UBC's ISIS Research Centre ditching its name thanks to that other ISIS

A Vancouver academic facility is going to be changing its name thanks to a global terrorist network that happens to go by the same moniker.

This week, the University of British Columbia’s ISIS Research Centre announced they were in the process of coming up with a new name, thanks to the militant extremist group ISIS.

“Although we have put a significant amount of time and resources into building our ‘ISIS’ brand we feel the name now has too many negative associations,” explains the facility in their online announcement.

UBC’s ISIS is a part of the Sauder School of Business, and is a facility devoted to research in the areas of Social Innovation and Sustainability. Their aim is to find new ways of “solving existing social, cultural, economic, political, and environmental challenges.”

This academic and research think tank and its goals are a far cry from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or simply the Islamic State (IS). The Islamic State is listed as a Canadian terrorist entity, and have in recent months been behind a series of filmed beheadings of kidnapped journalists and aid workers, as well as proclamations of potential action against the U.S. and allied countries, including Canada.

UBC’s ISIS Research Centre says they are working on their rebranding strategy and will be revealing their new name in the coming weeks.

Featured image: UBC Sauder School of Business (Roger Atwood/Flickr)