Global Lens

Faculty of Music

Humanities

U of T Scarborough

Subheadline

The Global Humanities Alliance brings together researchers from around the world with the aim of elevating the role of the humanities and social sciences in addressing critical global issues

The ��Ƶ’s Nicole Klenk sees her role in the recently formed Global Humanities Alliance – which aims to enhance the global impact of the humanities and social sciences – as a natural extension of her research and teaching.

An associate professor of environmental studies in the department of physical and environmental sciences at U of T Scarborough, Klenk bridges the gap between the humanities, natural sciences and social sciences by championing interdisciplinary projects in her courses.

For example, she uses textile arts as a way for students to explore sustainability issues that arise from sectors such as fast fashion.

“They spend an hour weaving textiles to imagine what it means to spend seven days a week, 12 hours a day as a child to make clothes that people use less than seven times before they throw out,” says Klenk.

Nicole Klenk uses textile arts as a way for students to explore sustainability issues arising from fast fashion (photo by Chai Chen)

The alliance, formed earlier this year, brings together researchers from around the world with the aim of elevating the role of the humanities and social sciences in addressing critical global issues. It currently comprises four working groups: public humanities, sustainability and climate change, decolonizing knowledge and digital transformations.

Its founding members – U of T, Ashoka University, Mahidol University, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Universitas Gadjah Mada, University of Manchester, University of Melbourne and University of Nairobi – signed a letter of intent in October at a launch event in Manchester, England.

The universities agreed to explore activities such as global classrooms, visiting fellowships, collaborative research projects and exchange programs for students and staff.

Klenk, a textile artist who has explored teaching methods that blend experiential and arts-based learning throughout her career, says she hopes her involvement in the initiative allows her to expand her work on an international scale.

“What got me excited [about the alliance] is the ability to connect with others who value the role of the humanities and social sciences at an international level,” she says.

From left: U of T’s Alex Mihailidis, University of Manchester’s Fiona Devine and Universitas Gadjah Mada’s Wawan Mas'udi (photo by Sherry Lee)

Both Klenk and Sherry Lee, an associate professor of musicology in U of T’s Faculty of Music, serve on the sustainability and climate change working group.

“Something we found in the conversations at the Manchester launch is that there are a lot of crossovers between the thematic working groups, and we expect a lot of exchange,” says Lee, whose research sits at the intersection of music, sound studies and environmental humanities.

“You can’t have a responsible conversation about climate change in the global context without also thinking about decolonization.”

Lee says students will benefit from the initiative through international collaboration, increased understanding of cultural differences and the opportunity to frame problems using different perspectives.

“This is sometimes a challenge – who do I collaborate with? How do I find people who are going to be interested in the kinds of issues that I want to bring forward in a classroom and who will be willing to participate? That’s precisely one of the things that is going to happen through this initiative,” says Lee.

“I think that’s really exciting.”

She says she hopes the alliance inspires collaboration between future generations of scholars.

“I hope it facilitates the entry of the students we are training into spheres where they can engage meaningfully on important global issues outside the academy,” she says.

“I think the best way to do that is to involve them in an international conversation at the moment of their training, rather than to give them more conventional disciplinary training and hope that they're smart enough to stand out from among the crowd once they leave.”

U of T’s ��Ƶ receives Nobel medal, diploma at Stockholm ceremony

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 20:05:05 +0000

U of T’s ��Ƶ receives Nobel medal, diploma at Stockholm ceremony

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 12/10/2024 - 15:05

Cutline

U of T University Professor Emeritus ��Ƶ receives his Nobel Prize in Physics from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden during the Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm (photo by Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency/AFP/Getty Images)

Topic

Artificial Intelligence

Computer Science

��Ƶ

Nobel Prize

Subheadline

“I think we all feel an enormous amount of pride in the fact that [U of T] is one of the places where modern machine learning was really born - in large part due to Geoff Hinton”

The ��Ƶ’s ��Ƶ officially accepted his Nobel Prize in Physics during a formal ceremony at Stockholm Concert Hall that included orchestra music, an opera singer and a stage lined with bouquets of flowers.

Wearing white tie and tails, Hinton strode across the dark blue stage emblazoned with the words “The Nobel Prize” to receive his Nobel medal and diploma from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. Then, as the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra sounded a few triumphant notes, he bowed to the Swedish royal family, the audience and returned to his seat at the side of the stage.

��Ƶ looks out over the audience after King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden presented him with his award (photo by Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency/AFP/Getty Images)

And just like that, decades of scholarly endeavour in artificial intelligence (AI) – which began on the fringe of the AI research community and is now poised to forever change modern life – culminated in the U of T University Professor emeritus of computer science known as the “godfather of AI” receiving humanity’s most prestigious award for scientific achievement.

Hinton shared the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics with John J. Hopfield of Princeton University, who made a similar journey inside the concert hall a few moments earlier. The pair were awarded the prize for discoveries and inventions that enabled machine learning with artificial neural networks, laying the groundwork for today’s AI boom.

“[��Ƶ] pioneered the efforts to establish deep and dense neural networks,” said Ellen Moons, the chair of the Nobel physics committee, during her introductory remarks. “Such networks are effective in sorting and interpreting large amounts of data and self-improve based on the accuracy of the result.

“Today, artificial neural networks are powerful tools in research fields spanning physics, chemistry and medicine, as well as in daily life.”

In fact, the three winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry – who were seated to Hinton’s left – drew heavily on AI for their work in predicting protein structures and computational design of proteins.

U of T President Meric Gertler snapped this photo of the Nobel laureates from his seat in the concert hall (photo by Meric Gertler)

Back in Toronto, members of the U of T community gathered at watch parties on all three campuses to take in the livestream of the awards ceremony – a historic moment for the university.

On the St. George campus, more than one hundred gathered to watch and cheer in the main lobby of the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus – home to U of T’s Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society and the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, where Hinton serves as an advisory board member and chief scientific adviser, respectively.

Among the gathered audience was Michael Guerzhoy, an assistant professor, teaching stream, of engineering science and mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering who took Hinton’s course on neural networks and machine learning in 2005 – before going on to teach the same course himself several years later.

“I think we all feel an enormous amount of pride in the fact that this is one of the places where modern machine learning was really born, in large part due to Geoff Hinton,” Guerzhoy said. “I think a lot of us owe a personal debt of gratitude to him.”

U of T community members gather in the lobby of the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus to watch the ceremony (photo by Matt Hintsa)

Fourth-year undergraduate student James Wang said he was “in awe” as he watched Hinton receive his Nobel Prize.

“It makes you feel inspired. You want to be like him, you want to attain the highest level of achievement that anybody can achieve – and not just to do it for your sake, but also for the academic community at large,” Wang said.

There were similar expressions of pride and jubilation at U of T Mississauga, where community members congregated to watch the livestream in the atrium of the Communication Culture & Technology Building, and at U of T Scarborough, where a watch party was organized in the Meeting Place.

As per tradition, the awarding of the Nobel Prize medal and diploma took place on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel who, in his 1885 will, bequeathed his fortune to create the award.

Attendees at U of T Scarborough's Nobel watch party hold up signs (photo by Sobica Vinayagamoorthy)

The gold medal for the Nobel Prize in Physics depicts nature in the form of a goddess resembling Isis, her face covered by a veil held up by the Genius of Science. Inscribed are the Latin words, “Inventas vitam iuvat excoluisse per artes,”which are translated to: “It is beneficial to have improved (human) life through discovered arts.”

The Nobel diploma is crafted on handmade paper and bound in a dark blue leather cover.

The Nobel Prize diploma features a unique work of art, with the design decided by the prize-awarding bodies (© Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Dan Lepp Artist: Lars Eje Larsson Calligrapher: Marie A. Györi Book binder: Leonard Gustafssons Bokbinderi AB )

Later in the evening, Hinton joined his fellow Nobel laureates, their families, friends and dignitaries for a banquet at Stockholm City Hall.

In an interview with Swedish national broadcaster SVT on the sidelines of the event, Hinton said it was “very exciting but also very exhausting” to take part in the day’s Nobel events.

Reflecting on his upbringing and career, Hinton said his school years – raised as an atheist who went to a Christian school – helped prepare him for his early years as a cognitive scientist working in the then-peripheral area of artificial intelligence.

“From a young age, I was surrounded at school, everybody else had a different opinion and I thought they were wrong – that was very useful when I was studying neural nets,” Hinton said.

“For many, many years, there were only a few of us who believed in neural nets. Everybody else said this was a ridiculous thing to study. And it turned out we were right.”

– with files from Adam Elliot Segal

U of T ranked world’s most sustainable university for second year in a row

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 16:12:41 +0000

U of T ranked world’s most sustainable university for second year in a row

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 12/10/2024 - 11:12

Cutline

(photo by Don Campbell)

Topic

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

Climate Positive Campus

Climate Positive Energy

Sustainable Development Goals

QS World University Rankings

Meric Gertler

Subheadline

The 2025 edition of the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability ranked U of T first out of more than 1,700 institutions across 95 countries

The ��Ƶ has been ranked the most sustainable university in the world for the second consecutive year.

The 2025 edition of the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability, released this week by London-based Quacquarelli Symonds, placed U of T first overall out of more than 1,700 institutions across 95 countries.

The closely watched ranking evaluates post-secondary institutions for their environmental impact, social impact and governance.

“On behalf of the ��Ƶ, I am thrilled that our university is once again ranked first in the world in the QS Sustainability Rankings,” said U of T President Meric Gertler. “The U of T community is profoundly committed to the advancement of sustainability as one of the most urgent challenges of our time.

“This year’s ranking confirms our resolve to help lead the way to a sustainable future.”

First launched in 2022, the ranking assesses universities based on QS World University Rankings data, including reputation surveys and research output related to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. It also looks at institutional policies, operational data, alumni impact and national data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and World Bank.

To determine environmental impact, the ranking evaluates environmental education, research and sustainability. For social impact, it examines employability and outcomes, equality, health and well-being, impact of education and knowledge exchange. And for governance, the ranking looks at indicators such as student representation and transparent financial reporting.

U of T performed particularly well in the social impact category this year, moving up three spots to first globally. It also ranked fifth in the world for environmental impact and tied for 23^rd in governance.

U of T’s performance led a robust showing by Canadian universities. The University of British Columbia shared fifth spot with University College London, making Canada the only country to have two universities in the top five. Two other Canadian universities placed in the top 50: McGill University (15^th) and Western University (30^th).

The QS sustainability ranking comes as U of T forges ahead with a host of climate-focused initiatives on its own campuses including: Project Leap, a $138-million infrastructure project that will cut emissions on the St. George campus in half by 2027; Project SHIFT, a U of T Mississauga initiative to speed up the transition from natural gas to electricity; and a combination of new climate-responsible constructions and energy retrofits to older buildings at U of T Scarborough.

Spurred by these and other efforts, the university’s three campuses last year made a landmark commitment to reduce more greenhouse gases than they emit in the coming years. And U of T continues to make progress on its pledge to divest from fossil fuel investments in its endowment fund.

At the same time, U of T is working to enhance Canada’s green energy sector through projects like the Grid Modernization Centre, a state-of-the-art facility led by Climate Positive Energy, an institutional strategic initiative, that will serve as a hub for testing, development and commercialization.

U of T is also playing a leadership role in sustainability by engaging with regional, national and international partners. For example, the university acted as a founding member of the City of Toronto’s Green Will Initiative, collaborated with the Urban Climate Action Project to help implement the city’s TransformTO climate action strategy and contributed to the Toronto Region Board of Trade’s Banking on Green playbook, which helps Ontario organizations fund green retrofit projects.

Globally, U of T has convened networks aimed at mobilizing multi-sector partnerships, including the U7+ Alliance of World Universities, the University Climate Change Coalition (UC3) and the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN). U of T’s sustainability leaders have also been asked to share knowledge and experiences with other universities in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Germany and other countries.

Most important, U of T is actively creating a new generation of sustainability leaders. Supported by the President’s Advisory Committee on the Environment, Climate Change, and Sustainability (CECCS), which recently created a new student leadership subcommittee, more than 2,000 undergraduate courses in 2024-25 now have a sustainability orientation.

Students also have the option of exploring sustainability from various lenses through the Sustainability Pathways program, or to contribute to projects on- and off-campus via the Campus as a Living Lab and Community-Engaged Learning programs.

Overall, U of T continues to be the highest-ranked Canadian university and one of the top-ranked public universities in the five most closely watched international rankings: Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings, QS World University Rankings, ShanghaiRanking Consultancy’s Academic Ranking of World Universities, U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities and National Taiwan University World University Rankings.

U of T’s ��Ƶ delivers Nobel lecture alongside co-laureate

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 20:48:27 +0000

U of T’s ��Ƶ delivers Nobel lecture alongside co-laureate

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 12/09/2024 - 15:48

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U of T's ��Ƶ, left, and John J. Hopfield of Princeton University, right, who share the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics, shake hands after their Nobel lectures in Stockholm (photo by Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)

Topic

Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society

Leah Cowen

Artificial Intelligence

Computer Science

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Subheadline

In Stockholm for a series of Nobel Week events, the “godfather of AI” will officially accept his Nobel Prize in Physics at a ceremony on Dec. 10

The ��Ƶ’s ��Ƶ took to the stage at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm this weekend – two days before he officially accepts his Nobel Prize in Physics for fundamental work in AI – to deliver a lecture on the inventions and discoveries that led to him being given the prestigious award.

“Today, I’m going to do something very foolish – I’m going to try and describe a complicated technical idea for a general audience, without using any equations,” said Hinton, a U of T University Professor emeritus of computer science, prompting laughter from the audience.

The “godfather of AI” then proceeded to outline how decades of his fundamental research, and that of his co-laureate John J. Hopfield of Princeton University, enabled the development of artificial neural networks and machine learning – technologies that underpin today’s AI revolution.

The Nobel lectures are among the highlights of Nobel Week, which runs from Dec. 6-12 in Stockholm and Oslo and includes award ceremonies, banquets, media engagements and commemorations at the Nobel Museum. There is also a series of Nobel Week events taking place at U of T, including watch parties on all three campuses for the livestream of the Dec. 10 award ceremony.

Sunday’s first Nobel Prize lecture in physics was delivered by Hopfield, who shared how his fascination with the workings of the human brain inspired his development of the Hopfield network – an associative memory that can store and reconstruct patterns in data.

“How mind emerges from brain is, to me, the deepest question posed by our humanity,” Hopfield said.

When it was Hinton’s turn to take the stage, he described how he and Terry Sejnowski – one of Hopfield’s students – came upon a novel use of Hopfield nets: “Instead of using them to store memories, we could use them to construct interpretations of sensory input,” Hinton said.

He then went on to discuss the resulting Boltzmann machine, a type of neural network that is capable of recognizing elements within data.

Hinton discusses the significance of the Boltzmann machine (photo by U of T staff)

Yet, despite its promise, the original Boltzmann machine was too slow, Hinton said, and it wasn’t until several years later that he came up with “restricted Boltzmann machines,” which impose limitations on connections between neurons in order to increase system efficiency – a development that would prove pivotal in training deep neural networks (Hinton donated an early Boltzmann chip, about the size of a postage stamp, to the Nobel Prize Museum).

Following the lecture, Hinton was joined on stage by Hopfield, with the pair sharing a vigorous handshake and posing for photos.

U of T brought together a panel of experts in Stockholm to discuss AI research and development (photo by Jonas Borg)

Separately, U of T convened an expert panel in Stockholm on Monday about the direction of AI research and development.

Moderated by Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives, the panel included: Eyal de Lara, a professor and chair of the department of computer science in U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science; David Lie, director of the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society and a professor in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering; Tony Gaffney, president and CEO of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence; and Amy Loutfi, professor of computer science and pro-vice-chancellor for AI at Örebro University in Sweden.

The conversation touched on areas including the promising applications of AI, how responsible deployment of AI can mitigate the technology’s potential pitfalls and implications of AI’s rise on education.

U of T President Meric Gertler said that the AI breakthroughs fostered by Hinton’s research were made possible by Canada’s longstanding support of basic research.

“Geoff was interested in the novel but unproven concept of artificial neural networks, an area that was sometimes described as the ‘unpromising backwater’ of AI research,” President Gertler said in his remarks introducing the panel, noting that Hinton joined U of T in 1987 and was one of the first scholars to receive support from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR).

“Canada was investing in brilliant people, their ideas and their students – and those investments have paid off many years later.”

Canada was also the first country to launch a national AI roadmap, President Gertler said, in the form of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy – which funds three national AI institutes including the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, which is now housed in U of T’s new Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus. The state-of-the-art building also hosts the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, which is at the forefront of research and thought leadership on AI safety and responsible development, with Hinton one of its advisory board members.

“In short, Canada has played a key role in launching and driving the AI revolution and we’re a world leader in understanding and promoting safe, human-centred AI,” President Gertler said.

The theme of responsible AI was also brought up during a Q-and-A with Hinton, who revealed that the remarkable information-sharing abilities of large language models played a big role in sparking his now oft-repeated concerns around the current pace of the technology’s development.

“That’s when I came to realize that the fact that they’re so much better at sharing probably means that digital intelligence is just a better form of intelligence than us – and that’s what got me so worried,” he said.

Asked what responsible AI regulation looks like, Hinton said there must first be a consensus around solving the problem from a scientific standpoint – not unlike the scientific consensus that has emerged around climate change.

“Like the early days of climate change, the first thing to do is figure out what’s causing it and get scientific agreement on how you can fix it. Then, the second thing to do is get the politicians to do something about it … but here, we haven’t finished the first thing yet.”

��Ƶ shares 2024 VinFuture Grand Prize for work on deep learning

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 19:32:41 +0000

��Ƶ shares 2024 VinFuture Grand Prize for work on deep learning

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 12/06/2024 - 14:32

Cutline

(photo by Johnny Guatto)

Topic

Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society

Leah Cowen

Artificial Intelligence

Awards

Computer Science

��Ƶ

Research & Innovation

Vector Institute

Subheadline

Known as the "godfather of AI," Hinton was one of five people honoured with the US$3-million prize awarded by Vietnam's VinFuture Foundation

��Ƶ, University Professor emeritus of computer science at the ��Ƶ and winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics, has added another prestigious award to his collection: the 2024 VinFuture Grand Prize.

The US$3-million prize, awarded by the not-for-profit VinFuture Foundation in Vietnam, recognizes seminal scientific advancements that are improving the quality of human life and forging a more equitable and sustainable world.

Hinton, known as the “godfather of AI,” shares the prize with Yoshua Bengio, Jen-Hsun (Jensen) Huang, Yann LeCun and Fei-Fei Li. The five are honoured for their contributions to the development and adoption of deep learning, which is revolutionizing fields ranging from biomedical research and transportation to manufacturing, clean energy and agriculture.

“The ��Ƶ couldn’t be more proud of University Professor Emeritus Geoff Hinton,” said Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives. “When Geoff arrived at U of T nearly 40 years ago, his research into neural networks – influenced by his ideas about how the brain learns – was considered an AI backwater, if it was considered at all.

“Fast-forward to today, and his seminal work is transforming our world in ways that we’ve only begun to grasp. This award is a testament to the power of curiosity-driven research – and the impact of investing in brilliant, curious researchers.”

The VinFuture Foundation noted that Hinton and Bengio – a professor at the Université de Montréal – were awarded the prize for their research on neural networks and deep learning algorithms. LeCun, the chief AI scientist for Facebook AI Research who was one of Hinton’s post-doctoral students at U of T in the1980s, was recognized for helping develop convolutional neural networks for computer vision. Huang, the co-founder and CEO of NVIDIA, was recognized for his work on computational architectures for deep learning and accelerated computing, while Li, a professor at Stanford University, was celebrated for contributions to computer vision and large-scale image recognition.

In a video message, Hinton, an adviser at U of T’s Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society who is also co-founder and chief scientific adviser at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Toronto, said he was honoured to share the award with such an esteemed group of researchers – including his fellow A.M Turing Award-winners Bengio and LeCun.

“The three of us spent our whole lives developing the technology of neural networks,” Hinton said in remarks that noted the collective nature of the achievement.

“I’m very happy to see that the VinFuture Prize recognizes the contributions of Jensen Huang in developing the kind of compute and software required for artificial intelligence, and Fei-Fei Li in providing the big data that was needed to prove that it worked.”

Now in its fourth year, the VinFuture Prize was created with the goal of celebrating scientific and technological innovations that are aligned with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which include poverty alleviation, renewable energy, ending hunger and improving health.

Friday’s award ceremony was attended by Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and distinguished leaders, scientists and diplomats from around the world. It was broadcast live on Vietnamese television and streamed online.

“It’s terrific to see this recognition of Geoff’s extraordinary work and its potential to help address some of the world’s greatest challenges,” said Cowen. “Researchers around the globe – including a number of his former students – are using AI to help solve some of the most pressing challenges of our time in areas such as health care, sustainability and climate change.”

The prize comes as Hinton prepares to officially accept his Nobel Prize in Physics in Sweden on Dec. 10. He shared the Nobel with John J. Hopfield of Princeton University for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.

Hinton, who joined U of T in 1987 after working in universities in the U.K. and U.S., has said that he plans to leverage his growing fame to spread awareness of the dangers of unchecked AI development – a warning he first shared after leaving a research position at Google in early 2023.

U of T Reach Alliance initiative adds Howard University as its latest partner

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 14:25:01 +0000

U of T Reach Alliance initiative adds Howard University as its latest partner

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 12/05/2024 - 09:25

Cutline

Left to right: Howard University Associate Professor Amy Yeboah Quarkume, Howard student and Reach Alliance researcher Zoey Hall and Reach Alliance Executive Director Marin MacLeod (photo by Jamie Napier)

Munk School Staff

Topic

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Reach Alliance

Subheadline

Founded at the Munk School for Global Affairs & Public Policy, the student-driven Reach Alliance aims to address challenges faced by the world's under-served and under-resourced communities

The Reach Alliance, a student-driven initiative founded at the ��Ƶ that aims to help under-served or under-resourced communities around the globe, has inked a new partnership with Howard University, one of the most prominent historically Black universities in the United States.

The partnership with Howard – the ninth for the Reach Alliance and the first with a U.S. university – was announced at the 2024 Reach Conference and opens a channel for Howard students and faculty members to engage in Reach Alliance projects and case studies.

It will support the expansion of Reach project targets by building access to communities through new idea networks based in the United States.

“Howard university shares a commitment with the ��Ƶ to inclusive excellence which is the key principle driving the work we do at the Reach Alliance” said Reach founder Joseph Wong, a professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and in the department of political science in the Faculty of Arts & Science who is also U of T’s vice-president, international.

Founded at the Munk School in 2015, the Reach Alliance cultivates leadership for solving urgent challenges of hard-to-reach communities – those that are under-served or under-resourced for geographic, administrative or social reasons.

Working in interdisciplinary teams, Reach’s student researchers identify innovative solutions to climate, public health and economic problems by using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a guiding framework. The students conduct their research in collaboration with local communities, with support from university faculty members. When the research is done, each team produces a case study report that is shared with policymakers and practitioners.

In less than a decade, the Reach Alliance has grown to include universities in eight countries, with partners in Australia, Canada, Ghana, Mexico, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom and, now, the U.S. It has launched over 90 case studies and findings have been published in leading outlets including The Lancet, the Stanford Social Innovation Review and the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

Amy Yeboah Quarkume, a data scientist who is Howard University’s graduate director at the Center for Applied Data Science and Analytics, is among the newest cohort of faculty mentors.

“The Reach Alliance is truly a global partnership network, which allows us to think about how we tackle issues in D.C., where Howard is, but also in Guatemala and Ghana and other places," she said. “Seeing and hearing how others are grappling with the same problems makes one feel as though we can go far if we work together.”

Before the conference started, the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth renewed their longstanding partnership with the Reach Alliance through a US$2-million gift to support key investments in enhancing Reach’s impact strategy, as well as strengthen shared network resources. Adding to the current student leadership development program, the funding allows for more cross-university collaboration, expanded knowledge translation and communications capabilities.

The 2024 gathering also expanded on media engagement with Reach initiatives. Sponsor-in-kind Devex, a media platform that focuses on stories of interest to the global development community, followed the gathering with an eye to raising the profile of Reach’s actionable research insights.

“Devex covers stories that we care about, so it felt like a natural fit,” said Marin MacLeod, the Reach Alliance’s executive director. “As we approach 2030, with much progress yet to be made on the SDGs, the time is right to ask: Who is accountable? How are we holding them accountable? And are those that are hardest to reach being accounted for?

“The higher education sector, especially the Reach Alliance, has an important role to play in co-creating actionable research insights and partnering with practitioners and policymakers to see these findings implemented.”

The participation of Devex also supports the flow of actionable information between communities and researchers throughout the world – which Quarkume said was a key strength of the alliance.

“We must find common goals to deal with common issues in order to go back and share information that helps in more than one place,” she said. “I’m excited to meet new people across the globe who are thinking, moving, trying to reach communities that have been made to wait.”

Quarkume added that the recent U.S. presidential election result will impact the role America plays on the global stage, but that she remains committed to solving global challenges.

“Political systems have changed and issues may shift, but we still must find solutions. It will take us working across borders to solve some things.”

Students from U of T and India’s Ashoka University explore urban challenges in Pune

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 14:20:19 +0000

Students from U of T and India’s Ashoka University explore urban challenges in Pune

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 11/28/2024 - 09:20

Cutline

Students from U of T and Ashoka University accompany waste pickers who belong to the SWaCH collective in Pune, India – part of a course offered through the U of T India Foundation and School of Cities India (photo courtesy of Reyansh Lokare)

Topic

Subheadline

Undergraduate course in partnership with Ashoka University, near New Delhi, is one of many initiatives now facilitated by the U of T India Foundation

Samantha “Sam” Guevara says accompanying two waste pickers in Pune, India as they went about their daily work offered a window into the social dynamics of the city of more than seven million.

“What interested me was the stigmatization that waste pickers tend to receive from the general public juxtaposed with the pride they have in their work,” says Guevara, a fourth- year student at the ��Ƶ who is pursuing a double major in human geography and political science.

The workers she joined belong to SWaCH Waste Pickers, a co-operative of self-employed waste collectors who are contributing to the region’s environmental and financial well-being.

Guevara, meanwhile, is one of nine students from U of T who, along with nine students from India’s Ashoka University, a private liberal arts institution near New Delhi, recently explored three city-building projects identified by Indian non-profit and civil society organizations as part of a U of T undergraduate course.

Students from U of T and Ashoka gather at the Centre for Development Studies and Activities in Pune for a lecture by a local consulting firm (photo courtesy of Reyansh Lokare)

Offered through the U of T India Foundation and School of Cities India, the International Multidisciplinary Urban Capstone Projects course also saw students join guides for walking tours in Mumbai, attend lectures and develop what Aditi Mehta, an assistant professor, teaching stream, in urban studies at Innis College, calls “critical consciousness.”

The course is one of numerous activities facilitated in recent months by the U of T India Foundation, a partnership between U of T and Tata Trusts. Others include: a pitch competition and incubation program with Social Alpha, an incubator for social impact startups, that saw U of T faculty members participate on the technical jury that helped select 10 winning India-based entrepreneurs; and research projects that bring together U of T faculty members and India-based partners to work on building more resilient and sustainable cities.

Kunjpreet Arora, co-founder and director of India-based brick and paver upcycling startup Angirus, delivers a presentation at a social launch event (photo courtesy of Jake Karpouzis)

For the students involved, Mehta says questioning “why things are the way they are” and understanding their place in the world is a crucial part of their education – and one of the many takeaways they will bring back to Toronto.

“It’s about seeing how things are done in the east and thinking about how we can bring some of this problem solving back to the west,” says Mehta, who accompanied the students to India.

Jake Karpouzis, a fourth-year student in public policy and urban studies, spent his time exploring how the makeshift parking lots and garbage dumps beneath city overpasses, or flyovers, in Pune can be transformed into more valuable spaces that better serve surrounding communities.

“We're putting together a blog of the trip so the various organizations involved can read about it and take those experiences back to the classroom,” says Karpouzis, adding that he was excited by the opportunity to gain first-hand experience in urban studies in another country.

Ashoka University students speak to a vegetable vendor under a flyover in Pune (photo courtesy of Jake Karpouzis)

Kaitlyn Chan, a fourth-year urban studies student, concentrated on transgender studies while in India.

“Our program focused on skill development for the transgender community in Pune,” Chan says. “That includes access to government interventions, employment opportunities, self-efficacy and creating safe spaces.”

Professor Mehta, who created much of the programming with the U of T India Foundation, says the course was often life-changing for U of T students.

“The Indian students were amazing. They really took it upon themselves to be hosts for the Canadian students and they just kept asking, ‘When can we come to Toronto?’,” she says, adding that she is working on a reciprocal learning exchange in both countries.

Karan Singh, a professor of computer science and the associate director of School of Cities India, sees the capstone course as an opportunity to further strengthen U of T’s global reputation.

“We’re looking at U of T as a global brand and in India that is increasingly evident,” he says.

Professor Aditi Mehta (second from left) with students from U of T and Ashoka University and SWaCH workers on the streets of Pune (photo courtesy of Reyansh Lokare)

Andrea Russell, director of international relations in U of T’s Office of the Vice-President, International, says she’s thrilled with how the experience resonated with U of T students.

“It’s a wonderful example of global collaboration and an amazing opportunity for our students to increase their global fluency.”

Changemakers: U of T students awarded prestigious Rhodes Scholarships

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 14:30:32 +0000

Changemakers: U of T students awarded prestigious Rhodes Scholarships

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 11/21/2024 - 09:30

Cutline

Victoria College students Noah Rudder, left, and Amy Mann, right, have been awarded Rhodes Scholarships (photo by Will Dang)

Joe Howell

Topic

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Undergraduate Students

Victoria College

Subheadline

Noah Rudder and Amy Mann will pursue fully-funded graduate studies at the University of Oxford

Noah Rudder was rehearsing for a starring role as the detective Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express at the ��Ƶ’s Hart House Theatre when he received the momentous news: he had just become a Rhodes Scholar.

The world’s oldest graduate fellowship, the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship enables recipients to pursue fully-funded graduate studies at the University of Oxford.

It is awarded following a rigorous global selection process.

“I was so grateful – I feel at home in the theatre, and there’s no better place for me to have taken that call,” says Rudder, a student at Victoria College who’s completing the peace, conflict and justice program at U of T’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy in the Faculty of Arts & Science alongside a major in drama at the Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies.

Rudder is one of two U of T students to be named a 2025 Rhodes Scholar this year. He is joined by Amy Mann, a fellow Victoria College student who’s pursuing a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and statistics.

Mann says she’s looking forward to continuing her research in mathematical biology at Oxford.

“I want to keep studying math and seeing how we can apply it to these big problems – like considering social factors of disease transmission to improve intervention strategies,” says Mann, who is the president of the U of T Mathematics Union.

The pair are among 11 Canadian students who will head to Oxford next fall, joining more than 100 young scholars from around the world.

“On behalf of the entire U of T community, I would like to congratulate Noah Rudder and Amy Mann on this tremendous achievement,” said U of T President Meric Gertler.

“We wish them continued success in their scholarship and look forward to hearing about their accomplishments in the years to come.”

Rhonda McEwen, president and vice-chancellor of Victoria University in the ��Ƶ, said she was “over the moon” for Rudder and Mann. “It is a true privilege to interact with this caliber of young person,” McEwen said.

Rudder, who hails from Ajax, Ont., hopes to combine his interests in social justice and the arts by pursuing master of public policy and a master of fine arts degrees at Oxford.

The president of the Peace, Conflict and Justice Society, Rudder was instrumental in Victoria University’s signing of the Scarborough Charter, a commitment by institutions across Canada to combat anti-Black racism and foster Black inclusion in higher education. “Working with Vic’s Office of the President on the Scarborough Charter inspired me to contribute to an area that I can make an impact,” he says. “I think there are a lot of opportunities to push for spaces for Black individuals at the highest level of education.”

He has also conducted research with the World Bank’s Office of the Chief Economist, focusing on knowledge generation in African countries before 2009 – and has written for and performed in the Toronto Fringe Festival and various U of T productions.

Mann, meanwhile, is passionate about leveraging math and science to address pressing global challenges.

In 2021, she co-authored a paper, published in the journal Atmosphere-Ocean, that examined the reduction in occurrences of cold weather in the Canadian Arctic. She’s now focused on the intersection of climate change and public health. Her current research project seeks to create climate-dependent models of malaria transmission in Cameroon.

She has been involved in sustainability and other causes. At Victoria College, she served as the sustainability commissioner on the Students’ Administrative Council and a student member of the Board of Regents. She also co-founded the student community garden and volunteers at The Common Table, a drop-in program that supports individuals experiencing homelessness and poverty.

“Congratulations to Amy and Noah, both from Victoria College, on being named Rhodes Scholars,” said Antoinette Handley, acting dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science and professor in the department of political science. “Their academic achievements and commitment to leadership and civic engagement are a testament to their hard work and vision.

“We’re incredibly proud to have them represent both Victoria College and the Faculty of Arts & Science at Oxford, and we look forward to the many ways they’ll continue to make a difference.”

McEwen, meanwhile, said Rudder and Mann exemplify the potential that U of T’s younger generation of budding scholars hold in tackling important challenges.

“Both students share a passion for people and embody the multidisciplinary approach needed to address the ‘wicked problems’ of the world – complex issues requiring insights from multiple disciplines,” McEwen said.

“They are curious but compassionate people who will challenge existing frameworks for a better tomorrow. When you meet either of them, you understand that you are with someone who is going to continue to do amazing things.”

U of T among top 15 universities globally for graduate employability: Times Higher Education

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 21:57:35 +0000

U of T among top 15 universities globally for graduate employability: Times Higher Education

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 11/20/2024 - 16:57

Cutline

(photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Topic

Times Higher Education

Subheadline

The Global University Employability Ranking 2025 is based on survey data and reflects the opinions of large employers

��Ƶ graduates are among the most highly regarded job candidates in the world.

In its latest ranking of graduate employability, Times Higher Education placed U of T 14^th globally and eighth among public universities. U of T was also the top-ranked public university in North America.

The Global University Employability Ranking 2025 is based on survey data and reflects the opinions of large employers.

“��Ƶ graduates are some of the best educated on the planet,” said U of T President Meric Gertler.

“The world-class learning opportunities provided to our students and the quality of our scholarship and research give our graduates a distinct advantage in the workforce.”

The annual ranking evaluated 250 universities from 44 countries around the world. It was designed and commissioned by Emerging, a French human resources consultancy. The survey participants are recruiters or managers who supervise five or more new graduates per year; most work in companies with more than 500 employees.

There were 13,240 respondents to the survey from 33 countries. More than 129,000 votes were cast, up from 100,700 votes last year. Approximately 1,000 universities were assessed to derive the final ranking of 250 universities.

U of T has consistently ranked among the top 15 globally in the Times Higher Education employability ranking over the past decade, holding the 12^th spot last year.

This year’s edition of the ranking was led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University. Harvard University and the University of Cambridge rounded out the top five.

Four Canadian universities joined U of T in the top 100: McGill University (31^st), University of British Columbia (36^th), Université de Montréal (84^th) and McMaster University (88^th).

First 48 Hours: Doc about U of T international students now streaming on YouTube

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 13:58:17 +0000

First 48 Hours: Doc about U of T international students now streaming on YouTube Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 11/20/2024 - 08:58

Topic

Centre for International Experience