Your June 2021 edition Team Fenatagone wins top prize at the 2021 World's Challenge Challenge Global FinalAn innovative idea to help tackle the opioid epidemic developed by students from the University of Alberta took home the top prize of $30,000 at the 2021 World’s Challenge Challenge Global Final, which was held virtually by Western this week. Team Fentagone, comprised of members Adarsh Badesha (above left), Simran Dhillon (above right) and Ajay Gill, were among 22 teams from around the world who presented their big ideas to address global issues at the Global Final. Following a semi-final competition on June 9 where they were selected as one of the top 10 finalists, a panel of judges crowned their them the winners at the finals on June 10. Their gold medal-winning idea aims to combine a fentanyl-detecting technology with a syringe-like design that will allow users to gain feedback on whether the drug in use contains a lethal dosage of Fentanyl. Internationally Collaborative Doctoral Programs Webinar Join us June 22, 2021, from 10:00 am to 11:30 am ET for the first of five in a series of webinars that explore different models of collaboration, various funding models and a range of possible partner regions/countries. The webinars in this series are jointly designed and delivered by Western International and the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at Western University. The first webinar focuses on “International Research Training Groups”, a model developed in Germany, which aims at bringing together teams of PhD students and supervisors, often from interdisciplinary backgrounds, whose projects share a common focus. Two or more institutions from two countries work together. Funding is being provided by the German Research Foundation (DFG) with matching funding on the Canadian side coming from the NSERC-CREATE program. 2022 AIEA Annual Conference - Call for Proposals The Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA) invites the submission of proposals for its February 2022 virtual conference. The theme of the conference is "Why the Internationalization of Higher Education Still Matters." Details on submission requirements can be found on the conference website. Deadline for submissions is August 15, 2021. Reminder: Radboud-Western Collaboration Fund apply by June 30 The Radboud-Western Collaboration Fund encourages proposals for one-year collaboration projects in the areas of research and learning & teaching (education) as well as opportunities for short term mobility visits. The application and a guide for applicants, which includes information on the selection criteria, are now available. International travel requirements and quarantine updates We are beginning to see exciting announcements about fewer restrictions related to travel and quarantine. Although we expect to see more shifts to current restrictions in the coming weeks, at this time all students coming to Western from abroad for the fall term must still complete a 14-day quarantine period AND register their quarantine plans with us before they travel. We will continue to provide updates to students via email and update our Arrival website with the new requirements as they are finalized. Students with questions are encouraged to contact our International Student Advisors for support. Did You Know?Western moved into the top 200 of the latest QS World University Rankings, which assesses institutions based on reputation, teaching, and research/scholarship, and global outreach. The 2022 Quacquarelli Symonds Limited (QS) Rankings, released June 8, place Western at 170th worldwide – advancing by 33 spots from its previous position among more than 1,300 universities from 90 countries. If you have ideas, suggestions or opportunities with an international focus to share, please let us know at wicomms@uwo.ca. |