Festival topics run from timely to timeless

How do young people use and respond to cyber-aggression? How can the diagnosis and treatment of concussions be improved? Why are our brains better than the smartest computers for certain kinds of tasks? And why do we respond to the music of one artist over another: is it the beauty of the melody, a special harmonic sound, or something else?

Some answers to these questions–along with dozens of others–will be presented at UVic’s annual IdeaFest, from March 3 to 8.Now in its third year, IdeaFest grew to attract thousands of participants from on and off-campus in 2013. Although this year’s events are compressed into six days, nearly equal attendance is anticipated.

IdeaFest events show off the wide variety of learning environments across campus. Event venues include UVic galleries, labs, recital halls, library vaults and forests. Prominent this year will also be student research, ranging from a display of the remarkable e-magazines produced by undergraduate students from the Department of Writing, to graduate students describing their research in “The Three-Minute Thesis”: a fast-paced, jargon-free presentation in front of judges Bob McDonald, the host of CBC’s Quirks and Quarks, Dave Obee, editor-in-chief of the Times Colonist and Janet Rogers, Poet Laureate for the City of Victoria.

“Student and faculty researchers, scholars and artists are eager to present their discoveries, insights, and creative projects to our on and off-campus communities,” says Vice-President Research Howard Brunt.

“I encourage people to schedule in events throughout the IdeaFest week. This festival really demonstrates that ideas are for all of us to question, debate and collectively use to benefit society.”

A sampling of other ideas up for discussion during the festival include strategies to end homelessness, master classes in making music, impacts of learning in the workplace, democracy and tolerance, the controversies surrounding e-cigarettes and the latest on solar energy advances and challenges.

The full program of more than 50 events is formatted for easy online browsing on any device at uvic.ca/ideafest. A video about the event appears at bit.ly/idea-vid.