Media releases

• Brock’s UNESCO Chair launches Sustainability Poetry Contest

  Wednesday, January 31, 2018 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 31 January 2018 – R00020

  What kind of future do you want?

  That’s the question being asked this year as part of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Poetry Day.

  Brock University Professor and UNESCO Chair in Community Sustainability Liette Vasseur, along with Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, is putting out a call for submissions in this year’s 2018 Sustainability Poetry Contest. All Niagara residents are eligible to enter their original, unpublished poems with the theme of ‘The Future We Want’ for this year’s contest.

  UNESCO has been celebrating World Poetry Day annually since 1999. The idea is to use poetry as a social tool to bring awareness to social issues, give a voice to the community, promote linguistic diversity and change the way people view their place in the world.

  “The poetry contest is important because when we look at sustainability in communities, arts and culture are essential for human well-being,” said Vasseur. “We are aware that when we look at sustainable development, we do not only consider economic development but also social development. It is important to integrate activities that make people feel positive about their lives and help work toward our sustainable development goals.”

  The Sustainability Poetry Contest, which is under the patronage of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, includes categories for elementary, high school and post-secondary students, as well as the general public. Both French and English poems are welcome.

  This year’s topic is derived from a 2015 United Nations outcome document that spurred the development of the 2030 Agenda, citing 17 sustainable development goals to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Each goal has specific targets to be achieved by 2030.

  “The 2018 Sustainability Poetry Contest affords an opportunity for individuals to philosophically envision ‘the future we want’ and express it creatively,” said ESRC Director Ryan Plummer. “In making connections to the sustainable development goals, the poetry helps to bridge sustainability locally to a global agenda for transformative change.”

  Poems can be submitted online until 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 19 by visiting the UNESCO Chair’s website. Prizes such as books and gift cards, will be awarded in each of the four categories.

  Winners will be announced at the UNESCO World Poetry Day celebration on Friday, March 23 at Mahtay Café in downtown St. Catharines. The event is free, but registration on the Chair’s website is required as space is limited.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.

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  Categories: Media releases

• Brock labour expert launches survey for workers in horse stables

  Tuesday, January 30, 2018 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 30 January 2018 – R00019

  If you work in Ontario’s equine industry, Brock University Labour Studies Professor Kendra Coulter wants to hear from you.

  The internationally renowned expert on animals, work and humane jobs has launched the Work in Ontario Horse Stables Survey to learn more about the working conditions in the province’s equine sector.

  “Compared to a number of European countries, we lack data about the role of horses and horse people in our economy and society,” says Coulter, recipient of Brock’s 2017 Chancellor’s Chair for Research Excellence.

  The survey — aimed at grooms, stable owners and operators, and any other current or former workers in the industry — is part of a larger research project that will lay the groundwork for developing strategies that would “improve the lives of people and horses,” explains Coulter.

  “The research is multi-dimensional and involves field research, interviews and policy analysis. The survey component is important because it allows me to hear from more people who are geographically spread out in small workplaces.”

  The anonymous survey takes about 20 minutes and can be found at equinework.ca

  It includes questions about the demographics of workers and their working conditions, workplace experiences and challenges, and human-horse relationships and well-being.

  “Caring for horses is deeply rewarding, but also difficult and undervalued work,” says Coulter. “People must perform physically demanding tasks in all types of weather and simultaneously be attuned to the intricacies of horses’ bodies, minds and ways of communicating. It takes skill, knowledge and empathy.”

  A 2008 study by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs estimated the annual economic impact of the horse industry in Ontario at around $675 million, with the economic impact in Niagara being $15 million annually.

  Coulter’s past human-animal research has resulted in breakthrough studies, such as her work in 2016 with a University of Windsor colleague which reported that Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals enforcement officers are underequipped compared to their police service counterparts and face many instances of disrespect on the job.

  Coulter’s innovative research has earned her global acclaim. She was recently inducted into the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, and this summer she will be a keynote speaker at a conference on human-horse relations in England, where she will also be handing out the Solidarity Prize for Excellence in Early Career Equine Research, an international award she developed.

  At Brock, Coulter supports graduate students with humane jobs fellowships, teaches the Department of Labour Studies’ unique Animals at Work course, and uses the author royalties from her book Animals, Work, and the Promise of Interspecies Solidarity to support an undergraduate student award.

  “In Labour Studies, we are committed to scholarship that promotes social justice,” Coulter says. “More and more people are recognizing that real social justice includes other species.”

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.

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  Categories: Media releases