Innovative Projects Realized

Explore thousands of successful projects resulting from collaboration between organizations and post-secondary talent.

30508 Completed Projects

2882
AB
5105
BC
825
MB
681
NL
860
SK
9051
ON
9491
QC
97
PE
586
NB
1141
NS

Projects by Category

Lutte antidopage : étude des drogues émergentes en vente libre sur internet au Canada

La disponibilité de différentes substances sur internet conduit corrélativement à un accès accru à des substances annoncées comme pouvant augmenter les capacités des sportifs : certaines sont a priori autorisées dans le cadre du sport comme certains compléments alimentaires, d’autres interdits car produisant des effets dopants, ou encore non réglementés car inconnus des autorités. Ceci cause certains risques au regard des règles antidopage, mais également un risque de santé publique. Il arrive par exemple que des compléments alimentaires soient contaminés par des substances interdites conduisant à des contrôles positifs des sportifs. Dans d’autres cas, certains produits produisent un effet dopant mais ne sont pas encore interdits. Plus largement, ceci pose un problème de santé publique car les produits ne sont pas testés et leur innocuité n’est pas garantie.
Cette étude vise à identifier et commander des drogues émergentes en vente libre sur internet, de les analyser et de les cartographier afin d’identifier lesquelles seraient potentiellement dangereuses.

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Faculty Supervisor:

David Pavot

Student:

Partner:

Agence mondiale antidopage

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Arts, entertainment and recreation

University:

Université de Sherbrooke

Program:

Accelerate

Modelling Guidance for Low Impact Development Practices

To combat the degradation of receiving water resulting from stormwater runoff approaches that focus on retaining and infiltrating stormwater at the source, referred to as Low Impact Development (LID) practices, are being proposed more frequently in recent years. Toronto and Region Conservation Authority recently initiated monitoring of precipitation and runoff from a large industrial site, comprised of several buildings and extensive paved areas, in which several LID practices have been constructed: rainwater harvesting system, biofilters, vegetated swales and porous pavement. The main objective of this project is develop guidance for modelling of these lot-level structural LID techniques utilizing the information collected though this ongoing monitoring program. The study will confirm the original site design, evaluate potential retrofit opportunities and generate modelling guidance to support TRCA’s efforts in facilitating planning, design and approval of LID practices.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Darko Joksimovic

Student:

Partner:

Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (Vaughan, ON)

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services; Public administration

University:

Toronto Metropolitan University

Program:

Accelerate

Exploring Social Finance Opportunities in Newfoundland and Labrador

The objective of this research is to explore the many social finance tools that have been implemented by other agencies across North America, and measure their effectiveness and applicability in a Newfoundland and Labrador context. In partnership with a MUN researcher, this work would include primary data collection in the form of interviews and surveys with non-profit agencies and social impact investors who have implemented social finance and/or invested through a social finance tool. Research will also include a jurisdictional scan to capture existing findings on the role and applicability of various social finance tools, including social investing, community benefit agreements, social return on investment, social impact bonds, and social procurement.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Ash Hossain

Student:

Partner:

Choices for Youth

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology; Other services (except public administration)

University:

Memorial University of Newfoundland

Program:

Accelerate

Fish use of restored and natural salt marshes in Maritime Canada

Salt marshes are coastal wetlands that provide many ecosystem services. Many fish species are known to use salt marshes as habitat at some point throughout their lives including those that hold commercial and recreational value. Depending on their location, salt marshes may experience varying degrees of tidal flooding, not only making more areas of the marsh accessible to fish but resulting in excess particulate and dissolved organic matter being drawn out with the ebbing tide. This organic matter may provide a nutrient subsidy to nearshore environments thus indirectly benefitting fish that do not directly use salt marshes. Maritime Canada holds a long history of salt marsh conversion to other land uses especially agriculture. There is now growing interest in restoring salt marshes to regain the services that they provide including those relating to fish and fisheries. Ducks Unlimited Canada and partners have initiated a number of salt marsh restoration projects throughout Maritime Canada, and are planning new restoration initiatives, with goals of reverting farmland and freshwater impoundments to salt marsh. The intern will assess fish use of salt marshes as well as salt pool communities in natural and restored marshes in the Bay of Fundy and southern Gulf of Lawrence.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Myriam Barbeau

Student:

Partner:

Ducks Unlimited Canada (NS)

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Sustainability & the Environment; Life Sciences (not health); Education

University:

University of New Brunswick

Program:

Accelerate

Immunomodulatory fusion proteins to treat solid malignancies.

Immunotherapies are transforming conventional cancer treatments with significant improvement of patient survival rates. FDA-approved immunotherapies (immune checkpoint inhibitors, ICIs) have shown remarkable success in the treatment of hematologic malignancies but very low response rate in patients with solid tumors. Therefore, there is an urgent need for novel therapies against solid malignancies. Cura Therapeutics is developing innovative immunotherapies to cure solid malignancies and infectious diseases. Our immunotherapy platform simultaneously activates the immune response against cancer while disrupting the tumor blood supply. Our immunotherapies also induce an immunological memory that prevent cancer recurrence. Currently, there are no treatments on the market or in clinical trials that combine these properties in one single therapy. Our immunotherapy platform can be applied as a stand-alone treatments or in combination with ICIs, CAR T cells and chemotherapies (for cancer).

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Faculty Supervisor:

Michel Tremblay

Student:

Partner:

Cura Therapeutics;District 3 Innovation Centre

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

McGill University

Program:

Accelerate

Brainstem Arousal System and Chemosensitivity: Novel measures, Modulations, and Relationships to SUDEP

Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP), the commonest cause of death in epilepsy, is the most feared complication. SUDEP usually occurs following a seizure, most often in patients who are non-responsive to antiepileptic drugs. These patients are typically found dead in bed following respiratory apnea and cardiac arrest. Our group has shown that seizures in the brainstem are associated with cardiorespiratory failure and death. It is not known whether the fatal brainstem seizures impair the brainstem arousal system or if seizure directly impairs brainstem cardio-respiratory centres. It is also not clear what the underlying mechanisms are which could indicate rational treat strategies to prevent this frightening complication. In this project, we aim to understand (1) whether the brainstem pH- sensitive neurons for hypercapnia in SUDEP model are impaired, (2) the roles of chemotransmitters in the cardiorespiratory and central brainstem chemoreceptor regions in seizure spread into the brainstem and in cardio-respiratory arrest, (3) If pH correction or other modulations in the brainstem cardiorespiratory regions can inhibit brainstem seizure occurrence and prevent death.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Michael Thompson

Student:

Partner:

Toronto Western Hospital

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Accelerate

User Feedback Evaluation and Providing Insights on UI Refinements for Refresh Wellness Application

People who experience mental wellness challenges or mental illness often struggle to obtain or maintain a position in the workplace. Furthermore, lack of employment means individuals lose out on a myriad of mental, emotional, and physiological benefits that are generated through work. This is extremely relevant given the current COVID crisis, where personal distancing and isolation are required for the greater societal good. In response to this problem, the Digital Integration Centre of Excellence (DICE) at Saskatchewan Polytechnic (Sask Polytech), Refresh Enterprises, Inc. (Refresh), and the Canadian Mental Health Association, Saskatchewan Division (CMHA-SK) are collaborating to finalize the development of the Refresh Wellness App (RWA), a multifaceted lifestyle program that will promote healthy mentality and facilitate relational support through peers and professionals. This project will ensure the long-term user engagement with the app and will leverage the effectiveness of RWA interventions. The goal of this project is to investigate the users’ feedbacks to understand user needs, experience, satisfaction, and expectations of mental health app.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Raymond Spiteri

Student:

Partner:

Refresh Enterprises Inc.

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology; Information and Communications Technology

University:

University of Saskatchewan

Program:

Accelerate

Tensioned Membrane Structure Net Zero

The purpose of this project is to design features and enhancements to tensioned-membrane structures to achieve ‘net zero’ building performance. Net zero buildings are defined as buildings that generate as much or more energy than they use over the course of a year. Sprung Structures Ltd, a manufacturer of tensioned-membrane structures, requires assistance in researching and assessing current code requirements, and identifying net zero adjustments and improvements to their existing designs and business model. The benefit to the partner organization is research on building and energy codes, their product’s application with these codes, recommendations on specific systems and overall performance, and a prototype of these recommendations with performance data. This research will allow tensioned-membrane structures to achieve developing building and energy codes.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Azzeddine Oudjehane

Student:

Partner:

Sprung Instant Structures Ltd

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Construction and infrastructure

University:

Southern Alberta Institute of Technology

Program:

Accelerate

Classification Education Pilot

The Paralympics are one of the most recognizable promotions of sport for persons with disabilities and the second largest multi-sport event in the world. Classification, or the practice of grouping athletes together based on the impact their impairment has on the sport they participate in, is fundamental to the function of the both the Paralympics and parasport more generally. Parasport participants involved with classification (e.g., athletes, classifiers, and coaches) have often reported their experiences with classification negatively. Importantly, classification experience quality may impact participation in parasport. Increasing participants’ knowledge of classification may positively influence their classification experience; therefore, this project aims to increase our understanding of how participants learn about classification and what resources are available to support them in doing so. Following this, an educational resource will be developed, delivered, and evaluated. This project may advance our understanding of parasport and result in the creation of an evidence-based tool to be used by Canadian sport organizations to teach participants about classification.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Amy Latimer-Cheung

Student:

Partner:

Canadian Paralympic Committee

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Arts, entertainment and recreation

University:

Queen's University

Program:

Accelerate

Assessing hatchery related well-being of leghorn chicks

Most Canadian poultry originate at commercial hatcheries. Recently hatcheries have had concerns about chick welfare brought to their attention. Very little research has been performed that looks at the welfare of chicks at the hatchery or during transport to farm. During the proposed research project, the intern will look at three events that happen to chicks within the first 24 hours of their lives and determine what effects there are on the chick’s well-being. First, the intern will assess holding devices that restrain chicks during hatchery procedures. Second, they will determine the effects of stocking density in chick transport boxes. Finally, they will study the impact of providing chicks with early access to feed. The partner organizations involved in this project will benefit by receiving scientific evidence to address the concerns raised regarding these early life processes that chicks are exposed to.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Karen Schwean-Lardner;Trever Crowe;Andrew Van Kessel

Student:

Partner:

Egg Farmers of Canada;Clark’s Poultry Inc

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Agriculture; Manufacturing

University:

University of Saskatchewan

Program:

Accelerate

NBMC Intercultural and Anti-Racism Skills Toolkit – Research and Development Project

The New Brunswick Multicultural Council is the developer and coordinator for the Creating Inclusive Workplaces and Communities training program, and this organization is in the process of developing an anti-racism training program. The main objective of this effort is to provide participating employers, government departments, community service organizations, and non-for-profit groups with the skills, attitudes, and perspectives necessary to cultivate racial and cultural equity and inclusion, and to do so in ways that are specific to their organizations and institutional structures.
In this project, in collaboration with STU, NBMC will supervise a Mitacs intern to create Intercultural Skills and Anti-Racism Skills toolkits. The toolkits will serve as hubs of resources for the assessment, development, implementation, and evaluation of inclusivity programs. The resources provided in these toolkits will take the forms of references (PDFs, videos, books, websites), tools (surveys, checklists) and training events (e-learning sessions). These toolkits will enable training programs by giving the participants practical ways to
? identify existing barriers;
? develop and implement strategies to overcome those barriers;
? create paths for inclusion and racial equity;
? evaluate and revise programs for enabling inclusion and equity.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Gül Çali?kan

Student:

Partner:

New Brunswick Multicultural Council

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Public administration

University:

St. Thomas University

Program:

Accelerate

Optimization of Graphical User Interface for the Digital Pathology Workstation

The workflow of pathologists will soon be revolutionized with the introduction of digital pathology allowing pathologists to view tissue samples as a digital image on a computer workstation. Such a conversion from traditional microscopy will bring many benefits to the pathologist’s workflow aiming to boost significant efficiency as well as ergonomic benefits. However, much work needs to be done to bring such a technology to the clinical setting in the hospital. One significant problem is gaining the acceptance of pathologists to adopting new technology. A core challenge to the problem is the effective design of a user interface to optimize the digital pathology workflow. The work proposed for the current research project aims to develop an intuitive user interface that will be readily accepted by pathologists.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Karl Zabjek

Student:

Partner:

Huron Digital Pathology

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Biotechnology; Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Accelerate