Prof Talk

Why are certain people and places vulnerable? Who is responsible for remedying the situation? And what is fair? Why is historical research important?

Tina Loo is a professor in the department of history at the University of British Columbia. She is a leading scholar of Canadian and environmental history. Her work has focused on the nature and impacts of the state’s actions to manage human and non-human environments in the interests of development. She is also recognized for her outstanding and innovative teaching techniques and commitment to mentoring.

In her latest, book, Moved by the State, Forced Relocation and Making a Good Life in Canada she explores the contradiction between intention and consequence as resettlement played out among Inuit in the central Arctic, fishing families in Newfoundland’s outports, farmers and loggers in Quebec’s Gaspé region, Black residents of Halifax’s Africville, and Chinese Canadians in Vancouver’s East Side. In the process, she reveals the optimistic belief underpinning postwar relocations: the power of the interventionist state to do good.

For information about her research, visit: https://history.ubc.ca/profile/tina-loo/

Audio played:

"Why basic research matters" with Natalie Davis
"Manitoba's Sayisi Dene: Forced relocation, racism, survival from CBC archives (1978)"
"Northeast Falsecreek plan"
"Why do you love history?" produced by the UBC History Department
"The People Tree" Interview clip with Tina Loo

How do geochemists study the chemical composition of earth? How do geochemists better our understanding of the earth's interior, natural resources, climate change, human impacts on the environments, and hazards like earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes?

Dominique Weis is a professor in the UBC Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia. She is a renowned leader in the application of trace elements and radiogenic isotopes analysis. Her analytical insight has enabled new discoveries into Earth systems such as mantle plumes and hotspot volcanoes. Through the analysis of a wide range of materials such as honey, salmon, or belongings, her expertise allows the opening of new lines of research into health, local pollution/food security, and archeology/Indigenous-led studies. She is a Canada Research Chair in the Geochemistry of the Earth’s mantle

For more information on Dominique Weis's research, visit: https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/people/dominiqueweis
and the Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research at:
https://pcigr.eos.ubc.ca

Audio Played:
"An Isotopic Talk and Tour: The Pacific Centre for Isotopic and Geochemical Research" produced by PCIGR
"Clair Patterson The Clean Room: Inside Look | Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" Produced by National Geographic

What strategies are used to improve physical activity following a stroke? How is stroke research put into practise? What kinds of stroke recovery programs see the best outcomes?

Janice Eng is a professor in the UBC Department of Physical Therapy at the University of British Columbia. She is a world leader in stroke recovery research, from basic neurobiology to novel clinical interventions and treatment programs, and has implemented these programs globally. Professor Eng is the Canada Research Chair in Neurological Rehabilitation, has been recognized for excellence in mentoring early career faculty, and is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

For more information about Janice Eng's research visit:
https://neurorehab.med.ubc.ca/our-people/dr-eng/

Audio played:

"Stroke Recovery Through Exercise featuring UBC Vitality study participant Marco Chorbajian" produced by UBC
"Hero in You" Interview with Rick Hansen, produced by the BC Hall of Fame
"Excerpt from Awakening the Mind: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" produced by the World Science Festival

What is Perimenopause? What are later life ovulation disturbances? How can women better understand their menstrual cycles during all phases of their life?

Jerilynn C. Prior is a Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of British Columbia, working on women’s health. She studies menstrual cycles, the effects of ovulation and its later life disturbances. She is the Scientific Director and Founder of the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research. The Centre publishes scientific results and disseminates information directly to women.

She has studied women’s menstrual cycles, perimenopause, menopause and the causes for and treatment of osteoporosis. She has shown that regular cycles (with enough estrogen) commonly do not produce sufficient progesterone (anovulation or short luteal phases). She is widely sought as a speaker for professional and lay audiences and is the author of the award-winning book Estrogen’s Storm Season: Stories of Perimenopause, a fiction book designed to inform and empower perimenopausal women.

More information can be found on the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research can be found at: www.cemcor.ca

Audio played:

"The Puzzle of Perimenopause, Keeping a Daily Diary" produced in 1995 in partnership with UBC Biomedical Communications and CEMCOR.
"Ursula Franklin" produced by Historica Canada’s Heritage Minutes
"The ABCs of Osteoporosis Prevention for Premenopausal Women", produced by CEMCOR

Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, in the turbulent apartheid years, Dr. Bonny Norton learnt at an early age the complex relationship between language, power, and identity. Now a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Distinguished University Scholar in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at UBC,her passion for social justice and the role of language education in social change has fuelled her extensive body of research in North America and Africa. Her research is centrally concerned with the promotion of multilingual literacy for children, youth, and adults, and is informed by her seminal work on identity and language learning, described in her 2010 AERA award as “changing the face of second language research”. Her work has introduced novel conceptions of identity to the field of language education, and has been the subject of journal special issues in the USA (1997, 2003, 2017), Japan (2002), China (2007), and Europe (2016). Her publications have been translated into French, Chinese, Portuguese, and German. Dr. Norton’s construct of investment has had a profound impact on international scholarship, and is the topic of a special issue of the leading journal, Langage et Société (2016). Her theory, based on extensive research, holds that while a language learner may be highly motivated (a psychological construct), the learner may not be invested (a sociological construct) in the language practices of a given classroom or community, which may, for example, be racist, sexist, or homophobic. A highly productive scholar, her publications include 5 books, 4 journal special issues, and 125 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. Her current research addresses multilingual literacy for children in African and Canadian communities, and is included in the 2014 special issue she guest edited for the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development on “Multilingual literacy and social change in African communities” and her 2017 co-edited special issue of the Modern Language Journal on “Transdisciplinarity and language teacher identity”.

https://www.storybookscanada.ca/

Audio played:

“Bridging Classroom and Community: Languages and Cultures in Action” offered in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada

UNESCO celebrates International Literacy Day every September 8th. In 2019 its focus was on ‘Literacy and multilingualism’ Embracing linguistic diversity in education and literacy development is central to addressing these literacy challenges and to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Professor Zubeida Desai, Dean of Education, University of the Western Cape, interview from HIGHER EDUCATION TODAY -- Language and Education produced by the University of the District of Columbia and the University of Cape Town

"Multilingual approaches to teaching and learning," at Purnululu Independent Aboriginal Community School in Australia, teaching literacy across all levels of the school, produced by AITSL.

Leslie Anthony is a Whistler-based writer, editor, biologist and occasional filmmaker. A former editor at Powder, Bike and SKIER magazines, he continues his residence on the masthead of numerous ski and outdoor publications globally. At home, Anthony oversees award-winning Mountain Life Annual, pens a weekly column in Pique Newsmagazine, and writes broadly on travel, adventure, science and the environment in magazines like Canadian Geographic. Author of two previously acclaimed titles, Snakebit and White Planet, his latest book is The Aliens Among Us: How invasive species are transforming the planet—and ourselves.