Discover a scientist, then discover what makes them tick. It might ignite your mental Bunsen burners, too.
The Adult Speaker Series at The Exploration Place is a monthly town hall meeting for science, starring some of the area's most interesting minds talking about their most prized personal projects. Just since the new year the series has challenged the narratives around sexual abuse, opened the gates of hell on Prince George's historic reputation for crime and gone down the microscope to explain how we get cancer.
The next installment in their Adult Speaker Series is
April 9 and the scientist of the night is Shannon Wagner. She is an author, professor, and the chair of the School of Health Sciences at UNBC.
The title of her discussion is Emergency Responders and Workplace Mental Health: Does Society Protect Its Protectors?
"Many occupations inherently include significant risk of workplace traumatic exposure, with firefighters, ambulance paramedics and police workers often considered to be among those most at risk," Wagner said. "Current research indicates that this workplace exposure may subsequently lead to increased risk of psychopathology such as PTSD, depression, anxiety and substance disorders. This presentation will review literature on mental health and first responders, and then will present a selection of related projects from UNBC previously completed or currently underway."
If the most recent town hall science meetings are any indication, you have to arrive early at The Exploration Place to get a good seat. There's no charge to attend, but they've been close to sold out, so to speak.
Each one of these keynote nights puts a scientist in the spotlight for a 30-40 minute talk about their area of expertise, then the public gets a half hour or so to ask them questions and query them about their work.
This set of lectures pulls the stuffing out of any nerdy assumptions floating around about the scientists of the city. There's not a dry topic in the house. People have been packed from wall to wall, leaning in with interest and firing questions at some of the sharpest minds the region has to offer.
"There is a lot of perception that science is something elite, something up on the hill, in the ivory tower, hidden inside a lab or a classroom. We are showing how science is actually relevant, interesting, going on in our daily lives, something we are all a part of," said Amanda Smedley, deputy director of The Exploration Place.
"We are the kind of place where science comes to life. This is a great showcase. It's a big part of our exhibitions and our in-house public resources. But we knew we could do more. We have this beautiful facility, people love coming here for events, and so we thought we should host scientists here to talk about what they're investigating and discovering."
Many of the guest speakers so far have come from UNBC and CNC but Smedley said that is just a sign of the great partnership the museum/science centre has with these great local institutions.
There are scientists in plenty of other positions as well, and they are also welcome to one day be featured in the Adult Speaker Series.
"This has become really popular with our membership, we are meeting people at these speeches who have never been through our doors before, and it provides one more service to the community that fits our mandate as an organization," said The Exploration Place CEO Tracy Calogheros.
"Our staff and sponsors have been getting excited about it. You should hear the conversations that spin off from these events. It really makes people think, including ourselves. How can you not get interested when it's all so authentic, cutting edge, and right here in our own community."
