Articles by author: sackles

  • EVENT: Social Innovation Forum: Agrobiodiversity to Sustain Community Food Systems on March 5

    Monday, February 12, 2018 | By

    Liette Vasseur will be participating in the Social Innovation Forum at Lakehead University on March 5, from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m.

    The Social Innovation Forum will open Lakehead University’s 2018 Research and Innovation Week, “Connections.” The Forum is designed to showcase innovative approaches to community-university partnerships and the impact such connections can have on social justice and innovation.  The day’s events will create a dialogue that will address how Lakehead University’s research capacity can be utilized to inform and address challenges confronting community organizations and our city.  This public event is expected to draw local organizations and researchers, as well as leading research experts who are passionate about the power of community-university partnerships as a vehicle for societal change.

    Learn more about the forum

    Categories: Updates of the Chair

  • GATHERING TO DISCUSS GETTING MORE WOMEN AND GIRLS INTO SCIENCE on FEBRUARY 12

    Monday, February 12, 2018 | By

    The Brock community is invited to celebrate and discuss how to enhance the role of women and girls in science.

    In honour of International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Professor of Biological Sciences and UNESCO Chair in Community Sustainability, Liette Vasseur has organized an informal gathering to be held on campus Monday, Feb. 12.

    The goal is to start a dialogue about ways to further inspire and engage women and girls in science. From mentorship opportunities to raising awareness and strategies for empowerment, all ideas are welcome.

    Held from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Mackenzie Chown F Block, Room 237, the event is open to all undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty and staff. Refreshments will be served.

    Joining the group will be Valerie Davidson, former NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Professor Emeritus, University of Guelph.

    The United Nations General Assembly declared Feb. 11 as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science and, in 2016, UNESCO collaborated with the L’Oreal Foundation to engage governments and stakeholders in promoting the full participation of women and girls in science.

    If you’re not able to attend Monday’s event, everyone is encouraged to join the conversation through social media by tagging posts with #GirlsInSTEM, #WomeninScience or #GirlsCrackTheCode.

    Categories: Updates of the Chair

  • Brock’s UNESCO Chair launches Sustainability Poetry Contest

    Wednesday, January 31, 2018 | By

    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 [email protected], 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.

    – 30 –

    Categories: Media releases

  • UNESCO Chair discusses sustainable agriculture strategies over tea in Fujian

    Thursday, January 25, 2018 | By

    Liette Vasseur enjoyed some tea after a recent meeting with her team of scientists, technicians and students in continued efforts to examine sustainable alternative agricultural strategies to improve tea plantations in the Fujian province of Southern China. This large research program also integrates the Chinese counterpart of the Ontario-China Research and Innovation project from the Ministry of Research and Innovation. Agrominerals from Boreal Agrominerals are being tested there for improving the health of plantations.

     

    Categories: Updates of the Chair

  • Liette Vasseur speaks at Sustainability Transdisciplinary Seminar Series

    Thursday, January 18, 2018 | By

    In her role as UNESCO Chair in Community Sustainability: From Local to Global, Liette Vasseur spoke at the Environmental Sustainability Research (ESRC)’s  Sustainability Transdisciplinary Seminar Series on January 12. The seminars are a component of the Master of Sustainability program.

    Her topic was “The case study of San Juan, Ecuador: Bringing ecosystem governance for a more sustainable community.”

    Here is a brief synopsis of the talk:

    “The Andean Páramo is a fragile ecosystem that hosts high diversity and plays an important role in moderating climate and water discharge towards the Amazon basin. The Chimborazo region of Ecuador is highly vulnerable to the advance of industrial/ conventional agricultural activities and the changing climate, which is severely effecting water management and ecosystem health. Vasseur’s presentation discussed a large project that involves the indigenous population of San Juan and discussed the way forward to enhance community sustainability and resilience through concepts such as ecosystem governance, ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change and landscape restoration.”

     

    Categories: Updates of the Chair

  • 2018 Sustainability Poetry Contest accepting submissions!

    Friday, January 12, 2018 | By

    In celebration of UNESCO Poetry Day, Brock University’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC), and the UNESCO Chair in Community Sustainability would like to invite you to submit your original, unpublished, poem to our sustainability poetry contest.

    The theme this year is ‘The Future We Want’ and the contest is open to all elementary, secondary and post-secondary students in the Niagara region as well as to the general public. The contest is accepting submissions both in English and in French.

    Submissions are open until Monday, February 19 at 5 p.m.

    Submit your poem today!

    English submission form
    French Submission form

    More about this year’s theme:
    The United Nations (UN) General Assembly in its Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 27 July 2012 during the Rio +20 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, adopted the outcome document entitled “The future we want” as a vision for what has become in 2015 the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

    As mentioned: Poverty eradication is the greatest global challenge facing the world today and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. In this regard, we are committed to freeing humanity from poverty and hunger as a matter of urgency… We therefore acknowledge the need to further mainstream sustainable development at all levels, integrating economic, social and environmental aspects and recognizing their interlinkages, so as to achieve sustainable development in all its dimensions.”

    Complete contest rules available here.

    Get inspired by reading submissions from past contests!
    Check out our Sustainability Poetry Contest E-Book.

    Categories: Updates of the Chair

  • Vasseur publishes new article on gut immunity in the diamondback moth

    Friday, January 12, 2018 | By

    Liette Vasseur has published, as co-author with Junhan Lin, Xiaofeng Xia, Xiao-Qiang Yu,Jinhong Shen,  Yong Li, Hailan Lin, Shanshan Tang and Minsheng You, a new article, “Gene expression profiling provides insights into the immune mechanism of Plutella xylostella midgut to microbial infection” in Gene.

    Read the publishers abstract:

    Insect gut immunity plays a key role in defense against microorganism infection. The knowledge of insect gut immunity has been obtained mostly from Drosophila melanogaster. Little is known about gut immunity in the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), a pest destroying cruciferous crops worldwide. In this study, expressions of the immune-related genes in the midgut of P. xylostella orally infected with Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pichia pastoris were profiled by RNA-seq and qRT-PCR approaches. The results revealed that the Toll, IMD, JNK and JAK-STAT pathways and possibly the prophenoloxidase activation system in P. xylostella could be activated by oral infections, and moricins, gloverins and lysozyme2 might act as important effectors against microorganisms. Subsequent knock-down of IMD showed that this gene was involved in regulating the expression of down-stream genes in the IMD pathway. Our work indicates that the Toll, IMD, JNK and JAK-STAT pathways may synergistically modulate immune responses in the P. xylostella midgut, implying a complex and diverse immune system in the midgut of insects.

    Read the article 

    Categories: Updates of the Chair

  • Vasseur publishes new article in Ambio: A Journal of the Human Environment

    Thursday, October 19, 2017 | By

    Liette Vasseur has published a new article, “Complex problems and unchallenged solutions: Bringing ecosystem governance to the forefront of the UN sustainable development goals” in Ambio: A Journal of the Human Environment. The article was co-authored with Darwin HorningMary Thornbush, Emmanuelle Cohen-Shacham, Angela Andrade, Ed Barrow, Steve R. Edwards, Piet Wit, and Mike Jones.

    Read the publisher’s abstract:

    Sustainable development aims at addressing economic, social, and environmental concerns, but the current lack of responsive environmental governance hinders progress. Short-term economic development has led to limited actions, unsustainable resource management, and degraded ecosystems. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) may continue to fall short of achieving significant progress without a better understanding of how ecosystems contribute to achieving sustainability for all people. Ecosystem governance is an approach that integrates the social and ecological components for improved sustainability and includes principles such as adaptive ecosystem co-management, subsidiarity, and telecoupling framework, as well as principles of democracy and accountability. We explain the importance of ecosystem governance in achieving the SDGs, and suggest some ways to ensure that ecosystem services are meaningfully considered. This paper reflects on how integration of these approaches into policies can enhance the current agenda of sustainability.

    Read the article

    Categories: Updates of the Chair

  • Liette Vasseur appointed as president of CCUNESCO’s Natural, Social, and Human Sciences Sectoral Commission

    Thursday, October 12, 2017 | By

    Vasseur, right, is pictured here with Sébastien Goupil, General Secretary of CCUNESCO, centre, and Louise Vandelac, former Chair of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO’s Sectoral Commission on Human, Social and Natural Sciences.

    Congratulations to UNESCO Chairholder Liette Vasseur, who was appointed as the new President of the Canadian Committee for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (CCUNESCO)’s Natural, Social, and Human Sciences Sectoral Commission last week!

    The Natural, Social, and Human Sciences Sectoral commission is an 11-member group of Canadian scientists, academics and others providing knowledge and expertise on a range of issues. These include: social and environmental impacts of climate change; conservation of natural heritage and water resources; inclusion of newcomers and vulnerable groups; reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people; youth engagement; and measures to fight discrimination, racism, violence, bullying and radicalization.

    “We’re producing refection papers on some of the topics we believe are important, to come up with a long-range vision of how Canadians and the federal government can implement various actions related to sustainability,” Vasseur said.

    The Sectoral Commission advises CCUNESCO on the organization’s programs and activities in these areas. In turn, CCUNESCO, operating under the Canada Council for the Arts, seeks to connect Canadians to the broader work of UNESCO, whose work “contributes to a peaceful, equitable and sustainable future that leaves no one behind.”

    Categories: Updates of the Chair

  • Vasseur publishes new book: Adaptation to Coastal Storms in Atlantic Canada

    Thursday, October 05, 2017 | By

    UNESCO Chairholder Liette Vasseur has published a new book based on an analysis that was performed on a series of winter storms in 2010/ 2011 that caused considerable damage to coastal communities in Atlantic Canada.

    Adaptation to Coastal Storms in Atlantic Canada,     which was co-authored by Brock University’s Mary J. Thornbush and PI Steve Plante, of the Université du Québec à Rimouski, summarizes the results of the project and provides a perspective on how people in 10 coastal communities perceive and experience extreme weather events, and enhance their capacity to adapt and improve their resilience. It describes the outcome of two series of interviews and activities that were conducted during the project, as well as the lessons learned and general elements that should be considered when researchers collaborate with communities to define adaptation and resilience strategies.

    With coastal storms increasing both in frequency and intensity, the book provides a guide that allows communities to better understand the priorities and options available to them in order to then take an active role in adaptation to climate change in their communities.

    “We tried to find ways that the tools would be simple enough that the communities can use them and use a participatory approach,” said Vasseur. “It’s not only for coastal zones and it can be used in other countries. Because this was a large project of six years, we were able to develop a lot of tools that are now being used in other places, such as in a project in Ecuador.”

     To learn more or purchase the e-book, visit the publisher’s website. 

     

    Categories: Updates of the Chair

1 … 8 9 10 11