IoT devices are everyday objects that connect to the internet so they can send, receive and act on data. They range from home thermostats and baby monitors to traffic sensors, medical equipment and industrial controls. Many operate quietly in the background and are rarely updated or closely monitored, making them especially attractive targets for cybercriminals.

“As devices proliferate globally, so do the botnets that exploit them,” says Arash Habibi Lashkari, a professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and Canada Research Chair in Behaviour‑Centric Cybersecurity (BCCC). Botnets are networks of compromised devices that have been quietly taken over by attackers and can be coordinated to carry out cyberattacks, often without the device owner’s knowledge.

While cybersecurity tools already exist to protect IoT systems, Lashkari says many struggle to keep pace with today’s threat landscape. Designed for specific networks or environments, these tools are often not suited to the scale or complexity of a borderless digital world, where malicious activity moves easily across regions and frequently reuse similar behaviours in different contexts.

As a result, security frameworks often rely on AI to sift through vast volumes of data and spot patterns too complex or fast‑moving for humans to catch. This, however, comes with a shortcoming: AI can flag suspicious activity, but without explaining how or why a particular behaviour is considered malicious.

“That’s the primary gap of the ‘black box’ nature of AI in cybersecurity,” says Lashkari, referring to systems that can produce answers without making their reasoning visible to humans. “Understanding these gaps is critical, because a detection system that cannot explain why it flagged a behaviour is difficult to trust.”

Lashkari set out to resolve that gap. He and his colleagues aimed to find a way to analyze how botnets operate and build an identification approach to act on that knowledge. In doing so, it can produce results that human analysts can interpret, trust and apply across different networks.

In research now published in Supercomputing, Lashkari and his colleagues built and tested a recognition and profiling system using real‑world IoT network traffic. Working through BCCC, the team examined how compromised devices communicate across sustained activity, focusing on patterns that could be clearly interpreted.

This allowed the researchers to move beyond individual attacks and focus on broader behavioural patterns, including whether botnets operating in different environments might still act in similar ways.

Lashkari says they expected to see some similarities across botnets, but were still surprised by how consistently those patterns appeared. Even when attacks targeted different technologies or deployments, compromised devices tended to follow the same underlying behaviours, including recognizable bursts of activity. That consistency matters, he explains, because knowing how one botnet operates can help identify and defend against others, even in very different settings.

Lashkari says the real importance of that finding lies in what it enables. “It suggests that a breakthrough in understanding a specific botnet profile – the recurring patterns in how compromised devices communicate and behave – can be generalized to protect critical infrastructure worldwide,” he says.

That potential is not theoretical. To act on it, Lashkari and his colleagues developed a system that identifies IoT botnets based on behavioural patterns observed across repeated interactions. The system flags suspicious activity while also showing which specific behaviours triggered the alert, giving security teams visibility into why a device was identified as malicious.

While the system itself is presented as a research framework rather than a ready‑to‑deploy product, much of the underlying IoT data and profiling resources developed through the BCCC are publicly available, allowing other researchers to study, test and build on the approach.

Lashkari says this approach is especially important because malicious cyber activity is constantly evolving. As security systems improve, attackers adapt their tactics, often reshaping malicious activity to blend in with normal internet traffic. By focusing on patterns that persist across sustained behaviour, rather than relying on fixed indicators that quickly become outdated, the behaviour‑based system can help security teams recognize emerging threats even as attackers change how they operate.

“The hope is that this work will serve as a cornerstone for more transparent, collaborative security frameworks,” Lashkari says. By promoting explainable tools and shared datasets, the team aims to shift industry practice away from simply blocking IP addresses, and toward understanding and anticipating how adversaries behave.

Lashkari says that need is unlikely to fade. As attackers continue to adapt, often operating slowly or subtly to avoid detection, focusing on behavioural patterns across time may become increasingly important. In an internet‑connected world, he says, effective defence will depend not just on smarter identification, but on tools that help security teams know what they are dealing with.

The post How York researchers are strengthening cybersecurity appeared first on YFile.

Data centres – large industrial facilities that power cloud computing and AI – have become critical infrastructure supporting the world’s growing digitization. Everything from streaming video and online banking to scientific research and generative AI depends on their ability to store, process and move enormous volumes of data.

As demand for digital services continues to rise, these centres sit at the root of that growth. And, as they become more pervasive, conversations about broader implications are growing.

“Data centres are increasingly part of public debate because of concerns about energy use, environmental impact, local economic effects and data sovereignty in Canada,” says Lyndsey Rolheiser, an assistant professor at the .

Despite the growing significance, there remains a notable gap in publicly available information about these facilities.

“There is very little systematic evidence to inform that discussion,” says Alexander Carlo, a postdoctoral researcher at Schulich. “At a basic level, we do not have a clear picture of where data centres are located in Canada or where new ones are being developed.”

Rolheiser and Carlo set out to address that gap by creating the first comprehensive map of Canada’s data centre landscape. Their work, now and to be included in the forthcoming Schulich School of Business Real Assets Research Paper Series, documents both existing facilities and the growing pipeline of projects that have been announced or are under construction.

The authors built their analysis around a proprietary dataset from Aterio, a data intelligence firm that aggregates information on large‑scale infrastructure projects. Using permitting records, utility filings and company disclosures, they tracked facilities from initial announcement through construction to full operation, then layered in census and provincial electricity data to assess location, scale and energy implications.

Once completed, they mapped out a much clearer picture of how Canada’s digital infrastructure is changing. The analysis shows that while Canada’s current data facilities footprint remains relatively modest, the pipeline of planned facilities is nearly 10 times larger – and those new centres are far bigger than older ones, reflecting a shift toward hyperscale infrastructure designed to support AI.

Future development is also highly concentrated: Alberta alone accounts for more than 90 per cent of planned capacity, despite relying on a comparatively high‑emissions electricity grid. At the same time, new facilities are increasingly being built far from major cities, often hundreds of kilometres from urban cores. Meanwhile, provinces with cleaner electricity systems, including Quebec, Ontario and B.C., have begun restricting or carefully managing grid access for large new data centres.

These patterns reflect a set of broader concerns the authors explore in the paper. Data centres consume enormous amounts of electricity – often equivalent to tens of thousands of households per facility – while creating relatively few long‑term jobs compared with the scale of public infrastructure they require. Their expansion can reshape provincial power systems, raise emissions concerns and crowd out other users. The authors also point to questions of data sovereignty, since most large facilities are owned by foreign firms and to the risk that some projects could become stranded assets if AI demand slows or climate policy tightens.

While Rolheiser and Carlo do point to these risks, the aim of the research is to ground future discussions in evidence. “This is a necessary first step for any informed policy or public debate,” Rolheiser says.

“At a minimum,” Carlo adds, “the paper should help clarify what the current landscape looks like and where development is taking place.”

Both researchers hope their work contributes to more informed discussions about data centres in Canada, and provides a solid evidence base that helps policymakers and the public better understand these sites and their impacts on grid access, emissions and economic benefits.

The post Researchers at York create first map of Canada's data centres appeared first on YFile.

Several times a month, a small drone rises above the trees at Swan Lake, following a precise path over the water. Parkgoers who enjoy walking, jogging or birdwatching might assume it’s there to capture scenic footage. Instead, the drone is part of a �첥��Ƶ-led effort to understand – and help restore – the health of an urban lake under pressure.

Swan Lake, a former gravel pit transformed into a stormwater pond and community green space, faces ongoing water quality challenges. As rainwater flows into the site from surrounding roads and neighbourhoods, it carries excess nutrients, road salt and other pollutants. Over time, this can fuel frequent algae growth, cloud the water and reduce oxygen levels, stressing fish and wildlife, limiting recreation and, in some cases, raising public health concerns.

Since April 2025, �첥��Ƶ researchers, led by CIFAL York, have been turning concern about the lake’s health into measurable data and practical action through the Swan Lake Citizen Science Lab (SLCS Lab). The initiative brings together York research centres, including ADERSIM and the One WATER Institute, with local partners such as Friends of Swan Lake Park, a community‑based volunteer organization dedicated to protecting and improving the area’s ecological health.

“Communities often know when something is not right with a local ecosystem, but it’s hard to act without clear, comprehensive and consistent information, as well as meaningful community engagement” says Ali Asgary, director of CIFAL York and professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. “The goal of the lab is to support those concerns with reliable data that can guide real decisions.”

"To assess a lake is to assess ourselves," adds Satinder Kaur Brar, director of the One WATER Institute and professor at the . "Its health card is a mirror of our environmental stewardship."

One way the lab is assessing the lake is through advanced technology, such as the use of multispectral and thermal drones operated by York research teams.

Equipped with special cameras that capture different types of light – including some invisible to the human eye – the drones can detect potential algae growth and subtle changes in water clarity as they scan the lake from above. Flying low and on demand, they provide detailed, up-to-date views of trends across the entire water body, offering a clearer picture than satellite images and a broader perspective than scattered and spot‑by‑spot water sampling.

The drones have already yielded valuable insights, recently shared in a York‑led, under-review study that monitored patterns from spring through fall 2025. By flying the drones roughly once a month and analyzing the findings over time, researchers were able to pinpoint where algae forms, how blooms shift across the seasons and how changes in water cloudiness are driven by biological growth rather than stirred‑up sediment.

The findings confirm what many residents and park managers have long suspected: the lake is rich in nutrients and prone to recurring algae growth. The drone data, however, also reveal something new.

Conditions vary significantly from one area to another, suggesting that targeted, location‑specific interventions may be more effective than broad, one‑size‑fits‑all treatments applied across the entire lake. Knowing where problems emerge helps guide chemical treatments, shoreline naturalization projects and future restoration efforts – and provides a better way to measure whether those interventions are working. "Interconnecting drone data with on-ground water quality can turn ecological signals into informed action that is vital for communities," says Brar.

“What the data made clear is that this isn’t a uniform problem,” adds Asgary. “When conditions vary so much from one part of the lake to another, it changes how you think about solutions. This kind of information allows us to be more precise, more proactive and more strategic in environmental management.”

In addition to monitoring Swan Lake, York‑led teams are working to make the data easier to interpret and use in planning. Researchers are developing AI tools to identify patterns in the drone imagery, anticipate conditions such as algae outbreaks and translate complex trends into clearer insights.

Other teams are using virtual reality and simulation to help users visualize the lake over time and explore how different interventions might affect conditions. Meanwhile, geographic information system (GIS) specialists are turning the results into interactive maps and dashboards that help the public and those involved in lake management understand what is happening across the site.

A core goal of the Swan Lake Citizen Science Lab is to encourage meaningful community engagement and shared stewardship.

“From the start, this was never about researchers working in isolation,” says Asgary. “The goal of the Swan Lake Citizen Science Lab is to create a shared process, where community knowledge and scientific tools come together.”

Local partners are not just observers; they are active partners in the research. Residents take part in field checks, help interpret findings, attend workshops and contribute to outreach efforts that share findings. Alongside them, �첥��Ƶ students gain hands‑on experience applying classroom learning to a real environmental challenge, working with researchers and resident members in a local setting.

For CIFAL York, which is affiliated with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, the work at Swan Lake is a pilot that could inform other communities facing similar pressures on small urban lakes and wetlands.

“The impact here is very tangible,” says Asgary. “Through drones, data and collaboration, we’re building a deeper understanding of how this ecosystem functions and how it can be protected over time. That kind of shared knowledge is what allows stewardship to last.”

Find out more about the SLCS Lab, and see it in action, in the video below.

The post How York is helping to restore an urban lake appeared first on YFile.

In collaboration with Internet Archive Canada, a non-profit digital library, the MHSO is making its collection of multicultural newspapers – one of the most comprehensive in the country, with titles dating back to the 19th century – freely accessible online to scholars, educators and the public.

Housed within the offices of �첥��Ƶ’s Institute for Social Research (ISR), the MHSO’s archive was previously hosted by Simon Fraser University Library but is now migrating to a centralized, open-access platform designed to ensure long-term preservation and improve discoverability.

The initiative has launched with – The New Canadian, The Canadian Jewish Review, The Canadian Jewish News and L’Ami du Peuple – which document the experiences of Japanese Canadian, Jewish Canadian and Franco Ontarian communities.

Additional titles, including Chinese Canadian Community News and The Chinese Times, are being added, with more publications from the MHSO’s extensive collection to follow.

“Ethnic and francophone newspapers were vital instruments for community members to engage with and express their views on contemporary events,” says Julia Rady, Chair and president of MHSO. “Through our collaboration with Internet Archive Canada, there is now a single platform for people to discover and research these important resources, helping to preserve their legacy for generations to come.”

“This partnership significantly expands access to rare and historically important primary sources,” says Lorne Foster, director of ISR. “For York researchers – and scholars at other institutions – it supports new and existing work in areas such as migration and diaspora studies, history, sociology and equity-focused research.”

Beyond preservation and access, the collaboration also creates opportunities for student engagement. Under its agreement with York, the MHSO provides orientation and training for students working with its archives, supports work-study and co-op placements, and connects students with community historians and organizations. York is also represented on the MHSO’s board of directors.

The development builds on York’s and the MHSO’s shared leadership in digital research and cultural preservation. The ISR helped bring the MHSO to York’s Keele Campus in 2023, contributing to a growing digital ecosystem that includes searchable archives of oral histories, newspapers, photographs and textual records documenting the experiences of ethnocultural and Indigenous communities across Ontario.

“By supporting open, digital access to these materials,” says Foster, “the initiative helps preserve and amplify the histories of underrepresented communities in Canada, while highlighting the University’s role in fostering inclusive research infrastructure through its hosting of the MHSO and its connections with community-based knowledge.”

The post York partnership expands access to multicultural newspapers appeared first on YFile.

Faculty of Science Professor Cora Young and Associate Professor Trevor VandenBoer were recognized through the NASA Group Achievement Award for their contributions to the Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas (AEROMMA) campaign, a joint effort between NASA and the The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to study air quality and climate interactions across North America.

The award is reserved for those who have made exceptional contributions to NASA's mission and scientific endeavours.

AEROMMA combined aircraft, ground-based measurements and satellite observations to study how contemporary emissions from cities and oceans affect air quality and climate. NASA and NOAA approached York to lead the Toronto supersite, one of several measurement hubs established in major North American cities to contribute to the campaign's airborne data.

Young served as scientific lead, coordinating a team of 25 to 30 researchers; VandenBoer served as logistical lead, overseeing the physical transformation of York's rooftop laboratory – on the Petrie Science and Engineering Building – to host the research.

Also involved were York colleagues Mark Gordon, associate professor at the , and Rob McLaren, professor emeritus in the Department of Chemistry.

Collaborators came from across Canada and internationally, including Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and the University of York in the U.K.

York graduate and undergraduate students had the opportunity to work on the project with those visiting researchers.

"Our ability to bring together this strong team of researchers allowed us to ensure it was worthwhile for AEROMMA to include Toronto," says Young. "Otherwise, we would have missed out on this unprecedented opportunity to learn about modern air quality here."

The 2023 summer AEROMMA project unfolded during a period of intense wildfire smoke across the region, an unplanned development that offered a rare opportunity for study.

"Wildfires will exacerbate air quality issues," says VandenBoer. "Understanding the chemistry of wildfire plumes arriving in the city is going to be critical to informing the public on when and how to protect their respiratory health."

The existing Air Quality Health Index is not well-suited to wildfire conditions because the smoke differs from the other drivers of urban air pollution.

One of the first papers to emerge from the project, now in its final round of peer review, found that wildfire smoke changed chemically as it travelled, changing how health and climate impacts are understood and communicated.

York researchers have also been in dialogue with the team behind ECCC’s 2024 �첥��Ƶ of Winter Air Pollution in Toronto (SWAPIT). Together, the summer and winter datasets create a year-round picture of urban air quality in Canada’s largest city that could inform policy on everything from wood-burning smoke to the atmospheric impacts of road salt.

The work also validated NASA’s TEMPO satellite, a space-based instrument tracking air pollution across North America. Measurements from York’s site, alongside NASA research aircraft and ECCC sites, were essential in confirming the satellite’s early readings, helping move the tool into practical use for ongoing air-quality monitoring and research.

For York graduate students, the initiative created opportunities to build international networks. VandenBoer says students helped host collaborators by familiarizing them with York’s facilities and procedures, and in some cases were involved with operating, maintaining and responding to issues with visiting researchers’ instruments.

Those connections continued beyond the project. Graduate student Yashar Ebrahimi-Iranpour later spent two weeks collaborating at NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory, while graduate student Na-Yung Seoh went on to join an international University of York-led campaign in Cape Verde.

AEROMMA involved a range of York collaborators, including facilities staff, operations teams and University leadership.

"It's a York community undertaking," says VandenBoer. "A lot of people wanted to support us, and for no other reason than that's just the type of community that we have."

Young points to why the work is imperative today.

"There are a lot of chemicals being emitted into the environment we can't see or smell or taste," she says. "Just because we can't detect them with our own senses doesn't mean they're not a problem. We need to keep on top of it."

With files from Mzwandile Poncana

The post NASA award recognizes York scientists for wildfire air quality research appeared first on YFile.

Announced March 27 at York’s Markham Campus, Natural Resources Canada will invest $28.9 million in 12 projects across the country to build and deploy clean energy technologies through its Energy Innovation Program.

These investments support efforts to reduce emissions and modernize Canada’s energy systems as clean technologies advance.

York's project, led by Associate Professor Marina Freire‑Gormaly at Lassonde, is one of four initiatives funded in the Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage stream which supports early research on capturing, moving, story and reusing carbon dioxide.

Freire-Gormaly will focus on developing a carbon capture technology that replaces heat‑intensive systems with electrochemical and light‑driven processes. By using advanced materials, the technology aims to cut energy use, reduce operating costs and improve performance.

“This funding allows us to move promising carbon capture ideas from the lab and scale them up, closer to real‑world use,” says Freire‑Gormaly. “It supports York’s role in developing practical, low‑energy solutions that can help reduce emissions.”

The project, titled “Development and scale-up of novel solid C02 capture photoelectrochemical active sorbents,” began in 2023 and will continue until March 2027 with a focus on creating and testing new solid materials that absorb carbon dioxide when exposed to light and electricity, instead of through thermal processes.

Freire‑Gormaly and her team of researchers – including co-applicant Assistant Professor Solomon Boakye-Yiadom and other collaborators at York's Faculty of Science – have developed new electrode materials using copper, aerogels and specialized coatings to improve performance.

Researchers are using a small, custom-built lab to accurately measure how much carbon dioxide is captured. Findings will help evaluate costs, environmental impacts and carbon emissions, and help determine how sustainable and practical the innovative solvent-based pathway would be at an industrial scale.

“These innovations are crucial towards a net-zero energy transition for all Canadians,” says Friere-Gormaly.

Tim Hodgson, minister of energy and natural resources, says the project reflects Canada’s goal to scale up clean energy and responsibly grow the nation’s conventional energy industry.

“We are investing to provide reliable, affordable and clean power across the country that will propel our economic growth, protect affordability for Canadian families and make Canada a low-risk, low-cost, low-carbon energy superpower.”

The post Federal investment backs Lassonde clean energy research appeared first on YFile.

For real-world action to result from academic inquiry, researchers must be able to actively share and apply their findings.

This is the focus of York’s Knowledge Mobilization Unit (KMb Unit): to help scholars build relationships with community organizations, government and other non-academic partners. It supports efforts to share research in ways that are more accessible and usable beyond the University, ensuring York’s work reaches the right audiences.

For Michael Johnny, manager of KMb Unit, that work begins with communicating a simple idea.

“My definition of knowledge mobilization is that it helps take the best of what we know and makes it useful for people in our communities,” he says.

Located in the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, the unit provides services and resources for collaborative projects, helps broker partnerships and offers training and strategy support for researchers, students and non-academic collaborators.

Johnny says it plays an important role because academic research does not always reach audiences in the right way.

“If everybody accessed information through academic journal articles, then we really wouldn’t need a service unit like this at York,” he says. “But it’s safe to say that different audiences like to access information in different ways.”

That means helping researchers build relationships at the front-end of the research cycle, and offering assistance in translating findings into plain language. There is also a multitude of tools and resources that can help implement research into practice.

Among the unit’s core areas of work is partnership-building. Johnny says the office regularly engages with organizations such as York Region, the City of Toronto and United Way Greater Toronto to better understand the kinds of questions and broader thematic issues that matter to them. KMb Unit then works to connect those needs with relevant York expertise.

That collaborative work also shows up in how researchers plan grant applications, with the unit supporting scholars who require a knowledge mobilization strategy for federal funding applications.

“Quite often what they are looking for is help and support around developing that strategy,” Johnny says.

The impact of the unit’s work can be seen in the long-term research partnerships it has facilitated. Johnny points to the work of Jennifer Connolly as an example – a psychology professor in York’s .

Through partnerships the unit helped facilitate in York Region, Connolly’s work took on a new direction, guiding graduate student research and overseeing collaborative projects while conducting research on gender-based violence.

Connolly works in partnership with York Regional Police and York Region’s Children’s Aid Society studying the prevention of sex trafficking. She uses her findings to develop tools and approaches for early intervention, such as the York Simcoe Sex Trafficking Screener.

“It completely changed the trajectory of her engaged scholarship,” Johnny says.

He also highlights the unit’s work with Community Music Schools of Toronto, originally based in Regent Park. After the organization approached the KMb Unit with a broad set of research questions, the unit helped coordinate an advisory group of York academics to respond.

According to Johnny, the resulting connections helped secure a $2-million endowment for the Helen Carswell Chair in Community Engaged Research in the Arts at �첥��Ƶ, which creates meaningful opportunities for York students and faculty to work on projects shaped by community-identified needs.

KMb Unit’s training has expanded over time, including the introduction of MobilizeU, a non-credit course in knowledge mobilization. Johnny describes the offering as a “cornerstone service” that helps equip York researchers, students and community partners with tools and skills to maximize the impact of their work.

The success of MobilizeU, says Johnny, is due to the work of Senior Knowledge Mobilization Specialist Krista Jensen, who envisioned the program in 2017 and launched it in 2019.

The unit has also extended its reach through Research Impact Canada, a national network that grew out of early collaboration between York and the University of Victoria. Now made up of 46 members in Canada and the U.K., the network serves as a community of practice for knowledge mobilization, with York set to host its Canadian Knowledge Mobilization Forum in July.

For Johnny, one of the biggest challenges goes back to general understanding of what knowledge mobilization is, and why it’s important.

“For a lot of people, there is an understanding that knowledge mobilization is simply a dissemination or communications-based exercise around research,” he says. “And that’s not wrong. It’s just often incomplete.”

Applying research to real-world challenges, strengthening community partnerships and increasing research visibility are all key benefits of sharing the work of York academics.

Johnny notes that since it began operating in 2006, the unit has assisted in more than 1,600 unique interactions with faculty members, 2,000 non-academic partners and 2,500 students.

For Johnny, those numbers reflect the success of the KMb Unit and speak to the University’s a broader goal: helping research move into the world in ways that are collaborative, responsive and useful.

With files from Mzwandile Poncana

The post How �첥��Ƶ turns research into actionable solutions for communities appeared first on YFile.

As cities around the world grapple with mounting waste crises, researchers at the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR) are exploring a critical but often overlooked question: who does the work of managing waste and under what conditions?

At �첥��Ƶ, this question is shaping an emerging area of interdisciplinary research that connects environmental change with labour, inequality and shared global priorities.

Research efforts led by Shubhra Gururani, a political ecologist, associate professor of anthropology and director of YCAR, examine how waste is a technical or environmental problem, but also a deeply political one, structured by histories of colonialism, race, caste and gender.

Waste is increasing at an unprecedented rate, expected to grow by around 80 per cent by 2050, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. “The systems that manage that growth still often rely on precarious labour performed by socially marginalized groups, including migrants, women and caste-oppressed communities,” says Gururani, who explores how these dynamics are embedded in broader processes of urban change and development. "This raises urgent questions about whether shifts to more environmentally sustainable systems may reproduce, rather than resolve, entrenched inequalities.”

A key contributor is Harsha Anantharaman, a postdoctoral Asian studies fellow at YCAR who focuses on informal waste workers – those who make a living by collecting and recycling waste outside formal, regulated systems – in urban India.

Drawing on extensive ethnographic and archival research across four cities for an ongoing book project – To Caste Away Waste: Racialized Labour and the Political Economy of Commodity Detritus in Urban India – Anantharaman studies how policies aimed at formalizing waste work often have contradictory effects. “As formalization policies reshape urban waste economies in India, the efforts to include marginalized groups can paradoxically deepen labour precarity and reproduce entrenched caste hierarchies,” he says.

His research shows that initiatives framed as inclusive, such as bringing waste pickers into formal waste management systems, can make working conditions more insecure. As municipal waste becomes increasingly controlled by governments and corporations as a private resource, informal workers are incorporated into systems that offer recognition without security. These processes reproduce caste-based hierarchies, reshaping labour relations. Anantharaman describes this as informal labour being absorbed into systems while caste-coded recognition continues.

By situating these dynamics within global political economic transformations in urban governance and political economy, his work highlights both the structural constraints faced by workers and the potential for more equitable alternatives. His findings suggest models such as the formal recognition and integration of waste pickers into municipal systems, cooperative-led recycling initiatives and policies that ensure fair wages, social protections and decision-making power for frontline workers.

Through these efforts, Gururani and Anantharaman’s work can contribute to a growing international conversation on the global politics of waste. It brings into focus how environmental governance, labour regimes and social hierarchies intersect in ways that challenge dominant narratives as municipalities and corporations transition to green and sustainable efforts.

“It is critical to remain cognizant of the ways in which such transitions often rely on the invisibilized labour of marginalized communities and reproduce existing inequalities even as they claim ecological progress,” says Anantharaman.

YCAR will continue this dialogue by hosting an international symposium in April titled . Organized by Gururani and Anantharaman, the two-day event will bring together scholars and practitioners working across regions, including South Asia, North Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America.

While the symposium is a closed academic gathering, it will feature two public keynote lectures that are open to the wider community. These talks will extend YCAR’s ongoing engagement with questions of labour, inequality and environmental change, offering an opportunity for broader public dialogue on the stakes of global waste economies. The symposium also contributes to a forthcoming special issue of Environment and Planning D: Society and Space.

“Through initiatives like this, YCAR continues to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and public engagement around some of the most pressing challenges of our time, highlighting how questions of waste are inseparable from questions of justice,” says Gururani.

The post Researchers examine global politics of waste management appeared first on YFile.

Emergency management at airports is uniquely demanding because of the complex, diverse and dynamic systems involved, says Ali Asgary, professor of disaster and emergency management in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.

With dense traffic, multiple vehicles and operations often unfolding during changing or extreme weather, coordinating airside and landside activity remains a major challenge.

“Even a small emergency at an airport can have significant political consequences and cascading impacts,” Asgary says. “These are the dynamics that shape airport emergencies, runway incidents and large‑scale disruptions to air transportation.”

Asgary's research has gained renewed relevance amid the March 22 Air Canada collision between an aircraft and a fire truck on a runway at LaGuardia Airport. While investigations are ongoing, the fatal incident underscores how seconds matter during runway operations.

While it’s still too early to determine what led to the tragedy, Asgary says events often involve factors that emergency managers and aviation operators routinely study: real-time hazard assessment, workloads, communication and warning systems.

“Runway incidents often involve overlapping risks, including split‑second decision‑making, heavy controller workload and limited redundancy in warning systems,” he says. “When warning systems rely on a single communication channel, missed messages can quickly escalate into serious incidents.”

Asgary is executive director of – the Advanced Disaster, Emergency and Rapid Response Simulation lab at �첥��Ƶ – where researchers and students simulate disasters and test response plans before they emerge in real‑world settings.

At ADERSIM, researchers use agent-based models to simulate aviation scenarios and examine how decisions by pilots, passengers, crew and ground emergency responders influence outcomes.

The lab incorporates virtual reality to help emergency managers visualize airport events and uses AI to analyze disruption patterns. It also explores how tools such as drones could support airside emergency response and risk assessment.

ADERSIM has also developed AeroHaz, a web-mapping application that identifies major hazards for airports worldwide to support hazard awareness and planning.

“Through a combination of computer modelling, human‑in‑the‑loop simulations, extended reality and AI, we can test how emergency response systems behave when multiple risks converge and conditions change rapidly,” says Asgary. “The work of ADERSIM contributes to York's leadership in disaster and emergency management.”

Major runway incidents can yield lessons for emergency preparedness – but only if they are researched, documented and incorporated into revised procedures. The incident also highlights the need for more research into the technological and human factors driving airport safety.

“Simulation-driven research allows emergency planners and responders to review how decisions are made, how workflows unfold in crisis situations and how to improve preparedness,” says Asgary.

In addition to leading ADERSIM, Asgary is also director of CIFAL York, a UNITAR centre that connects academia with leaders and organizations to tackle global challenges through specialized training in disaster management, sustainability, health and entrepreneurship.

Together with Maleknaz Nayebi, associate professor at the and associate director of CIFAL, he is leading a project to develop AI solutions for airports to minimize risks and enhance response operations. Using AI can help predict weather conditions, coordinate workforces and more.

ADERSIM and CIFAL York also share this research through training and professional learning for airport and emergency management leaders, and through public events.

Those who are interested in learning more can attend a two-part webinar series titled Airport Operations, Passenger Management, and Technology in the Face of Geopolitical Crises. Presented by CIFAL York and ADERSIM, in collaboration with UNITAR, the event runs April 15 and 25.

CIFAL York and ADERSIM will also contribute to UNITAR’s Airports Global Training Programme, when Nayebi will host “Future-Ready Airports: Preparedness for Mega Events Through Safety, Sustainability, and Smart Innovation” on April 22 and 23 in Atlanta, Georgia.

The post �첥��Ƶ simulation research supports airport emergency preparedness appeared first on YFile.

Led by Parmeet Singh Channe, a student, Enactus York is empowering students to tackle social and environmental challenges through award-winning entrepreneurship and ventures.

When Channe, a third-year computer science student, was growing up, he was exposed early to stark inequalities. He recalls seeing children his age working in extreme conditions instead of attending school. Those experiences instilled in him a drive to make a difference that evolved into a desire to pursue socially minded entrepreneurship and build projects to create the change he wanted to see in the world.

That motivation led him to �첥��Ƶ and, in April 2024, to a LinkedIn post by Enactus Canada, a registered charity. Channe learned the organization empowers post-secondary students to use innovation and entrepreneurship to advance social impact. Through a network of teams at more than 78 campuses across Canada – and a global network spanning 35 countries – participants develop projects aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and compete by pitching their ventures and demonstrating outcomes on a national and international stage.

“Discovering Enactus felt like finding a platform that perfectly aligned with what I had already been trying to build: using entrepreneurship as a tool for real-world impact,” says Channe.

After learning that a previous Enactus York chapter had dissolved during the COVID-19 pandemic, Channe became determined to resurrect it. Within a few months, he relaunched the chapter, which was officially ratified in September 2024. The group started small, with only two members. In those early days, Channe took on several roles: pursuing partnerships and funding, overseeing project development and working to recruit new members to grow the team into a thriving entrepreneurial community.

Today, Enactus York has grown to more than 90 members, supporting innovative initiatives – each driven by a purpose that reflects what first inspired Channe. “Our goal is to create ventures that benefit lives at scale while improving people’s standard of living,” he says.

In its first year, the group demonstrated its mission through award-winning projects, such as: AR Home Builder, an augmented reality app that helps rural communities to construct sustainable, resilient housing; Modular Homeless Shelters, which redesigns existing shelters with factory-built units to provide housing solutions; and Energent, an intelligent energy management platform that helps property managers reduce consumption and costs while promoting sustainability.

Three more ventures are underway this year. LiftAID connects students with non-profits, helping communities access volunteer support while providing opportunities to develop applicable skills. Easysim helps professors teach economics through realistic simulations, making education more engaging and accessible. Dragoncure is exploring ways to support triple-negative breast cancer treatment – especially in low-income countries – by developing solutions that are affordable, low-risk and aimed at reducing relapse.

Earlier this year, Enactus York took these projects to competition with team members Prabhkrit Singh (co-president of Enactus York), Mohammad Areeb (vice-president) and Samashi Munaweera (project manager of Dragoncure).

In its first appearance at the Enactus Canada Regional Exposition, the chapter earned three podium finishes: Easysim placed second in the TD Entrepreneurship Challenge, Dragoncure placed second in the Innovation & Impact Challenge and LiftAID placed third in the Desjardins Community Empowerment Challenge.

In addition to its Enactus achievements, Dragoncure also earned first place at the Hult Prize Qualifiers at �첥��Ƶ – part of a global competition that challenges student teams to pitch business ideas addressing major global problems. The qualifiers feed into national and international rounds, offering the team a chance to move on to the competition’s final stages and compete for seed funding.

While venture creation and competitions are the chapter's focus, it also serves as a hub. It organizes workshops, networking events and collaborative initiatives that provide opportunities to gain skills in market research, pitching and storytelling, project development and building partnerships. “These experiences not only support venture creation but also prepare students for careers in entrepreneurship and innovation,” says Channe.

Looking ahead, Channe says Enactus York will participate in the Hult Prize Nationals in Montreal in April, followed by the Enactus Canada National Exposition in May, where teams compete for a chance to advance to Enactus Global.

Channe envisions the chapter growing into one of Canada’s leading student venture ecosystems. It boasts more than 10 active projects creating measurable change for thousands of individuals internationally, with Enactus York alumni leading startups and driving innovation across industries.

“We aim to contribute meaningfully to the SDGs while building a generation of students who see themselves not just as learners, but as problem-solvers and changemakers,” he says.

By inspiring others to take action, Enactus York aims to create a ripple effect one person at a time. “Just one tree can provide shade to hundreds of people in its lifetime,” Channe says.

The post Student entrepreneurs build ventures to create real-world change appeared first on YFile.