Description:

How can municipalities and post-secondary institutions work together to tackle today’s most complex municipal challenges? Join Dr. Leia Minaker, Director of the University of Waterloo’s Future Cities Institute (FCI) founded by CAIVAN, to explore how municipal-academic partnerships are delivering real-world solutions and building local, scalable capacity across Canada.

This session highlights how academic expertise can help communities test ideas before investing in large-scale infrastructure, co-develop policy and planning tools, and turn research into measurable outcomes. Participants will learn from FCI’s real examples, including BUILD NOW Waterloo Region, the Ontario Property Tax Monitor tool, and northern municipal collaborations in Nunavut, showing how evidence-based insights are shaping more resilient, inclusive, and data-driven communities.

Whether you’re a municipal leader, planner, or researcher, this webinar offers practical pathways to partner with post-secondaries and advance innovation. `

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Leia Minaker is an Associate professor and Director of the University of Waterloo’s Future Cities Institute. She holds a PhD in Public Health and her research focuses on designing cities to improve health, with a focus on urban food systems and urban design for mental health.

Registration:

The virtual workshop will take place over zoom on November 19, 2025 from 12 pm to 1 pm. 

Register here