UBC Reports | Vol. 50 | No. 3 | Mar.
4, 2004
Theme of Research Awareness Week
By Hilary Thomson
If ideas carried passports, we’d see that they cross
many borders before having an impact on our lives.
That concept is the theme of this year’s Research Awareness
Week (RAW) to be held March 6-13 at UBC’s main campus,
UBC Robson Square and at UBC’s affiliated hospitals.
Titled “Innovation: Ideas Crossing Boundaries,”
the week comprises workshops, seminars, panels, research days
and open houses.
“We want to celebrate the new ideas developed at the university
which have a direct and positive impact on society,” says
Sid Katz, executive director, UBC Community Affairs and RAW
organizer. “Innovation is all about crossing boundaries —
from knowledge to solutions, from university to community,
from discipline to discipline and from research to teaching.”
Highlights of the week include a presentation on the institution
of marriage in light of the current issue of same-sex marriage
as well as a noon-hour panel discussion on how pharmaceutical
drugs are developed. In addition, there will be a public debate
on the compatibility of teaching and research, a presentation
on managing fairness in the workplace and an undergraduate
multidisciplinary research conference.
“Every day, UBC’s research enterprise is being
strengthened by new discovery, by the addition of new and
talented researchers and by the translation of ideas into
practical solutions and successful businesses,” says
Indira Samarasekera, UBC vice-president, Research. “And
through interaction with researchers in the classroom and
the lab, students receive this new knowledge and, in turn,
generate new ideas of their own.”
Other highlights include a lecture about how governments
and scientists are dealing with SARS and a presentation by
Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute on the promises
and risks of gene therapy. Also, a panel of health researchers
will discuss issues such as schizophrenia treatment, ovulation
and the ethics of patents.
Samarasekera and UBC President Martha Piper will celebrate
the accomplishments of more than 200 researchers at the Celebrate
Research Awards gala to be held on the evening of Thursday,
March 11.
The event features video vignettes describing the work of
selected honourees as well as performances by the UBC School
of Music. Individuals to be recognized include Royal Society
of Canada Fellows as well as the winner of the Jacob Biely
Faculty Research Prize.
For more information on RAW, visit www.research.ubc.ca
and click on events. For complimentary tickets to the gala,
call 604.822.6010.
