To view highlights from this event, please click here. Dr. John P. Smol, Queen’s University By many measures, the greatest challenge facing humanity today is anthropogenic climate change. Recent opinion polls, however, suggest that a significant portion of the general public believe that there remains scientific controversy regarding global warming. This is untrue, as very […]

The current efforts to develop safe and protective vaccines against COVID-19 are unprecedented both in terms of speed and amount of data collected and shared. In response to COVID-19, the world could see the first vaccine to ever be licensed in a time period that may be only one year or so from the time of detection of the target pathogen. This presentation will highlight opportunities and challenges in therapeutic and vaccine research in Canada in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Creating a sustainable and just future will require a major shift in how humans live in, and interact with, the Earth system. But how this shift will take place and the pathways it will follow, remain vague. In this seminar, Dr. Elena Bennett will discuss efforts to develop a suite of alternative, plausible visions of futures that are socially and ecologically desirable by identifying elements of a Good Anthropocene that already exist and will show how the science of ecosystem services can be used to assess them. Registration Now Open!

Better Pandemic Preparedness – How Canadian science can be ready for future threats Click here to view the presentation. Dr. Volker Gerdts, University of Saskatchewan  The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for better preparedness to infectious diseases, not only in Canada but around the world. Rapid responses are critical and require national centres that […]

Energy Systems and Land Reclamation: An Environmental Imperative Click here to view the presentation.  Dr. M. Anne Naeth, University of Alberta As the human population increases, it urgently requires access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy. Yet the land base that can provide for that energy and other life requirements is shrinking, creating a […]

The global race towards quantum technologies: Canada's contributions and imminent opportunities Click here to view the presentation. || Cliquez ici pour voir la présentation. Dr. Alexandre Blais, l'Université de Sherbrooke Despite its reputation for weirdness, quantum physics is at the origin of some of today’s most widely used technologies, including microelectronics, lasers, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). […]

On the path to a net-zero carbon economy: carbon capture, utilization and storage Click here to view the presentation. Nous nous excusons sincèrement car il y avait un problème avec l'enregistrement français de cet événement. Nous vous invitons à utiliser la fonction de sous-titrage codé de Youtube pour visionner une version traduite de la présentation. Don […]

Click here to view the presentation. || Cliquez ici pour voir la présentation. Version française ci-dessous Human actions have transformed and destroyed habitats for millennia. With the relentless spread of our urban and near urban areas, what does science tells us about our impacts on biodiversity in the places close to where most of us live? […]

Dr. Donna Strickland, University of Waterloo  Canada and 194 other countries reached the Paris Agreement, a plan to combat climate change, and are now determining the best strategies to control greenhouse emissions. Our speaker, Nobel Prize winner Donna Strickland, likes to quote Lord Kelvin: “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.” Dr. Strickland […]

Jeffrey S. Mogil, McGill University Canada is in the midst of two intertwined and deadly health crises: the opioid crisis, and the “silent epidemic” of chronic pain. Chronic pain is in fact the most prevalent and costly health problem. Yet, despite Canada being the world leader in pain research, pain stubbornly remains the country's most misunderstood and costly health […]

Our flagship Bacon and Eggheads breakfast series returns for the 2025–2026 parliamentary season, thanks to the generous support of the Speakers of the House of Commons and the Senate. We are delighted to launch the season with our first talk on Wednesday, September 24, 2025. Please find the event details below. Through the Melting Ice: Ship Traffic […]