York University celebrated its commitment to create positive change as host to Congress 2023, the annual red-circle event for social sciences and humanities scholars that took place at York’s Keele and Glendon Campuses this past spring.

Held over six days in May, 9,000+ scholars, graduate students, policymakers and community members pooled their expertise as part of the largest academic gathering in Canada — identifying and discussing the decisions society needs to take today to build a better world for all as part of the conference theme ‘Reckonings and Re-imaginings.’  

Lisa Philipps, York U’s provost and vice-president academic, noted that York is a natural convener for this critical conversation. The University community constantly seeks new ways to put principles of equity, diversity and sustainability into practice. “Right the Future” is the University’s commitment, and it’s woven into campus culture as well as this event.

“The great thing about York is we’ve always been known for this really strongly felt commitment to social justice and social responsibility and we’ve also been known for new ways of doing things,” said Philipps.

“The theme of Congress this year is ‘Reckonings and Re-imaginings.’ We took the opportunity to infuse that into the entire event experience, from open-access programming to talks and panels organized by Scholarly Associations. We saw this as our opportunity to create a better world by taking responsibility within the academy to lead the change and commit to action together. I’m very proud of that.”

Prof. Andrea Davis, academic convenor for Congress 2023, says York is the right university at the right time to provide the platform for pressing discussions about how a better world might be created. She says it was also created by and for the York community, “We’re really centering community engaged research. That’s a big shift in what’s happened at Congress before. I think it reflects York’s strengths, as well as this unique location.”

The Keele Campus is set in one of Toronto’s most racially diverse communities populated by a high proportion of youth, refugee and immigrant families. To reflect the community around it, York partnered with residents of the Jane and Finch neighbourhood to work together on how they might help shape the massive gathering and be involved in it. Community members were also invited to attend open conference events, and high school students from the area had an opportunity to connect with York students who grew up in their neighbourhoods.