Watch the Discussion: Conversations Confronting COVID-19: Innovation Pivots
Launched on Wednesday, June 24, the first installment of the monthly series will focus on the theme of Innovation Pivots and feature members of the Queen’s community who have effectively pivoted their research and programs to come up with creative and innovative solutions to the pandemic.
Conversations Confronting COVID-19: Innovation Pivots
Since the global pandemic hit in winter 2020, Canadians and global citizens have been confronted with a myriad of questions – from how to understand and treat the virus, to how to cope with life in quarantine, and what life will look like when we surface from this international crisis.
Learn more about how Queen's researchers, students, and alumni have mobilized to apply their expertise and skills to help address all aspects of COVID-19 in our discussion on Innovation Pivots.
The open, free session, moderated by Jim Banting, Assistant Vice-Principal (Partnerships and Innovation), takes a deep dive into three initiatives that are working to confront various aspects of COVID-19:
- The Mechanical Ventilator Milano initiative, an international project aimed at developing a low-cost, easy-to-build ventilator to treat COVID-19. The project has gained international media attention, and the Canadian arm of the collaboration is being led by Queen’s Nobel Laureate, Dr. Arthur B. McDonald. Represented by Dr. Tony Noble, Professor, Physics, Engineering Physics, and Astronomy, and Scientific Director, Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute
- The Hand Sanitizer Initiative mobilized by Queen’s researchers and industry partners to support Kingston hospitals. Represented by Ms. Emily Albright, PhD Candidate, Chemistry, and Dr. Richard Oleschuk, Professor, Chemistry
- The Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre's Spread Innovation Challenge that inspired 150 innovators across the globe to tackle pressing challenges caused by COVID-19. Represented by Ms. Lesley Sikapa, Mastercard Foundation Scholar (University of Toronto) and participant in the DDQIC Spread Innovation Challenge
“We are excited to share, with our alumni and the greater Queen’s community, the important work that our researchers, students, and affiliates are doing in our fight to understand and confront the challenges associated with the pandemic,” says Karen Bertrand, Vice-Principal (Advancement).
The Conversations Confronting COVID-19 series is free and open to the public. To learn more about upcoming events, please visit the Queen’s Alumni website.
This article is part of the Queen's Gazette series "Confronting COVID-19".
Producing hand sanitizer for local hospitals
Queen’s University researchers and industry partners have mobilized to formulate hand sanitizer for Kingston hospitals.
Confronting COVID-19
How physics is a key to easy-to-build ventilators
A team of Canadian physicists, led by Queen’s Nobel Laureate Art McDonald, is part of an international effort to design a ventilator to help in the treatment of COVID-19.
Confronting COVID-19
A Nobel Prize in Physics for Arthur B. McDonald
An interest in mechanics led Queen's researcher Arthur McDonald, the 2015 co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, to study the universe on a fundamental level, through physics.
![[photo of Connor Stone in Observatory]](https://www.queensu.ca/research/sites/all/modules/contrib/lazyloader/image_placeholder.gif "Connor Stone (Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy)")