Innovative Projects Realized

The Smile Epidemic: Investigating the Impact of a Digital Social Media Gratitude Intervention

Research shows that keeping a gratitude journal can enhance well-being. The Smile Epidemic Inc. is a start-up company that has developed a digital, photographic social media update on the traditional (private, written) gratitude journal. The Smile Epidemic invites people to express in a few words what made them happy or grateful that day, and to take a photo of that message. People can them post the photos in an online community (see www.thesmileepidemic.com) and share via other social media (e.g., facebook). This updated gratitude journal has the potential to combine the demonstrated benefits of gratitude journaling with the benefits of social support, community acceptance and sharing. The Smile Epidemic is committed to taking an evidence-based approach to developing and improving their positive psychology products. The research goal is to understand whether, how, and for whom= The Smile Epidemic enhances happiness, and the mechanisms that explain how it works.

Food Matters Manitoba and Brandon Food Council

Brandon Food Council (BFC), a project and subsidiary of the non-profit Food Matters Manitoba, is entering the final stages under its parent organization and getting ready to step out as an independent organization of its own. BFC’s business plan is focused on food security issues in Brandon, using community-initiated and volunteer-oriented programs to combat the complex problems that occur at the intersection of food and modern urban life. BFC has created a community matrix designed to be used to complete three main objectives: creating a business canvas, creating a business strategy, and to provide pros and cons of pursuing charitable status for the organization. The community matrix is multifaceted and focused around how many disciplines and problems interact with community food systems. I intend to solve these problems working closely with the members of BFC, letting their visions of their future work guide the process while being communicative of possible pitfalls, sidestepping and pivoting towards a strong solid canvas and plan, as well as clear answers for charitable status.

Stage de développement d’une plateforme d’expérience talents

Coach est un projet de développement d’une application talent visant à orienter les jeunes professionnels dans leurs choix professionnels afin de leur permettre d’optimiser leur carrière professionnel. Le projet mise sur une compréhension poussée des motivations personnelles et professionnelles des talents et une compréhension complète des projets proposées par les gestionnaires. L’application mise sur les dernières technologies en intelligence artificielle soit l’utilisation combinée du “Deep learning” aux graphes de connaissance.

Elizabeth Fry Society Manitoba Bail worker project

This project is done in collaboration with the University of Winnipeg Inner City Development department with work placements at various inner city organizations for students at the University of Winnipeg. The goal is that students will develop practical work skills while learning about how different organizations are tackling the unique challenges of improving the life of people living in inner city Winnipeg. During the project the students will also be working on a project about the work that they are doing with included class time to present at the end of the work placement. My particular placement will be at the Elizabeth Fry Society of Manitoba, where I will be working with another student as Bail Workers, a placement that is a form of support to eligible Indigenous women who are in the criminal justice system. We will be learning how to support them and the types of resources and strategies to break the cycle of high recidivism rates among this community, This will be done in an office environment in the form of interviews, reports and court accompaniment, both on behalf of the Elizabeth Fry Society and the University of Winnipeg.

Main Street Project Language Audit

The intern will be co-developing the methodology and framework for conducting an internal language audit through five potential lenses: 1) gender equality / neutrality 2) Reconciliation 3) diversity and inclusion 4) harm reduction 5) trauma-informed care. This audit should ensure that the language used is reflective of the commitment to these philosophies and result in a report detailing the short- and long-term changes that should be made to ensure the written work is aligned with the values of the organization. Furthermore, it should identity gaps in the existing written work that should be addressed. This is work that the organization does not have the capacity currently to take on, but will benefit from.

Sara Riel’s Equal Housing Initiative

Sara Riel Inc.’s Equal Housing Initiative is working on the McLaren Hotel redevelopment project. The McLaren Hotel is a single room occupancy hotel that houses 150 residents and is in dire need of repair. Last year, the owner proposed the construction of an addition to make more room for dignified living space (108 new suites) to city council. Following this, Sara Riel partnered with the owner of the hotel, who wishes to offer affordable, dignified living spaces for people transitioning out of homelessness and/or need additional supports. They wish to create a plan to provide affordable social housing to homeless people transitioning out of the shelter system. A third of the new building will be used towards this initiative. The Equal Housing Initiative is a unique approach to social housing. They plan to directly involve the current McLaren residents in the research, choosing to interview/consult with them to determine what their specific needs are. This differs from previous approaches where organizations made assumptions about what people’s needs were. Equal Housing Initiative’s goal is to support those who are experiencing homelessness that are ready to begin reintegration into society and live independently.

Low income intermediary project

The project will include research on the lives of social assistance recipients, Furthermore, we will research what life on welfare is like for its recipients, and the struggles of applying, and being denied social assistance. We will create a webpage designed to help community organizations better assist individuals on welfare. In doing so, we will create an online network for poverty advocates.

CEDA Winnipeg Central Global Market

I will be running the Winnipeg Central Global Market and contributing to the community gardens for CEDA. I will provide an outline for the social media to ensure that there is a strong presence throughout the summer and suggest any input and ideas that I have throughout the summer. Throughout the summer I will be attending meetings and updating CEDA on my progress and at the end of summer I will be writing a report about my contributions.The objectives of the project are creating a setting for community connection, entrepreneurship, and community development and gathering. This will be done through the style of an open air African and Asian style market in the heart of downtown. The market will be a practical grassroots solution against the community isolation challenges experiences in the neighbourhood since the beginning of the pandemic. Along with the market I will be assisting with the community gardens at Gordon Bell Highschool. I will also be contributing to the social media to advertise the market.

La vitesse de propagation des ondes de cisaillement dans les argiles de l’est du Canada; mesures et corrélations

Il devient plus commun de mesurer Vs, la vitesse de propagation des ondes de cisaillement, en vue de la caractérisation sismique d’un site, selon les stipulations des codes de construction. Ce paramètre est relié au module de cisaillement maximal du sol. En considérant de plus les développements récents qui permettent d’obtenir Vs par l’analyse des ondes de surface, il paraît opportun d’envisager son utilisation comme paramètre de caractérisation géotechnique. Pour ce faire, il est nécessaire d’établir des corrélations entre Vs et les propriétés géotechniques des sols. Ce projet s’attarde spécifiquement au cas des argiles de l’est du Canada. Il implique des mesures en laboratoire dans des appareils géotechniques usuels adaptés pour mesurer aussi Vs en vue d’établir des corrélations. Il en résultera une plus grande valorisation du paramètre Vs, ce qui est d’intérêt en ingénierie, économiquement, et aussi pour l’entreprise partenaire impliquée dans ce type de mesure in situ.

Business Development Researcher

Because of the renewed interest in building health due to COVID-19, there has been a surge in demand for building audits – particularly around air quality testing. Demand by commercial property managers is increasing, particularly as businesses plan return-to-work arrangements. These buildings are looking for solutions to measure their building health, performance and energy efficiency as a means to ensuring tenants are confident they are returning to a safe built environment. This position is created to focus predominantly on identifying the market needs for healthier buildings in today’s COVID-19 environment, determining market drivers that make building audits more likely, and working with ioAirFlow’s business development team to identify partners who are ready to use ioAirFlow technology.

The overall project objectives are to assist in the coordination and implementation of ioAirFlow marketing and business development strategies with a focus on efficient buildings, assisting with stakeholder engagement and relationship management within the building efficiency audit sector, and assisting in the design and implementation of a product that meets the needs of the energy service sector.

At the intersection of a global pandemic and social justice movement: Effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement on the development of passion for a cause, mental health and well-being of Black young adults in Canada.

The historic events of the spring of 2020 – the collision of the worst public health crisis in a century and the largest Black civil rights movement in half a century – offer a unique opportunity to examine how the frustrations and hopes of Black young adults were affected. We sought to understand the potentially competing impacts that the public health and social justice crises have had on the young adults in their communities. In partnership with the Black Community Resource Center, we are planning to conduct a longitudinal study to examine the psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement on Black young adults in Canada. We plan to recruit a nationally representative sample of 400 Black young adults through the research company Léger.

SSE – Denis

La pandémie a grandement impacté le travail des journalistes. La fermeture des bureaux prive de la fourmilière d’idées qu’est une salle de rédaction. La règlementation des déplacements empêche parfois de se rendre sur le terrain, activité pourtant essentielle à un bon traitement journalistique. Les vidéastes doivent composer avec les entrevues Zoom de mauvaise qualité. La crise économique des médias, qui existait avant la crise sanitaire, ne s’améliore pas. À ces restrictions matérielles s’ajoutent des questionnements. Comment couvrir la crise ? Un média peut-il critiquer le gouvernement lorsque des vies sont en danger ? Comment faire face aux conspirations et à la désinformation grandissante ? Le monde des médias sortira changé de cette crise. Il y a eu un avant, un pendant, et il y aura un après COVID-19. Ce stage s’inscrit à un moment charnière de l’évolution de la pratique journalistique.