Get the inside story on what goes on in UBC’s labs and classrooms at Celebrate Research 2014

If UBC’s walls could talk, what would they say?

The doors are open, researchers are ready to discuss their work, and the campus is alive with plenty of free public presentations, events and activities during Celebrate Research week, March 3 to 7. From classrooms to the field, from research labs to real-world change, UBC researchers are creating new knowledge and expanding understandings of the world.

“Celebrate Research week gives UBC researchers the opportunity to share with, engage, and inform the public about their work, as well as encourages the community to participate in, and expose themselves to the joy of discovery,” says Gordon Binsted, acting vice-principal, Research and Innovation. “The research taking place at UBC’s Okanagan campus impacts our community greatly. Over the past year, more than $16.4 million has been awarded to faculty and students at UBC’s Okanagan campus, supporting more than 611 research initiatives, locally to globally.”

That compares to $13.2 million awarded in the 2012-13 academic year, and $6.8 million during UBC’s first year of operation in the Okanagan in 2005-2006.

Celebrate Research week activities kick off Monday night with a talk by award-winning researcher Dr. James C. Hogg, a UBC emeritus professor of pathology and lab medicine and recent Canada Gairdner Wightman Award selection for his research and leadership in the field of chronic respiratory diseases.

The presentation, Is there life on other planets, addresses questions such as: Do we really understand the importance of oxygen? How can life as we know it be protected if the atmosphere we breathe is not protected? The free public event takes place at 7 p.m. at the Mary Irwin Theatre, Rotary Centre for the Arts, 421 Cawston Ave.

New to Celebrate Research week is the School District 23 Science Fair, a two-day event held March 4 and 5 at UBC’s Okanagan campus featuring the work of nearly 300 students from kindergarten to Grade 12, from more than 20 Central Okanagan schools. It will be held in the Richard S. Hallisey Atrium, Engineering, Management and Education building, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 7, and  9 to 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday in the same location.

Tuesday also features the quirky and fun event Herb is the Verb, in which creative writing students collaborate with plant biochemistry students to produce a live Twitter performance poem exploring the medicinal and psychoactive properties of plants and language. The event runs from 11:10 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. in the lower foyer, Charles E. Fipke Centre for Innovative Research.

The popular 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) Academic Competition takes place Wednesday. An entertaining and fast-paced competition, 3MT gives graduate students three minutes and use of a single slide to present their exceptional and extensive research to the judges and an audience, who help decide the winners.

Additionally, Wednesday’s highlights include the research showcase event Measuring Innovation in the Teaching Practice. It offers a dynamic lineup of more than a dozen UBC researchers actively involved in producing quality research in the area of innovative education.

On Thursday and Friday, the community is invited to join a panel of university and health experts in either Kelowna or Vernon for refreshments and a discussion about quality of life with an advancing life-limiting illness. Both community presentations are free and open to the public but registration is appreciated.

There are a number of other public events taking place throughout research week, including wine and cheese socials, a digital media showcase, and a celebration of authors and books stemming from the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies.

For more information and a detailed event schedule visit celebrateresearch.ok.ubc.ca.

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