Author: Ana

Online & In-Person

Join us at 12:00 PM on December 12th online via Zoom or in-person at HEB 302/305 (Human Ecology Building) on the U of A campus. Registration is required for both virtual and in-person attendance. Zoom link available through registration.

 

Free Special Holiday Lunch

If you are attending in person and would like to enjoy our complimentary lunch, please fill out our lunch form. To keep our iSMART Talks green, we request that you please bring your own water bottle. Please note that, unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate gluten-free or other allergy-specific requests for this event. Selection and quantities are limited, and availability may vary throughout the event.

 

Meet Our Keynote Speaker

Dr. Taymy J. Caso, PhD, (they/sehe) is an Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of Alberta and Director of the Intersectional Research, Empowerment, Advocacy, and Community Health Promotion (IREACH) Lab. Dr. Caso is the Vice-Director of Inclusion and Accessibility for the Institute of Smart Augmentative and Restorative Technologies and Health Innovations (iSMART).

Prior to working at the UofA, Dr. Caso completed the Randi and Fred Ettner Postdoctoral Fellow in Transgender Health in the Eli Coleman Institute for Sexual and Gender Health and maintains a research affiliation at the National Center for Gender Health. Dr. Caso holds degrees in counseling and clinical psychology from New York University and Columbia University, Teachers College. Their research focuses on minority health disparities, intersectionally, identity-based marginalization with LGBTQ+ BIPOC communities, gender and sexual fluidity, social determinants of health and legislative and public policy advocacy.

They hold several leadership roles, including Chair for the American Psychological Association’s Division 17: Society for Counseling Psychology’s Section for the Advocacy of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (SASOGD) and Co-Chair of the APA Task Force on Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Transgender and Gender Diverse Adults. Their advocacy work utilizes anti-oppressive and decolonizing pedagogies to deconstruct structural and systemic barriers to health equity and develop community-based interventions for underserved communities. They have been the recipient of several grants and awards, including: the Steven J. Scjochet Endowment Course Development and Enhancement, Postdoctoral Award in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Samuel Eshborn Award, Outstanding Research Contribution Award, Research and Scholarship Showcase Award, César Chávez/Clara Hale Community Outreach Award, Ronald McNair/Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Academic Excellence Award, and the Arthur B. Zankel Urban Fellowship. These awards recognize scholarship, service, advocacy, and activism that support and empower marginalized and underrepresented communities.

 

Click Here to Register

On November 18, 2025, the Government of Alberta introduced Bill 9, invoking the notwithstanding clause to override and restrict the rights of trans and gender-diverse people throughout the province.

iSMART is committed to advancing inclusion, accessibility, and the well-being of all people through evidence-based research and practice. In this context, we are deeply concerned by the Government of Alberta’s use of the notwithstanding clause to shield several pieces of legislation from Charter scrutiny.

This marks the fourth use of the notwithstanding clause in recent weeks to limit or override rights in Alberta. Bill 9 prevents court review of Bills 26, 27, and 29 – legislation with significant implications for 2SLGBTQ+ children, youth, families, and cis women and girls in sports.

  • Bill 26 eliminates access to gender-affirming care for transgender and gender-diverse youth under 16, despite medical evidence demonstrating the importance of timely, supportive, life-saving healthcare.
  • Bill 27 mandates the disclosure of any changes in a young person’s name, pronouns, or gender identity to parents or guardians, including nicknames, pronouns, coming out, and needing gender-affirming care. It also requires parental consent for educational content on gender identity, sexual orientation, and inclusive sex education.
  • Bill 29 restricts participation in girls’ and women’s sports to those who can prove they were assigned female at birth by producing a birth certificate. This denies trans women and girls opportunities to participate in sports and places an undue burden on cisgender girls and women to verify their sex at birth, while the requirement is not imposed on boys or men.

We support and stand in solidarity with statements from major healthcare and rights-based organizations, including the Alberta Medical Association, Egale Canada, and Skipping Stone, which reinforce our concerns about the serious risks posed by these laws.

Invoking the notwithstanding clause in this manner removes critical Charter protections for 2SLGBTQ+ individuals and limits the ability of courts to uphold fundamental human rights. These measures also create uncertainty and concern for teachers, healthcare providers, and community members striving to provide safe, supportive, and inclusive environments for youth.

As an institute dedicated to advancing equitable health and social outcomes, iSMART supports policies and practices grounded in evidence, dignity, and human rights. We stand with community members, researchers, and practitioners who are calling attention to the serious impacts these legislative decisions will have on the well-being of vulnerable youth and the broader Alberta community.

 

 

Online & In-Person

Join us at 12:00 PM on November 14th online via Zoom or in-person at HEB 301/305 (Human Ecology Building) on the U of A campus. Registration is required for both virtual and in-person attendance. Zoom link available through registration.

Free Lunch

If you are attending in-person and would like to enjoy our complimentary lunch, please fill out our lunch form. To keep our iSMART Talks green, we request that you please bring your own water bottle.

About Dr. Keith Fenich

Dr. Keith Fenrich is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Alberta. His research focuses on the pathophysiology of spinal cord injury in relation to the dynamic cellular interactions that occur after spinal cord injury; promoting functional recovery after spinal cord injury using pharmacological approaches in combination with rehabilitative training to enhance therapeutic neuroplasticity; and developing new methods and devices to better study and administer rehabilitative training after spinal cord injury. Dr. Fenrich has spun off 3 FT reach Inc.

 

Register Here

Join us at 12:00 PM on October 10th online via Zoom or in-person at HEB 301/305 (Human Ecology Building) on the U of A campus. Registration is required for both virtual and in-person attendance. Zoom link available through registration.

Dr. Brokoslaw Laschowski is a computational neuroscientist. He works as a Research Scientist and Principal Investigator at the University Health Network – the largest research hospital in Canada – and as an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, with appointments in Neuroscience and Mechanical Engineering. He also serves as the Director of the Computational Neuroscience Lab, a leading multidisciplinary research lab that explores the intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence. The long-term vision for his research is to build a computational understanding of the brain and human intelligence.

In this talk, Dr. Laschowski will present his research on developing new mathematical, computational, and machine learning models to reverse-engineer or decode the brain. Some examples include:

  1. Deep learning models to reverse-engineer the visual information processing mechanisms in the visual cortex
  2. Neural decoding algorithms to predict speech and motor behaviours from patterns of neural population activity
  3. Reinforcement learning models to reverse-engineer how neural computations in the motor cortex control and optimize human movement

If you are attending in person and would like to enjoy our complimentary lunch, please fill out our lunch form. To keep our iSMART Talks green, we request that you please bring your own water bottle.

REGISTER HERE