York Circle Lecture Series
York Circle is back. Dive into a variety of interesting topics with York’s leading faculty members. Join us at Keele Campus on Nov. 23 for an in-person discussion about personalized health care, artificial intelligence and more.
The York Circle Lecture Series is presented in collaboration with our York Circle Academic Chair, Jennifer Steeves (BA ’94, MA ’96, PhD ’01), Associate Vice-President Research (AVPR). Held four times a year, this event is open to our alumni community and friends.
Tickets are $5 and include coffee, light snacks and lunch.
Date: Saturday, Nov. 23
Time: 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Location: Life Sciences Building, Keele Campus, York University
Agenda
Registration – 9-9:45 a.m.
Opening remarks – 9:45 – 10 a.m.
First session – 10 – 11 a.m.
Break – 11-11:20 a.m.
Second session – 11:20 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.
Lunch – 12:30 – 1 p.m.
Event ends – 1 – p.m.
The following speakers will be featured. Attendees will have the opportunity to choose one lecture from each session during the registration process.
First Sessions: 10 a.m.
Dr. Jennifer Mills, Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health
The Effects of Social Media on Young Women’s Body Image and Self-Esteem
Social media use has resulted in major shifts in the way people think, feel and behave. This talk will provide an overview on the relationship between social media and body image in young women. Learn about the results of several studies conducted at York University examining the relationship between social media and mental health, and their real world implications.
Dr. Danielle Robinson, Associate Professor, Theatre, Dance and Performance, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design
New Capstone Classroom Creates Community and Connection
Do students need to feel connected as a community in order to feel satisfied with their learning? What enhances or detracts from those feelings of connection as a community? This talk will discuss York’s C4 program (Cross-Campus Capstone Classroom), a grassroots initiative that brings together faculty, staff and students to work with community and industry partners on challenges designed to create positive social impact.
Second Sessions: 11:20 a.m.
Dr. Sachil Singh, Assistant Professor, School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health
Racial biases in Healthcare – Algorithms to the Rescue?
Algorithms are used in healthcare to improve hospital efficiency and better inform patient diagnoses and treatment plans. With an eye on race, this talk will draw on interviews with healthcare practitioners and data scientists to demonstrate how perceptions of algorithms as objective, neutral and unbiased technologies are misleading. When coupled with healthcare practitioners’ own racial biases, the compounding impact is one that can deepen already existing racial inequalities beyond healthcare.
Dr. Sylvia Bawa, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
International Solidarity for Women’s and Minority Rights
Which groups and institutions are implicated in thinking about women’s and minority rights through the right to solidarity? Dr. Sylvia Bawa argues that while there is a concern over the ‘dilution’ of human rights, there is a need to cultivate a solidarity consciousness in order to ensure accountability for human rights principles. She uses two concepts in African humanism, Ubuntu (a relational humanity consciousness) and Ferootuma (duty), to argue against the charitable impulse when we confront issues of poverty, marginalization and injustice.
