Your October 2021 edition
Welcome to the International Insights newsletter, a monthly roundup of news, opportunities and updates with an international focus, curated by Western International for the Western community.
Western scholars' research earn top spots in global competition
Tackling subjects like sustainability, contagious viruses and oppression, Western undergraduate researchers were named among the best in the world in four categories of this year’s Global Undergraduate Awards.
Regional Winners Akshi Chadha, Kaitlyn Charnetski and Stephanos Horvers (in categories Literature, Life Sciences and Engineering, respectively) and Global Winner in history, Hannah Kern-Change, joined the ranks of Western scholars who have been globally recognized for their outstanding research papers.
The pan-disciplinary Undergraduate Awards competition recognizes excellence in undergraduate coursework and received close to 2,500 submissions from 292 universities in 45 countries for 2021. Global Winners are recognized for submitting the best paper worldwide in their category. Regional Winners are deemed the best papers in their category among submissions from the United States and Canada.
This year, 24 Western scholars were also ranked Highly Commended, scoring in the top 10 per cent of their fields.
“Western is a proud participant in The Undergraduate Awards. As is evident from these results, Western students from a wide range of disciplines continue to demonstrate to the world that they are capable of outstanding academic research,” said Lise Laporte, Senior Director at Western International.
“We are thrilled to congratulate and celebrate the achievements of our newest Undergraduate Award recipients, who join more than 200 Highly Commended, 14 Global Winners and 17 Regional Winners from Western since our first year participating in the program in 2014. We look forward to continuing to offer this opportunity to our students for future years.”
AWB funding Western researcher's project for faster malaria diagnosis
More people in resource-constrained areas in Uganda may soon have better access to life-saving testing and earlier diagnosis of malaria, thanks to funding from Academics Without Borders (AWB) for a new project developed by two researchers from Western and Uganda.
Ian Cunningham, a professor in the Department of Medical Biophysics and Division of Medical Imaging and Biomedical Engineering at Western, is the research mentor on the project team entitled, “Developing a low-cost digital light microscope for remote diagnosis of malaria in resource-constrained areas.” He works closely with project lead, William Wasswa, a professor from Mbarara University of Science & Technology in Uganda.
Cunningham first responded to a call for volunteers and submitted an application to become a research mentor as part of AWB’s Strengthening Engineering Education and Research (SEER) program a year ago. Following online instructional workshops in early 2021 and a period where mentors work with trainees to develop a research proposal, Cunningham and Wasswa’s project was recently selected to receive funding that will enable it to continue.
Academics Without Borders:
Call for proposals
Academics Without Borders (AWB) is now accepting proposals for capacity-building projects in partnership with an institution of higher learning in a low or middle income country.
Application deadline: November 8, 2021.
African Conversations Series:
October 28, 1:30-3:00 pm
Join the next instalment of the series for an insightful discussion related to Africa’s history, led by two Africa Institute members who recently defended their PhD theses, Nassisse Solomon, PhD (pictured top left) and Chinelo Ezenwa, PhD (pictured bottom left).
The schedule of events and activities for International Week is growing every day. Check the website and sign up for our event platform to find details about how to take part and celebrate your #globalwesternu!
Some highlights of the week include:
- Nov: 15: Kick-off event featuring Dr. Opiyo Oloya, Western's Associate Vice-President of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI and a panel of student leaders
- Nov. 17: Africa-Western Collaborations Day: Mini Summit on Climate Change Adaptations in Africa
- Nov. 18: Power & Global Health Day Opening Keynote: Exercising Indigenuity in an Age of Global Crises, Daniel Wildcat, Ph.D., Haskell Indian Nations University
Did you know?
The Canadian Bureau for International Education has announced the call for applications for the Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program 2022-23.
Western International will submit applications to Global Affairs Canada on behalf of Western faculty members interested in creating or expanding partnerships with Latin American and Caribbean institutions through short-term teaching and/or research activities.
Please email goabroad@uwo.ca for the internal application form and for further details about this program.
Application deadline: November 24, 2021.
If you have ideas, suggestions or opportunities with an international focus to share, please let us know at wicomms@uwo.ca.
