88th Acfas Conference

Acfas Conferences

UBERGaiter now prowling the waters of local lakes – Bishop’s University’s aquatic drone research project

The Undergraduate Bishop’s Earth Research Group (UBERG) is launching an innovative tool to help map and identify the prevalence of invasive aquatic plant species in Eastern Townships’ lakes Brompton and Lovering. UBERGaiter is an aquatic drone developed and built by Bishop’s students under the supervision of Professor Bruno Courtemanche, of Bishop’s University’s Environment and Geography Department.

“Designing the UBERGaiter has been an exciting, hands-on project for students involved with the UBERG team, and we now get to see whether all our hard work is rewarded with success,” explains Professor Courtemanche. “If we are successful, we will be in a position to better understand where invasive plant species are found in the lakes we examine, and hopefully this knowledge will prove useful to stakeholders involved with the preservation of those ecosystems.” Continue Reading…

COVID-19: keeping a routine and “normal” activities for children’s well-being

A new study on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s mental health puts forward concrete recommendations to promote their well-being.

The study, entitled Favoriser la santé mentale des enfants de 5-12 ans durant la COVID-19 and funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), is based on a review of the scientific literature on children’s mental health and well-being in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as interviews with parents, aiming to keep recommendations well-grounded in the real-life context of families in Québec.

The research by Dr Chantal Camden and Dr Catherine Malboeuf-Hurtubise, respectively of the École de réadaptation de la Faculté de médecine et des sciences de la santé de l’Université de Sherbrooke and Bishop’s University’s Department of Psychology, and also both researchers at the Centre de recherche du CHUS du CIUSSS de l’Estrie — CHUS, favours maintaining a regular contact between children, their families and the education system, along with maintaining a daily routine and regular activities, as much as possible to promote youth mental health. Continue Reading…

Collaborative Research: Bishop’s and UdeS

The University of Sherbrooke and Bishop’s University are once again teaming up as co-hosts of the Acfas conference, the most important research event of the francophone world. However, research collaboration between the two institutions does not end with organizing such prestigious events. Over the coming months, we will highlight various examples of collaboration between researchers that are a good illustration of our local community, a true university hub.

Leveraging Languages: Supporting Allophone Students and their Teachers

“All languages have similarities, but they’re not being tapped into,” Dr. Sunny Man Chu Lau, professor in the Bishop’s University School of Education, is explaining. “I’ll give you a very simple example. How do you say ‘meow’ in French? ‘Miaou’? In Cantonese, we say ‘miu’.”

Highlighting how one can use the same learning methods used in one language to deduce another, Dr. Lau explains how this helps lessen the fear of acquiring a second or even third language. This is particularly important to pay attention to when allophones, a term used in Canada to describe an individual whose first language is neither French nor English, make up more than 1,000 students in the Commission scolaire de la Région-de-Sherbrooke (CSRS) alone. Continue Reading…

Taking Decision-Making Training to a New Virtual Level

From game film to highlight tapes, to highly realistic video gaming, visualizations and simulations have been used across an array of sports and levels. As a training tool, a wide variety of literature supports its ability to improve decision making skills when tested in the lab. Yet little research has been done to study if these techniques actually provide transferable and generalizable results on the court—until now. Graduate student Caleb Pagé, Bishop’s Dr. Maxime Trempe, and Université de Sherbooke’s Dr. Pierre-Michel Bernier united in an effort to investigate and improve this long-standing coaching technique. Continue Reading…

Designing Technologies to Improve Seniors’ Independence

What do cellphones and ovens have in common? Both have been designed to be safe, practical, and easy to use… for those under 65. Bishop’s University’s Dr. Susan Reid and Université de Sherbrooke’s Dr. Bessam Abdulrazak have joined forces to help change that. Forming a long and fruitful partnership, the team is researching some of the most pressing technological needs of seniors. Continue Reading…