Big Ideas at U of T: Celebrating 50 Years of the Connaught Fund

4 talks. 1 roundtable discussion. A night of big ideas from four of U of T’s great minds.

U of T invites you to an evening showcasing four Connaught-funded researchers sharing their cutting-edge scholarship.

Discover the latest big ideas from four of U of T’s sharpest minds: from what we know about the earliest moments of the universe, the dangers of international digital espionage, the politics of music in expatriate communities and the sounds of Kensington Market, to how we can exercise activism and advocacy through research.

The talks will be followed by a roundtable discussion moderated by broadcast journalist Mary Ito, host of The CRAM Podcast which highlights innovative research and big ideas in Canada. The roundtable will address the critical importance of university research today and consider the next big ideas to emerge.

The event is free and open to the public at U of T’s historic Convocation Hall.

All attendees receive a gift at the door.
What is the Connaught Fund?
Celebrating its 50th year, the Connaught Fund supports the research of U of T graduate students, early-career researchers, interdisciplinary teams, and innovators to enable them to meet the challenges facing our global society. To date, the Connaught Fund has awarded more than $178 million to researchers from a range of disciplines and a diversity of lived experiences.

About the Speakers
Renée Hložek, Cosmologist, Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics

Professor Renée Hložek studies the Universe from the earliest moments to the far future. Her work uses statistical methods and precise observations to answer cosmic questions. She makes measurements of both visible and microwave light with telescopes high in the deserts of northern Chile and uses these measurements to learn about the fundamental building blocks of nature.

Farzaneh Hemmasi, Ethnomusicologist, Faculty of Music

Professor Hemmasi’s research has primarily focused on Iranian popular music in diaspora, especially in Los Angeles. Her book Tehrangeles Dreaming: Intimacy and Imagination in Southern California’s Iranian Pop Music (Duke University Press, 2020) won the Hamid Naficy Book Award from the Center of Iranian Diaspora Studies and Association for Iranian Studies. She currently leads a collaborative, community-engaged ethnographic research project on music, sound, and noise in Toronto’s Kensington Market neighborhood.

Maydianne Andrade, Evolutionary Ecologist & Equity Activist, Department of Biological Sciences, UTSC

Professor Andrade is an award-winning, internationally recognized expert on sexual selection and the ecology of black widow spiders. She is also co-founder and president of the Canadian Black Scientists Network, and founder of the Toronto Initiative for Diversity and Excellence. In these roles, she has co-created organizations working to increase inclusion within institutions and across Canada through education and advocacy.

Ronald Deibert, Director, The Citizen Lab at U of T’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Professor Deibert is the principal investigator of the Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary laboratory focusing on research, development, and high-level strategic policy and legal engagement at the intersection of information and communication technologies, human rights, and global security. He has overseen and contributed to the publication of more than 120 reports covering pathbreaking research on cyber espionage, commercial spyware, Internet censorship, and human rights.

Convocation Hall 31 King’s College Circle Toronto, ON M5S 1A1

Date and time Wed, 30 November 2022, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM EST