Daviel Lazure Vieira

High school students tackle global issues at U of T

ullahnor — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 16:56:54 +0000

High school students tackle global issues at U of T

ullahnor Mon, 04/16/2018 - 12:56

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Students from Bayview Glen School, from left to right, William Stanfield, Chantalle Matousek and Yi Li at last week's Global Ideas Institute (photo by Chris Tomalty)

Daviel Lazure Vieira

Topic

Global Lens

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

OISE

Rotman School of Management

Students from more than 25 high schools across the Toronto area came to U of T's Munk School of Global Affairs last week for the Global Ideas Institute's final symposium.

A collaboration between Munk, ��߲ݴ�ý Schools, the Rotman School of Management, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and World Vision Canada, the program offers students in grades 11 and 12 an opportunity to engage first-hand with the most pressing challenges of our times and work to find innovative solutions.

This year, students explored solutions to global food insecurity. In previous years, they've tackled other global issues ranging from financial inclusion to birth registration.

Students attend monthly lectures delivered by experts in the field, brainstorm together in facilitated workshops, and are given additional material designed to awaken their creativity – news clippings, academic research papers, personal stories and statistics.

Bayview Glen School students, from left to right, Sangkavi Kuhan, William Stanfield, Yi Li, Chantalle Matousek and Armaan Marwaha (photo by Chris Tomalty)

At the final symposium on Friday, they presented the results of their work to a panel of experts composed of professors, entrepreneurs, and members of non-profit organizations, such as The Shop Community Food Centre or World Vision Canada.

“I came to the Global Ideas Institute thinking this would be a very special experience before stepping into society,” says Yi Li, a student at Bayview Glen School. “We met amazing people who taught us how to shape our ideas so they can actually work in real life.”

Now in its eighth year, the program is guided by an advisory committee made up of faculty and staff from across the Munk School as well as influencers from outside the university.

“It’s about pushing boundaries and creating the next generation of decision-makers by enabling them to acquire the skills they need to be true global citizens,” explains Kathleen Gnocato, the program director of Global Ideas Institute and a Munk alumna. “We train students to think holistically about complex issues and encourage them to tackle problem-solving differently.”

Gun violence in the U.S.: U of T expert helps undergrads understand school shootings, serial killings and gangs

ullahnor — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 19:58:40 +0000

Gun violence in the U.S.: U of T expert helps undergrads understand school shootings, serial killings and gangs

ullahnor Mon, 06/12/2017 - 15:58

Daviel Lazure Vieira

Author legacy

Daviel Lazure-Vieira

Topic

City & Culture

Guns

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

U.S.

One year ago today, the United States witnessed the deadliest mass shooting in its history when 49 people were killed and 58 others wounded inside Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla.

But like the Sandy Hook kindergarten massacre of 2012, the Pulse shooting failed to bring an end to the widespread availability of guns across the U.S.

Jooyoung Lee, an assistant professor of sociology at the ��߲ݴ�ý is teaching a fourth-year undergraduate course this summer on gun violence in the U.S.

“There’s a bit of insularity when we think of cases of gun violence,” Lee explains. “I wanted to show that everybody is affected in some way by gun culture – all communities, even if some are especially more vulnerable yet get the least attention from the public.”

Lee is one of the first two Bissell-Heyd Fellows at U of T's Munk School’s Centre for the Study of the United States, who are provided with resources to conduct further research in American studies, while giving them a platform to showcase their work with students and the general public. Just a few weeks ago, Lee organized a workshop on gun violence and its impact on urban Black communities in the U.S.

Lee’s interest in gun violence goes back to his time as a graduate student. Back then, he was writing his dissertation, which would become his first book, Blowin’ Up: Rap Dreams in South Central, an ethnographic study of young African American men from South Los Angeles who were trying to make it in the music industry.

Canada should prepare for new technology spurring job loss, says U of T innovation expert

ullahnor — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 17:26:50 +0000

Canada should prepare for new technology spurring job loss, says U of T innovation expert

ullahnor Fri, 03/17/2017 - 13:26

Cutline

Robots building cars in a car factory. Being proactive can help Canadians prepare and adapt as the advent of artificial intelligence, information technology and robotics eliminate jobs, says David Ticoll (photo by spencer cooper via Flickr)

Daviel Lazure Vieira

Author legacy

Daviel Lazure Vieira

Topic

City & Culture

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Innovation Policy Lab

Automation

Labour

Economy

Subheadline

“If we do things right we will adapt faster than anyone”

The economic impact of an automated workforce will be much bigger than many observers expect, says Dave Ticoll, of the Innovation Policy Lab at the ��߲ݴ�ý’s Munk School of Global Affairs.

But Canada is uniquely placed to manage structural change, says Ticoll, who recently wrote an article detailing his views on labour obsolescence for Policy Options.

“If we do things right we will adapt faster than anyone.”

With the advent of artificial intelligence, information technology and robotics, we’re experiencing a significant shift in today’s economy, says the entrepreneur. And although experts have talked about labour substitution, where machines take over human work, little is said about labour obsolescence, Ticoll says. This is when technology change produces a new business model that no longer needs or supports some jobs. The work associated with these jobs doesn’t get automated – it simply becomes unnecessary.

The changing car industry is a good example, he says. Ticoll expects many people to forego car ownership in favour of on-demand, automated transportation services. Reduced car sales mean less need for car dealers and insurance brokers. Their jobs won’t get automated, Ticoll says – they will simply go away.

The shift is occurring in many industries, he says. As more consumers bypass malls in favour of online buying, for instance, retail clerks are replaced by technology. However, the demand decreases for shopping mall employees like maintenance personnel and facility planners.

Ticoll believes we’re underestimating the scale of structural changes to come.

“Traditional jobs automation research focuses on one question: can a computer do this work?” Ticoll says. “But to forecast labour obsolescence we must assess both technology and business innovation as they play out in a specific sector.”

For the auto industry, Ticoll predicts, connected and automated vehicles will be the norm by the 2030s. According to his analysis, this change will affect jobs that currently employ 1.1 million Canadians. Of these, up to half (like truck drivers) will face direct competition from automation, while the remainder are at risk of functional obsolescence.

“We need to change the way we operate for the 21st century economy”

Many other industries will be affected by such technology and business model shifts.

“We need to change the way we operate for the 21st century economy,” he says. “For example, more people need STEM skills – science, technology, engineering, mathematics.”

Increasingly, he says, governments at all levels are taking action on this front.

Ticoll cautions that fostering STEM skills won’t be enough. Income inequality and precarious jobs are on the rise and Canada must ensure that those affected aren’t left behind. Possible solutions range from the adoption of a universal basic income, which the Ontario government is slated to pilot, to a proposal from Bill Gates to tax robots.

Despite labour challenges, Ticoll believes that Canada is uniquely placed to succeed in navigating structural change.

“Canada is a relatively small country compared with the United States, China or Europe. Our labour force is only about 18 million people. So we could potentially achieve a higher density of people with technological skills. It’s easier to train and keep occupied 18 million people than 10 or 20 times that number. If we do things right we will adapt faster than anyone.”

The Trump presidency: roundtable talk at U of T's Munk School of Global Affairs

ullahnor — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 16:56:30 +0000

The Trump presidency: roundtable talk at U of T's Munk School of Global Affairs

ullahnor Fri, 01/20/2017 - 11:56

Cutline

Outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama and incoming President Donald Trump speak during the inauguration ceremony (photo by Drew Angerer via Getty)

Daviel Lazure Vieira

Author legacy

Daviel Lazure Vieira

Topic

Global Lens

Trump

U.S. politics

Centre for the Study of the United States

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

What can we expect from Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States?

This week, five experts based in Paris and Toronto shared their thoughts on the U.S. election results and talked about what’s to come under a Trump presidency during a roundtable discussion organized by the Centre for the Study of the United States (CSUS), located at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs, and France's Sciences Po.

For Ronald Pruessen, a professor of history at U of T, the outcome of the 2016 election showed how “dysfunctional” the U.S. political system has become. From his perspective, the real question is whether such a system will be able to restrain the president’s actions, given the Republicans’ complete control over all three branches of government.

Mario Del Pero, professor of international history at Sciences Po, noted that the election results were proof of the disturbing degradation of political discourses and the lack of faith among American voters.

“Trump is the product of a growing disenchantment with discredited politics,” he said.

Clifford Orwin, professor of political science, classics and Jewish studies at U of T, agreed.

“This might be precisely the reason why Trump triumphed: he was more attuned to the electorate, and in this sense, he compelled political parties to renew themselves – particularly the Democratic Party after it lost,” Orwin said.

Former Tennessee Congressman Bart Gordon insisted that economic fears stemming from the recession led to voter confidence in Trump.

“The fact that 1 per cent still has the money, and banks have been saved despite their own failures created the impression that the system is rigged and that there is an urgent need for change,” Gordon said.

Trump embodied change for many American voters, Pruessen said.

“Coping with the feeling that you’ve lost something, that you’re getting weaker and you need to change, is something that’s hard to swallow for American voters,” he added.

But how will Trump's campaign translate into policy?

He might be able to deliver with regards to infrastructure, suggested James Kent Syler, assistant professor of political science at Middle Tennessee State University.

“Trump has credibility when it comes to building things, ” Syler said. “It remains to be seen whether he will be able to provide massive investments in infrastructure as he promised, all the while cutting taxes.”

On the foreign policy front, there are many challenges awaiting Trump.

Del Pero thinks the biggest challenge for the Trump administration will be how to deal with China.

“The relationship between the United States and China is intense, contradictory and immensely fragile,” Del Pero said. “There are multiple forms of interdependence today. It’s not a zero-sum game.”

Will Trump make good on his more unorthodox campaign promises? Citing a recent article in The Atlantic, Gordon urged the audience to understand Trump at a symbolic level not literally.

“When Trump promises to bomb the hell out of ISIS or to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it, we shouldn’t necessarily take his rhetoric at face value,” Gordon said.

Canadian documentary "Black Code" based on the research of U of T's Citizen Lab premiers at TIFF

ullahnor — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 15:25:21 +0000

Canadian documentary "Black Code" based on the research of U of T's Citizen Lab premiers at TIFF

ullahnor Wed, 09/14/2016 - 11:25

Daviel Lazure Vieira

Author legacy

Daviel Lazure Vieira

Topic

City & Culture

TIFF

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

For over a decade, Citizen Lab at U of T's Munk School of Global Affairs has been working to expose cyber espionage campaigns, major security flaws in our phones and the potential threats emerging from the intersection of digital technology, human rights and global security.

Now a film adaptation of Ron Deibert's 2013 book Black Code will draw people into a much-needed discussion about how the very same technologies that can accelerate democratic change can also be used to restrict individual liberties through censorship, surveillance and information warfare.

The Canadian documentary, also titled Black Code, is premiering this week at the Toronto International Film Festival, taking viewers to Tibetan exiles under Chinese surveillance in India, media activists in Brazil who share their views via online platforms and Syrian citizens tortured for opposing the regime through Facebook posts.

"I feel as though we are serving a kind of early warning function for civil society in the same way that state intelligence agencies are supposed to provide such a warning for governments," says Deibert, who heads Citizen Lab.

Read about Citizen Lab research on government's cellphone monitoring

Deibert was familiar with documentary films produced by Nicholas de Pencier and his wife Jennifer Baichwal, notably Manufactured Landscapes and Watermark. The idea to adapt Black Code for the big screen came after de Pencier read the book.

“I was pretty amazed by how much I didn’t know,” says de Pencier, who is the documentary's filmmaker and cinematographer. “There were things in Ron’s book that were revelatory about the exposure we face through our electronic communications. If I’m that impressed and shocked, I thought, presumably other people will be too.”

A few weeks after their initial meeting to discuss a collaboration, news of Edward Snowden’s leak of classified information from the National Security Agency broke, and the work of many researchers, including Citizen Lab drew international attention. It became yet another reason to increase public awareness.

“The experiences of these research efforts were the perfect vehicle to tell stories that would at the same time inform the public about what is going on ‘beneath the surface’ of the Internet, and which are having an adverse effect on human rights and the prospects for democracy,” Deibert says.

Read about Citizen Lab's research showing Syrian dissidents targeted by hackers and an iPhone attack on a prominent UAE activist.

He adds that society needs to encourage a culture of curiosity about technology, to encourage users to read terms of service and take apart their devices to understand what is happening beneath the hood.

"And to extend that same persistent curiosity to governments and corporations,” Deibert says. “It’s about encouraging a diligent attitude among the citizenry to digital technologies embodied by the original notion of ‘hacking’ as ‘taking things apart and experimenting with them.’ My entire career I have fought against that misappropriation of the term as ‘breaking the law.’ To be a hacker today is to be an informed and empowered digital citizen.”

See more about TIFF's premiere of the Black Code

#UofTGrad16: “Everything is global affairs" for Munk School grads

katie.fong — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 20:20:53 +0000

#UofTGrad16: “Everything is global affairs" for Munk School grads

katie.fong Mon, 06/06/2016 - 16:20

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New graduates from the Munk School of Global Affairs and the Faculty of Law stream out of Convocation Hall after their ceremony on June 3, 2016 (Johnny Guatto photo)

Adrienne Harry

Daviel Lazure Vieira

Author legacy

Adrienne Harry and Daviel Lazure Vieira

Topic

Global Lens

Convocation

Convocation 2016

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Alumni

Whether socializing with other students at Clinton’s Tavern on Bloor Street, discussing policy with bureaucrats in Brussels or eating sushi in Japan, the graduates of the Munk School of Global Affairs Master's program made the most of their time at U of T. Crossing the stage at Convocation Hall on June 3 was just the first step on the next stage of their journey.

Below, meet just a few of U of T’s newest alumni and global citizens, already making an impact on the world.

Meghan King:

Meghan King had an interest in conflict studies prior to joining the MGA program, but she never studied terrorism or counterterrorism. Through coursework on security and her summer internship as a Research Fellow at the NATO Defense College in Rome, it became her primary focus – she even went to NATO HQ in Brussels to meet with senior officials to discuss her research. During her second year, she continued to study terrorism with a research assistantship with the Egmont Group, where she worked directly with a MGA colleague on an operational project tracking facilitation networks, and worked on a capstone project about returning foreign fighters. She remembers the many long days and nights with her capstone group, whose members have since become like a second family. “It was an incredible bonding experience. It ended with an amazing trip to Ottawa where we presented to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Global Affairs Canada. The RCMP told us that it was one of the best student presentations they had ever seen – I am very proud of our group and what we accomplished.”

“The emphasis on group projects helps us be better prepared for the professional world. I gained a lot in terms of learning how to divide tasks in order to capitalize on the different strengths and skills that different group members bring to the table.”

“Enjoy every minute of the program and get to know your peers," is her advice to new students. “A group of MGA students who work together and support one another is unstoppable. And never miss a group outing to Clinton’s on a Thursday night if you can!”

Bushra Ebadi:

As soon as Bushra Ebadi began the Munk Orientation boot camp during the summer before she started the program, she knew she was at the right place. “The individuals I met during the first couple of weeks in the MGA program continue to inspire me today and push me to strive for my dreams.”

She also forged strong and lasting friendships with many people outside the classroom. Her internship with the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee in Geneva allowed her to learn more about humanitarian practice, refugee issues, and the way human rights and women’s issues play out in international organizations. She also took part in a Kakehashi Cultural Exchange in Japan, which opened her eyes to a world of possibilities.

“I am very passionate about food the culinary arts; trying new foods and eating sushi in Japan was phenomenal to say the least. But what truly stuck out for me was the hospitality of my Japanese host family. The memories I made with my fellow MGA students during the exchange will stay with me forever.”

She believes the program has taught her the power of networks and the importance of making real connections with people across different disciplines and sectors. She developed a diverse set of skills to better position herself in the job market and to add value to any projects she’ll be taking on in the future. “I have become incredibly resilient and remain ambitious moving forward; I strongly believe that I can enact positive change globally.”

Hannah Cohen:

“If you have a specific interest and only want to study that one thing, the MGA program isn’t for you,” says Hannah Cohen, who entered the program with an interest in migration and citizenship. “This is a program for people who want to learn about pretty much everything, since everything is global affairs.”

Cohen spent the summer of 2015 interning at the Foundation for Education and Development in southern Thailand and notes it as the highlight of her MGA experience. “There were many elements of my summer that were really special – living in a small village, working with all Burmese co-workers, and and having the independence to design my own programs, to name a few. However, the best part of working at FED actually took place after work: teaching English to the Rohingya refugee children who had arrived in Thailand on boats escaping Burma just a few weeks before I started work at FED. It was really rewarding, and I loved that I got to do things at my internship that weren’t part of my job description.”

Cohen currently works at the Institute for Canadian Citizenship in Toronto and says that in the future, she would like to work in teams in which each person has a different area of expertise – much like she did in the MGA program.

Adam Barrett:

Adam Barrett recalls many standout moments from his MGA experience. There was his capstone project, where he worked with the City of Toronto to recommend ways to facilitate emissions reduction. And there was his time working at the Centre for Financial Regulation and Inclusion (Cenfri) in Cape Town, where he helped to launch insight2impact, a resource centre aimed to improve financial inclusion. But of all his experiences, Barrett says the most valuable assets he acquired during his time at the Munk School were amazing friends.

Currently interning at the MasterCard Foundation, Barrett says the MGA program’s integrated approach is what makes it unique. “Many programs make a big deal of being interdisciplinary, but the MGA walks the walk. Other programs might be content with looking at one big issue at a time in isolation (or, more likely, only looks at one big issue at all), like climate change, or global health, or conflict. The MGA makes you look at how those problems are interconnected, and gives you tools to try and untangle and address them.”

Christopher Villegas-Cho:

During his time in the MGA program, Christopher Villegas-Cho’s passion for economic development took him all the way to Dubai. Villegas-Cho (at left in the photo above) and his teammates from across the ��߲ݴ�ý competed for the Hult Prize, a social entrepreneurship competition that brings together students from around the world to come up with game-changing solutions to a host of problems. “When I heard that this year’s challenge was doubling income in crowded urban spaces, I knew immediate this was something I had to get involved in.”

Sponsored by Hult International Business School and the Clinton Global Initiative, the Hult Prize sees more than 20,000 university students compete each year. Only 300 teams make it to the regional rounds, including Villegas-Cho’s Team Vicis, who came up with the idea to leverage existing informal savings networks and make them something more. “Currently, most informal savings groups provide individuals’ limited security with little to no interest gained on savings. By tapping into existing mobile technologies, NIMO (Network of Investors, Mobilizing Opportunity) provides net-zero savers the opportunity to pool their money together in a safe and efficient manner. The money saved through NIMO is then reinvested into communities, promoting the growth of local businesses.”

CBC's Ideas and U of T's Munk School: innovation and privacy in the age of Big Data

lanthierj — Mon, 16 May 2016 14:32:04 +0000

CBC's Ideas and U of T's Munk School: innovation and privacy in the age of Big Data

lanthierj Mon, 05/16/2016 - 10:32

Cutline

From left: John Weigelt, Professor Anita M. McGahan, Ashkan Soltani and Professor Stephen Toope (photos by Lisa Sakulensky)

Daviel Lazure Vieira

Author legacy

Daviel Lazure Vieira

Topic

City & Culture

Subheadline

“We need more hackers”

Are we getting closer to the world of Big Brother described in George Orwell’s novel 1984?

Whether through phone calls, text messages or our search history on the Internet, we always leave a digital trail behind us. Our movements, habits and preferences are tracked everywhere we go, and the collection of this information – big data – has major implications for all of us.

Experts on big data met at the ��߲ݴ�ý’s Munk School of Global Affairs on May 9 and 10 as part of the Munk School’s collaboration with CBC Radio One’s show Ideas.

Recorded in front of a live audience and moderated by the school’s director, Stephen Toope, those Ideas debates will be be broadcast on June 23 and 30 to a potential audience of 1.2 million people across Canada and the U.S.

Security and privacy were at the heart of the discussion on both nights. Professor Ron Deibert, director of Citizen Lab, remarked that big data is the consequence of a radical shift in the way we interact with each other, and with our governments.

“We turned our digital lives completely inside out,” said Deibert. “And as our lives have changed, so did state institutions, which have turned inwards and are now looking at us to connect the dots by collecting all the dots.”

National security and privacy are not a zero-sum game said alumna Ann Cavoukian, executive director of the Privacy and Big Data Institute at Ryerson University. “There’s no reason why the government should have routine access to the day-to-day activities we engage in. It has a direct impact on our ability to create, to innovate. A sense of surveillance inhibits our sense of freedom.”

[quote (class="additional class" | author="author name")] “Hacking was originally about stimulating a spirit of curiosity instead of accepting technology at face value” – Ron Deibert [/quote]

Ashkan Soltani, independent researcher and former chief of technology for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, warned that big data could also reinforce existing biases – not always intentionally but sometimes by virtue of a simple algorithm. For an example of automated discrimination, he cited a study that showed Internet users who performed Google searches for African-American names were more likely to see advertisements related to arrests.

The assumption made by data that “correlation is causation” should be challenged, Soltani argued.

Neil Desai from Magnet Forensics, a software company working with law enforcement and national security agencies, pointed out that the government too must adapt itself to the digital age. “The challenge we are faced with when it comes to the way societies organize themselves also applies to criminal activity. Crime is moving online, and state organizations have to learn how to deal with this new kind of threat.”

From a business standpoint, the idea of tracking consumers is old. Compiling and measuring data has always been an important component of business research and development to promote innovation. And while some of that information can be useful in developing tools and practices that make us more efficient, it could also hurt workers and consumers in the long run, said Anita McGahan, associate dean of research at the Rotman School of Management and Munk School professor.

No matter how advanced the technology, McGahan said, big data can hardly account for the human factor in our social relationships. “We have to think about ways to make our non-commercial lives more meaningful and use the tools that are available in order to have better lives, not just to consume more stuff.”

John Weigelt, national technology officer for Microsoft Canada said big data poses risks for business. Data breaches, for instance, raise scepticism and lower a consumer’s trust. “When we blame technology for man-made mistakes, we try to simplify the world around us and as a result we get scared,” said Weigelt.

The panel agreed that while big data can foster creativity, we need to keep a watchful eye to ensure a less Orwellian future.

“We need more hackers,” Deibert said. “Hacking was originally about stimulating a spirit of curiosity instead of accepting technology at face value. To me, that’s a civic imperative we must encourage.”

Part one of the Big Data discussion will air on CBC Radio One on June 23.

Daviel Lazure Vieira

High school students tackle global issues at U of T

Read more about the program

Gun violence in the U.S.: U of T expert helps undergrads understand school shootings, serial killings and gangs

Read more about the book

Read more about Lee's research

Canada should prepare for new technology spurring job loss, says U of T innovation expert

The Trump presidency: roundtable talk at U of T's Munk School of Global Affairs

Canadian documentary "Black Code" based on the research of U of T's Citizen Lab premiers at TIFF

Read about Citizen Lab research on government's cellphone monitoring

Read about Citizen Lab's research showing Syrian dissidents targeted by hackers and an iPhone attack on a prominent UAE activist.

See more about TIFF's premiere of the Black Code

#UofTGrad16: “Everything is global affairs" for Munk School grads

Meghan King:

Bushra Ebadi:

Hannah Cohen:

Adam Barrett:

Christopher Villegas-Cho:

CBC's Ideas and U of T's Munk School: innovation and privacy in the age of Big Data

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