20th December 2010 Ottawa, Canada
Adventures on the Ottawa science scene!
So it seems that late fall/early winter here in Ottawa contains a plethora of scientific events for a Science Officer to attend, and I have been doing my best to keep up. Here is a brief list of some of the things I’ve been up to, with links where ever I can find them:
Bacon & Eggheads is a series of breakfast lectures that is organized by the Partnership Group for Science & Engineering (PAGSE). This series aims to bring together scientists and decision makers to discuss topical scientific issues. PAGSE has also spearheaded SciencePages similar to POSTnotes in the UK.
Neurodegenerative Lipidomics conference: Neurolipidomics 2010
I know you’re all dying to know more about this exciting field, and luckily for me, the good folks in the neurolipidomics group have provided us with YouTube videos explaining what neurolipidomics is! Just click on their names to see their interviews! My PhD supervisor is one of the interviewees, so you might say that I’m not completely unbiased on the subject!
Genome Canadas 10th Anniversary: Genomics on the Hill
This event was a celebration of the accomplishments of Genome Canada over the past 10 years. Genome Canada brought some of their researchers to present their research to politicians and decision makers. Check out Genome Canada’s 10th Anniversary Poster. The online version is interactive and allows you to see the profiles of individual Genome Canada researchers and the projects that they are working on. Fascinating!
Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS) 10th Anniversary: Reception and launch of “The Sky’s the Limit”
A celebration of 10 years of achievement as well as the release of “the Sky’s the Limit” a book that chronicles those achievements! Beautiful book filled with amazing full colour pictures! Definitely worth getting a copy. There is some fascinating weather and climate science going on in Canada!
Emerging Pathogens Research Centre Special Symposium: The Rising Tide of Emerging Infectious Diseases in an immunocompromised world
A discussion of the ongoing work of the EPRC, where I had the chance to meet Keith Martin, MD and MP for the riding of Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca, who is doing some fascinating work in Canada and Internationally!
Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI):Annual Public Meeting
An interesting and well which included a public presentation by Tom Jenkins, Executive Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer, Open Text Corporation, entitled: Managing content in the cloud – The impact of digital media and social media on societies and innovation around the world. It was very thought provoking to hear his views on where we are going in the future. His presentation can be downloaded here.
Innovation 2010 was an event that was a joint, collaborative effort by the Federal Partners for Technology Transfer, The Network Centres of Excellence and ACCT Canada.
Innovation 2010 provided an excellent interdisciplinary forum for dialogue on improving Canada’s record on innovation. There representatives from Academia, Government and Industry who were present, networking and actively involved in the discussions. It was a fascinating event, which I hope to expand on in a separate blog posting (hopefully to be posted next week)!
All your favourite Arctic scientists and policy makers all in one place, what more could you ask for! This dynamic group of individuals got together to discuss advances in Arctic research in a real multi-disciplinary way. All sorts of science, from geology, to glaciology to biology to social sciences and health.
This is but a smattering of the things that have been keeping me busy and away from my blog, but hopefully in the coming week I’ll be able to provide you with a few more postings chronicling the exciting details of what I’ve learned!