We’re Hiring the Research Coordinator and Digital Communications Coordinator 2023-24

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Are you interested in communication, collaboration, leadership, and project management? Are you wishing to create change and improve the campus student experience at U of T? The Innovation Hub is hiring Research Coordinator and Digital Communications Coordinator. We are seeking innovative, insightful, determined leader to join our team!

Gamification at the Innovation Hub

Video game controller, tv, and and desktop computer

Written and Illustrations by Paul Kaita, Senior Project Assistant, Master of Education, Higher Education 

Games bring people together and can change the world. Paul reflects on his classroom experience and how gamifying Innovation Hub workshops evokes positive emotions and creates memorable learning moments. 


Meet the Summer 2022 Team!

As we begin to barrel into a new and exciting term, the Innovation Hub is thrilled to welcome our Summer 2022 Team! Filled with some new, and some familiar faces, the Innovation Hub has continued to expand our team to work on new and ongoing projects at the University of Toronto. We are grateful to support the diverse and thriving community at U of T, and continue our own growth at the Innovation Hub. 

Using Design Thinking Mindsets For Rapid Change

Two hands putting puzzle pieces together into a circle.

With restrictions in place in many of our communities being flexible and responsive to new ideas has become essential. By finding creative ways to work around limitations, design thinking has come to the forefront. Organizations (like the Innovation Hub) are using design thinking to solve their own unique set of challenges, and nurture mindsets that inspire change. Since the lockdown, our Leadership Team has been navigating and responding to internal challenges in new ways and are continuing to do so – many of which are explored in this post.  

Meet the 2020-2021 Innovation Hub Team!

Betelehem outdoors, smiling to the camera
Betelehem Gulilat, Writer & Editor

This year at the Innovation Hub we are excited to continue our work for students by students with our largest and most diverse team yet! Like many, we have adapted to the “new normal” by re-directing our team into a collaborative virtual space to help keep our momentum going through the coming year. Despite these uncertain times, our multidisciplinary team continues to mirror the diversity of the University of Toronto community and is expanding to support our growing number of projects.

Welcoming Our Anthropology Interns

Tammy Cheng, Writer, contributed to this post.

We learn by experience, as Innovation Hub members know. Since the Hub launched 3.5 years ago, many students have practised their design thinking, empathetic interviewing, data analysis, and professional skills through our projects. Recently, we’ve formalized this learning experience by partnering with academic courses. We provide practical projects for students to work on, and UofT’s excellent faculty and course instructors provide their subject expertise. Together, we provide a richer learning environment for students.

Meet the Team—Fall/Winter 2019/20

Charis Lam, Writer

This academic year brings new and returning faces to the Innovation Hub. As always, we have assembled a team with diverse disciplines and interests but a shared excitement for the work we’ll do, including:

  • Working with the Presidential & Provostial Task Force on Student Mental Health,
  • Improving the experience of student parents with the Family Care Office,
  • Creating ideas for space redesigns with the Transforming the Instructional Landscape Project & our Kinesiology and Physical Education partnership,
  • Gathering student feedback for the Division of Student Life,
  • And partnering with Rotman I-Think.

The Innovation Hub: Our Vision for 2019–20

Julia Smeed, Innovation Hub Project Leader

At the Innovation Hub, we are what we do. We commit ourselves to community growth through prototyping and iteration, not only in the design projects we take on, but also in designing our own work processes. By being responsive to the changing needs of the community—both internally, within our own team, and externally, with our project partners—we continually improve our practices.

The Innovation Hub is Hiring!

Julia Smeed, Innovation Hub Project Leader

As we look forward to the new school year, the Innovation Hub is excited to assemble a team for our upcoming and continuing projects. We want to offer our potential team members the opportunity to both contribute to the university and learn new skills: we’re looking for dedicated students who are interested in improving campus life by focusing on student needs, and we’re also offering those students training and hands-on practice in human-centred design. We hope to put together a diverse team that enjoys the challenges of our work!

Read below for job descriptions, and go to the Career & Co-Curricular Learning Network work study job board to learn more and apply.

Meet the Team—Summer 2019

Charis Lam
Writer

How can we make Convocation more accessible? What makes a classroom great? What support do student parents need? How can staff and students work together to create effective programs?

These are some of the questions driving this summer’s Innovation Hub team. We’ll answer them by listening to the stories of students and staff, shining a searchlight on how they interact with the university—in lecture, at Convocation, at work—and how the university can reach out in response.