While many people may try the do-it-yourself approach when it comes to dieting, new UBCO research says a paid program could yield better results.

For people trying to improve their health and lose weight by themselves—privately tracking and journaling meals and exercise—new research from UBC Okanagan suggests it is time to call in the professionals.

Dr. Lesley Lutes’ latest research paper, published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open, suggests people trying to make lifestyle changes are more successful when they use a commercial weight loss program compared to those trying to do it on their own. She is the Director of UBC’s Centre for Obesity and Well-Being Research Excellence and studies behavioural change programs aimed at improving physical and emotional health and personal happiness.

“Given the prevalence of obesity, accessible and effective treatment options are needed to manage obesity and its comorbid conditions including heart disease and pre-diabetes,” she says. “Evidence-based commercial weight management programs are a potential solution to the lack of available treatment and considerably cheaper than a clinic-based approach.”

But, she notes, very few commercial programs have been rigorously evaluated, making it difficult for doctors to refer patients to for-profit programs due to a lack of evidence-based success rates.

While there are hundreds of commercial weight loss programs available—only six meet the United States Preventive Services Taskforce criteria—the quality and success rate, along with behavioural and nutritional components, isn’t well known by health-care providers.

Even fewer of these programs integrate cognitive, affective and behavioural factors—seen as critical elements of care and supported as the basic standard of any care.

As a result, she says, doctors are reluctant to refer patients to commercial programs.

The Canadian Medical Association clinical practice guidelines released in 2020 state that obesity care should be based on evidence-based principles of chronic disease management and must validate patients lived experiences.

“Essentially, obesity care needs to move beyond the simplistic approaches of ‘eat less, move more,’” she says. “To be successful it must address the root drivers of obesity.”

Dr. Lutes was one of the lead investigators who conducted a year-long study in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. More than 370 participants were randomly assigned into two groups—half to a commercial weight management program and the remaining to a do-it-yourself (DIY) group.

The DIY participants were provided with common weight-loss approaches—including strategies, diet tracking, self-monitoring apps, meal plans and physical activity—then essentially left to their own devices.

Those in the commercial program were encouraged to attend weekly workshops that included a private weight assessment and discussed successes, problem-solving and topics related to weight loss and behaviour change. Participants also had access to an app, which included minimal self-monitoring of intake, activity and weight along with articles, around-the-clock support and an online community.

“One of the features of the commercial program used in this study was that self-monitoring was simplified to be less burdensome,” Dr. Lutes says. “Participants did not need to weigh, measure or track more than 200 foods, simplifying the process as much as possible.”

At three and 12 months, participants in both groups were assessed. Those randomized to the commercial weight management program lost more than twice as much weight and reduced their waist circumference by a greater percentage compared to those in the DIY group.

There were also secondary benefits for both groups including improvements in blood pressure, heart rate, aerobic stamina, flexibility and sleep.

Dr. Lutes emphasizes two key takeaways. First, the researchers determined adults assigned to a globally available commercial weight management program had greater success at three months. And, importantly, they felt supported and were able to maintain and continue that weight loss across 12 months. Those using the DIY approach had fewer successes.

She also notes this research provides a tool for care providers and policy-makers who see obesity as a serious health concern.

“This information can help me advocate the government about one of the many ways they can support patients in our province to improve health and wellbeing,” she says. “Perhaps our leaders can think about subsidizing access to commercial weight-loss programs that are proven effective. It could be a major step in helping achieve desperately needed improved health outcomes.”

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A UBCO researcher suspects misadventures with traps set to catch small furbearing animals are causing grizzly bears to damage and lose their front toes.

A UBC Okanagan researcher is suggesting changes to fur trapping practices to help prevent the accidental amputation of grizzly bear toes.

Dr. Clayton Lamb’s latest research, published recently in Wildlife Society, is calling attention to a small number of grizzly bears in the southeast corner of British Columbia missing toes on their front paws. While it’s not a large number of bears, Dr. Lamb says there is enough data to confirm that the accidental amputations, likely due to fur trapping bycatch, are frequent enough to raise concern.

Now a postdoctoral researcher with UBCO’s Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science, and an experienced trapper himself, Dr. Lamb conducted a live-capture research project to better understand grizzly bear mortality as part of his PhD work at the University of Alberta. Lamb captured and collared almost 60 grizzlies. He noticed several of the bears were missing some of their front toes.

“These were not birth defects,” says Lamb. “Identifying how those toes were amputated and mitigating the source of amputation became one of the objectives of this study.”

Of the 57 bears captured, four were missing toes on one of their front feet, which could make it hard for the bears to dig for food or defend themselves. While the injuries had healed, they were all similar and Lamb suggests the wounds were from a misadventure with a trap designed to catch furbearers.

Small body‐gripping traps are used to capture martens or weasels and are typically set with a baited box attached to a tree, he explains. They can be set in early November and remain in place until late winter.

The researchers discussed the issue with trappers, Indigenous communities, scientists, conservation officers, wildlife managers and guide outfitters. Comparing data from other collaring projects in adjacent areas of BC, they found a pattern to the toe loss and even confirmed reports of grizzly bears killed with small mammal body-gripping traps still on their feet.

To test their theory, they set up four small mammal body-gripping traps—rigged so the traps could trigger but not fully close—and monitored them with remote cameras for two weeks. Grizzly bears visited all four traps and sprung two of them.

“Even with the small sample, it was clear that baited traps attracted bears and that bears set off the traps to get the food. We have pictures and videos showing the bears investigating the traps and manipulating the boxes with their paws.”

The researchers also determined it wasn’t the initial snap of the trap that caused the bears to lose their toes, but the prolonged duration of the trap stuck on their foot.

“The bone loss observed in the bears either happened from a weakening of the bone during necrosis and infection, or from force applied to the bone from the trap while the bear walked or ran with the trap still on its foot.”

Small mammal trapping is generally done in the early winter when fur is prime and most valuable. While some trappers voluntarily delay the start of their marten and weasel trapping season, Dr. Lamb is suggesting an official delay from November 1 to early December to buy the bears time to fully hibernate.

“Shifting the start of most trapping that coincides with the active bear season would eliminate the overlap, and trappers should generally be able to avoid accidentally catching bears,” he says. “This not only reduces the risk to the bears, but also prevents the traps from being destroyed by the bears.”

Another suggestion involved a different trap with a smaller, constricted entrance so most bear paws could not fit inside to grab the bait.

Neither suggestion is perfect. Dr. Lamb recognizes both will impact the trappers’ livelihood and require compliance monitoring, adding additional responsibilities to conservation officers.

“The most viable solution to the amputated toe issue requires that bears’ feet do not enter these traps at all,” he says. “The solutions we present have various pros and cons, and we hope this work can help policy-makers choose a solution that will resolve the amputated toe issue while ensuring trappers continue to have the important opportunity to trap furbearers.”

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UBCO researchers have come up with a strategy to deal with the waste created when an off shore oil spill is cleaned up.

Images of damaged coastlines, oily sheens, containment booms and endangered wildlife are part of every offshore oil spill.

And while a response team arrives and the clean up gets underway, UBC Okanagan researchers are now exploring how to effectively handle the waste created from that spill.

As part of a Multi-Partner Research Initiative sponsored by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, UBCO engineers are conducting new research to help the oil spill response industry and its regulators enhance response preparedness and efficiency in Canadian waters. A new research study, published recently in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, conducts a lifecycle assessment of oil spill waste mitigation and how to properly dispose of the refuse.

“We never want to experience any sort of spill, but when it happens we need to be prepared,” explains Dr. Guangji Hu, a School of Engineering postdoctoral fellow and report co-author. “If a spill is on land, contaminated soil can be removed and remediated off-site, but that simply isn’t feasible on the water.”

Using a lifecycle assessment approach, the researchers developed a framework to help decision-makers effectively manage the waste of an offshore oil spill cleanup. The lifecycle assessment quantifies the environmental impacts associated with products and services at different points of their life cycle.

The lifecycle assessment compared various strategies for treating wastes—including its collection, segregation and sorting, initial treatment, secure transportation of waste materials, resource recovery and the final disposal of all soiled materials—as well as the resulting environmental impacts, particularly on scenarios situated in Western Canada.

Addressing maritime oil spills is a complex process with many variables including type of oil, tides and water composition, explains Saba Saleem, an engineering master’s student with UBCO’s Lifecycle Management Lab.

“Every spill is unique, but with this new tool we can identify the barriers, gaps and bottlenecks in oily waste management during an offshore oil spill response and enable decision makers to make more informed choices,” says Saleem, who is also the study’s lead author.

Several techniques such as mechanical containment and recovery, use of chemical dispersants, and in-situ burning are commonly used depending on various factors, such as oil slick characteristics, environmental conditions and the spill location.

“The aspect of oil spill recovery waste is one part of a response, but the management of this waste is the most complex, expensive and time-consuming component of recovery,” says Dr. Hu.

The findings point to a strategy of combining centrifugation and landfilling as the most suitable remediation approach for low-impact offshore oil spill waste management, but also highlight the potential of other strategies based on the severity of the spill.

“Analyzing these challenging situations in a holistic manner through lifecycle assessment allows us to develop a framework that encompasses nearly every possible scenario of offshore oil waste management,” Dr. Hu adds. “As a result, stakeholders have one more tool to address these spills quickly and effectively.”

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Connor Badowich and Pradeep Pugalendhi, both graduates of UBC Okanagan’s School of Engineering, at work at KF Aerospace in Kelowna.

To address the increasing demand for aerospace engineers in Western Canada, UBC Okanagan’s School of Engineering is launching an aerospace option.

The new option will be available to manufacturing and mechanical engineering students, explains Dr. Joshua Brinkerhoff, an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and coordinator of the aerospace option.

“Aerospace is a huge industry in British Columbia, and across Western Canada,” he says. “Our industry partners in the aerospace sector are seeking highly-qualified graduates with very specific skills. This option will provide a solid foundation for our students to meet those requirements.”

Kelowna’s KF Aerospace has been a significant partner in helping to guide and develop the new program. KF Aerospace is the city’s largest private sector employer and currently has 25 engineering graduates.

“KF Aerospace is very excited to have an aerospace engineering option at UBC Okanagan. This program will help support us with locally grown talent as we continue to expand Canada’s leading engineering services,” says Gregg Evjen, KF Chief Operating Officer. “We thank UBCO for its support in launching a program that will help grow the aerospace sector in Western Canada.”

The aerospace engineering option will equip students with state-of-the-art skills, competencies, theories and design methodologies to train engineers with specialized skill sets in aerospace engineering.

“Our students have a track record of excellence in a variety of disciplines and we are excited to expand our offerings so they can continue to explore what they’re passionate about,” says Dr. Will Hughes, Director of the School of Engineering.

The first intake for the aerospace engineering option begins this fall and before completing the program students will be required to do a fourth-year aerospace capstone project.

“It is a big undertaking to establish a new option in aerospace engineering, but based on feedback from students, faculty and industry, we are confident in this program’s future horizon,” says Dr. Hughes. “We can’t wait to get it off the ground, and we are excited to introduce this new option to our students.”

To learn more about the opportunities available to students who chose this option, visit: engineering.ok.ubc.ca/2022/01/14/graduates-careers-take-flight-at-kf-aerospace

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A UBCO researcher is calling attention to a gap in health equality for Indigenous women who live off-reserve.

A UBC Okanagan researcher is calling attention to the looming gap in health equality when it comes to Indigenous populations living off-reserve in Canada.

Specifically, Indigenous women.

New research by Assistant Professor Dr. Min Hu confirms that a particular population group has the worst health outcomes of any resident in Canada.

“The statistics are clear. Indigenous males have better health outcomes than Indigenous females,” he says. “However, we already know Indigenous people have worse health than many other populations in Canada. And my research finds Indigenous women have the worst of the worst when it comes to health conditions.”

Dr. Hu, who teaches economics in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, calls this a serious gap in health equality.

For this paper, published recently in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, Dr. Hu compared data collected from four cycles of Aboriginal People Surveys (APS) collected from 2001 to 2017. Each APS is a large, nationally representative cross-sectional survey of more than 20,000 Indigenous peoples living off-reserve and participants were asked to self-assess their health with ratings from poor to excellent.

Dr. Hu then took that data and examined the answers between male and female participants.

“This is the first time a study investigates the difference in gender health of Canada’s Indigenous people,” Dr. Hu says. “And each survey presents the same—and quite clear picture—that Indigenous women who live off-reserve, do not have the same positive health outcomes as their male counterparts.”

What’s also concerning, he notes, is the statistics have worsened over time. The gap increased from 1.5 per cent to 5.3 per cent in 2012 and a further 2.7 per cent in 2017.

“As a nation, we seem to pay attention to the overall Indigenous populations and now I’m looking at the socioeconomic point of view of these statistics,” he says. “I’m hoping this paper gets the attention of policy-makers to look at this very real gap in health equality.”

There are other ways to indirectly close the health gap between genders, he says, specifically looking at educational and career opportunities for women that could improve their employment prospects and household incomes. These main socioeconomic factors will determine a person’s health.

He suggests federal leaders could explore employment opportunities for women, while also examining such policies as the Canadian Child Benefit and other tax credits or social welfare programs to help lessen the gap.

“As an economist, I look at how socioeconomic factors affect the health outcomes of Indigenous Canadians,” he adds. “We know increasing income would improve health outcomes, and we know improving employment opportunities would make a difference. Now we need to act on this knowledge.”

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A UBCO researcher is calling attention to a gap in health equality for Indigenous women who live off-reserve.

A UBC Okanagan researcher is calling attention to the looming gap in health equality when it comes to Indigenous populations living off-reserve in Canada.

Specifically, Indigenous women.

New research by Assistant Professor Dr. Min Hu confirms that a particular population group has the worst health outcomes of any resident in Canada.

“The statistics are clear. Indigenous males have better health outcomes than Indigenous females,” he says. “However, we already know Indigenous people have worse health than many other populations in Canada. And my research finds Indigenous women have the worst of the worst when it comes to health conditions.”

Dr. Hu, who teaches economics in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, calls this a serious gap in health equality.

For this paper, published recently in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, Dr. Hu compared data collected from four cycles of Aboriginal People Surveys (APS) collected from 2001 to 2017. Each APS is a large, nationally representative cross-sectional survey of more than 20,000 Indigenous peoples living off-reserve and participants were asked to self-assess their health with ratings from poor to excellent.

Dr. Hu then took that data and examined the answers between male and female participants.

“This is the first time a study investigates the difference in gender health of Canada’s Indigenous people,” Dr. Hu says. “And each survey presents the same—and quite clear picture—that Indigenous women who live off-reserve, do not have the same positive health outcomes as their male counterparts.”

What’s also concerning, he notes, is the statistics have worsened over time. The gap increased from 1.5 per cent to 5.3 per cent in 2012 and a further 2.7 per cent in 2017.

“As a nation, we seem to pay attention to the overall Indigenous populations and now I’m looking at the socioeconomic point of view of these statistics,” he says. “I’m hoping this paper gets the attention of policy-makers to look at this very real gap in health equality.”

There are other ways to indirectly close the health gap between genders, he says, specifically looking at educational and career opportunities for women that could improve their employment prospects and household incomes. These main socioeconomic factors will determine a person’s health.

He suggests federal leaders could explore employment opportunities for women, while also examining such policies as the Canadian Child Benefit and other tax credits or social welfare programs to help lessen the gap.

“As an economist, I look at how socioeconomic factors affect the health outcomes of Indigenous Canadians,” he adds. “We know increasing income would improve health outcomes, and we know improving employment opportunities would make a difference. Now we need to act on this knowledge.”

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A UBCO researcher has created a modelling program that can help scientists plan for the restoration and conservation of coral reefs impacted by climate change. Photo credit: Jean-Philippe Maréchal.

A UBC Okanagan research team has created a computer modelling program to help scientists predict the effect of climate damage and eventual restoration plans on coral reefs around the globe.

This is a critical objective, says Dr. Bruno Carturan, because climate change is killing many coral species and can lead to the collapse of entire coral reef ecosystems. But, because they are so complex, it’s logistically challenging to study the impact of devastation and regeneration of coral reefs.

Real-world experiments are impractical, as researchers would need to manipulate and disrupt large areas of reefs, along with coral colonies and herbivore populations, and then monitor the changes in structure and diversity over many years.

“Needless to say, conducting experiments that will disturb natural coral reefs is unethical and should be avoided, while using big aquariums is simply unfeasible,” says Dr. Carturan, who recently completed his doctoral studies with the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science. “For these reasons, no such experiments have ever been conducted, which has hindered our capacity to predict coral diversity and the associated resilience of the reefs.”

For his latest research, published recently in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Dr. Carturan used models to create 245 coral communities, each with a unique set of nine species and each occupying a surface of 25 square metres. The model represents coral colonies and different species of algae that grow, compete and reproduce together while also being impacted by climate.

Crucially, he notes, all the key components of the model, including species’ traits such as competitive abilities and growth rates, are informed by pre-existing, real-world data from 800 species.

The research team simulated various scenarios—including strong waves, a cyclone or intense heat—and then measured each model reef’s resilience taking note of damage, recovery time and the quality of the habitat 10 years after the disturbance.

By running so many scenarios with computer modelling, the team found that more diverse communities—those with species having highly dissimilar traits—were most resilient. They were better at recovering from damage and had greater habitat quality 10 years after the disturbances.

“More diverse communities are more likely to have certain species that are very important for resilience,” Dr. Carturan explains. “These species have particular traits—they are morphologically complex, competitive and with a good capacity to recover. When present in a community, these species maintained or even increased the quality of the habitat after the disturbance. Contrastingly, communities without these species were often dominated by harmful algae at the end.”

Coral diversity determines the strength and future health of coral reefs, he adds. Coral species are the foundation of coral reef ecosystems because their colonies form the physical habitat where thousands of fish and crustaceans live. Among those are herbivores, such as parrotfish and surgeonfish, which maintain the coral habitat by eating the algae. Without herbivores, the algae would kill many coral colonies, causing the coral habitat to collapse, destroying its many populations.

“What is unique with our study is that our results apply to most coral communities in the world. By measuring the effect of diversity on resilience in more than 245 different coral communities, the span of diversity likely overlaps the actual coral diversity found in most reefs.”

At the same time, the study provides a framework to successfully manage these ecosystems and help with coral reef restoration by revealing how the resilience of coral communities can be managed by establishing colonies of species with complementary traits.

Looking forward, there are other questions the model can help answer. For instance, the coral species vital for resilience are also the most affected by climate change and might not be able to recover if strong climatic heatwaves become too frequent.

“It is a very real, and sad conclusion that we might one day lose these important species,” Dr. Carturan says. “Our model could be used to experiment and perhaps determine if losing these species can be compensated by some other, more resistant ones, that would prevent the eventual collapse of the reefs.”

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New UBCO research confirms a brief text-based conversation with a trained counsellor can help users to feel safe and de-escalate a mental health crisis.

Can a text conversation provide the support needed when someone is seeking help during a mental health breakdown?

New research from UBC Okanagan is saying yes, crisis text lines are useful and effective.

Dr. Susan Holtzman, who teaches psychology in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, explains that mental health crisis services have expanded recently beyond telephone hotlines to include communication methods such as live chat and texting.

Dr. Holtzman notes there is growing pressure in Canada to create one three-digit suicide crisis hotline which would be similar to the one launched recently in the United States. If implemented in Canada, not only would it be easier for Canadians to immediately access help, it would also confirm that Canada sees mental health care and suicide prevention as serious matters of concern.

“Every year, millions of people all over the world reach out to crisis text lines,” Dr. Holtzman says. “However, because crisis text lines are anonymous, very little is known about the user experience. And despite rising mental health problems worldwide and a high uptake of crisis text line services, they remain understudied.”

Dr. Holtzman’s team, led by clinical psychology doctoral student Alanna Coady, turned to Twitter posts to examine how crisis text lines users responded to their experiences with the crisis lines.

Analyzing 776 tweets the research team examined six main themes including approval, helpful or unhelpful counselling, service delivery issues, accessibility and whether the service suits multiple mental health needs.

Overall, results determined text-based crisis support works, as many users reported positive experiences of effective counselling including helpful coping skills, de-escalation and reduction of harm.

“The goal of this project was to gather first-hand accounts of people who use crisis text lines to better understand the benefits and limitations of these services,” explains Coady. “Many users preferred the discreetness of texting over calling a crisis line, and the majority of tweets indicated that users found the service helpful.”

However, she notes there are drawbacks to texting crisis lines, including long wait times. Users also noted that some responses from counsellors were described as cliché, overly scripted or invalidating. This could be somewhat related to the texting platform, she explains, which can be more prone to misunderstandings.

“While some people may encounter negative reviews of crisis text lines on social media, our findings suggest that positive experiences are much more common and users report a wide range of benefits, including feelings of validation and concrete coping strategies,” Coady adds. “Overall, crisis text lines appear to be a promising method of delivering crisis support.”

Dr. Holtzman notes the study, published recently in Internet Interventions, did not make a direct comparison between telephone and text-based crisis lines. The purpose of the research was to examine user response. Results also identified areas for improvement, particularly ensuring more timely service delivery and effective communication of empathy.

“Our findings highlight that more research is needed to understand how we can effectively communicate empathy and understanding through texting,” she says. “At the same time, this research suggests that even a brief text-based conversation with a trained counsellor can lead users to feel safe and supported during their darkest hours. Given the many barriers to mental health treatment in our society, as well as the further strain caused by the pandemic, text-based crisis lines warrant much more attention from researchers than they have been given in the past.”

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Dr. Kanako Uzawa, Ainu Indigenous artist, musician and scholar, performs a solo show that highlights the unique Ainu culture.

What: Reframing Ainu Indigeneity: Performing exhibit presents traditional and contemporary Ainu dance and music
Who: Dr. Kanako Uzawa, Ainu Indigenous artist, musician and scholar
When: Sunday, July 31, at 7 pm
Where: Ringo-En Orchards, 6831 Bella Vista Road, Vernon

An Indigenous Japanese scholar and musician will be the star of a solo performance that will share the music and dance of Japan’s Ainu people.

Presented by UBC Okanagan’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies and the Department of Languages and World Literatures, visiting artist Dr. Kanako Uzawa will present a performance highlighting the unique culture of the Ainu—Japan’s Indigenous people.

Dr. Uzawa, a scholar, advocate and artist will perform an Ainu dance, demonstrate the mukkuri—a traditional Ainu mouth harp—and informally share Ainu culture and contemporary issues of the Indigenous people of Japan at a special presentation on Sunday, July 31.

Nina Langton, Associate Professor of Japanese Studies, Languages and World Literatures at UBC Okanagan, says Dr. Uzawa collaborates and engages with a number of academic and international forums, lectures and artistic work related to Indigenous identity-making.

“Dr. Uzawa’s work on traditional and contemporary Ainu culture has informed my efforts to Indigenize my Japanese language classroom,” says Langton. “She is a well-recognized scholar and artist. We are very fortunate to be able to bring her to the Okanagan.”

Dr. Uzawa is particularly active in promoting contemporary aspects of Indigenous livelihoods using her website AinuToday.com as a means of communication with an international audience.

Her current work is a curational project on the Ainu, in collaboration with the University of Michigan Museum of Art in the United States. She has also worked on an Ainu exhibition One Soul in All: Encounters with Ainu from the North of Japan at the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne, Germany.

In addition to her academic and curatorial work, Dr. Uzawa performs traditional and contemporary Ainu dance and is hosting a performance at UBC Vancouver’s Museum of Anthropology, presented by the Centre for Japanese Studies. Earlier this month, she attended the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity Intercultural Indigenous Choreographers Creation Lab.

The public is invited to a performance on July 31 at Ringo-En Orchards in Vernon. The outdoor venue opens at 6 pm and people are welcome to bring a picnic, lawn chair or blanket. The performance begins at 7 pm.

This event is free and open to the public, no registration is required.

About Dr. Uzawa

Dr. Uzawa is an affiliated researcher at the Research Faculty of Media and Communication at Hokkaido University in Japan. She contributes to collaborative research and Ainu performing art on the multifaceted articulations of Indigenous knowledge. Her master’s thesis focused on a comparative study between the Sámi in Norway and the Ainu Indigenous people in Japan. Her PhD focused on urban Ainu livelihood and its contemporary expressions.

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Dr. Jian Liu explains the type of research taking place in UBCO’s new battery prototyping facility, partially funded by an agreement with Fenix Advanced Materials. Michael & Suzanne Hintringer Photography.

With the current price of gasoline, it’s no wonder electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming more common on the road.

Despite their growing popularity, researchers are still working to develop a smaller, longer-lasting battery to power EVs. Current battery research at UBC Okanagan has led to additional funding from industry partner Fenix Advanced Materials to lead the charge when it comes to battery development.

Dr. Jian Liu, the UBC Okanagan Principal’s Research Chair in Energy Storage Technologies, is developing a solid-state lithium battery that will increase performance and stability specifically for powering EVs.

The new batteries, which could extend an EV’s driving range and safety, are made of raw and recycled materials procured by Fenix in Trail, BC.

“Our province has a wealth of these materials, and we need to solidify our research and development to ensure we put these materials to good use,” he adds, explaining the batteries use tellurium, a copper by-product, iron and other base-metal-rich ore bodies.”

This expanded partnership with Fenix is an important step toward building a battery supply chain locally while strengthening the Canadian company’s international position in the growing battery market, Dr. Liu explains.

“This research aims to develop a battery that doubles the energy density of today’s lithium-ion batteries while at the same making considerable improvements to its safety,” says Dr. Liu, an Associate Professor in the School of Engineering. “We replace flammable liquid electrolytes in lithium-ion batteries with air-stable solid electrolytes in the new battery chemistry, therefore avoiding the safety risks of current EV batteries”.

Integrating an all-solid-state configuration into EVs removes some of the drawbacks of existing liquid electrolytes-based batteries that are less efficient and diminish rapidly over time, he explains.

Tellurium has high electrical conductivity and a high volumetric capacity—meaning it can help create small, but powerful batteries. The collaboration with Fenix will ensure Dr. Liu and his team have the materials to conduct their research.

“This partnership with UBCO has played a key role in helping to uncover some exciting innovations in new battery technology and other clean technology solutions, and we are thrilled to take this next step,” says Fenix CEO Don Freschi.

Liu says once scientific and technical gaps in the design, fabrication and integration of these materials into solid-state batteries are addressed, these new batteries will have a huge impact on the EV industry.

Fenix is contributing an additional $1-million over the next year to establish a Pouch Cell Facility at UBCO. Pouch cells are wrapped in aluminum cases and differ from other battery formats including cylindrical or prism-shaped cells, both used in EVs, and coin cells which are commonly found in watches, explains Liu.

“We chose pouch cells because they are relatively easy to manufacture compared to cylindrical and prismatic cells,” he says. “The battery testing data obtained from pouch cells are recognized and accepted in the battery and EV industries. In contrast, battery testing data from coin cells are mainly for academic research and are insufficient to influence battery and EV companies.”

Freschi says Fenix and their investment group, NEXT Lithium, are thrilled to support these projects and are preparing to commercialize many of the products developed from these efforts.

Dr. Liu explains that currently, there is no university-based battery prototyping facility in western Canada. Building the pouch cell facility at UBCO will bridge the gap between fundamental academic research and applied research in battery technologies.

The research will result in a smaller, safer and less expensive battery to accelerate transportation electrification. It also helps the shift from a fossil fuel-based economy to decarbonized energy.

“For a long time, solid-state batteries were considered more demanding to produce, but research in this area is establishing new methods that are bringing these batteries closer to the market,” explains Liu. “We are excited to continue to partner with Fenix, Mitacs and other stakeholders, including the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions and National Research Council, to make stronger, safer and more efficient batteries.”

UBCO master’s student Li Tao holds up an example of a pouch cell. Once up and running, the new pouch cell facility will bridge the gap between fundamental academic research and applied research in battery technologies. Michael & Suzanne Hintringer Photography.

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