Research Institute Day: Open House at Milieux

On November 12th, four of Concordia University’s Research Institutes are opening their doors to offer a glimpse into the world of interdisciplinary graduate research.

Join us at Milieux for an afternoon of tours, demos, workshops, and research spotlights. This is a great opportunity to connect with our research community, and learn how collaborative, non-linear research fuels discovery across the university.

If you’re already a member but are curious about the different research clusters, this is your chance to meet with your peers in an informal setting. Come by and say hi!

For the occasion, Milieux has planned a list of activities designed to showcase the institute’s vibrant research culture .

All activities are drop-in!.

 

Schedule:

 

• 1-2 PM: How Research Institute Take Shape (and Shape You) | Panel Discussion at 4TH SPACE

Learn how Concordia’s research institutes function, how they began, the projects they’re tackling today, and what’s next. Panelists will share how interdisciplinary collaboration fuels discovery and shapes the graduate research experience.

 

• 1-4 PM: What the Heck Are You Working On? | Media & Materiality Cluster, EV 10.775 

Media and materiality members will present their research in a welcoming environment. Each show-and-tell will be 5 minutes in length, followed by a brief Q&A.

 

• 2:15-4:30 PM: Project Spotlight and Community Stitch: The Future is Wool | Textiles & Materiality Commons, EV 10.735

The Textiles and Materiality Cluster will be hosting a community stitch event as part of the “La Laine : matériau d’avenir | The Future is Wool” project, exploring cross-cultural histories and planet-healing futures of our favourite fibre, local/regional/Canadian wool! Led by Dr. Kathleen Vaughan, ” The Future is Wool” is a multi-pronged research, research-creation, and public outreach initiative that explores entwined considerations of personal well-being and sustainable planetary futures, and the role that wool can play in promoting both. 

Together, we’ll create a multi-panel “Bayeux”-style tapestry about our wool. All materials provided, no previous experience required, and your ideas and stories invited as part of this Concordia University research and creation adventure.

 

• 2:30-4 PM: Mini MUTEK Forum | Resource Room, EV11.705

The Machine Agencies Research Group will present works from their exhibition “Machinic Encounters” presented at the MUTEK Forum earlier this year.

 

• 2:30 PM & 3:30 PM: Milieux Guided Tour | Meeting Point Atrium on the 11th floor.

Join one of our 45-minute Guided Tour and learn more about the institute and the research clusters, discover the different labs and studios and get a glimpse into the institute’s research culture by meeting faculty, students and staff onsite.

 

• 2:30 PM: “Mess and Methods: Outcomes of rapidly-deployable composite ethnography” | Speculative Life Cluster , EV 10.625

 The Concordia Ethnography Lab will discuss the outcome of the Summer Institute “Mess and Methods”. Led by Dr. Kregg Hetherington, this year’s Summer Institute focused on the ethnographic exploration of  Montreal’s waterways over the course of two weeks. The Montreal waterways research group led an hand-on session over multiple sites around the St Lawrence River to introduce participants to Composite Ethnography. At the end of these two weeks,  the group showcase the results of their explorations in a closing exhibition open to the public.

 

• 3 PM : “How do you play with nostalgia?”  | TAG Lab , EV 11.435

In this research spotlight, PhD Candidate and Concordia Public Scholar, Richy Srirachanikorn will talk about his research around nostalgia. Richy’s research looks at how people use technologies to recompose the past not for the way it was, but the way it could have been. Richy is also a founding member of the Nostagain Network, the first student-led research collective in North America exploring the generative uses of nostalgia.

 

• 3:15 PM : “What a Year at TAG Looks Like” | TAG Lab , EV 11.435

Marc Lajeunesse will introduce TAG and look back at highlights and key events from the past year.

 

• 4-4:30 PM : “Introduction to LePARC” | LePARC Performance Lab, EV 10.785

Cluster Co-Director Lília Mestre introduces the LePARC performance lab and invites attendees to a surprise concert.

 

• 4:30-5 PM: Closing Talk | “Turning Data into Action for a Sustainable Future” | Milieux Atrium EV. 11

PhD student Faisal Shennib will present his research and invite the audience to rethinking how cities handle waste and move toward a circular economy. His work looks at how everyday data and smart technologies can help people and communities make better, greener choices, from waste-sorting tools to smarter recycling systems. In this closing talk, Faisal will share his story of discovery at Concordia — how curiosity about sustainability, technology, and design evolved into research that aims to make cities cleaner, smarter, and more sustainable for everyone.