On March 28, the Federation's Annual Conference was held at the McGill Faculty Club, focusing on the theme of "Transformations." After a warm welcome from Suzanne Fortier, Principal of McGill University, President Antonia Maioni highlighted the Federation's many activities in 2013 as well as future projects for 2014 in her opening address. A lively discussion about the transformation in undergraduate education with Thérèse Laferrière, Vivek Venktesh and Dilip Soman, and moderated by Fernand Gervais, followed. Attendees then had the opportunity to participate in one of a series of workshops. The afternoon featured an address by Chad Gaffield, President of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and was followed by a discussion on the transformations in graduate education and the future of the PhD with Kathryn Muller, Sidonie Smith and Paul Yachnin, and moderated by Leigh Yetter. The day wrapped up with a Big Thinking lecture on "Borders without Boundaries" by Kevin Kee of Brock University and the announcement of the 2014 Canada Prizes finalists by Antonia Maioni.

 

All of the day's events were live streamed and some of the videos are already available here.

 

The Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE), organizers of the Bacon and Eggheads series, and the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, organizers of Big Thinking breakfasts, have banded together to bring you Bacon & Big Thinking, a special breakfast event featuring different perspectives on the pressing issue of urban transportation.

 

Moderated by Joanne Chianello, city affairs columnist at the Ottawa Citizen, engineer Dr. Jeff Casello, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo, and geographer Dr. Zachary Patterson, professor and Canada Research Chair in Transportation and Land Use Linkages for Regional Sustainability at Concordia University, will discuss how our cities should be developing transit, and what transportation needs we will see in the future.

 

The event will take place in the Parliamentary Restaurant in Centre Block, in Ottawa on May 1 at 7:30 a.m. Register today! 

This month's Big Thinking lecture "The secret to our success: Immigration policy in Canada" was presented by Irene Bloemraad, Barnes Chair of Canadian Studies and CIFAR Senior Fellow from the University of California, Berkeley. This lecture explored the pillars of success undergirding Canada's immigration policy to date, and cracks in these pillars moving forward. Click here to listen to the lecture audio track; video will be posted shortly. Or read Blomeraad's op-ed "The key to Canada's immigration success", published in the Ottawa Citizen ahead of the event.

The March Big Thinking lecture "Why do some Canadians become terrorists?" was presented by Lorne Dawson, Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology and Legal Studies, University of Waterloo. This lecture explored the many variables at work as they relate to this topic, the ways we can use existing forms of knowledge to model what is happening, and how this can help us create policies and programs that will best prevent further radicalization to violence. Dr. Dawson was interviewed by CBC Ottawa Morning before speaking on the Hill.

The video of Professor Dawson's lecture is now available:

Last week, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) revealed the Top 25 finalists in the 2014 Research for a Better Life: The Storytellers challenge. The competition invites Canadian university students to submit a three-minute pitch in their choice of format -- text, video, etc. -- on SSHRC-funded research from their institution. As part of their winnings, the Top 25 will each receive a prize of $3,000 and the opportunity to attend Congress 2014. At Congress, they will participate in an exclusive research communications workshop and compete in The Storytellers Showcase to become one of the Final Five Storytellers.

The Federation is delighted to sponsor the International Research Society for Public Management Conference 2014, held at Carleton University on April 8-10, 2014. The conference theme "Intersections: Governance, Democracy, Accountability" will explore the changing relationships among the public, private and nonprofit sectors.

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The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences works to promote the value of research and learning in the humanities and social sciences. Created in 1996, its membership comprises over 80 scholarly associations, 79 institutions and six affiliate organizations, representing 85,000 researchers, educators and students across Canada.