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University of Victoria

Science Meets Parliament – BC

March 13, 2024

This spring, 12 UVic scholars will spend two days at the provincial legislature, meeting with MLAs and learning how policy is made in BC.

  • Sarah Nutter, assistant professor, Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies
  • Christine Ou, assistant professor, School of Nursing
  • Morgan Mowatt, Banting post-doctoral fellow, School of Indigenous Governance
  • Andrea Mellor, post-doctoral fellow, Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research
  • Stacey Fitzsimmons, associate professor, Gustavson School of Business
  • Theone Paterson, assistant professor, Department of Psychology
  • Deondre Smiles, assistant professor, Department of Geography
  • Paweena Sukhawathanakul, assistant professor, Department of Psychology
  • Sravya Tekumalla, assistant professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
  • Anelyse Weiler, assistant professor, Department of Sociology
  • Sarah Wiebe, assistant professor, School of Public Administration
  • Xuekui Zhang, associate professor and Canada Research Chair, Department of Mathematics and Statistics

The April 22-23 event will be the first edition of the Science Meets Parliament program in BC. Organized by the Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC), the opportunity was open to applications from scientists within the first seven years of their faculty appointment. Forty-four from six BC postsecondary institutions applied and a total of 31 were selected.

The national Science Meets Parliament program is championed by CSPC and Canada's Chief Science Advisor, Dr. Mona Nemer. The goal is "to strengthen the connections between Canada's scientific and political communities, enable a two-way dialogue, and promote mutual understanding, to benefit parliamentarians, the scientific community, and the Canadian public alike."

Marianne Black, Canada Research Chair and an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering, attended the national 2023 event in Ottawa. She is serving on the organizing committee for this inaugural event.

"The opportunity to learn about science policy through Science Meets Parliament and directly engage with MPs on Parliament Hill was invaluable," says Black. "I developed a newfound appreciation for how my academic research can shape policy in Canada. I was thrilled to return to UVic following Science Meets Parliament and more thoughtfully consider how the advances in my Mechanical Engineering lab, focused on Augmented Reality, can positively affect Canadians."