What is the Speakers Bureau?
The UVic Speakers Bureau is a free community service provided by volunteer speakers from among the faculty, staff, graduate students and retirees who teach, conduct research, study and work at the University of Victoria.
Through the bureau, experts and knowledgeable individuals from UVic make themselves available to speak to community groups, schools, clubs and other organizations throughout Greater Victoria and southern Vancouver Island.
UVic is known for its strengths in the arts and sciences and selected professions. Areas of note are:
- community engagement
- climate, environmental change and sustainability
- health and wellness
- Indigenous-led scholarship
- social justice and equity
- technology and the human experience
These and many other areas of expertise are represented among the 484 topics offered this year by Speakers Bureau members.
More than 80 per cent of Speakers Bureau talks are available as virtual or remote presentations—last year, volunteers gave 351 talks, reaching an audience of more than 10,000 people. We continue to offer both in-person and virtual talks this season.
Welcome to our 2022/23 season
Sharing a world of ideas
The connection between the University of Victoria and our region’s community is productive, dynamic and benefits us all. The UVic Speakers Bureau—now in its 42nd season—is an outstanding example of that relationship, bringing the expertise of UVic faculty, staff, graduate students and retirees to audiences across southern Vancouver Island.
Our volunteers are tremendous ambassadors for our university, connecting community to the extraordinary academic environment that has made UVic a world-leading university. The UVic Speakers Bureau is also the only university-wide bureau of its kind in Canada—a sign of our commitment to community engagement and lifelong learning for everyone.
Two years ago, we shifted gears to make more than 80 per cent of our talks available as virtual or remote presentations—an option we continue to offer alongside the in-person speaking engagements we’ve provided since 1980.
Last year, Speakers Bureau volunteers gave 351 presentations to schools, seniors groups, service clubs, business associations and community centres—reaching more than 10,000 community members across southern Vancouver Island.
This year, 122 new topics have been added, reflecting the extraordinary breadth of scholarship at UVic, as well as the enthusiasm of our volunteers to contribute to a better future for people and the planet.
I encourage you to take advantage of this breadth of knowledge by booking a volunteer through UVic's Speakers Bureau.
Dr. Kevin Hall, PhD
President & Vice-Chancellor
Territory acknowledgment
We acknowledge and respect the lək̓ʷəŋən peoples on whose traditional territory the University of Victoria stands, and the Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.