Research stars

Not really a philosopher

Chris Eliasmith, University of Waterloo

Chris Eliasmith, Canada Research Chair in Theoretical Neuroscience, is professor with a joint appointment in Philosophy and Systems Design Engineering and cross-appointment to Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. He is Director of the Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience. He was awarded the NSERC John C. Polanyi Award for his work developing a computer model of the human brain. We have invited Professor Eliasmith to share his thoughts on interdisciplinary approaches to research. Here is what he wrote:

Not really a philosopher.

And not really an engineer... or a neuroscientist, computer scientist, or psychologist.  Instead, I am someone really interested in how the brain works—all of...

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What’s the big idea? – Micah Anshan’s new role for drug users

Christine McKenna Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

In 1956, William S. Burroughs sent a letter to the British Journal of Addiction with an article enclosed, which described his experiences using a broad collection of drugs and the symptoms of withdrawal from each. Of the common tendency to use the word addiction “to indicate anything one is used to or wants,” he suggests that “so misapplied, the term loses any useful precision of meaning.” Burroughs, a seminal figure of the 1950s Beat movement, appears in this letter to call for an understanding of “real addiction” as experienced by a “real addict”.

According to...

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Productivity and the Atlantic Provinces: 2012 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship Highlights

Milena Stanoeva Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

“Productivity” is a word that gets thrown around a lot, especially in times of economic uncertainty.  Governments, financial institutions and media commentators are all concerned with measuring, increasing and stimulating Canada’s productivity. But what does the concept of productivity actually mean beyond a gross domestic product (GDP)? Karen Foster, one of this year’s Banting Postdoctoral Fellows, will tackle this question during her research at Saint Mary’s University. The title of her post-doctoral research project is “Beyond the numbers:  the meaning and measure of productivity in Canada.”

An east-coast native, Foster will specifically look at “moments of government intervention in working and earning in Atlantic Canada,”...

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Crossing borders in North America and Europe: 2012 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship Highlights

Milena Stanoeva Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Over the past decade, border crossing has become a national security concern of growing importance, with states increasingly turning to surveillance technologies, databases and smart IDs to control migration flows. Criticism about the increased securitization of borders is generally levelled at states, which, according to 2012 Banting Postdoctoral Fellow Martin Geiger, ignores a major player in migration management – industry.

Geiger will be carrying out his research project, titled “Smart new border world: Information technologies and security industries in the management of human cross-border mobility in North America and Europe,” at Carleton University, where he was a visiting scholar last year....

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La construction de martyrs au Moyen-Orient: Bourses postdoctorales Banting 2012

Daniel Drolet Journaliste indépendant

Laure Guirguis, née d’une mère française et d’un père égyptien chrétien, parle l’arabe et a régulièrement séjourné en Égypte depuis son enfance.

Titulaire d’un DEA (Master 2) en philosophie, elle n’avait pas songé à concentrer ses efforts sur le problème copte lorsqu’elle a commencé son doctorat sur les transformations de la scène politique égyptienne. Son directeur de recherche lui a signalé l’actualité de ce sujet pour sa thèse de doctorat en études politiques à l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales à Paris.

Elle a vécu en Égypte de 2005 à 2010,  et a donc pu observer de près la fin du régime de Hosni Moubarak. Aujourd’hui elle est installée à Montréal. Récipiendaire d’une Bourse Banting du gouvernement canadien pour des études...

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Canada and the transnational human egg trade: 2012 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship highlights

Milena Stanoeva Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Heather WalmsleyWith innovations like babies with three genetic parents, what is reality in the field of reproductive technology today seems like it would have been science fiction mere decades ago. And while reproductive technology has helped thousands of couples with reproductive issues, same sex couples and single parents start families, policy and research around the field is lagging. One area of concern that remains largely unaddressed is the international human egg trade and its implications for women on both sides of the transaction.

This issue will be the subject of Heather Walmsley’s research, entitled “Canada and the transnational human egg trade:  implications for women's agency and...

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Les dirigeants d’université publient une déclaration sur la préparation des diplômés des cycles supérieurs à des carrières internationales

La semaine dernière, le Council of Graduate Schools des États-Unis et la Technische Universität München ont délivré un communiqué de presse annonçant une déclaration commune : Principes à l’appui des carrières mondiales des diplômés de l’enseignement supérieur. Le communiqué et la déclaration sont disponibles en anglais ici. Veuillez trouver la versions française ci-dessous.


 

Les dirigeants d’université publient une déclaration sur la préparation des diplômés des cycles supérieurs à des carrières internationales

Des lignes directrices internationales sont élaborées à l’appui du développement des compétences et des débouchés sur le marché du travail mondial

Seeon, Allemagne (6 septembre 2012) – Des responsables de l’enseignement supérieur de 15 pays se...

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