VIU News & Experts: February 15, 2024

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In this issue of VIU news & experts: 

• Expert opinion on province's new affordable housing investment.
• Nature-based tourism a key focus for VIU's new BC Regional Innovation Chair for Tourism and Sustainable Rural Development. 
• How can couples keep the spark alive? 
• What goes into the chocolate making process? 

Featured experts

Affordable housing on public lands

The province will spend almost a billion and provide more in financing to have thousands of rental homes built on under-used public lands, which would then be made available to middle-income earners. The goal is to address the ongoing affordable housing crisis. Kaeley Wiseman of Wiser Projects and a VIU Master of Community Planning faculty member is one of BC’s foremost experts in non-profit housing. She’s available to share her thoughts on the opportunities this presents, how it addresses barriers in delivery currently being experienced and other areas of opportunity for the province to consider regarding the rapid delivery of non-market housing.
Looking for an expert for another story? Connect with VIU Experts.

VIU news

Exploring tourism resilience in rural communities

Dr. Farhad Moghimehfar is VIU’s new British Columbia Regional Innovation Chair for Tourism and Sustainable Rural Development. Through this role, he is exploring the ability of rural and remote communities to become more resilient through tourism opportunities. He is especially interested in nature-based tourism. Learn more.

VIU mathematician researching adversarial networks

Dr. Melissa Huggan is studying two-player adversarial games that can be used to model real-life problems, with the help of a $150,000 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council grant. Potential applications of this research include containing the spread of misinformation or a virus on a network. Read more.

Science & Tech lecture series

From how toxins found in tires affect salmon, to how moonlight influences the vocal activity of the Western Screech-Owl to the environmental impact of everyday household chemicals, VIU's 2024 Science and Technology Community Lecture Series starts off on February 28. Learn more.

Alum success story: Dr. Morgan Mowatt

Dr. Morgan Mowatt is an advocate for Indigenous sovereignty in Indigenous-state relations. They are researching this as a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow in Indigenous Relations at the University of Victoria. Mowatt graduated from VIU in 2017 and graduated from UVic with their PhD in 2023. Read the story.

VIU in the news

How can couples keep the spark alive? 

Even the happiest of relationships can fall into a lull. Dr. Cameron Gordon, a VIU Psychology Professor at Vancouver Island University, spoke with CBC’s Tanya Fletcher about the science behind love and how couples can keep the spark alive. Watch the segment.

Student creates signature chocolate blend

Baking student Grace Poirer spoke with Coast FM about going to Paris, France, to design a signature chocolate flavour at Cacao Barry Industries. “VIU is sponsored by Cacao Berry’s Or Noir Lab, which is a very big chocolate producer in the world,” she told Coast FM. “We tasted a lot of different chocolates from all over the world and narrowed it down to the chocolate we like.” Read the article.  

Happening at VIU

Global Citizens Forum

From February 27 to 28, VIU hosts the Global Citizens Forum, a two-day event that engages students and employees with the question of what it means to be a global citizen at VIU and in our community. This theme is explored through dialogue, workshops, music and art. Photo op highlight: 

• Wednesday, February 28: Talent showcase plus mini-culture bazaar: 11:30 am to 1:30 pm, main cafeteria (Building 300): Students of different cultures and countries perform a talent, be it song, dance or playing an instrument. At the Culture Bazaar, people can visit different tables to meet the hosts, ask questions, view items on display, try a treat or sample tea or coffee from different cultures and countries.

All events are open to the public. View the full schedule of events.