PhD Candidate, Antibodies, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine I am a MRC DTP funded PhD student studying at Lancaster University and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. During my PhD, I aim to engineer novel antibodies to help improve the therapeutic and diagnostic landscape for emerging infectious diseases and neglected tropical diseases, such as snakebite envenoming. I intend to adapt the skills I have gained through various antibody discovery projects to advance the well-being of vulnerable populations worldwide.
Dean and Professor of Social Work, University of Toronto Professor Charmaine C. Williams joined the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work in 2002. On January 1, 2023, she was appointed Dean for a five-year term. Professor Williams is also holds the Sandra Rotman Chair in Social Work. Dean Williams’ research focuses on health equity issues affecting various populations, including racial minority women, LGBTQ communities, and families affected by mental illness. As a social worker in the mental health care system, Dr. Williams worked with individuals, families and groups, and was also active in organizational change initiatives directed at increasing access for racial and ethnic minority populations. She has extensive experience developing and delivering professional education in the areas of anti-racism, cultural competence, mental health and addictions. Recent activities include serving on the expert panel for the Mental Health of Black Canadians Initiative at the Public Health Agency of Canada and serving on the Anti-Racism Advisory Panel that developed the Toronto Police Service’s race-based data collection policy. She is PI for the SSHRC funded project “United we stand, divided we falter: Advancing a family-centred agenda for research on caregiving.” Prior to taking on the role of Dean, Williams was the Vice-Dean of Students at the School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto. She has also held positions as the Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Officer (2003-2004), the Associate Dean Academic for Social Work (2009-2014), and the Provostial Advisor on Access Programs (2014-2015).
Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Université Laval Christian Gagné is a professor at the Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering Department of Université Laval since 2008. He is the founding director of the Institute Intelligence and Data (IID). He holds a Canada-CIFAR Artificial Intelligence Chair and is an associate member to Mila. He is conducting research on the development of methods for machine learning and stochastic optimization. A significant share of his research work is on the practical use of these techniques in domains such as computer vision, microscopy, health, energy and transportation.
Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick I am a sociolinguist. I work primarily from variationist approaches. Most of my research has focused on describing varieties of English, and identifying changes in dialects resulting from a range of social and linguistic factors. My recent projects have included editing the Routledge Handbook of Sociophonetics; a series of "historical sociophonetic" projects to use old speech recordings to test hypotheses about sound change which were constructed to explain present-day data; and collaborations on English language and English language teaching in African contexts. Public engagement is important to my work, too. I am a Fellow in the Warwick Institute of Engagement, and frequently share knowledge about language and linguistics in media appearances, webinars, presentations, and other events. My engagement work also includes collaborations with Cockney Cultures to celebrate non-standard Englishes traditionally associated with East London and reduce language prejudice faced by speakers of these varieties, as well as collaborations across the Eutopia Alliance of universities to foster public engagement and impact through historical sociolinguistic research.
Assistant Professor of Business Economics, University of Nottingham I hold a Ph.D in Business Administration from the ESSEC Business School of Paris-Singapore and a doctorate in economics from the University of Cergy-Pontoise in France. My research interest is interdisciplinary and delve into the intersections between political economics, social psychology and cultural studies. I have expertise on Chinese foreign policy and have worked and publish pieces on panda diplomacy. I have appeared on media outlets such as the Washington Post, NBC News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, etc., and have also appeared on a radio documentary entitled "How 'Panda Diplomacy' Led To Conservation Success" on the well-known US Radio Program, Science Friday.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science, Skidmore College Charmaine N. Willis, Ph.D. is Adjunct Professor, Department of East Asian Studies, University at Albany, SUNY, and Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Skidmore College.
