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A new study shows why mascots and cartoon characters don’t belong in food marketing for kids Would you let a clown influence what brand of car you buy? How about choosing your household appliances based on the advice of a cartoon bird or tiger? Probably not. But young people in your family will likely let…
“Canadian farmers use 62,000 tons of plastic products and packaging annually and the Agrifoods industry accounts for 1,900,000 tons of plastic products,” says Ranah Chavoshi, a Simon Fraser University (SFU) biologist specializing in Phycology (study of seaweed). The 29-year-old British-Columbian with Persian roots is doing something about that problem. Drawing on her phycology expertise she…
Young adults in Canada are less likely to own a home and more likely to live with their parents than they were a decade ago, according to recently released census data.But statistics only tell one part of the story. Umay Kader (she/her), a PhD candidate in sociology at UBC, wants to understand the other part.…
A partnership between Immigrant Services Society of B.C. (ISSofBC) and Emily Carr University of Art and Design invites women, immigrants and refugees to develop job-ready skills to support B.C.’s high tech sector. “This program opened my eyes to the Canadian job market and workplace expectations,” says Saba Farheen, a student currently enrolled in courses through…
Space travel, medical advances and the digital age are all trends we associate with the modern era. Yet an underlying theme, modern man’s access to energy, is rarely considered a major driver of history. Imre Szeman, professor of Communications and English at the University of Waterloo and co-director of Petrocultures, wants to reshape discussions on…
Alisa Yao wants to help others adopt a more sustainable lifestyle through her work. A fourth-year product design student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) and an entrepreneur, Yao creates products that promote a more waste-free way of living. Yao believes that product design is critical to reducing waste. “It’s not just telling people to live…
Josh Lepawsky first became interested in the topic of e-waste (electronic waste) more than a decade ago through learning about Malaysia, which was building new cities devoted to upgrading the value chain in terms of digital technologies. “I had been really intrigued how people talked about information and communication technology as if it existed in…
Many welfare projects fail because targeted beneficiaries refuse to participate. In these situations, Nathan Nunn, Frederic E. Abbe Professor of Economics at Harvard University, argues that cultural understanding combined with economic analysis may help. Nunn, who is also receiving a Simon Fraser University (SFU) Outstanding Alumni Award, will be speaking at the 2017 BMO Public…
With the growing number of refugees, globally and locally, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) identified a need to bridge the gap between service providers and refugees. That was when PeaceGeeks, a Vancouver-based non-profit organization, stepped in. Founded in 2010 in Vancouver, PeaceGeeks uses global operations and leverages technology to promote peace. Their…
Barry Po, Director of Product Management at NGRAIN, the leading company in providing interactive 3D experiences in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), will be doing a tech talk on Living and Working with Augmented and Virtual Reality on Oct. 19. The talk, which will take place in the West Vancouver Public Library’s Welsh…
Animikii, a tech company based on Songhees Territory in Victoria, walks the walk as a social enterprise. Animikii has been using technology to serve Indigenous communities for 13 years, and a recent surge of growth has put them in position to broaden their reach. CEO Jeff Ward, producer Jordyn Hrenyk and designer Dakota Lightning sat down…
Most of us have never given a second thought to wood waste but one organization is working to improve that. Uproot a zero-waste, wood-salvaging social venture was founded last year with the goal of making what is known as a “circular economy” more accessible, starting with re-purposing wood waste. What is the circular economy? Kevin…
“It’s starting to show us a lot of things but it’s also starting to not show us a lot of things in terms of these types of algorithms, so it’s a new thing and what it’s going to turn into we don’t know,” says Peter Chow-White, associate professor, SFU School of Communication. SFU’s Spring President’s…
