Universities Canada has announced the launch of a new program that supports inclusivity and innovation. The Innovative Designs for Accessibility (IDeA) student competition aims to inspire university students to find innovative, cost-effective and practical solutions to accessibility issues.
Students enrolled in an academic program at UVic are invited to submit a concept, initiative, program or design to address an accessibility barrier from one of five categories as outlined in Canadian provincial accessibility legislation. Winning submissions from each category will be awarded $2000 CAD and will present their project at the Canadian Innovative Exchange (CIX) Conference in Toronto. The second and third place submissions from each category will receive $1500 and $1000 respectively.
Since UVic and other participating universities are limited to a maximum of ten (10) submissions to the competition, only 1 nomination from each Faculty or Division can be submitted. On behalf of UVic, CanAssist is coordinating nominations and student submissions. The competition opened on March 1, 2018. Faculty or administration nominating a student or student team must send their nomination to CanAssist by April 15. Student submissions must be sent to CanAssist by nominators for review.
Students wishing to make a submission to the competition must:
- be nominated by a member of the university faculty or administration;
- if working as a team, designate one person as the team’s delegate and point of contact;
- demonstrate that they have consulted with a person(s) with a disability(ies) for feedback on their concepts, programs, initiative or design;
- demonstrate that their submission adheres to accessibility standards. Students can find information on how to make their submission accessible on The Accessibility Hub website: www.theaccessibilityhub.ca/resources; and
- submission can be made in one of three formats:
- Written document in PDF format (max. 2,500 words)
- Video (min. 30 seconds to max. 3 minutes)
- Website with summary page (max. 1,000 words)
Faculty and UVic administration support student participation in this competition by:
- promoting the competition and student information session to their students;
- supporting a student or team with a nomination;
- emailing the nomination (Student name, email address and summary of project) to info@canassist.ca by April 15; and,
- emailing the student or team competition project to info@canassist.ca by May 15
Please note that Brian Carriere, the program officer from the Partnership and Programs Group at Universities Canada, will provide two information sessions about the competition on Wednesday, March 14 in CanAssist’s boardroom:
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- Faculty and administration:11:00 a.m.
- Student presentation: 2:00 p.m.