Community

Astronomy Open Houses

The UVic Observatory is home to one of the largest telescopes on any Canadian university campus. The Observatory hosts free open houses most Wednesdays. Community members are invited to view the skies through the 0.2m Celestron and 0.8m DFM telescopes (if sky conditions permit), join discussions of astronomy headlines and ask space-related questions.

Astronomy Open Houses are hosted by the Department of Physics & Astronomy. 

Café Scientifique

University research has a funny habit of being hard to access, yet research itself is one of those great universal passions that appeals to and connects us all. Our Café Scientifique series bridges the research-to-public gap with casual community lectures inspired by the early coffeehouses of 18th century France. These free evening cafés provide an opportunity to learn about exciting new discoveries in modern science and meet experts in the field. Each event begins with a 45-minute talk followed by a moderated question and answer session. 

K-12 outreach

Our researchers love working with K-12 students and inspiring the next generation of scientists. 

IMAGINING UVic: IMAGINING UVic is a summer camp and seminar series aimed at encouraging young women to pursue STEM fields. Interactive sessions led by UVic researchers introduce participants to new and exciting math concepts that go beyond the BC curriculum. IMAGINING UVic is hosted by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, the Association for Women in Mathematics and the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences. 

Let's Talk Science: Let's Talk Science is a national student-run organization that provides science outreach to schools and hosts several activities on-campus each year. Programs are free and cover a broad range of dynamic self-directed science and social science activities. 

Math Mania: Math Mania is a popular math education event for elementary school students that features a vareity of interactive demonstrations, puzzles, games and art designed to demonstrate fun ways of learning math and computer science concepts. Math Mania is run by the UVic site of the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences.  

Science Venture: Science Venture is a non-profit organization that offers hands-on, minds-on science, engineering and technology learning opportunities for youth entering grades 1 through 12. Programs include in-school and on-campus workshops, summer camps and clubs. Science Venture is supported by the Faculty of Science and the Faculties of Engineering & Computer Science and Education. 

Additional opportunities may be available by reaching out to individual researchers or departments. 

Public lectures

The Faculty of Science offers several public lectures every year, including the annual Lipson Lecture every fall, our biannual Lansdowne Lectures and the Distinguished Women Scholars lectures. These lectures bring in well-known and respected scientists and science communicators to share their expertise on topics of interest to our community. 

Science Rendezvous Victoria

Science Rendezvous is a one-day science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) festival geared towards K-12 students. Come explore hands-on STEM side-by-side with world-renowned scientists, engineers and mathematicians who live right here in Victoria. 

Science Rendezvous Victoria is hosted by the Faculty of Science in conjunction with the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science and the Faculty of Social Sciences. 

Science Speakers Bureau

The UVic Science Speakers Bureau connects members of the Faculty of Science with the local community to share the latest in science, increase science literacy, combat misinformation and inspire interest in STEM. Whether you're a schoolteacher, work at a senior living facility, coordinate a community group or have a workplace that could benefit from one of our talks, our experts would love to come talk to your group (for free!).