A lot of things about being a breast cancer patient can feel dehumanizing, but one thing that can change is what patients are given to wear on their chest. 

In this episode, we speak with patient advocate Jennifer Schultz and Jessica Mudry, director of the Healthcare User Experience (HUE) Lab at TMU, about applying humanities thinking — like fashion design — when it comes to finding patient-centred solutions to health care challenges.

In 2018, hackers got hold of TMU alumna Erin MacDonald’s personal information and began a tsunami of purchases — affecting her credit rating and causing profound stress. 

In this episode, we speak with Erin about the theft of her identity, along with global information technology leader Claudette McGowan and TMU-based computer scientist Javaid Zahid, who are creating a quantum wallet to better secure our information. 

Our award-winning podcast is back for another season! This time we’re exploring human-centred innovation, from designing a post-surgical garment for breast cancer patients to employing robotics to help first responders.

According to TMU's Centre for Urban Energy, by 2030, 80% of the world's population will live in urban areas, so the way we use energy will impact the way we live, work and grow as a community. This has many people – including TMU alumni, looking for alternative modes of transportation.

In this episode, we speak with two alumni entrepreneurs about their pursuit of cleaner transportation options and TMU expert Bilal Farooq about how cities can be designed to reduce emissions produced by cars.

Canadians continue to be divided on bike lanes on city streets. However, research out of TMU shows that after developing protected bike lanes, four in ten users in Toronto were new cyclists. Before this infrastructure existed, these cyclists would have used an alternate means of travel. This is good news for municipalities looking to reduce congestion on city streets. 

In this episode, we explore the benefits of building safe cycling infrastructure and some of the issues preventing people from taking up cycling.

For city dwellers, noise is just part of the package – but how noisy is too noisy? Research shows that ongoing exposure to noise can negatively impact your health, leading to conditions like heart disease and diabetes. And according to the United Nations Environment Program – it's also a top environmental risk.

In this episode, we hear from TMU's leading noise expert and a Toronto resident who took resolving the noise issues in her community into her own hands.

Canadian youth are becoming increasingly concerned about the climate change crisis impacting our country and the world. TMU's Leadership Lab is working towards building factual awareness around solutions to the challenge of climate change through a youth-driven initiative known as Generation Climate. 

In this episode, we discuss the implications of climate misinformation and the importance of engaging youth.

In Canada and around the world, Black Indigenous and people of colour are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Research has shown that racialized communities in Canada have higher exposure to air pollution and less access to green spaces. 

In this episode, we discuss the gaps in the research and the fight for environmental justice in Canada.

In 2021 the Standing Strong Task Force provided a list of recommendations for how the university can address the legacy of Egerton Ryerson and forge a new chapter. One of the recommendations was a renaming to reflect our university values better. The process included feedback from over 30,000 people, with over 2,600 name suggestions. In April 2022, the name Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) was announced. 

In this episode, we chat with TMU elder Joanne Dallaire, author and journalist Waubgeshig Rice and chair of the University Renaming Advisory Committee, Jennifer Simpson, as we explore the process behind the renaming and the significance of this move for TMU's Indigenous communities.

Toronto Metropolitan University's award-winning podcast The Forefront is back! This season, we look at how the university is tackling some of the environmental issues impacting Canadians.