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Life after Sharon in the Middle East

As Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon clings to life following a major stroke yesterday, the world is contemplating what his passing could mean for Israel, the Palestinians and the greater Middle East. SFU historian William Cleveland, an internationally recognized Middle East expert, can reflect on how Sharon's absence might affect the region. Military strategist and historian Andre Gerolymatos can also speak about life after Sharon, currently the only regional leader with anything approaching a plan for peace between the Palestinians and Israelis.

William Cleveland, 604.291.5815; clevelan@sfu.caAndre Gerolymatos, 604.291.5597; andre_gerolymatos@sfu.ca

Workshop to discuss gender and women's health issues

Prominent feminist researcher Sandra Harding will give the opening address at a two-day workshop on gender, diversity and evidence-based decision-making at SFU Vancouver beginning Jan. 5 at 6:30 p.m. in the Segal Centre Rm. 1400. SFU's Institute for Critical Studies in Gender and Health (ICSGH) and the BC. Women's Health Research Network are hosting the workshop, which will focus on broadening how gender and health are understood, represented and addressed in theory, research and practice. Harding teaches education and women's studies at UCLA and is a scholar of feminist and postcolonial theory, epistemology, research methodology and the philosophy of science.

Olena Hankivsky, 604.291.4677; oah@sfu.ca

Environmental tax shifting scores high

A team of SFU geography students who spent the past semester examining ecological tax-shifting in Vancouver's Sustainability Precinct (Southeast False Creek and False Creek Flats areas) found that environmental tax-shifting significantly improves the sustainability performance of the precinct - and increases total revenue to the city by over $20 million. The students compared its likely environmental and fiscal impacts relative to current tax policy in several areas over which the City of Vancouver has authority to set tax rates: solid and liquid waste, parking, water and sewage, and carbon dioxide emissions. Ecological tax shifting involves the application of new or higher taxes/charges on actions the city wants to discourage, while simultaneously reducing taxes/charges on behaviour that the city wants to encourage. The students undertook their study with Mark Roseland, director of SFU's centre for sustainable community development. They've been invited to present their findings to Vancouver City Council on Friday, Jan. 6 at 10 a.m. (Strathcona Room).

Mark Roseland, 604.291.4161/5849; mark_roseland@sfu.ca.

Korean cloning scandal

SFU medical ethicist Tom Koch says the dramatic rise and fall of South Korean stem-cell pioneer Hwang Woo Suk “is what happens when expectations overrun abilities and the pressure for a new theory, a new technique, becomes unbearable.” Hwang resigned last month from Seoul National University after revelations that a landmark scientific paper on cloning that propelled him to international stardom was based on false results. Koch, who can comment further, says the case highlights the need for research to be “pursued at its own pace, not that of the corporations that increasingly fund research or the institutions whose support for scientists is increasingly based on grants.”

Tom Koch, gerontology, 604.714.0348 (h), 604.842.0348 (cell); tokoch@attglobal.net

What's next in tech hype

The next big thing in technology could mean a whole new way of doing things online. It's called Web 2.0, and while the catch phrase has been around for about a year, the new Net is starting to make its way into the general population. SFU associate professor of communication Richard Smith can look at Web 2.0 and how it could impact the online world.

Richard Smith, 604.291.5116, smith@sfu.ca