Asia and Oceania
AUSTRALIA
IMMIGRANT FAMILIES AND MULTIPLE LITERACIES : POLICY, CLASSROOM, AND COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS ACROSS AUSTRALIA AND CANADA
Faculty: Faculty of Education
Funding Agency: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
Description: This study sets out to learn grass-roots lessons from those served by immigrant language and literacy programs in Australia with the aim of better informing Canadian programs; leading to greater educational and economic success for immigrant children and their parents. The main objective of this project is to focus on Australian society and how immigrant families (children and adults) learn a second language and literacy in English in the context of school and home.The results will expand the knowledge base in Australia and Canada by contributing to knowledge mobilization regarding practices of immigrant families and policy and programs on immigration, language and literacy.
CHINA
ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT MANAGEMENT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN WESTERN CHINA
Faculty: Faculty of Arts
Unit: Department of Geography
Funding Agencies: Ministry of Science and Technology of the Chinese Government
Description: The poverty of the northwest province of Gansu is rooted in environmental factors that have impeded its development. Years of excessive cultivation, deforestation and overgrazing have caused loss of vegetative cover and topsoil, severely denuding the land. This project aims to build an Ecosystem Assessment and Management (EAM) to be used for the management of the regions’ agricultural development and environmental rehabilitation. This system aims to provide filtered information on soil properties, land use patterns, weather conditions, and crop growth situations, as well as the input of the local population’s experience and the local rural socioeconomic conditions. The EAM analytical results not only considers the soil conditions, land use status, and weather conditions; an important emphasis is placed on the social, economic and cultural situations of the area in question, as well as the input of local people vis-à-vis their own local development.
THE CHINA-ONTARIO BIO-ANALYTICAL CONSORTIUM (COBAC)
Faculty: Faculty of Medicine
Unit: Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology
Funding Agency: Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI)
Description: The China-Ontario Bio-Analytical Consortium (COBAC) brings together researchers, clinicians, and industrial partners from Ontario and China with interdisciplinary and complementary expertise. Ontario is a world leader in the development of bio-analytical technologies that have tremendous impact in life science research, the commercialization of products, and the training and retention of highly qualified personnel (HQP). However, the complexity of these technologies and their applications is increasing, which requires access to resources and various expertises from around the world. The purpose of COBAC is to facilitate exchanges and communication among all stakeholders, promote the application and commercialization of novel technologies, and attract and retain HQP in Ontario. The consortium focuses on developing novel bio-analytical technologies for research and clinical applications. For this purpose, the consortium brings together world-class leaders in the field of biotechnology development and application.
Project website: http://www.oisb.ca/cobac/cobacmain.htm
TAIWAN
CHAIR IN TAIWAN STUDIES
Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
Unit: Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Funding Agency: Ministry of Education of the Republic of China (Taiwan)
Description: The Chair should be seen as part of a broader development to sensitize the Canadian community of scholars, decision-makers, people in the media, as well as the general public, to the reality of Taiwan in relation to its important place in East Asia. The Chair studies its relation with China, and in its role as a model of inter-ethnic accommodation, and of growth with equity. The activities of the Chair will be interdisciplinary, reaching across the disciplines and fields of the Faculty of Social Science. These include, but are not limited to, political studies, anthropology, sociology, economics, and development studies.