UVic’s Ideafest runs March 4-9

Week-long festival offers more than 40 public events designed to inform and engage

How have whales influenced human culture and history? Why are we reluctant to accept scientific findings on topics like vaccination or climate change? Where do Indigenous law, women and human rights intersect? Explore these thought-provoking questions and many more at the University of Victoria’s eighth annual Ideafest. 

From March 4-9, UVic faculty, students and staff will showcase research, innovation and creative activity through projects and initiatives designed to enlighten or alter individual perspectives. Join our extraordinary thinkers, innovators and artists to explore subjects ranging from how a rise in asylum seekers affects Canada, how innovation is transforming health care, to how the rise in machine learning such as voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa affects our everyday lives. 

A variety of panels, hands-on workshops, exhibits, performances, screenings and tours on campus and in the community include a discussion about the effects of cannabis on youth, an opportunity to sit among orchestra players as they perform and a viewing of a juried collection of short videos by talented students, faculty and staff about their research. Also watch our students as they express their thesis in dance or another creative form or vie for prizes in the popular three-minute speed-thesis competition. 

“Ideafest connects research to community. It allows UVic researchers and artists to share knowledge in different ways to appeal to a wide range of audiences,” says David Castle, UVic’s vice-president research. “This year, Ideafest features the exchange of ideas on key issues such as climate change, Indigenous law and human rights, innovations in research and science communication, and the role of technology across sectors. We invite the public’s engagement so they can better understand how research impacts their own lives and that of society.” 

View the full Ideafest schedule, searchable by day or category. The schedule scales to all mobile devices.

A press kit containing a high-resolution photos is available on Dropbox.

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