TORONTO, May 16, 2024 – Canada is particularly susceptible to disruptions caused by extreme space weather and geomagnetic storms to some of its key, heavily relied on technology, such as power systems, GPS, satellites and cell phone service, but a $1.65 million grant will help train the next generation to devise solutions.

Through the () program, York University Associate Professor will lead the Geomagnetic Disturbance in Modern Societies and Technological Infrastructures (GMD-MSTI) program.

These geomagnetic storms are the same disturbances that produce the colourful aurora borealis phenomenon or northern lights, but they also have a destructive capacity on navigation systems, radio signal and satellites, and can cause catastrophic failures and even complete blackouts in power grids.

“Since its founding, York University has been a leader in global, interdisciplinary research that transcends sectors and borders,” said Rhonda Lenton, president and vice-chancellor of York University. “We are immensely grateful to NSERCE-CREATE for this generous grant which will help our researchers advance our understanding of these disturbances and mitigate issues for the benefit of local and global communities.”

Designed to develop innovative, interdisciplinary training, the program focus will be on advanced modelling and analysis techniques to assess the impact of geomagnetic disturbances, such as solar storms brought on by changes in the solar winds, on critical technological infrastructure. It will also develop ways to effectively mitigate issues through strong intra-institutional and industrial collaboration.

Canada isn’t alone in this issue, but because of its geographical positioning in the high latitude region, it is one of the countries with the highest risk of disruption through extreme space weather or GMDs, potentially affecting people’s daily lives and having economic repercussions or health impacts.

“In contemporary societies, there's an intricate reliance on technologies that are vulnerable to extreme space weather and geomagnetic disturbances,” says Rezaei-Zare, Lassonde School of Engineering. “Given the interconnected nature of these technological systems, a singular malfunction can have a domino effect compromising the functionality of other vital infrastructures.”

Canada has incorporated GMD into its national risk profile, however, there is still a noticeable gap in specialized training programs to address a lack of skilled workers in these pertinent industrial sectors largely due to the interdisciplinary complexities of the phenomenon.

The ultimate objective of the GMD-MSTI program is to graduate highly qualified personnel with top-tier industrial and applied-academic research expertise to meet national and international demand for professionals in the fields of power systems, wireless communication, space missions and satellites, biomedical engineering and science, and policy.

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York University is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change and prepare our students for success. York's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. York’s campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future. 

Media Contact: 

Sandra McLean, York University Media Relations, 416-272-6317, sandramc@yorku.ca 

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TORONTO, May 13, 2024 – Today, the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN), with support from the Ontario Government, announced $1.5 million in funding to York University and in partnership with Centennial College to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups in developing and testing innovative automotive technologies and smart mobility solutions.

Overall, OVIN is supporting an investment of $4.77 million including the Province’s $1.5 million contribution.

“Having secured over $43 billion in new electric vehicle and EV battery manufacturing investments over the last four years, our government continues to recognize the economic potential of advanced automotive technologies,” said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. “We congratulate York University and Centennial College on the launch of their SmartTO RTDS, and look forward to seeing their partnership with OVIN inspire innovation across the auto and mobility sectors.”

This investment launches York University’s Smart Mobility Applied Research and Testing – Toronto (SmartTO) as the newest OVIN Regional Technology Development Site (RTDS), located in the Greater Toronto Area. As part of the RTDS network, SmartTO will directly support entrepreneurs, SMEs and startups in the automotive technology and mobility sector, through access to industry-leading resources such as specialized equipment, supports for testing and piloting, business and technical advisory services, and opportunities for collaboration with regional partners.

SmartTO will enable SMEs in the province to move the dial on sustainability and work towards reducing the province’s carbon footprint by speeding up the development, testing, and commercialization of new technologies and driving developments in the field. SMEs will work with established industry partners to help advance their technological innovations and smart material development for the next generation of smarter, lighter, and more efficient electric vehicles and infrastructure. This work will ensure that the Province continues to lead in the research and innovation space for electric, connected, and autonomous vehicle technologies.

“As an internationally recognized leader in sustainability, the Sustainable Development Goals are embedded in our teaching, research, and innovation activities and are the blueprint for all our partnerships,” says Rhonda Lenton, York University President and Vice-Chancellor. “With a net-zero commitment and a longstanding reputation as a living lab where cutting-edge solutions are tested and refined, we are dedicated to expanding our positive impact through collaborative projects such as this one. This funding from the Ontario government will enable York, along with our partners, to expand support for SMEs across the province as part of the RTDS network towards realizing a more sustainable future.”

SmartTO will operate in partnership with Centennial College’s School of Transportation, Canada’s largest transportation training facility, leveraging the power of research expertise, engineering, and unrivalled access to state-of-the-art equipment, cutting-edge labs, vehicles, facilities, and expert technicians. SmartTO will also utilize resources from York University’s Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, Lassonde School of Engineering, and YSpace, a pan-university entrepreneurship and innovation hub, to support startups and SMEs in the GTA on their journey from technology development to commercialization. 

“Centennial College is looking forward to working with York University and the Ontario government through OVIN to build Ontario's strength in connected, autonomous, SMART and electrified vehicles – presenting a unique opportunity not only to train our future workforce in these emerging technologies but also to lead in their innovation,” says Dr. Craig Stephenson, president and CEO of Centennial College.

“Ontario has emerged as a global leader in the automotive and mobility sector as it transforms towards electric, connected, and autonomous vehicles,” said Raed Kadri, Head of OVIN. “Through the OVIN Regional Technology Development Sites, we are harnessing the strengths of our entire province, from the critical mineral wealth of Northern Ontario and to the manufacturing strength of Southern Ontario, and everywhere in between – cementing Ontario's role as the global hub for the vehicles of the future.”

Through the Province’s commitment to supporting the automotive and mobility sector, Ontario continues to reinforce its position as the global hub for automotive manufacturing, supply and technological innovation, evidenced by billions of dollars in transformational investments, particularly for EV and battery production. The creation of this new RTDS builds on this success and forms part of the Province’s 10-year plan, Driving Prosperity, which is driving economic development and a cleaner, safer and more efficient transportation future.

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About York University

York University is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change and prepare our students for success. York's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. York’s campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future. 

About Centennial College

, founded in 1966, is Ontario’s first public college. Anchored primarily in the eastern part of the Greater Toronto Area, the college boasts five campuses and two satellite locations. Renowned for its outstanding teaching, creative curriculum, and robust network of partnerships, Centennial annually welcomes over 40,000 full-time and part-time students from over 130 countries. These students pursue their education in over 400 diploma, certificate, and degree programs across various fields, including business, media, arts, community and consumer services, engineering technology, health care, and transportation.

About the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN)

The (OVIN) is an initiative of the Government of Ontario, led by the Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI), designed to reinforce Ontario’s position as a North American leader in advanced automotive technology and smart mobility solutions such as connected vehicles, autonomous vehicles and electric and low-carbon vehicle technologies.

Through resources such as research and development (R&D) support, talent and skills development, technology acceleration, business and technical supports, and demonstration grounds, OVIN provides a competitive advantage to Ontario-made automotive and mobility technology companies.

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You’ve just been given a prescription for a new drug from your doctor. Your doctor told you why she was prescribing the medication, gave you its name and some information about common side-effects. Your pharmacist is also available to help you use the medication properly, but you want more details and general information.

You’d also like to know things such as how quickly the drug was approved by Health Canada, whether there have been any recent safety warnings about the drug, how the drug compares to other medications for the same condition and what information Health Canada took into consideration when it approved the drug.

You’re aware that a general internet search may yield unreliable information, so you decide to look at what’s on the various Health Canada websites.

General information: The product monograph

Every drug that’s approved by Health Canada comes with what’s known as a product monograph (PM).����a PM “is a factual, scientific document on the drug product that, devoid of promotional material, describes the properties, claims, indications, and conditions of use for the drug, and that contains any other information that may be required for optimal, safe, and effective use of the drug.”

PMs can be downloaded from the  after you type in either the brand or generic name of the drug. Most of the document is written in language that would be hard for the average consumer to understand, but at the end there is typically a seven- or eight-page section of consumer information that offers more detailed information about issues such as safety, what the drug is used for and when you should avoid using it.

While the PM has to be approved by Health Canada, it is actually written by the company marketing the drug, and the actual contents are often subject to negotiation. It’s also not clear how often a PM is revised. All Health Canada says is that  when there is new safety information or when there are new uses of the drug, but there is no timeline given for how quickly those revisions need to be done.

Safety information

The PM will give you aggregate safety information, but it doesn’t tell you how many times doctors, consumers and manufacturers have reported safety concerns or if Health Canada has issued a safety warning.

For the reported safety concerns, you need to go to the .

For Health Canada’s health warnings, you’ll need to go to the . However, when you get there, there are no instructions about how to do a search so it’s trial and error and hopefully you’ll find what you need.

Information about clinical trials

Clinical trials are the studies that companies have to do before a drug can be marketed. But these studies usually only include a small subset of people who have the condition that the drug’s designed to treat. They often  groups such as the elderly, children, women who might become pregnant and people taking multiple other drugs.

If you want to know if the drug you have been prescribed has been tested on people similar to you, you can read section 7.1 of the  which gives details about the clinical trials. Information about the age and sex of patients in the trials is there, but unfortunately Health Canada only discloses that information in a .

How well does the drug work?

Will the drug make you feel better? Drugs are sometimes approved using what are called hard clinical endpoints, such as do you live longer and/or is your quality of life better. But drugs are also approved based on surrogate endpoints.

Surrogate endpoints are measures of things like changes in blood chemistry, blood pressure or how hard you can blow into a machine. These are supposed to predict what matters to patients — things like survival and quality of life — and sometimes they do as with drugs for HIV/AIDS that lower viral load, . But often surrogate endpoints don’t. For example, only a minority of  on the basis that they shrunk the size of the tumour, a surrogate endpoint, actually helped people live longer.

The Summary Basis of Decision documents will tell you whether clinical or surrogate endpoints were used, and it turns out that  approved by Health Canada between 2012 and 2022 used surrogate endpoints. So, how much benefit you will get might be questionable.

How quickly was the drug approved?

You might want to learn about how long it took Health Canada to approve the drug. There are studies showing that the  once it is on the market.

Information about how fast a drug was approved used to be available by writing to publications@hc-sc.gc.ca for annual reports, and using the information in those reports to calculate review times. But in August 2022, an unannounced decision was made to cancel the annual reports. So, as of now, there is no information covering the period after March 31, 2022. It’s unclear if the annual reports will be resumed.

How does one drug compare to another?

You might notice that the drug you’ve been prescribed for your problem is not the same one that your friend was prescribed for the identical problem. You may want to know which drug, on average, does a better job.

The  used to rank the additional therapeutic value of new drugs compared to existing ones on a scale from breakthrough to slight/no therapeutic value. Those rankings were done by an  and published each year in the PMPRB’s annual report. At least they were up until the long-delayed , which didn’t come out until February 2024. That report did not contain any rankings and the PMPRB has not said that publicly available information about rankings is going to come back.

Orphan drugs

If you have an  (one that affects fewer than one in 2,000 people) you often don’t have very many, or even any, treatment options. In those cases, you will want to know when new drugs are available that might help you.

Starting in 2018 Health Canada published an annual report that listed the new orphan drugs that it approved. But the ; since then, there have not been any new editions. So, now there is no new easily available information about new orphan drugs.

Finding out safety and effectiveness information about drugs shouldn’t be a hit and miss affair. Health Canada needs to do a much better job of providing all the information that concerned patients (and their caregivers) need in order to make sure that patients get the best possible results from the drugs that they use.

By York University Professor Emeritus Joel Lexchin, Faculty of Health.

This article is republished from��.

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The post Where and when to see the northern lights in Toronto tonight appeared first on News@York.

TORONTO, May 10, 2024 – At least five coronal mass ejections – bursts of plasma coming off the sun – have occurred recently prompting the first severe G4 Geomagnetic Storm Watch issued since January 2005, says York University astronomy Professor Elaina Hyde. With all this activity, it’s possible people as far south as the GTA may be able to see the aurora borealis tonight or over the next few nights, especially if they seek out a less light polluted area.

“Yesterday, there were several strong flares as well as a sunspot cluster about 16 times greater than the diameter of the Earth, which would have been just barely visible using the same type of safe solar viewing glasses as used during the April 8th eclipse,” says Hyde, director of the Allan I. Carswell Observatory at York. “Our current solar cycle has only had three severe geomagnetic storms, one in March 2024, one in October 2003 and the current one.

“The October 2003 storm resulted in power outages in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa. The rating for solar events goes from minor G1 events to major G5 events, so a G4 is near the top of the scale but not as big as the famous 1989 Quebec event which had a rating of about G5.”

Charged particles from the sun will be impacting Earth’s geomagnetic field which heightens the opportunity to witness the northern lights in Toronto, as long as the sky is clear.

Check the “aurora forecast” on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website for best areas to view it from: ��

Is there any danger this sun activity will fry satellites or power lines?

“This level of activity is not usually associated with major electrical events on Earth like sparking power discharges, the danger to satellites is much higher, but a similar storm did damage some power transformers in South Africa in 2003,” says Hyde, who is available to comment. “In particular satellites that require many corrections to avoid collisions could be at risk in particular communications or power blackouts would likely be our biggest risk.”

Best time to possibly view the aurora borealis tonight or over the next couple of nights:

British Columbia 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Alberta 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Saskatchewan 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Manitoba 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Ontario 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Quebec 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Maritimes 12 a.m. to 6 a.m.

Newfoundland 12:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m.

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The Canadian government placed a  earlier this year. The government stated that a rapid increase in the number of international students was putting added “pressure on housing, health care and other services.”

In addition, Immigration Minister Marc Miller criticized some private colleges for the increasing number of refugee claims from their international students, saying the trend was 

Similarly, a recent article in the  stated refugee claims by international students increased by 646 per cent from 2018 to 2023, and raised concerns about students exploiting Canada’s immigration system.

However, focusing on refugee��claims, and not refugee claim��approvals, obscures the context needed to understand such a complex issue. These comments and statistics are misleading and contribute to fueling��.

Given the central place of immigration in heated political debates in Canada, it’s crucial to unpack these claims and understand the implications of perpetuating unfounded criticism of Canada’s refugee and immigration system.

Growing number of displaced people

Amid the war in Ukraine,  and enduring humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Venezuela, Sudan and elsewhere,  people have been displaced worldwide. Accordingly,  from displaced people; many of whom face the risk of being  or sent to a .

The  in Canada fluctuates over time, largely in response to global events. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic there was a notable decline in refugee claims from 58,378 in 2019 to 18,500 in 2020. However, refugee claims in Canada increased from 55,388 in 2018 to 137,947 in 2023.

While the increase in the number of international students making refugee claims is worth investigation, the impact of this increase should not be exaggerated or taken out of context. In 2018, international students made up three per cent of new refugee claims. By 2023, this figure increased to only eight per cent.

Most importantly, these numbers need to be examined as a percentage of all . In 2023, only one per cent of international students sought asylum.

Refugee fraud is rare

The large majority of refugee claims in Canada . In recent years the number of refugee claims approved increased from 63 per cent in 2018 to 79 per cent in 2023.

During this same period, fraud in the refugee determination system has been relatively rare. When Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board encounters a claim that is “clearly fraudulent” the Board has a legal obligation to declare that the claim is “.” This occurs only a few dozen times per year.

The result is that most refugee claimants in Canada are determined to have a . As such, most will obtain permanent residence in Canada and be on the path to citizenship.

Dangers of alarmist rhetoric

Statistics Canada data indicate that more than 15 per cent of  are deciding to leave Canada within 20 years of immigrating. Meanwhile less than half of permanent residents are . There is also a similar trend among international students.  and  are contemplating leaving Canada amid declining affordability and diminishing job prospects.

However, these realities are often not as interesting or enraging as the alarmist rhetoric adopted by politicians and media. The fact that fraud is rare in Canada’s refugee system doesn’t sell newspapers or win votes. Declining citizenship rates are not as compelling as tales of international students exploiting loopholes to stay in Canada.

This kind of rhetoric also overlooks the fact that many students do come from countries experiencing political instability and violence, making their refugee claims deserving of consideration. In the face of migration controls and the , coming to Canada as a student and seeking refuge may be the only viable option for some people seeking protection from persecution.

With that in mind, politicians and media must be careful regarding how they discuss refugee claimants. It is misleading to imply that it is “alarming” and “unacceptable” for someone to make a refugee claim simply because they are an international student. Seeking asylum is a right they have under both  and .

Such rhetoric fosters a climate of suspicion and distrust towards newcomers, fueling xenophobia and hostility towards those in need of protection. Instead, politicians, media and the public in general, should recognize that Canada has processes that are well-placed to examine these claims. These include one of  that assesses each claim on its merits.

When politicians engage in rhetoric that plays into anxieties about migration, the media must act as an informed voice that scrutinizes their comments, instead of amplifying reactionary claims about fraud and the spectre of bogus refugees.

Co-authored by Assistant Professor Yvonne Su, Department of Equity Studies, and Sean Rehaag, director, Centre of Refugee Studies and associate professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, both at York University, and Corey Robinson, lecturer, International Relations School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow.

This article is republished from .

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As part of its sustainability strategy, the University is now a designated Fair Trade Campus for its commitment to providing products that benefit workers in the Global South

TORONTO, May 8, 2024 – York University is full of beans – fair trade coffee beans – excited about its new fair trade silver designation and its ability to offer sustainably produced coffee, chocolate, tea and more across its three campuses.

It takes a community. Receiving the fair trade recent designation was the result of years of dedicated collaboration between students, faculty and staff to provide more sustainable options at its campuses. The designation is a big win for those who championed and raised awareness of fair trade at York.

The University celebrated its new designation today with a pop-up event outside of Vari Hall on the Keele Campus hosted by the Office of Sustainability to further foster awareness and community while serving up free fair trade Las Nubes coffee. The event also helped the University's Office of Institutional Events achieve gold in the Sustainable Events Certification Program.

The fair trade designation is just one way York can make a global difference in the lives of others by leveraging its buying power for good. It also creates learning opportunities for students and encourages an understanding of the impact of buying choices and how they can go a long way toward sustainability.

“At York University, our commitment to sustainability isn't just a strategy - it's a community-driven journey where every fair trade purchase creates ripples of positive change worldwide," says Mike Layton, chief sustainability officer. "York's achievement of becoming a Fair Trade Campus would not have been possible without the work of many across the University, including teams in Food Services, the Bookstore, professors and former students.”

Fair trade items such as bananas, various snacks, banana chocolate chip loaf, and hot chocolate round out some of the edible offerings at a variety of restaurants, food services, stores and vending machines, including fair trade Las Nubes coffee, grown near York's Las Nubes EcoCampus in Costa Rica and its 400-acre Las Nubes Biological Reserve. Students at the Faculty of Environment and Urban Change’s EcoCampus learn about and research neotropical conservation, eco-health, community well-being and sustainable livelihoods.

In addition to food, fair trade apparel is also available at the University’s Bookstore – considered the first in Canada to sell certified, fair trade clothing in a campus bookstore – in partnership with , a campus based-cooperative and sustainable products supplier founded by students and faculty at York and incorporated in 2011. It was their answer to the lack of fair trade cotton T-shirt importers in Canada or ways for students to embrace and create change. Today, there is a wide selection of fair trade T-shirts and hoodies in the York University Bookstore.

This is in line with York’s decades long commitment to sustainability and support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), part of its University Academic Plan. As a Fair Trade Campus, York is helping to tackle several SDGs, including SDG 12 – responsible consumption and production, SDG 2 – zero hunger, SDG 1 – no poverty, and SDG 11 – sustainable cities and communities.

The designation comes through the of Fairtrade Canada, a volunteer-based organization. All fair trade products ensure production workers and farmers are fairly treated fairly and compensated for their work.

The Early Days

York’s championing of sustainability has a long history of faculty and student cooperation.

Professor Emeritus Darryl Reed, who does research on fair trade and encourages its education through course work and experiential education, Professor John Simoulidis, director of the Green Campus Co-op, – both of the Business and Society Program in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies (LAPS) – and Professor John Justin McMurtry, now the dean of LAPS, were a few of the people who pushed the initiative forward in the early days, with then student Madison Hopper, who now works for Fairtrade-certified banana importer, Equifruit. Sasa Nestorovic, bookstore director, is another big supporter and leads the acquisition of fair trade merchandise.

The initial goal was to make connections between social economy enterprises in Ontario and India, such as cotton growers, through a research project that looked at the possibilities, challenges and benefits of these types of partnerships. At that time cotton growers in India could be exposed to some 118 different pesticides.

Fair trade is something these professors, their colleagues and students, including the late York environmental studies Professor Howard Daugherty, an advocate for fair trade and the environment who was instrumentally involved in the beginnings of York’s Las Nubes Biological Reserve, have been working toward for some 15 or more years. The reserve started with a donation of mountainous cloud forest in Costa Rica donated to York by Dr. Woody Fisher in 1998.

The reserve’s primary areas of research included studying protected areas in the neotropics, natural resource policy and management, biological conservation, and sustainable development. The EcoCampus in Costa Rica provides the ideal location for research and learning.

Throughout its sustainable journey, York has included students in the process, including the annual fair trade fair on the Keele Campus designed in part to educate the University community about how their choices make a difference. Through the Green Campus Co-Op, students are also given experiential learning opportunities with the hope to spark a new generation of sustainable entrepreneurs.

York continues to follow the path of sustainability and equity.

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York is Canada’s preeminent disaster and emergency management university with undergraduate and graduate DEM degrees

TORONTO, May 6, 2024 – Droughts, historic flooding, the possibility to beat last year’s worst wildfire season on record, stronger hurricanes and shifting tornado corridors, and that’s just in Canada. It may be Emergency Preparedness Week but managing the escalating disasters plaguing the world is a year-round effort, say York University’s DEM experts.

Fires are still smoldering underground in British Columbia and Alberta, while new ones are already igniting, and the upcoming 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is predicted to generate the most named storms on record prompted by warmer than usual ocean temperatures.

Are the forecasted disasters unmanageable? York’s experts from the in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies are available to discuss how to identify, prepare for, mitigate and recover from disasters wherever they occur. They can also talk about emergency response, community training, disaster management and evacuation.

, director of the master’s DEM program, coordinator of the bachelor’s DEM program at York, is a working group member at the Canadian Dam Association on dam safety and emergency management issues, an adjunct professor at the United Nations University - Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), and a Co-Director of the CDSN-MINDS project on domestic operations for natural hazards in Canada. Agrawal’s book, (2018), provides a comprehensive approach for disaster risk evaluation, including identifying early warning systems for various types of hazards.

She can speak to:

• Flood risk due to urbanization
• Disaster risk management
• Physical dynamics of natural hazards
• Community resilience assessment using GIS and remote sensing
• How to better understand the science of a changing climate
• Navigating adaptation to climate-activated risks
• The issue of floodplains and is it too late to retreat?
• The importance of engaging communities to better understand gaps between perceptions and actual risks

is associate director of (ADERSIM) and York’s disaster institute Y-EMERGE, director of the Centre International de Formation des Autorités et Leaders (CIFAL), and an expert in disaster and emergency planning and policy. His research includes creating for various types of natural, technological, and human made disaster events.

He can speak to:

• The impact of evacuation
• Criteria for evacuation in a disaster
• Disaster response, recovery and reconstruction
• Disaster simulation and exercise
• Use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligent, virtual reality, and drones in disaster and emergency management 
• Emergency evacuation and shelter planning
• Economic aspects of disasters and emergencies

, an associate professor in Disaster & Emergency Management, associate director of Y-EMERGE, and editor-in-chief of the , is an expert in wildfire and forest fire management in Canada and around the world. He also specializes in the use of science, evidence, and science advice in disaster management.

He can discuss:

• Fire management & fire response in Canada and globally
• Causes and types of fires in Canada and impacts of climate change
• How individuals and governments can prepare for fire
• What happens during a fire response
• Changes and reforms needed to fire management and the importance of “learning to live with” fire rather than just fight it
• Social dimensions and human impacts of fire
• Wildfire misinformation
• Use of science & evidence in disasters; both wildfire and beyond

, an assistant professor and environmental and disaster sociologist, examines complex socio-environmental problems.

She can discuss:

• The role of local government in disaster and emergency management
• The importance of community-based research and engagement
• Community training around what to do in a disaster
• Innovative, educational and engagement strategies to strengthen societal disaster resilience, including serious games
• Flood risk management and governance

, associate professor, looks at social vulnerability and capability during and after disasters, risk assessment, as well as hosting and resettlement issues. She is currently working on a book project capturing the lived experience of various vulnerable groups facing disasters across Canada.  She is the principal investigator on , which is currently investigating the development of a stigma-focused agenda for emergency management. Mamuji is a member of the Digital Global Health and Humanitarianism Lab in the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, which examines how digital technologies are used in emergencies and disasters, as well as the challenges, risks, benefits and opportunities involved in their use.

She can speak to:

• Social vulnerability in disaster management
• Responses to international natural disasters
• Hazard and risk assessment
• Collaboration and coordination, during and after disasters
• Refugee resettlement
• Community-based initiatives

, assistant professor and sociocultural anthropologist, examines the connection between various individuals and social groups living and working at the intersection of environment and society, particularly when faced with extreme weather events, emergencies and disasters, including hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and unusual heat, such as heat domes, in Canada and the United States.

She can discuss:

• How people perceive and communicate risk, including early warning notifications
• The role of discourse in disaster management
• Social vulnerability and disaster risk creation
• How people make decisions in response to threat and to mitigate harm��
• Recovery following extreme events and disasters, with a focus on “slow healing” and the importance of mental health in recovery outcomes
• Community engagement as a method for building disaster resilience

, an associate professor, is a subject matter expert in the field of emergency management. He has research and practice interest in the field of interdisciplinary emergency management and homeland security. He is also active in field-based qualitative research at locations that have been impacted by disasters of natural, technological, or social origins.�� His recent areas of specialty include terrorism, mass shootings, man-made hazards, and hazards of social origin.��Rozdilsky also has an interest in the study of infrequent and unusual disaster events.��Civil defense for nuclear war is one such topic being investigated.��He is working on forthcoming books related to social vulnerability in Canada and disaster and popular culture.��He is an also author for media outlets providing analysis of current events related to disasters, emergencies, and public safety.��His writings can be found in .��

He is available for comment on the following issues:

• General emergency management issues (natural, technological, social disasters)
• Disaster response
• Emergency preparedness
• Terrorism
• Mass shootings
• Man-made hazards
• Nuclear war threats
• Emergency management policy
• Canada’s federal Emergency Act
• Canada’s provincial state of emergency declarations
• Disasters in the United States

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Psychology prof says online exposure to idealized images creates ‘infinite’ opportunities for comparison  

TORONTO, May 01, 2024 – There’s a large and growing body of evidence pointing to potentially negative impacts of social media on mental health, from its addictive nature to disruptions in sleep patterns to effects on body image. Now, found young women who took a social media break for as little as one week had a significant boost in self-esteem and body image – particularly those most vulnerable to thin-ideal internalization.

“The statistician inside me was excited  –  we don't often see effect sizes this large in my area of psychology research because human behaviour is complicated and there's lots of variability,” says Psychology Professor , co-author of the paper. “We hope this study can be used to help protect young people and influence social media companies to give users more agency in how they interact with these platforms.”

The paper, out this week in the journal Body Image, is thought to be the first to look specifically at social-media breaks and body image. Mills, whose lab has been on the forefront of this kind of research, collaborated on the paper with graduate researcher Lindsay Samson and undergraduate Olivia Smith, both students at York. They expected that there might be recruitment challenges, but it turns out there was enthusiasm for taking a social media pause among the 66 first-year female undergraduates who participated. Half were instructed to continue their social media as per usual, while the other half were given instructions to refrain from Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok and other social media use for one week. They conducted baseline surveys before the experiment, and tested the participants again after the week was over.

“There's natural variability in how people feel about their bodies and about themselves in general, so we took that into account statistically, and even after that there were still significant differences between the groups after one week,” says Mills, who is also the director of clinical training for the graduate psychology program.

The differences in the social media landscape are remarkable compared to when Mills started researching eating disorders and the effects of media, like magazines aimed at women.

“Back then, you could only spend so many minutes or hours looking at fashion and beauty magazines and they only came out once a month. There was a finite amount of content that you would be exposed to. With social media it's infinite. It's always new and novel, which triggers our brain's reward system that makes us want more and more of something.”

Mills says the improvements found in this study might be explained both by women spending far less time engaging in behaviours known to have a detrimental effect, such as comparisons with others, but they may have also replaced social media with healthier behaviours.

“If we're spending more time in real life, socializing with friends, getting sleep, getting outdoors, getting exercise, there could be secondary behaviours that fill the void left by social media. Future research will try to disentangle that.”

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