Profiles

The practice of sharing tea cuts across cultural and temporal lines. As a platform for social connection, chaa (Punjabi for ‘tea’) brings people together to soothe difficult conversations, celebrate milestones and share good news. This ubiquitous drink is the inspiration behind Chaa da Cup, a research project by Harnaaz (Naaz) Kaur Grewal-Greeno, MSW, B.Sc.

Aparna Swarup (visual artist, painter and photographer) and Susan Dobson (lens-based artist and professor at the University of Guelph) met in Dobson’s office to discuss photography, art and culture during Aparna’s six-week stay in Guelph. 

Listen to the podcast conversation between Aparna Swarup and Prof. Dobson. 

Read the full podcast transcript.

Read on for an abridged version of their conversation. 

Sunand Sharma came to Guelph to attend a college in a city not different from his hometown, St. Catharines. It was a safe place, one in which he could learn, grow and go on to develop a career as a rising star in student leadership, citizenship and engagement.

Women are political trailblazers in India. Breaking the glass ceiling in their chosen careers, women have powered India through to a more equal world.

As a tutor and music teacher for underprivileged youth in Scarborough, in the final year of his undergraduate studies in Toronto, Dr. Shivajan Sivapalan met many families— and was shocked to learn they were often misguided or ill-informed about mental health. Dr. Sivapalan met a child on the Autism spectrum, who was of Indian background. “The family wasn’t sure what Autism was or meant . . . The mother had never heard the word before. And the worst part was that she felt it was her fault that her child was on the spectrum.” This was a life-changing encounter for Dr.

In the 1990s, while other agricultural scientists in Ontario were mostly planting crops in their research plots, agroforestry pioneers Andy Gordon and Naresh Thevathasan were instead planting trees—and turning heads.

Naresh and Andy at the Ontario Agricultural College were working to give producers a long-term income prospect and environmentally friendly alternative to monocultures, by intercropping lucrative hardwoods among rows of cash crops.

Dilshan Fernando (PhD candidate in Sociology; CIRCLE Student Writer) and Dr. Sharada Srinivasan (Associate Professor; Director CIRCLE) spoke to Vikas Swarup on the occasion of the awarding of the Doctor of Letters, honoris causa by the University of Guelph on 16 June 2022.

Listen to the podcast interview with Vikas Swarup on a wide range of questions.

In many Canadian workplaces, South Asian women are a distinct and thriving minority. But what do their paths to success look like?

They don’t have it easy. Anju Philip, a PhD candidate in the Department of Management at U of G’s Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics says they often navigate complex and arduous parallel cultures.

In the post-pandemic world, international engagement and research collaboration may look quite different than in the past. We’ve learned how easy it can be to communicate with colleagues around the world in real time, without needing to travel. Well-attended international webinars, guest lectures by non-Canadian speakers, and virtual annual lectureships have prevailed.

So, can CIRCLE be a hub for such future research endeavours at Guelph?

Chef Vijay Nair's vision for the University of Guelph's food service is anchored in sustainability.

"A lot of people are too disconnected from food, and food is way too cheap," says Nair. "People just don't appreciate the value of food."

Food waste is a problem. In Canada, this costs almost $50 billion a year with 58 per cent of food production wasted.