As Montreal celebrates Pride with its festival (the parade will be August 10th), neighborhood churches are joining in. See below for some of the upcoming Pride-focused events!

Sunday, August 3, 4pm: Annual Pride Celebration. Join for music, readings, and prayers.

Long dismissed as “junk,” viral fragments buried in human DNA may help regulate our genes, according to a new international study co-led by Guillaume Bourque, professor in McGill’s Department of Human Genetics, D2R-funded researcher and member of the D2R Research Steering Committee and Executive (RSC). The findings offer new insights into what makes us human, 25 years after the human genome was first mapped.

Please be advised that McGill University has mandated CORENOV CONSTRUCTEURS INC. to carry out the following project: 21-053 Rutherford Physics - CFI IF 2023 Childress, Renovation of Room 419

Description: Room 419 is already an existing research laboratory.  It has two smaller rooms inside of it but the walls will be demolished to create one large room.  The room will be updated to meet the McGill Design Standards for a research laboratory and it will be reconfigured to meet laser lab requirements as well.

Please be advised that McGill University has mandated general contractor SUTERA INC. to carry out the following project: 20-069 Trottier Space Institute extension.

July 24, 2025 | Chris Ragan is quoted in The Suburban emphasizing the long-term economic benefits of cutting corporate taxes over relying on large-scale business subsidies. Nearly 25 years ago, Ragan argued that reducing taxes which inhibit investment—particularly corporate income taxes—would spur productivity, attract capital, and raise living standards. His perspective is resurfacing in current policy debates as concerns grow over the effectiveness of multibillion-dollar subsidies offered to major corporations, such as those in the electric vehicle sector.

July 26, 2025 | Jennifer Welsh is quoted in Policy Magazine saying that “something cognitive has happened” to Western donor sensitivities to the misery of others. She notes that public outrage over the war in Gaza appears to be the exception rather than the rule, pointing to a broader decline in empathy and responsiveness from governments and publics alike toward global humanitarian crises.

Congratulations to Anabel Gratton (BCom’23), Damiano Mini (BCom’24), Delia Puiu (BCom’24), George Zergiotis (BCom Concordia’23), Giulia Marandola (BCom’24), Harley Belfer (BCom’23), Jade Raynaud (BCom’23), Joanie Marchand (BCom’24), Sarah Green (BCom’24), and Vincent Ducharme (BCom UOttawa’23) who were awarded the Arthur D Ruby Prizes in Management by the Graduate Cert

Hugo Deslandes (BCom‘24, GCPA’25) and Veronica Hall (BCom‘24, GCPA’25), students of the Graduate Certificate in Professional Accounting (GCPA) program, have been selected among their graduating class as this year’s recipients of the C. Douglas Mellor Prize for Academic Excellence.

Documentum services, including D2, Webtop, and Records, will be unavailable on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. due to scheduled system maintenance. 

This work is necessary to ensure the continued performance and reliability of IT resources across the organization. 

Anyone who uses a D2 space or accesses documents through the Documentum platform will be unable to upload or retrieve files. 

If you have work that requires access to Documentum, please plan accordingly.  

53 McGill research projects were awarded funding through CIHR’s Spring 2025 Project Grant competition, to support high-potential health research across all areas and career stages. 

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) recently announced a total national investment of $411 million through the CIHR Spring 2025 Project Grant competition, funding 444 grants led by 428 lead investigators. At McGill, 53 projects were funded for a total research investment of $48.4 million. 

July 23, 2025 | Anil Wasif, MPP ’21, writes in Policy Magazine about the painful disconnect between high-level development discourse and lived tragedy, reflecting on the deadly crash of a military jet into a school in Dhaka, Bangladesh that claimed 32 lives. Writing from the World Bank’s Annual Conference on Development Economics, where he was attending as a Government Analytics fellow, Wasif describes how the academic conversation on institutional decay and populist anger mirrored the catastrophic reality unfolding in his home country.

The International Court of Justice ruled today that countries must act on the “urgent and existential threat” of climate change. The advisory opinion, backed by all 15 of the court’s judges, potentially opens the door to further legal action by states that seek to hold other states accountable. 

This McGill expert is available to comment: 

Starting July 29th, 2025 , you will receive an award when you complete the “It Takes All of Us” course” in myCourses.

More information

For those wanting to learn more about Parkinson’s disease through a visual format, this graphic book is available at the Patient Resource Centres of the Neuro and the Royal-Victoria Hospital (Glen Site). The book touches on the history of the disease as well as its major symptoms and offers diverse testimonials from those who have learned to live with it. This resource is an invitation to better understand Parkinson's disease and its physical, psychological and social impacts.

Researchers have developed a novel method to detect and study how ice forms in mixed-phase clouds, significantly boosting scientists’ ability to forecast weather and model climate change. 

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research's Project Grant: Spring 2025 competition has approved 435 research grants for a total investment of approximately $411M, with 123 projects funded in Quebec.

HBHL is proud to announce that 13 HBHL-funded researchers will receive support for seven projects, representing an investment of over $6.7M at McGill and the Douglas Research Centre.

HBHL-funded PIs are bolded in the following table:

When people an affinity for a brand, they can feel as though it’s their friend. And Lego has a powerful brand. For many, the mere mention of the Denmark-headquartered maker of plastic building bricks evokes memories of wholesome childhood play. And the warm and fuzzy feelings that a brand like Lego catalyzes can have real effects on how people interact with it.

Until recently, the most common way that customers interacted with a company’s customer service was via human agents on the telephone, the web or a mobile app. But increasingly, customer service is being provided by chatbots. Even though chatbots offer instant availability, 24 hours a day, more than two-thirds of people still prefer to speak with a human agent, according to research by PWC, an accounting consultancy. Most companies use chatbots as the first line of customer service, writes Prof.

A de mimimis exemption allows goods below a certain value threshold to be traded internationally without paying duty. And on May 2 2025, the United States eliminated their de minimis exception for Hong Kong and China. That will drive up prices for shoppers on ultra-budget fast fashion platforms like Shein. With the changes to the rules, the price of a $20 dress on Shein could increase to more than $30.

Wireless maintenance will take place from Thursday, July 24 at 8 p.m., to Friday, July 25 at 6 a.m. This update includes important bug and security fixes to ensure network stability.

The following access will be affected: