Nice to get some good news; this comes from Simon Fraser University (SFU; Vancouver, British Columbia), from an October 22, 2025 news release (also on EurekAlert),
Tens of thousands of B.C. public school students are embarking on new tech-based projects thanks to $150,000 from Simon Fraser University aimed at transforming classroom experience.
The 2025 Cmolik–SFU Grant Program supports classroom, school, and district-based science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) projects. Administered by Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Education through the Cmolik Endowment Fund, the program empowers educators to design initiatives that build critical thinking skills, foster curiosity, and create equitable opportunities for students from kindergarten to Grade 12.
“The Cmolik–SFU Grant Program has the potential to strengthen the educational experiences and learning outcomes for generations of students, and we are excited to see such an enthusiastic response from education communities across B.C.,” says Dan Laitsch, dean of education at SFU. “We deeply appreciate the transformational financial support we have received from Ellen and Russ Cmolik.”
In Coquitlam, the Expanding Equitable Access to Robotics in Middle Schools project received $25,000 to scale a pilot MakeX robotics program to all 14 middle schools, reaching 7,500 students annually and promoting gender equity in STEM [science, technology, engineering, mathematics] education.
“Our goal is to democratize access to robotics education,” said Dave Sands, principal of technology implementation with the Coquitlam school district. “We hope to spark interest in girls—an underrepresented group in robotics—and promote overall equity in STEAM [science, technology, engineering, art + design, mathematics] education to prepare all students for future tech-driven careers.”
North Vancouver also received $25,000 for the Robotics for All: Building STEM Pathways through Teamwork, Coding, and Competition project, which will expand robotics clubs to all 26 elementary schools, pairing students with mentors and culminating in a district-wide robotics competition.
Ten more school districts received $10,000 grants for projects ranging from digital storytelling and Indigenous education to makerspaces and virtual reality:
SD27 – Cariboo-Chilcotin (Tatla Lake Elementary and Junior Secondary) Voices of the Valley: A Rural Youth Digital Newspaper project will engage students as journalists, editors, and designers to collaboratively publish multimedia newspapers using Canva, storytelling, and digital media tools.
SD33 – Chilliwack (Promontory Heights Elementary) Building Future Innovators Through Hands-on, High-tech Learning expands the school’s Makerspace with robotics kits, engineering tools, and STEM challenges.
SD37 – Delta (Hawthorne Elementary) Stories the Land Remembers and Tells Today will create a video-based curriculum that follows Indigenous hunting journeys, blending biology, culture, and reconciliation lessons for use across K–12 classrooms.
SD39 – Vancouver (J.W. Sexsmith Elementary) The Maker Mindset: Empowering Young Designers Through Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies (ADST) will embed design thinking and ADST kits—including robotics, sewing, and cardboard engineering—into K–7 classrooms.
SD41 – Burnaby (South Slope/BC School for the Deaf and Cameron Elementary) Digital Storytelling in the Library Learning Commons will transform libraries into storytelling hubs, where tools like Book Creator and stop-motion animation will be used to create multimodal stories by K-12 students.
SD51 – Boundary (Greenwood Elementary) 3D Printing and Laser Cutting Lab will expand access to modern design tools, enabling students across the district to learn digital modeling, prototyping, and hands-on problem-solving through 3D printer, Tinkercad, Canva, and LightBurn.
SD61 – Greater Victoria (Cedar Hill Middle School) Landing Stories, A Digital Witness will engage 6–8 grade students in creating digital storytelling through film, audio, and photography to document Indigenous land-based learning, guided by Indigenous Education leaders.
SD72 – Campbell River (Penfield Elementary) Our Stories, Our Strength: A Journey of Healing and Reconciliation will give students opportunities to co-create bilingual (English and a local Indigenous language) picture books and a collaborative mural using Book-Creator, Canva and Office 365.
SD81 – Fort Nelson (Fort Nelson Secondary School) VR Learning Lab will introduce Class VR technology to provide immersive experiences across subjects, enabling students in this remote community to virtually explore museums, and historic landmarks.
SD85 – Vancouver Island North (Sea View Elementary) Create Lab: A Student Innovation and Storytelling Studio will establish weekly Innovation Blocks where students design STEAM projects, experiment in a makerspace, and create podcasts, videos, and prototypes that blend technology with literacy.
The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) invites journalists to apply for its annual, generously funded residency program starting spring 2026. Come spend 3 to 6 months on ISTA’s vibrant, interdisciplinary campus near Vienna, gaining exclusive access to world-class researchers from a wide range of fields. Engage with innovative minds, deepen your reporting and perspectives, and connect society with scientific discovery.
About ISTA
The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) is a rapidly growing, PhD-granting academic institution with a bold mission – to ask curiosity-driven questions and push the boundaries of basic research through collaboration across disciplines. With an expanding, state-of-the-art campus that first opened in 2009, ISTA currently hosts around 90 research groups and 78 nationalities. From AI to astrophysics and the climate to quantum mechanics, research areas span the mathematical and physical sciences, life sciences, and information and system sciences. Building on the momentum of recent years, ISTA is charting an ambitious course and on track to reach 150 research groups and more than 2,000 employees by 2036.
ISTA is a hub where science sparks innovation, engagement, and real-world impact. The Institute not only trains the next generation of scientific leaders but also strives to bring science closer to society through a variety of outreach programs – from the new VISTA Science Experience Center to start-ups and spin-offs supported by the XISTA ecosystem.
Eligibility: Experienced science or technology journalists (all formats welcome)
Language: While English is ISTA’s working language, journalists publishing/producing in other languages are also encouraged to apply.
Commitments: Journalists are expected to host interactive media training sessions and workshops, and participate in lectures and/or panel discussions to share their science communications expertise with the ISTA community.
Housing: Participants cover their own room and board costs. Depending on availability, journalists can either live on campus within walking distance of the Vienna Woods or look for more urban accommodation in downtown Klosterneuburg or nearby Vienna.
Why Apply?
Access – Interview leading scientists from around the world at one of Europe’s fastest-growing research institutes to enrich your reporting.
Inspiration – Attend campus seminars, lectures, and events to spark fresh story ideas and gain rare insights into ongoing frontier research.
Network – Connect with ISTA researchers and the wider ISTA community to build sources and relationships that will last beyond your stay.
Focus – Dedicate time to your writing and/or multimedia projects in a stimulating yet tranquil setting, with all that Vienna has to offer right at your doorstep.
The press release offers one of the most complete descriptions of the requirements for the application that I can recall seeing. But, there is a little more information at ista.ac.at/residencies/,
When needed, ISTA supports residents with formalities to ensure a smooth arrival on campus.
While on site, journalists are hosted by the Communications team and artists by the Science Education unit.
Past Residents
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There is also an Artist in Residence call coming up in a few weeks,. from ista.ac.at/residencies/,,
Artist in Residence
The open call for the ISTA Artist Residency 2026 will be published in fall 2025. ISTA will invite established as well as emerging Austrian and international artists to apply. For more information, please reach out to artistresidency@ista.ac.at.
VISTA Science Experience Center (mentioned in the press release) is celebrating its opening in early October 2025, Note: This looks like it’s either an illustration or it’s a highly pixelated image,
[downloaded from https://www.ethos.at/ideenreich/bildung/1205-vista-science-experience-center]
From the VISTA Science Experience Center website (English language version), the festival program webpage,
Hello Science! Hello Vista!
3. – 5. Oktober 2025
Welcome to the opening of the VISTA Science Experience Center!
We are celebrating the opening of the VISTA Science Experience Center with a grand opening festival at the ISTA campus in Klosterneuburg. You can look forward to three days full of exciting highlights: from keynotes and panels to interactive workshops and concerts.
Be there when the first exhibition “Science in the Making” opens and immerse yourself in ISTA’s fascinating research. From neuroscience and climate research to quantum physics and AI – here you can experience the diversity and dynamism of 21st-century science. We look forward to seeing you there!
Many researchers dream of publishing their work in world-leading journals like Nature. But how do you catch the attention of editors and reviewers at such high-impact publications?
On Sunday, September 14, 2025, an international online webinar will bring answers straight from the source. Prof. Willie Peijnenburg, a distinguished environmental scientist from Leiden University in the Netherlands, will share practical strategies on how to write and present research that makes it into top-tier journals.
Prof. Peijnenburg has authored more than 675 scientific papers, with over 26,700 citations to his name. Drawing on his extensive editorial experience with respected journals such as Environmental Science & Technology and Aquatic Toxicology, he will explain how the review process works, what editors are really looking for, and how researchers can position their manuscripts for success.
The webinar will also dive into the specific challenges of publishing in Nature and its sub-journals. According to Prof. Peijnenburg, the keys are novelty, clarity, and conciseness. “It’s crucial to explain very briefly and very clearly why your research is new and how it advances the field,” he notes.
This event will be hosted by Prof. Yang Liu of Kunming University of Science and Technology and is open to researchers, graduate students, and anyone interested in learning how to publish their work more effectively.
📅 Date: Sunday, September 14, 2025 ⏰ Time: 15:00–16:00 (Beijing, China) | 09:00–10:00 (Netherlands) 🎤 Speaker: Prof. Willie Peijnenburg, Leiden University 🎙 Host: Prof. Yang Liu, Kunming University of Science and Technology 🔗 Zoom Link:Click to Join 🆔 Meeting ID: 828 0662 2724 🔒 Passcode: 123456
This lecture is part of the Environmental and Biogeochemical Process Webinar Series, which brings together leading experts to share insights and inspire the next generation of scientists.
A September 5, 2025 announcement (received via email) from Toronto’s ArtSci Salon highlights three upcoming events. In date order, from the online version of the September 5, 2025 announcement, Note: The online version is on mailchi.mp and is time limited,
Book Launch To Place a Rabbit by Madhur Anand in conversation with Shyam Selvadurai
Tuesday, Sept. 9 2025 7:00 pm [ 7 – 8:30 pm ET] Another Story Bookstore 315 Roncesvalles avenue Toronto
I found more information about the book launch on its eventbrite RSVP page, Note: Links have been removed,
ABOUT THE BOOK
This delightfully clever, artfully layered novel begins when a scientist who has written a popular book of non-fiction attends a literary festival, where she strikes up a friendship with a charismatic novelist. The novelist reveals that her new work is an experiment: a novella she wrote in English only to have it translated and published solely in French—a language the novelist cannot read. Moreover, she has lost her original English manuscript of this work. Hearing this, the scientist, who is fluent in French, impulsively offers to retranslate the novella back into English for the novelist.As she embarks on this task, the scientist finds herself haunted by vivid memories and distracting questions—particularly about a passionate affair from her own life with a French lover. These insert themselves into her translation process, troubling it, then disrupting it entirely. She desperately tries to complete her task before losing control of both the work and her well-organized existence—but soon the novelist and the French lover reappear in the present, further complicating both life and art.Here is sparkling, irresistible debut fiction from one of our most consistently inventive voices, the award-winning and multi-talented Madhur Anand.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Madhur Anand’s debut book of creative non-fiction This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart (2020) won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction. Her debut collection of poems A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes (2015) was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry and named one of 10 all-time “trailblazing” poetry collections by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Her second collection of poems Parasitic Oscillations (2022) was also a finalist for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry and named a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book. To Place a Rabbit is her first novel. Anand is a professor and the director of the Global Ecological Change and Sustainability Laboratory at the University of Guelph, Ontario.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Shyam Selvadurai was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Funny Boy, his first novel, won the W.H. Smith/ Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Lambda Literary Award in the US. He is the author of Cinnamon Gardens and Swimming in the Monsoon Sea, and the editor of an anthology, Story-wallah! A Celebration of South Asian Fiction. His books have been published in the US, the UK and India, and published in translation in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey and Israel. His latest novel, The Hungry Ghosts, was published April 2, 2013 in Canada, India and Sri Lanka. Shyam co- wrote the screenplay for his first novel Funny Boy, for which he won the Canadian Screen Award and the New York Cinema Independent Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Shyam’s new novel Mansions of the Moon is a historical novel about the Buddha’s wife, Yasodhara. In 2016, Shyam had the interesting honour of having a spider named after him: Brignolia shyami, a small goblin spider.
Call for Proposals: RE:SciComm February 19-20, 2026 Oakham House, Toronto Metropolitan University, 55 Gould Street, Toronto
RE:SciComm (formerly SciCommTO) — a dynamic, in-person conference exploring the art, science, and strategy of science communication in Canada. The conference will attract science communicators, researchers, journalists, graduate students, and outreach professionals from across the GTHA [Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area] and beyond.
The RE:ScieComm conference website offers a clue as to why it was mentioned in ArtSci Salon announcements,
Join us for a dynamic conference exploring the art, science, and strategy of science communication in Canada.
Whether you’re behind the mic, in front of a classroom, or crafting stories for the screen, RE:SciComm is the place to build your skills, grow your network, and join the national conversation on science engagement and communication.
In an era shaped by climate change, public health crises, and rapid advances in AI, the need for effective science communication has never been clearer. Science impacts all of us — but how we talk about it, and who gets heard, matters more than ever. RE:SciComm will dive into the challenges and opportunities of today’s engagement landscape, from tackling misinformation to reaching communities historically excluded from science conversations.
Why RE:SciComm?
Formerly known as SciCommTO, the original 2020 conference drew wide praise for its collaborative spirit and practical focus. Now we’re rebooting with fresh energy, a broader scope, and a renewed commitment to advancing inclusive and effective science communication.
…
Call for Proposals Now Open ◐
We’re looking for bold, practical, and thought-provoking session proposals that explore the future of science communication. Workshops, panel discussions, interactive sessions, debates, or something unexpected — if you’ve got an idea that could inspire or empower fellow communicators, we want to hear from you.
*Speakers and Conference Program will be released in October 2025. Registration will open October 2025.
DEADLINE Monday, September 15, 2025 at 11:59 PM ET
Conference Themes
Re:framing
What does inclusive, community-first science communication look like? This theme is about democratizing science and shifting perspectives—getting research out of the lab, beyond academic journals and conferences, and into public spaces where it can be shared, shaped, and understood by all. It’s about centering equity, decolonization, and Indigenous ways of knowing in how we communicate science. Whether it’s through co-creation, storytelling, art, language, or lived experience, we’re looking for sessions that challenge the status quo and open up new possibilities. Let’s explore fresh frameworks, participatory approaches, and best practices that make STEMM [science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine] more accessible, responsive, and representative of the world we live in.
Re:building
As we navigate a rapidly changing world, how do we rebuild public trust in STEMM, and reimagine science communication for today’s reality in Canada? This theme explores emerging challenges and opportunities—from misinformation and AI to science policy and education. We invite sessions that tackle the unique contexts of science engagement in Canada, offering insight into how science communicators can meet the moment with integrity, creativity, and care. Let’s reshape the narrative and design strategies that help STEMM thrive across diverse communities.
Re:igniting
Let’s get inspired. This theme is all about renewal—of relationships, collaborations, ideas, and purpose. What fuels your passion for science communication, and how can we grow the field together? We’re looking for sessions that celebrate creativity, connection, and momentum—whether through innovative formats, bold new projects, or reflections on what keeps us going. Together, we’ll build a more vibrant, interconnected, and future-focused science communication community across Canada.
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Conference Co-Hosts
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The Royal Canadian Institute for Science (RCIScience) is Canada’s oldest scientific society, celebrating its 175th year of science engagement. Through award-winning events and programs, RCIScience sparks curiosity and builds a stronger science culture across Canada.
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SciXchange at Toronto Metropolitan University is dedicated to making science accessible, engaging, and inclusive for all. From hands-on outreach to science communication training, SciXchange brings science to life for communities across the GTHA.
I very much appreciate the visual puns used to illustrate and ‘illuminate’ the conference themes.
This next and last event is more typical of the ArtSci Salon’s offerings, although the more accessible (IMO) description for the event and the artist was on this University of Toronto Jackman Humanities Institute event page,
Description
Join us for a series of events running through September 25 to October 16 that include an opening reception, additional tour and two panel discussions. Together, these events aim to raise awareness about the challenges posed by dyscalculia with educators, fellow mathematicians, and parents while normalizing its existence, leading to early detection and augmented support. It will also explore more broadly on the role and significance of mathematics and math education in today’s shifting socio-cultural and economic contexts.
“i don’t do math” is a photographic series exploring dyscalculia, a learning difference that affects a person’s ability to understand and work with number-based information. While dyslexia (difficulty with language) has become widely recognized thanks to years of advocacy and early detection, dyscalculia remains largely unknown. Research estimates that 3–7% of children, adolescents, and adults are affected (Haberstroh & Schulte-Körne 2019), though the actual numbers may be higher, as only a small fraction of those who struggle with math are ever screened (Sparks 2023).
Despite its prevalence, dyscalculia is often misunderstood—dismissed as a lack of education or mistaken for a personality trait. Left unrecognized, it can impact many aspects of daily life. It is also frequently confused with math anxiety, a sense of apprehension that interferes with math performance and while the two are not the same, dyscalculia can contribute to the development of math anxiety.
Photographer Ann Piché approaches this project both as an artist and an advocate, documenting the experiences of people affected by dyscalculia while engaging educators, learners, and parents in conversations about its effects and possible supports. Her exhibition presents abstract images paired with mathematical formulae, visually translating unfamiliar equations into recognizable photographic forms. The pairing of images and formulas conveys the frustration many with dyscalculia feel when navigating a number-centric world, while accompanying text-based panels guide viewers through the assumptions and challenges that shape these experiences.
The series consists of 15 photographs and 5 text-based panels, including works created during fieldwork visits in courses taught by University of Toronto, Department of Math, Professors Amenda Chow and Sarah Mayes-Tang of Calculus and Symmetry and Professor Pam Sargent of Business Calculus, Professor Ada Chan of Pre-Calculus at York University, and Dr. Pamela Brittain of K–12 Curriculum Education from the Fields Institute.
Ann Piché is a photo-based artist in Ottawa, Canada. Working in technology since the early 1990’s, Ann was the first female electronic technician hired by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Experiencing the disconnect that can exist between science and the arts she constructs visual links to build those connections, creating accessible entry points for conversations about the less familiar.
A graduate of the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa (SPAO), Ann’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions in Canada and in group exhibitions internationally. Her collaborations include the Department of Mathematics at the University of Toronto and the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences. A recipient of grants from the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto, the City of Ottawa and the Ontario Arts Council, Ann has been published in North American magazines such as SHOTS and PhotoED.
Ann’s images are not software generated. Working primarily in digital photography, she stages her images using real and constructed landscapes with custom-built sets. Her work explores photographic abstraction and experimental camera techniques, a visual acknowledgement of the anxiety we can feel when facing the unfamiliar.
This initiative is supported by JHI Program for the Arts, the ArtSci Salon & the Fields Institute, and New College. Many thanks to the Departments of Mathematics at the University of Toronto and York University for their collaboration.
ABOUT “I don’t do math” is a photographic series referencing dyscalculia, a learning difference affecting a person’s ability to understand and manipulate number-based information.
This initiative seeks to raise awareness about the challenges posed by dyscalculia with educators, fellow mathematicians, and parents, and to normalize its existence, leading to early detection and augmented support. In addition, it seeks to reflect on and question broader issues and assumptions about the role and significance of Mathematics and Math education in today’s changing socio-cultural and economic contexts.
The exhibition will contain pedagogical information and activities for visitors and students. The artist will also address the extensive research that led to the exhibition. The exhibition will feature two panel discussions following the opening and to conclude the exhibition.
Photographer Ann Piché is using her artistic practice both to document the struggles experienced by people affected by dyscalculia, and to educate math educators, students, and parents about its effects and potential support strategies.The series consists of 15 photographs and 5 text-based panels, including work produced during fieldwork visits in Prof. Amenda Chow and Prof. Sarah Mayes-Tang’s Calculus and Symmetry classes; Prof. Pam Sargent’s business calculus class (all three professors are from the dept. of Math.); Prof. Ada Chan’s pre-calculus class (dept. of Math., York University); and Dr.Pamela Brittain’s K-12 and curriculum education program (Fields Institute).
Opening: Thursday September 25, 5:00 pm [ET] Tour: Saturday September 27, [2025] 2:00 pm [ET] (meet us at the Fields Institute, Atrium 2nd floor) —- Panel Discussion: Monday, September 29, 4:00 pm [ET] Ann Piché (independent artist) Daniel Ansari (Department of Psychology and Education, Western University) Darja Barr (Department of Mathematics, University of Winnipeg) room 230, the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences 222 College Street, Toronto —- Stay tuned for the Final Panel Discussion on October 16, 10:00 am with Andrew Fiss (Professional & Technical Communication, Michigan Technological University Humanities Department) and other panelists
All panels will be recorded and posted on our Youtube channel
The last World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ) was held in Medellin, Columbia in 2023 as per my March 30, 2023 posting. This year South Africa is the host, the conference theme is “Science journalism and social justice: journalism that builds understanding and resilience,” and registration is now open as announced in a September 3, 2025 World Conference of Science Journalists 2025,
Registration for the World Conference of Science Journalists 2025 (WCSJ2025), due to take place 1-5 December [2025] at the CSIR [Council for Scientific and Industrial Research] International Convention Centre in Pretoria, is now open.
This is an unmissable event for science journalists, science communicators and scientists wanting to publicise their work. The international biennial conference is taking place for the first time ever on African soil and presents a unique opportunity for everyone interested in communicating science to hone their craft, to network with their peers, and to find stories about groundbreaking African science.
The overarching theme is “Science journalism and social justice: journalism that builds understanding and resilience”. The programme is wide-ranging and includes discussions and practical workshops covering wellbeing for people and the planet; the state of the profession; the art of communication; and misinformation, disinformation and fake news.
A small sample of some of the sessions on the programme includes:
The world’s oceans are facing grave threats from climate change, overfishing, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Emerging industries such as deep-sea mining and marine geoengineering are adding further pressure. As well as ensuring that reporting on these topics is scientifically accurate, journalists must ensure that the voices of those most impacted are included. Journalists on this panel are from Australia, South Africa, India and the USA.
When industry endangers health and ecosystems
Can science journalism fight environmental injustice? In this session, learn how journalists safely expose polluters, turn data into evidence, and amplify marginalised voices. Through real cases and tools, the panellists will show how media can drive policy change and reduce pollution inequalities.
AI – Friend or Foe?
Artificial Intelligence is transforming journalism – supercharging investigations while enabling sophisticated deepfakes and automated disinformation that challenge both newsroom survival and editorial integrity. This session examines how journalists are fighting back, turning AI’s analytical power against digital manipulation and disinformation networks while maintaining trust in an era where seeing is no longer believing.
Reporting under fire: science journalism in conflict zones and authoritarian regimes
This session offers strategies for resilience and highlights the role of journalism in defending scientific truth and social justice. In regions where war, political repression, or disaster intersect with scientific misinformation, science journalists face grave risks. This session explores how journalists from Yemen, Lebanon and Nigeria confront censorship, security threats, and digital suppression to still report on public health, climate, and tech stories.
Challenging times: Communicating about climate change when politics promotes denial and misinformation
The World Meteorological Organization confirmed 2024 as the warmest year on record, yet a cocktail of fake news, narratives without evidence, and economic interests are promoting climate change denialism. What role has science journalism to play in countering this trend and dismantling such narratives?
Telling the stories of astronomy in Africa
Africa has become a key player in global astronomy, with South Africa hosting the largest share of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), as well as the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) and other projects. This session explores the major strides made since the early days of optical astronomy in South Africa, and what it means for international science reporting. Speakers will examine the challenges of covering “big science” projects, the politics of funding, and how to make cosmic research accessible to broad audiences.
Registration rates are listed in South African Rands (ZAR) and the early bird (until September 30, 2025) registration fee is 6500ZAR or (approximately) $505.47CAD as of Thursday, September 4, 2025 at 10 am PT. The registration page hosts a handy link to a currency exchange rate tool allowing to check the various fees for participants and add on fees.
Applications for travel grants to attend WCSJ 2025 will be invited from journalists who have a proven track record of producing high-quality, accurate, and engaging science journalism.
To be kept informed on the upcoming call for travel grant applications, please ensure you are subscribed to our mailing list and / or follow us on our social media platforms (links in footer).
I did not see any social media platforms listed in the footer but perhaps those will be added later.
This looks it will be an exciting conference. Bon Voyage! And, good luck if you are applying for a travel grant.
h/t to Science Media Centre of Canada’s September 2, 2025 science notice for this notice about an exciting immersive writing programme. It’s pricey but you may find it worthwhile. Here’s a video (embedded on spiritbear.com) featuring a clip from the Great Bear Rainforest IMAX Film courtesy of Spirit Bear Lodge and filmmaker Ian McAllister,
The programme for writers in the Great Bear Rainforest was developed by Lesley Evans Ogden, Canadian science journalist. From her eponymous website, Note: I have reorganized the order of the information on the website,
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Is this workshop for me?
This is an experience designed for:
· new or established writers interested in publishing science and nature writing in magazines, newspapers, blogs or a book
· museum staff wanting to improve science communication
· professors wanting to improve public engagement
· travel writers looking to expand potential markets into eco and nature writing
· hobbyists writing for the pure joy of writing
Whether you’re a hobbyist, aspiring writer, journalist, travel writer, museum curator, public information officer, blogger or scientist, you will find your days at comfortable and welcoming Great Bear Lodge thought-provoking, enlightening and inspirational. Participants will deepen their connection to nature while exploring how to share that connection with others through narrative non-fiction writing.
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Your coach [emphasis mine] in this spectacular wild environment will be internationally acclaimed science journalist, author and workshop leader Lesley Evans Ogden [emphasis mine]. Lesley’s nature writing, photography and documentary work have been published and broadcast by top outlets for science and nature communication, including the New York Times, CBC, BBC, Scientific American, New Scientist, Science, National Geographic, The Atlantic, Smithsonian, Nature, and many others.
An award-winning writer and teacher, Lesley has previously led and spoken at highly regarded workshops for universities, colleges and organizations including the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, Mount Allison University, the National Association of Science Writers (US), COMPASS, and the Science Writers and Communicators of Canada.
Your writing opportunities will be drawn from fresh field observations and individual passion projects. Nature Writing in the Great Bear Rain Forest will be a unique opportunity to learn from small group and individualized coaching and mentorship.
We will spend time daily in remote and beautiful Smith Inlet, using observations made in this exceptional natural environment to generate new writing. Each day at the lodge will include morning and evening wildlife tours by boat, accompanied by afternoon and evening writing sessions for coaching, focused instruction and feedback..
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What’s included in your 4-day workshop experience
Daily morning and evening wildlife tours with wildlife guides and writing coach
Small group sessions that include reading and supportive feedback for works in progress
Independent writing time
Group and instructor feedback on written work in progress
Two hours of in-person individualized writing coaching from Lesley
Final reading by participants to each other and lodge staff
Session on pitching and publishing
One hour of post-workshop online mentoring with Lesley
This unique experience is an ecotour and writing workshop rolled into one, designed to be flexible to a range of participant needs and levels of experience.
At the end of this short course, you will come away with new skills and a new network — a supportive team of fellow nature writers.
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Dates: May 31 – June 4, 2026
Level: All Levels
Cost: $5000 CDN per participant
What does the cost include?
Two boat-based nature viewing sessions per day, including possible sightings of grizzly bears, bald eagles, seals, and whales, accompanied by lodge wildlife guides and Lesley.
Accommodation for 3 nights in a private room at the Great Bear Lodge with ensuite shower
Wilderness-gourmet meals including wine, beer and a selection of beverages
Interpretive discussion and welcome orientation for wildlife viewing
Daily group and individually-tailored nature writing instruction in the field and at the lodge to work fresh nature observations into polished prose
Individually tailored coaching and feedback
Pitching and publishing skills
Post-workshop mentorship and networking
Return seaplane flight from Port Hardy to Great Bear Lodge
Binoculars, rain gear and rubber boots, if required
Final night at the Kwa’lilas Hotel in Port Hardy (group dinner at participant expense)
Workshop tuition, including one hour follow up mentorship session online after completion
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Preliminary Schedule
Day 1: Arrival by wilderness float plane late afternoon (departure from Port Hardy scheduled for 3pm), settle in, evening field trip, dinner, drinks and introductory session
Day 2: Yoga/aerobics on the dock (optional), breakfast, morning boat expedition, lunch, group writing instruction, individual writing time, dinner, evening safari, group readings of work in progress with drinks & dessert
Day 3: Yoga/aerobics on the dock (optional), breakfast, morning boat expedition, lunch, group writing instruction, individual writing time, one-on-one coaching sessions with Lesley, dinner and readings, evening expedition, individual writing time.
Day 4: Breakfast, morning expedition, pitching and publishing session, lunch, readings, wrap up, departure by float plane, dinner and wrap up at Kwa’lilas Hotel in Port Hardy.
This seems to be a ‘first come, first served’ situation rather than a competitive one. One last comment, May 31 – June 4, 2025 is a five day* period. You may want to check Ogden’s eponymous website to find whatever I missed.
*ETA September 3, 2025 at 4:15 pm PT: Lesley Ogden Evans very kindly confirmed that day 5 is a travel day.
All your favourite Canadianisms—and 137 new ones—just got easier to find, right in time for Canada Day.
The UBC editors of the Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles have released an updated third edition that makes it mobile-friendly for the first time. The technical rebuild was part of the dictionary’s first update since 2017, and only the second since its launch in 1967.
The dictionary now contains more than 14,500 meanings for more than 12,000 words that Canada can rightfully claim. For example, if you live in Raincouver, you’ve probably gotten a booter in your dooryard at some point—although you wouldn’t call it that. Booter is a uniquely Manitoban term for a puddle-soaked foot, and dooryard is what New Brunswickers call their front yard.
Some terms, like puck, have been around since the late 19th century. Indigenous terms like qajaq, much longer. Others, like elbows up, are as fresh as this year’s headlines.
While some Canadianisms originated or are used solely in Canada, others are older terms that faded abroad but still thrive in Canada. Others have a unique meaning in Canada that doesn’t apply in other cultures. And some are simply used much more widely in Canada than anywhere else.
Dr. Stefan Dollinger, a professor in the department of English language and literatures and the dictionary’s chief editor, points to the word ding (to charge someone money unexpectedly) as a good example of the latter.
“The words don’t have to be unique to Canada,” he said. “There may be one guy somewhere in California who says, ‘They dinged me five bucks because I didn’t renew my parking,’ but it’s very common in Canada and very rare in the States. Those are the patterns we’re trying to find.”
Dr. Dollinger and associate editor Dr. Margery Fee, a professor emerita of English, worked for three years with a small team of graduate students, undergraduates and volunteers to investigate potential new entries. They would often start with an anecdote or even a hunch, then trace the term and its meaning through English-language sources to uncover its evolution through time and geography.
It’s a lot of work, but Dr. Dollinger believes the importance of doing it has been underscored lately.
“In this day and age when the Canadian psyche has been a little bit shaken, it’s not a bad idea to remind people that there’s something distinctly Canadian in the tiniest little things, and it’s not random, it’s systematic,” he said. “The way you use language is actually something that’s pretty profound in human experience.”
Dr. Dollinger’s Canadian English Lab is working closely with John Chew, the Toronto editor of an 180,000-word Canadian English Dictionary that is being compiled for publication in 2028. The UBC team will supply the Canadianisms for that project, which will be the first new Canadian dictionary since the second edition of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary 20 years ago.
If you’d like to test your knowledge of the new Canadianisms, try taking the quiz.
There are 13 questions (I got 10 answers right). Hint: You may want to read the excerpt below before attempting the quiz. Enjoy!
For someone who wants to get a little more information before heading off to the dictionary and/or quiz, there’s an eight minute interview by Steven Quinn of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) radio programme, The Early Edition with Dr. Stefan Dollinger. Also, there’s a June 30, 2025 article by Harrison Mooney for The Tyee, Note: Links have been removed,
What makes a word CANADIAN?
Sometimes it’s origin. Words and terms like DEMOVICTION, RENOVICTION and TRICK OR TREAT originated right here in Vancouver; BUNNY HUG, a synonym for hoodie in Saskatchewan, exclusively, appears to have originated there; and though it was named the American Dialect Society’s 2023 word of the year, ENSHITTIFICATION, or digital platform decay, was coined by Canadian tech guru Cory Doctorow. That makes it ours.
Sometimes it’s frequency. Geographical phrases like DOWN ISLAND and UP ISLAND are primarily used along British Columbia’s west coast, when travelling, say, between Nanaimo and Victoria on Vancouver Island. Climate change-related terms like ATMOSPHERIC RIVER, HEAT DOME and ZOMBIE FIRE (a fire that reignites after smouldering underground over the winter) have also achieved widespread use in B.C., as we’ve seen them so recently.
These are two of six types of Canadianisms, according to lexicographer Stefan Dollinger, a professor in the department of English language and literatures at the University of British Columbia. AS WELL, Dollinger serves as chief editor of the newly released third edition of A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, or DCHP-3, considered the definitive collection of words, expressions or meanings distinctive of Canadian English.
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DCHP-3 is a crucial component of a much larger linguistic project: the first full-size dictionary of Canadian English released in more than 20 years, a long-awaited replacement for the outdated Canadian Oxford Dictionary, whose second and final edition was published way back in 2004.
That was at the tail end of what Dollinger calls the Great Canadian Dictionary War of the 1990s, when Oxford University Press came to Canada and cornered the market. They played dirty, according to Dollinger, stoking anti-American sentiment and inflating their collection of Canadian phrases for clout. Winning the war wasn’t lucrative, though. In 2008, after killing its competitors, Oxford closed its offices, fired its lexicographers and left the country. In the decades since, no one has managed to publish a truly comprehensive Canadian dictionary.
If you write for a living, you’ve noticed. Modern spellchecking software relies on U.S. and U.K. dictionaries, creating constant headaches. …
Smell is a very charged topic as I learned almost 20 years ago when working on a master’s programme on creating writing and digital technology via distance education. I had innocently suggested that we include the sense of smell when looking at immersive technology.
One of the members in our group of three ‘blew up’. As someone who had led the Irish teams involved in Microsoft’s multimedia efforts, he asserted his superior understanding of multimedia and narrative. Never one to go away quietly, I persisted, as did the other member of our group, in the discussion.
The whole thing culminated in three projects where our ‘expert’ colleague titled his project ‘STFU’. It was a several minute video diatribe starting with the words ‘shut the …’ You can probably fill in the blanks.
It seems that smell is a very charged topic when applied to creative writing and/or literature. Amelia Louks, research supervisor in English literature at the University of Cambridge, writes about her experience with smell and literature in a December 16, 2024 essay on The Conversation, Note: Links have been removed,
In November [2024], I celebrated finishing my PhD. After three and a half years of writing and research, it was an occasion I wanted to share with my academic network, so I posted a photo of myself holding a physical copy of my PhD thesis on X. The post amassed 120 million views and sparked a lot of anger in response to its title: Olfactory Ethics: The Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Prose.
The title received criticism from those who were wilfully misrepresenting the nature of the research. “Smells are racist,” became a misguided refrain. One user commented that it was a study of “why it’s racist and/or classist to not like it when people exhibit body odors consistent with poor hygiene”.
My thesis studies how certain authors of the past century used smell in literature to indicate social hostilities, such as prejudice and exploitation. It also connects this to our real-world understanding of the role the sense plays in society.
For instance, in The Road to Wigan Pier (1936), George Orwell states that “the real secret of class distinctions in the West” can be summed up in four frightful words: “The lower classes smell.” Orwell proceeds to unpick the harm that this kind of messaging causes and how we might combat it.
It is well documented that smell has been used as a justification for expressions of racism, classism and sexism. Since the 1980s, researchers have been assessing the moral implications of perceptions and stereotypes related to smell.
My thesis adds to this work by assessing the contributions of a selection of books and films that take smell seriously. In each of the texts I considered, smell takes on a role beyond mere sense perception.
I include examples from well-known works by George Orwell, Vladimir Nabokov, J.M. Coetzee and Toni Morrison, as well as notable recent examples, such as Bong Joon-ho’s film, Parasite.
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Sheena Goodyear’s December 5, 2025 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) article based on the interview conducted with Louks for the CBC/s As It Happens radio programme delves further into Louks’ experience with posting about her PhD and how she responded to the barrage,
When Ally Louks posted last week that she was “PhDone” with her English literature thesis, she didn’t expect to find herself at the centre of a culture war.
Louks posted a picture of herself on X, formerly known as Twitter, smiling proudly and holding a bound copy of her University of Cambridge thesis on the “politics of smell” in literature.
One week later, the seemingly innocuous post has been viewed 117.1 million times, made headlines around the world, and put Louks on the receiving end of plenty of praise but also heaps of hate, including a rape threat that’s now under investigation by police.
“I couldn’t possibly have anticipated that this post would even go beyond my little academic community on Twitter of about 200 people,” Louks told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
At the heart of the backlash is the title of Louks’s thesis, visible in the photo: “Olfactory Ethics: The Politics of Smell in Modern and Contemporary Prose.”
CBC reviewed dozens of comments on the post, many from men saying the topic was too “woke,” or a waste of time and money. Others suggested women don’t belong in academia.
“What a stupid f–king thing to ‘study,'” wrote one person.
“You have made no valuable contributions in your thesis, and perhaps in your entire life,” wrote another.
“You would have spent your years better by getting married and having children,” someone else posted.
Louks says she doesn’t take it personally.
“I do think that it’s clear that misogyny is at play [emphasis mine], especially since I’m a young and high achieving woman,” she said.
“But I also think there’s a kind of broader arc here going on about people questioning the value of literary study and of the humanities and, indeed, of academia [emphases mine].”
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Louks says she decided not to lock her account or take the post down. She also isn’t squabbling with commenters.
“I didn’t want them to think that they’d chased me off or that they’d affected me in any way because they truly haven’t,” she said. “I do feel safe.”
he barrage of hate, she says, was quickly followed by a surge of support.
“This has been a bit of a case study in how we present ourselves online,” she said.
“Being polite and respectful has actually done something kind of magical here in that so many people have rallied around me and supported me just because I didn’t stoop to the level of the online trolls.”
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May you experience the freedom to explore even topics that seem obscure.
The answers to those questions are a little complicated as a November 14, 2024 news item on phys.org explains it, Note: A link has been removed,
Readers are unable to reliably differentiate AI-generated from human-written poetry and are more likely to prefer AI poems, according to new research published in Scientific Reports. This tendency to rate AI poetry positively may be due to readers mistaking the complexity of human-written verse for incoherence created by AI and an underestimation of how human-like generative AI can appear.
Researchers Brian Porter and Edouard Machery, from the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, Cathedral of Learning, tested the ability of 1,634 participants to distinguish between AI-generated poetry and that written by a human poet.
Participants were presented with ten poems in random order: five written by ten well-known poets—including William Shakespeare, Lord Byron, Emily Dickinson, and T.S. Eliot—and five poems generated by ChatGPT3.5 in the style of these poets. Participants were more likely to guess that the AI poems had been written by a human, and the five poems considered least likely to be human-produced were all written by genuine poets.
In a second experiment, a different group of 696 participants assessed the poems for 14 characteristics such as quality, beauty, emotion, rhythm, and originality. Participants were randomly assigned to three groups where they were told the poems were written by a human, produced by AI, or given no information about the poem’s origins.
Participants who were told that the poems were AI-generated gave lower ratings across 13 characteristics compared to participants who were told the poems were human-written, regardless of whether the poems were actually AI-generated or human-written. Participants who were told nothing about authorship rated AI-generated poems more favorably than human-written ones.
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Fascinating, eh? There’s more about the implications of the research in Jon Stone’s (Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, Anglia Ruskin University) November 15, 2024 essay for The Conversation, Note; Links have been removed,
Has the bell finally tolled for Shakespeare and Byron? New research conducted by philosophers of science Brian Porter and Edouard Machery suggests that the latest AI-generated poetry is “indistinguishable from human-written poetry” and “rated more favourably”.
Ten poets, from the medieval Geoffrey Chaucer to modern writer Dorothea Lasky, were successfully impersonated by AI chatbots, with most of the 696 participants slightly preferring the imitation to the real thing.
Porter and Machery conclude that “the capabilities of generative AI models have outpaced people’s expectations of AI”. But they don’t say AI has been proven an adequate replacement for human poets [emphasis mine] – and rightly so, as such a conclusion would require a great deal more testing.
That the research participants were fooled is not particularly worrying. Porter and Machery set out to include a wide range of poem types, which meant choosing poets who mostly belong to ages past. In such cases, modern readers are likely to have a hard time looking past the obvious signs of antiquity – outdated diction, rigid formalism, and obscure cultural references. It’s not so hard to disguise yourself as someone when that person is chiefly known for the odd clothes they wear.
But what about the matter of preference? As well as overall quality, the researchers asked participants to rate poems on a range of qualitative dimensions. How was the imagery, rhythm, sound or beauty? How “inspiring”, “lyrical”, “meaningful”, “moving”, “original”, “profound”, “witty” (and so on) was it? AI won out over Shakespeare and company in nearly every category.
Does this mean human poets have been supplanted? Not really. Participants in the research overall reported “a low level of experience with poetry”. Lack of familiarity with any artform severely limits our ability to get the most out of it. All the AI has to do is sand off the more challenging elements – ambiguity, wordplay, linguistic complexity – in order to produce a version which is more palatable to those with little interest in the art.
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For now, then, poets have little reason to fret. Is it possible, though, that we aren’t too far off the point where seasoned readers of poetry are able to discover a richness and depth in AI poetry that outstrips similar efforts by humans [emphasis mine]? I think so – not least because a substantial contributor to the emotional and intellectual impact of a poem is the reader’s own imagination.
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… Every recent generation of poets has been deeply interested in adapting and absorbing new technologies, along with shifts in cultural mood. Film poets continue to explore combinations of spoken word and moving image. Flarf poetry collected and reconfigured search engine detritus. And my own research into video game poetry has uncovered rapidly growing interest in a form of poetry that is restlessly interactive, playable, slippery.
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A John Donne reference and an introduction to ‘flarf poetry’? Thank you. For the curious, Stone’s November 15, 2024 essay has more.
This is a little late (I’m sorry) but, on the plus side, it’s not a complicated application process. The residency is offered by the Port Renfrew Writers Retreat, from their About webpage,
Founded in 2019 on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Port Renfrew Writers Retreat is a space for writing that relates to the natural world.
Through in-person residencies and year-round self-directed retreats, we support the development and craft of writing projects in one of the most spectacular and storied corners of Canada.
Many of our residents have gone on to publish books and articles based on work done at Port Renfrew Writers Retreat.
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Why Port Renfrew?
The story of Port Renfrew Writers Retreat starts with the story of a single tree. Big Lonely Doug is a 20-storey, 1000-year-old Douglas Fir that was saved from the saw by a logger named Dennis Cronin. The tree—the second largest of its kind in Canada—was left standing in the Gordon River Valley, a short drive from Port Renfrew, while the entire old-growth forest around it was cut down. The tree has since become an environmental icon, drawing tourists from around the world to glimpse both the spectacular capacity of what nature can create in stark contrast with the reality of industrial logging of old-growth forests on Vancouver Island.
It was this one tree that brought Harley [Harley Rustad] to Port Renfrew in the summer of 2015 to report a magazine article about Big Lonely Doug and Dennis Cronin and then later a book. It’s a corner of Canada with an undeniable magic in the mist coiling through the forests and in the whales breaching off the coast, in breathing the salt-tinged air and spotting a black bear or a cougar or an elk—or stumbling upon one of the largest trees in the country.
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By Ryan Cutler – Reddit / Imgur, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=145127049
The Wilderness Writing Residency is a ten-day, in-person residency in Port Renfrew, British Columbia, for non-fiction writers working on a magazine feature or book project on a theme related to the natural world.
Surrounded by inspiring jagged coastline and old-growth forest, writers will use the solitude for uninterrupted work while also partaking in group work with fellow writers and faculty editors.
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Write the wild
Writers will critique and challenge ideas of wilderness and nature, and examine our complicated relationships within these complex, thorny terms.
ACCOMMODATION
Accommodation will be provided by the residency at no cost to the writer in the form of a self-contained, one-bedroom cabin within the Wild Coast Cottage development in Port Renfrew.
FOOD
Residents will need to cover most of their own food costs but some group meals will be provided by the residency. More details will be provided.
TRAVEL
Residents will be required to arrange travel to Port Renfrew at their own expense. Grants through the Canada Council for the Arts are available to support travel to attend residency programs.
GROUP WORK
Residents will partake in at least one group session to workshop work-in-progress with peers and faculty, offering and receiving feedback within the group.
BIG TREE TOUR
A guided excursion to some of the most storied forests and trees in the area.
WHO SHOULD APPLY
The Wilderness Writing Residency is open to applications from writers of all levels and backgrounds, but preference will be given to emerging writers.
ELIGIBILITY
Residents must be 18+ at the time of the program start date. International applications are welcome but we are unable to assist with visas.
PROGRAM FEE
$200, due upon acceptance into the residency.
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Apply for 2025
The Wilderness Writing Residency 2025 will run from February 24 (arrival) to March 7 (departure).
Applications are due Friday, January 10 [2025] at midnight Pacific Time.
Use the form below to submit your application, which must include both a short bio as well as a one-page outline of your project. Application is free.
