The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) is set to host a half-day symposium called Building Better Lives & Communities, where a variety of international experts will engage with ideas about identity, groups, and the pursuit of happiness. Through a series of TED-style presentations, panel discussions, and audience Q&A periods, the forum will consider three different themes relating to social change and community wellbeing: “The challenges to group identity”, “The pitfalls of imperfect decision-making”, and “The power of positive social experience”. With researchers weighing in from a range of academic fields, the symposium will facilitate an interdisciplinary conversation about some valuable studies in social science. Building Better Lives and Communities will take place on September 19th in Toronto, and will be available for streaming (live or after the event) on CIFAR’s website. Follow #CIFARbetterlives for updates and insights.
Four new members have been appointed to the Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics, which advises the presidents of the three federal research agencies (the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) on ethical conduct for research involving humans. Carolyn Ells is an associate professor of medicine at McGill University; Veronica Stinson is a professor of psychology at Saint Mary’s University; Lehana Thabane is an associate director in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University; and Brent Windwick is a health care lawyer and adjunct assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry and Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Alberta.
The 2013 Massey Lectures will kick off at Concordia University on October 15th. This year’s series is based on Lawrence Hill’s ninth book, Blood: The Stuff of Life, and will tour Canada from Montreal on to Halifax, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Toronto. Hill was recently added to our lineup of Big Thinking speakers at Congress 2014, which will take place next May at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario.