the Centre for Civic Engagement at Ukraine’s National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy.“By assisting Ukrainian students and scholars today,this Centre will help pave the way for avibrant and engaged post-war Ukraine,”says principal organizer and Uof Talumnus Aaron Wendland,a Vision Fellow in Public Philosophy at King’s College,London and asenior research fellow at Massey College.The conference will examine the role of academia during times of crisis,with participants analyzing the public impact of their academic research and exploring the relationship between the academy and civil society.It’s designed to provide individual academics,members of the public,colleges and universities,professional associations,charitable foundations,and private companies with away to support Ukrainian students,scholars,and civic institutions.Many philosophers from around the world will be participating.Those speaking will include Peter Adamson,Elizabeth Anderson,Seyla Benhabib,Judith Butler,Agnes Callard,Quassim Cassam,Tim Crane,Simon Critchley,David Enoch,Peter Godfrey-Smith,Sally Haslanger,Angie Hobbs,Barry Lam,Melissa Lane,Dominic Lopes,Kate Manne,Jeff McMahan,Jennifer Nagel,Philip Pettit,Kieran Setiya,Jason Stanley,Timothy Williamson and Jonathan Wolff.The hope is to build an organization that can help counteract the destabilizing impact that Russia’s invasion has had on Ukrainian higher education and civilian life.“Universities around the world began helping Ukrainian academics in exile through amix of publicly and privately funded scholars-at-risk initiatives,which have helped Ukrainian refugees very much,”says Wendland.“However,academic institutions in Ukraine still need major international assistance.“The Centre for Civic Engagement will aim to address the needs of the Ukrainian academy by offering institutional,intellectual,and financial support for students,scholars,and publicly engaged academics in the country.” 查看详细>>

The Creative Destruction Lab(CDL)has launched anew program called CDL Recovery,which aims to rapidly transform scientific innovations into products and services that address public health and economic challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.The seed-stage accelerator,which is based at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and boasts aglobal network of scientists,inventors,economists and mentors,opened applications for the program on Monday,with startups,corporations,inventors,non-profit organizations and informal collaborations all eligible to apply.“Novel crises require novel responses,”said Ajay Agrawal,CDL’s founder and aprofessor at the Rotman School of Management,in apress release.“Novel responses require innovation,often predicated on insights from science.”Agrawal said the program was inspired by calls from scientists,policy-makers and industry leaders to assume a“wartime footing”in response to the global pandemic. 查看详细>>

Marzyeh Ghassemi,the first University of Toronto faculty member to be cross-appointed to the departments of computer science and medicine,is looking to lighten the load on health practitioners–and,by extension,improve patient health–by developing algorithms that can estimate the length of aperson‘s hospital stay,need for intensive care or mortality risk.“We have areally good body of clinical research that suggests patients respond better to all manner of treatments when it’s provided with compassion and with focus,and with an understanding of where they come from,”she said.“So Ithink we should use machine learning to let doctors do the doctoring,to actually interface with patients and make decisions about care.”Ghassemi is one of 56 Uof Tfaculty members awarded new Canada Research Chairs,or whose chairs were renewed,as part of adouble,fall-spring cohort announced Friday by the federal government.Established in 2000,the federal program invests about$295 million annually to recruit and retain top minds in Canada.It supports research in engineering,natural sciences,health sciences,humanities and social sciences. 查看详细>>

The University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health has launched the Centre for Vaccine-Preventable Diseases,an interdisciplinary hub of academic research and educational practice with experts drawn from across Uof Tto better understand and address the growth of preventable illnesses.The centre,a partnership with the Faculty of Medicine,is the first public health-led enterprise in Canada to focus on public confidence in vaccines by highlighting innovations in immunization science and creating new education opportunities.Its members will draw on emerging tools like artificial intelligence to uncover and address disease and vaccination patterns.The centre will draw on strengths across many disciplines of Uof Tand its key partners in Toronto,including Public Health Ontario,ICES and Toronto Public Health,and globally including the World Health Organization and Gavi,a vaccine alliance.It will bring together experts from public health,medicine,pharmacy,nursing,social work,chemistry and the social sciences,along with bioethicists and biostatisticians,to turn the tide on vaccine rates in Ontario and around the globe. 查看详细>>

A proposed new University of Toronto building at 90 Queen’s Park Crescent will bring together academic and public spaces to create ahub for urban and cultural engagement.The proposal will come forward for consideration by university governance.The nine-storey building will be designed by world-renowned architects Diller Scofidio+Renfro,the firm behind New York City’s High Line and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston.The New York-based firm is working with Toronto’s architectsAlliance.ERA Architects is serving as the team’s heritage consultants.“This stunning architectural landmark will provide the University of Toronto with an invaluable opportunity to create ameeting space for scholars and the wider city around us,”says Uof TPresident Meric Gertler.“It also gives the School of Cities apermanent home for its urban-focused research,educational and outreach initiatives.”In addition to the School of Cities,the building will house anumber of academic units from the Faculty of Arts&Science,including history,Near and Middle Eastern civilizations,as well as the Institute of Islamic Studies,an arm of the Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies and the Archaeology Centre.It will also provide facilities for the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Music.There will also be space designated for classrooms and public spaces,as well as for the Royal Ontario Museum.“It will be abuilding that brings adiverse grouping of folks together to advance knowledge around cities and how they can work successfully,contributing to apositive impact here in the city but also more globally,”says Scott Mabury,U of T’s vice-president,operations and real estate partnerships.As design architects,Diller Scofidio+Renfro will draw on their experience designing cultural and academic spaces to create abuilding that will inevitably become aToronto landmark,says Gilbert Delgado,U of T’s chief of university planning,design and construction.“They‘re very provocative and thoughtful architects,”he says.“This dramatic building expresses the very special role of the university within the city.”Among the building’s showpieces is amusic recital hall,with alarge window serving as an exceptional backdrop to the stage and providing the audience with south-facing views of the Toronto skyline.Above the hall will be a400-seat event space with similar skyline views.There will also be acaféon the ground floor and amulti-storey atrium leading up to the recital hall. 查看详细>>

Archeologists at the University of Toronto are in advanced negotiations with Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism to establish an archeological park at Tell Tayinat,a site in southeastern Turkey,to deepen awareness and understanding of the Iron Age kingdom that ruled the region several millennia ago.A primary component would be an interpretation centre to showcase the site’s unique cultural heritage,said Uof Tarcheologist Professor Timothy Harrison at aspecial reception this week hosted by Canada’s Ambassador to Turkey,attended by high-level Turkish officials,a Uof Tdelegation,and members of the media.The park will also feature astate-of-the-art research and training facility that aims to preserve,protect and celebrate the area’s cultural heritage.Artifacts unearthed by Uof T‘s Tayinat Archaeological Project date from more than 3,000 years ago.They include amagnificently carved stone lion,a sculpture of 9th-century BCE king Suppiluliuma,and the remains of atemple thought to be constructed during the time of King Solomon in the 10th/9th centuries BCE.“Our goal is to establish aresearch centre and open air park to highlight Tayinat’s role as astrategic crossroads between the cultures and peoples of the Middle East,”said Harrison,director of the Tayinat Archaeological Project launched in 1999.The site is located at the northern bend of the Orontes River at the intersection between the Anatolian highlands to the north,the Levantine coast to the south,and the lowland steppes of Syria to the east,two kilometres away.Refugee camps are located nearby and security walls along the Turkish-Syrian border are areminder of the devastation of Syria’s 7½-years-long civil war. 查看详细>>

The federal government is investing$25 million in the Creative Destruction Lab,a seed-stage startup program first launched at the University of Toronto.The investment,announced today at Uof T‘s Rotman School of Management,will spur research and development into science-based startups,attract investment in Canadian companies and encourage more young women to pursue opportunities in STEM(Science,Technology,Engineering and Mathmatics)fields.“Creative Destruction Lab‘s exciting project promises to unleash anew wave of startup innovation across Canada,creating thousands of middle-class jobs and further securing Canada‘s position as aworld leader in the AI field,”said Navdeep Bains,Canada‘s minister of innovation,science and economic development.“Our government is proud to make investments that will help turn hundreds of innovative ideas into the good jobs and companies of tomorrow.”The investment,by the government’s Strategic Innovation Fund,will flow over four years,helping CDL back anumber of upcoming initiatives.They include scaling up more than 1,300 science-based startups across the country–a move expected to create up to 22,000 jobs.CDL will also launch anew program aimed at encouraging young women to pursue STEM fields,opening up spots at future CDL sessions for up to 1,500 female high school students.“This is atremendous moment,”said Professor Tiff Macklem,who is Rotman‘s dean.“Thank you Minister Bains,the Government of Canada and everyone that saw the vision and the opportunity of the Creative Destruction Lab.” 查看详细>>