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What would be the impact of AGI on society with a focus on UN’s Sustainable and Development goals?
Full text linkAs technology advances rapidly, humanity faces inevitable changes. Whether we embrace it or not, artificial intelligence (AI) will play a crucial role in shaping our future. AI is poised to be the defining technology of the next decade due to its ability to enhance human capabilities at a low cost. More advanced than AI itself is Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). In this context, it's important to establish a common understanding: Do we truly comprehend what AGI is, or are we merely envisioning what we think it might be?
This Major Research Project intends to investigate the impact of artificial general intelligence (AGI) on the future of societies. By examining the diverse applications, current trends, opportunities, and ethical challenges associated with AGI integration in human interactions, this study aims to reveal how AGI technologies could reshape human society.
Alongside going through the current trends; also, by analyzing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), I identified the key objectives most relevant to my research. The SDGs provide a comprehensive framework for understanding societal priorities, encompassing diverse aspects of human life and global development.
Using the SDGs as a lens, I evaluated current policies and reviewed recent reports to uncover how AGI could play a pivotal role in achieving these goals. This approach highlights AGI's capacity to address critical global challenges, such as improving healthcare, advancing education, and fostering environmental sustainability. By focusing on these areas, my research emphasizes the positive contributions AGI can make toward creating a more equitable and prosperous world.
Moreover, by developing a rating system based on three key factors—popularity, activity, and freshness—I assessed how appealing the goal is to people, how close we are to achieving it, and what infrastructures are required to get there. This system provides a clear indication of the likelihood of successful implementation.
The outcome of this study will contribute to the existing body of knowledge on AGI and different social dynamics. The findings will inform educators, medical care providers, policy makers and creatives and AI companies
RAISING THE BAR, LOWERING THE ABV: Strategic Future Planning for the Spirit-Free Industry
Full text linkThis Major Research Project explores the evolution of the health and wellness industry, focusing specifically on the spirit-free movement widely adopted by Generation Z.
Fueled by increasing consumer demand for health-conscious alternatives, the rapidly growing spirit-free industry has become a valuable and timely area for investigation. With projections estimating the global wellness market will reach $9 trillion by 2028 (Global Wellness Institute, 2024), the spirit-free industry is trending to amass a high volume of sales and consumer support largely driven by the attention from Generation Z.
Researchers Allison Ren and Paige Furlan analyze these changes through a systems perspective and foresight lens to understand the broader impacts and implications for consumer behaviour, product innovation, and market trends within the spirit-free industry. Through a Literature Review, Causal Loop Diagrams (CLD), Value Chain and a Strategy Map, they developed strategic future recommendations for the industry to help bolster stakeholders to navigate the evolving demand of consumers, primarily Generation Z. The recommendations include, building brand trust through organizational alignment, driving continuous innovation through consumer insights, enhance wellness experience delivery, accelerating agile innovation through AI and operational optimization
Starting From Scratch : Building Place Attachment Through Active Urban Exploration for Newcomers to Toronto
Full text link“Starting from Scratch” explores how a mobile tool can help newcomers develop a sense of belonging in their new city by encouraging active exploration and reflection. Drawing from personal experiences of relocation, the research examines the challenges of forming connections with unfamiliar places and proposes a mobile tool to support this process.
The study investigates how the tool influences cognitive, behavioral, and emotional dimensions of place attachment. Additionally, it draws on psychogeography to highlight how wandering and breaking routines can encourage deeper connection with the city.
Combining the double diamond of design thinking with research-creation methodologies, the study incorporates literature review, iterative prototyping, and user testing that inform the tool’s design while assessing the user experience.
The proposed GPS-enabled, browser-based tool overlays the city map with a hexagonal grid, turning it into a giant scratch card. As users navigate, their movement gradually scratches off the map, prompting exploration beyond familiar routes. Users assign personalized meanings to locations through color-based tagging, turning the map into a visual record of their relationship with the city. While initially designed for Downtown Toronto, it is adaptable to any walkable urban environment.
This study contributes to urban studies and human-computer interaction by introducing an interactive digital tool for place-making and place attachment
Exploring the Expansion of the For-Benefit Structure in Canada
Full text linkThe growing appetite for purpose-driven businesses that prioritize stakeholders over shareholder primacy is constrained in Canada by a significant policy gap: only British Columbia (B.C.) has enacted Benefit Company legislation, leaving the rest of the country without a formal legal structure for enterprises pursuing both profit and public good—social and environmental. This absence undermines the legitimacy of impact-driven businesses and limits mechanisms for long-term accountability. While previous research has called for such legal structures, little has been done to evaluate the performance and implications of the model since its adoption in B.C. in 2020. This study addresses that gap.
The objective of this research is to examine the barriers, enablers, and early outcomes of the B.C. Benefit Company legislation as a foundation for expanding the framework provincially and federally across Canada. A policy scan across Canadian provinces, the U.S., and the U.K. was conducted to identify structural differences and legislative gaps. The study draws from 32 interviews with entrepreneurs, and experts across four provinces. Most interviewees cited the model’s limited awareness, legal uncertainty, provincial inertia, exacerbated by a lack of interprovincial coordination and political caution, as key barriers to broader adoption. Conversely, most participants identified legal protection for mission-driven businesses, increased market differentiation, and growing investor interest in social impact enterprises as critical enablers of the model’s success and potential.
Based on these insights, this study proposes a set of targeted policy interventions notably (1) the development of a national legislated Benefit Company framework to ensure coherence across jurisdictions; (2) the creation of legislated transition pathways for non-profits; and (3) the establishment of a distinct legal category within corporate law complemented by tailored tax incentives and governance reforms—to support the unique needs of for-benefit businesses alongside the need for a cultural and value led shift in the role and purpose of business in the economy.
This research matters to policymakers, legal reformers, social entrepreneurs, and impact investors who are shaping the future of Canada’s economy. Without a coherent legislative backbone, the growth of credible, accountable, purpose-led business will remain stalled. Canada must act now to formalize and scale the for-benefit model through coordinated, nationwide legal reform.
Keywords: For-Benefit Business, Hybrid Social Enterprise, Legislated Benefit Company, Impact Investment Canada, Policy Innovation, Business with Purpos
What may be known: methods for activating large texts and graphs in the climate crisis.
Full text linkThe escalating severity of the climate crisis, combined with information overload, hinders our ability to respond as interdisciplinary researchers. In this thesis, I propose anticipatory designs for a novel platform aiming to reveal information we already know in ways that facilitate dialogue between academic disciplines.
I introduce original contributions, including Semantic Forms (3D text-graph compositions), Query Isomorphs (dimensionally versatile graphlets), Ontological Semantic Network Summaries (to reveal ontological frameworks), and the Terroir of Text and Graphs (topological analysis of the relationship between knowledge artifacts and ecological place).
By modeling Query Isomorphs across Semantic Forms, Systemic Design methods, and Language Model vector graph renders, I demonstrate opportunities to use the versatility of visuospatial reasoning in conjunction with Topological Data Analysis for information complexity management. The tools I present in this thesis comprise a platform that would accelerate the synthesis of existing knowledge and extend the applicability of that knowledge across disciplines
Evolving Foresight Skills: How Will We Shape the Future of Strategic Foresight?
Full text linkOur rapidly evolving field demands resilient, adaptable, and forward-thinking practitioners. Academic institutions must stay at the forefront by updating curricula, integrating cutting-edge tools, and providing a comprehensive understanding of the discipline's history. Failure to keep pace risks perpetuating outdated practices and limiting the impact of future professionals.
In November 2024, OCADU’s Strategic Foresight & Innovation program explored the evolution and future of foresight at the Dubai Future Forum’s Learnings Day. Our interactive ‘World Café’ brought together international foresight practitioners to discuss:
1. Historical events, methods, and literature shaping foresight.
2. Emerging developments influencing foresight's future.
3. Current and future skills needed by futurists.
4. Strategies for organizations to support and benefit from foresight.
Through our collaborative efforts, participants aided in expanding the scope of foresight's history, envisioned transformative innovations, and identified critical skills for practitioners. They also explored strategies for integrating foresight into organizational frameworks, such as building foresight literacy, aligning with strategic vision, and fostering long-term thinking
The Lichen Clock / Alternative Time and Surface Texture
Full text linkThe Lichen Clock thesis engages with the slow, cyclical rhythms of lichen growth as a counterpoint to capitalist time, inviting audiences to explore the concept of ‘lichen time.’ By bridging ecological, anthropological, and artistic perspectives, the research challenges human-centered notions of time and sensory experience. Lichens - symbiotic organisms characterized by slow growth and ecological resilience - inform studio-based experimentation and design approaches to making jewelry and installation. The Lichen Clock’s conceptual framework draws on interdisciplinary theories, including Anna Tsing’s Anthropological Ecology (2015), Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Gathering Moss (2003), Howard Risatti’s Craft Theory (2007), and Theodor Adorno’s Free Time (1977). Experiencing the time of another species is considered an “embrace of uncertainty”. (Tsing, p.21) The exploration of surface textures employs a hybrid-making process, synthesizing manual craftsmanship with digital fabrication, contributing to craft creation and product design. The research-creation methodology draws upon fieldwork including digital and analogue surface capture from lichen. The familiar surfaces of everyday objects are altered, and dialogues emerge between industrial production and organic forms, inviting viewers to engage with alternative perceptions of time and texture
Mindscapes: Exploring EEG-Driven Emotional Expression in VR for Enhanced Emotional Relief and Mental Well-being
Full text linkExisting VR emotional healing applications lack real-time adaptability and meaningful interaction with user emotions. This thesis explores an emotionally responsive VR system that visualizes brainwave data to create immersive and adaptive experiences. Using research through design (RTD) methodologies, through an iterative prototyping process this project investigates how real-time biofeedback can enhance user interaction and well-being in virtual environments. The system integrates EEG-based feedback with environmental dynamics, applying art therapy principles and meditation techniques to foster emotional engagement to enhance emotional regulation and self-awareness.
Keywords: EEG, Emotional Regulation, Art Therapy, Meditation, Biofeedback, Virtual Reality, Research Through Design, Human-Computer Interactio
The Thoughtful Explorer
Full text linkGrocery shopping presents unique challenges for international students, as it involves navigating unfamiliar retail environments, financial constraints, and impulse-driven decision-making. Unplanned purchases, often influenced by emotional and environmental triggers, can be both a financial strain and a means of cultural exploration. This study examines the factors influencing unplanned grocery shopping among international students in Toronto, Canada, using impulse buying theory to analyze the drivers of spontaneous purchases and self-regulation theory to explore strategies for managing them.
The research employs a Research through Design (RtD) approach, focusing on the iterative development and testing of a digital tool prototype designed to help manage unplanned grocery spending. This tool incorporates features such as a “spontaneity budget,” purchase tracking, and reflective prompts to help students regulate unplanned purchases while allowing space for cultural engagement. User testing with international students provides insights into the tool’s usability and its potential role in fostering self-awareness and adaptation in the context of Canadian grocery stores
Vibrant Things: Casting Queer, Animate, Human-Object Relations
Full text linkThe root of the English word ‘object’ is a compound of the Latin prefix, ob, meaning in front of, and jacere, meaning to throw. This applies to the word both as a verb: to oppose, I object to [x], and as a noun: a “tangible thing, something perceived with or presented to the senses.”[1] In both cases, the definition of ‘object’ invokes a relationship between ourselves and the thing itself, in our sensing or perception of it. Perhaps because of this, it is easy to infer a human-centred definition in which the object is defined by our perception and exists for us; physical objects stop us, present obstacles for us to manoeuvre around, much like an objection: an argument presented in opposition. But what if objects are not obstacles, are not in opposition to us, are not primarily defined by our sensing or perception? My preference is for the latter half, the thrown-ness, jacere, of this etymology; objects present themselves to our senses, they throw (jacere) themselves in front of (ob) us. This definition accentuates an animacy in materiality, and an energetic lived relationality to all matter — if objects throw themselves in front of us, they arrive at us just as much as we arrive at them. Our senses are constantly being presented with objects, whether we register them or not. John, Virginia Woolf’s character in “Solid Objects,” is presented with objects (beach glass, broken porcelain, meteorite) that influence the course of his life. My visual art practice engages deeply with objects, and, like John, objects have influenced the course of my life. For this reason, object-theory resonates with me, as do stories like that of Woolf’s character for whom life is, in a sense, a series of object-relations. In this paper, I formulate a conceptual framework for an ontology of vibrant things to explore what I intrinsically already know: all matter is active, fluid, non-hierarchical, and in relation. I describe a shift where I theoretically and physically orientate myself to objects as vibrant things, speculate on how this orientation might be queer, and recount how these relations are registered in my art practice and research methodology through the process of casting. [1] “Object” Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed March 17, 2021, https://www.etymonline.com/word/object