Tag Archives: Lives of Evidence

National (Canada) livestreamed science events from Situating Science (two events) and the Perimeter Institute (one event)

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The Situating Science (humanities research cluster) is preparing for a couple of events both of which will take place on April 10, 2014 as part of their Lives of Evidence lecture series . The series has been mentioned here before in a couple of previous posts (my Jan. 31, 2014 posting titled: The Press and the Press Release: Inventing the Crystal Meth-HIV Connection and my March 19, 2014 posting titled Patents, Progress, and Commercialized Medicine).

The next Lives of Evidence lectures are (from the March 25, 2014 announcement),

From the ‘Bankruptcy of Science’ to the ‘Death of Evidence’: Science and its Value
Stathis Psillos, Rotman Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Science, Department of Philosophy, Western University
Thursday, April 10 2014, 5 PM [EST; 2 pm PST]
Room 4101, 4th floor, Desmarais Building , University of Ottawa, 55 Laurier Ave. East, Ottawa, ON
Free. Reception to follow.
“Join” our Facebook event
https://www.facebook.com/events/819874048026027/
U. Ottawa ISSP Distinguished Speakers Lecture Series.
Supported by the Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Science and University of Ottawa Departments of Philosophy and History.

Those Who Have the Gold Make the Evidence: The Pharmaceutical Industry and Clinical Trials
Joel Lexchin, Professor, School of Health Policy and Management, York University
Thursday, April 10 2014, 7pm [EST; 4 pm PST]
Room 2130, David Chu Centre, Western Student Services Building, Western University. 1151 Richmond St., London, ON.
Free. Reception beforehand.
“Join” our Facebook Event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/252408878265465/
Watch live online here!
Supported by the Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Western University

While it doesn’t appear that the April 10, 2014 Psillos lecture, ‘Bankruptcy of Science’ to the ‘Death of Evidence’, will be livestreamed, he will be reprising it on April 16, 2014 at the University of Toronto and, according to the chatter on the event’s Facebook page, there appears to be a possibility that one will be livestreamed and I will try to confirm that information. I expect they can’t or are having difficulties arranging two livestreamed events on one day and, for some reason, the second of the April 10, 2014 lectures, Lexchin’s ‘Those Who Have the Gold Make the Evidence’ is the one being livestreamed.

Onto the Perimeter Institute and their livestreamed Future of Physics event,on April 2, 2014 (from the March 25, 2014 announcement),

The Future of Physics: Kate Lunau of maclean’s magazine in Conversation with Emerging Talent at Perimeter Institute
Kate Lunau, Science Journalist
WEDNESDAY, April 2, 2014 AT 7:00PM
Perimeter INSTITUTE
31 Caroline STREET North, WATERLOO
The late astronomer and science popularizer Carl Sagan once said: “The great discoveries are almost entirely made by youngsters.” Sagan understood the power of youthful awe and curiosity, unbounded by established ways of thinking.

Exceptional young physicists will discuss what fascinates and motivates them during Perimeter Institute’s April 2 public lecture. A panel of top early-career scientists, moderated by journalist Kate Lunau of Maclean’s magazine, will share their unique perspectives on the big questions and the types of discoveries they believe may shape the future.

Participants will walk the audience through the “typical” day of a theoretical physicist, describe the path that brought them to the Perimeter, and explore the unprecedented challenges and opportunities that face their generation — and the generations of new scientists to follow — through the 21st century.

If you are thinking of attending the event live in Waterloo, it’s too late to get tickets which were awarded via lottery!

Patents, Progress, and Commercialized Medicine livestream March 20, 2014 at 3:30 pm PST

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Canada’s Situating Science; Science in Human Contexts research cluster is livestreaming another of their lectures in the Lives of Evidence series on Thursday, March 20, 2014, from the March 18, 2014 announcement,

Patents, Progress, and Commercialized Medicine
James Robert Brown, Professor of Philosophy at University of Toronto
Thursday, March 20 2014, 7:30 PM [AST or 3:30 pm PST]
Alumni Hall, New Academic Building, University of King’s College, 6350 Coburg Rd., Halifax, NS
Part 4 of The Lives of Evidence national lecture series.
Free.

Here’s a link to,

Watch live!

For anyone who likes to check these things out beforehand, here’s a description of the lecture (from the Patents, Progress and Commercialized Medicine event page),

Recent headline-making studies indicate that there is a crisis in medical research. Health issues are increasingly dominated by commercial interests, and this jeopardizes research, evidence and, ultimately, peoples’ health. Patentable solutions, typically drugs, are proposed for health problems while other approaches are ignored. This raises pressing questions: How can we ensure high-quality medicine in light of corporate research funding and massive financial conflicts of interest? How does this effect medicine, ethics, public policy, and politics? Is socialized medical research a viable solution?

Anyone familiar with this blog knows I’ve written many times about patent thickets, patent trolls, and other ways in which patents have been used to block new work and new products. I have written more rarely (i.e., once) about the lack of interest in pursuing nonpatentable solutions to diseases and that was an April 12, 2013 posting about artemisin and malaria.

For anyone interested in the series, Lives of Evidence, here’s more from the series page,

The Lives of Evidence National Lecture Series

Many questions are raised in light of the recent warnings about the “the death of evidence” and “War on Science”. What do we mean by “evidence”? How is evidence interpreted, represented and communicated? How do we create trust in research? What’s the relationship between research, funding and policy? Between evidence, explanations and expertise?

These are but some of the questions explored in the Situating Science national lecture series The Lives of Evidence. The national Situating Science project (www.SituSci.ca) and supporters are launching a multi-part national lecture series examining the cultural, ethical, political, and scientific role of evidence in our world, all of which impact citizens.

“Recent concerns about transparency, conflicts between experts, political interference in the scientific process, and dire warnings about the ‘death of evidence’,” says Situating Science Director Gordon McOuat, “have made it all the more crucial that we examine the origins, meaning and trust in our concepts of ‘evidence’. This lecture series will bring multiple perspectives – historical, philosophical, ethical, scientific – to explore our understanding of evidence and why so much is hinged on ‘getting it right’.”

The page provides a complete list of past and future events.