Some students came to the meet up armed with a project in mind. Michelle Savard is a PhD candidate in the Department of Education, who researches the reintegration of formally abducted young mothers in Northern Uganda. She came to FOYER looking for a filmmaker.
“I'm hoping to find someone with a similar interest who might be willing to go to Uganda to shoot a trailer. I have the stories, but the technical aspects involved in making a film are lost on me, so I need that kind of expertise.”
Other came with a blank slate, hoping for inspiration.
“I'm always interested in opportunities to connect with people from different disciplines, and to work on interdisciplinary projects,” says Shea Wood, a PhD candidate in the Individualized Program (INDI).
Duclos points out that, across Canada most aesthetic-related disciplines are taught in independent colleges of art and design. Concordia is an exception.
“We have the good fortune of having an arts school nestled into a research university. It is one of our greatest strengths, and we've yet to fully appreciate it,” she says.
The idea behind FOYER is to work across graduate platforms in order to incubate new research ideas, while giving graduate students access to facilities normally reserved for those outside their discipline.
“Each faculty has its own extraordinary facilities, but there’s never been a way for graduate students in computer science to hang out in the wood shops, or for a ceramic engineer to collaborate with someone in political science,” says Duclos.
“We’re trying to let grad students use each other in order to gain access to new spaces, methodologies and intellectual platforms. So it's about intellectualism and conceptual ideas as much as it is about physical access to each other’s areas.”
Those accepted as FOYER fellows will be given keys and 24/7 access to the lounge, which will serve as their workspace throughout the semester.
Find out more about the next FOYER meet-and-greet, which takes place on December 17 from 4 to 6 p.m. in Room EV Junction — the atrium space outside Room 2.785 — in the Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex (1515 St. Catherine W.) on the Sir George Williams Campus.