News & Events
February 11, 2019
Event recap: IGnite: Research Stories to Inspire Generations
January’s IGnite: Research Stories to Inspire Generations event was a great success thanks to our wonderful speakers, student researchers, Queen’s Art of Research photographers and especially everyone who braved the cold to come and be a part of the event.
This was the second installment of the IGnite series which offers a unique combination of a science fair, public lecture, networking event and gala, all with the goal of sparking inspiration and curiosity for our guests and participants alike. We’ve made an effort in bringing a diverse range of subjects and research stories to these events, providing a one of a kind experience for everyone involved.
Below are some images from the various science demos that students at Queen’s University brought to the event. Guests get an up close and personal introduction to the projects and experiments and there is plenty of opportunity for one on one engagement meaning guests are able to ask the questions that are important to them and receive answers that build a meaningful understanding of the research.
The Queen's Space Engineering Team show the Queen's Mars Rover
Connor Stone from the Queen's Observatory shows one of the portable telescopes.
Laura Burchell demonstrates the electric bike that her and her team developed.
Queen's Space Engineers with their Mars Rover
The signature feature of IGnite are two main speakers who give an accessible overview of their research story. Their stories include how they first became interested in a subject and how they got involved. Two students are selected by each researcher to introduce them and also give a short presentation of their own research and what their involvement looks like at this stage in their career.
John Smol talks about lake sediments as historical environmental records.
Smol's passion for rigorous research extends into politics and policy and he fights to have research recognized as valuable historical lessons about climate change and environmental impact.
Liz Favot on her work as a paleolimnologist.
Liz's research work ranges from helicopter trips to remote lakes to collect sediment samples to long days in the lab identifying microscopic insect exoskeletons.
Members of the audience have the opportunity to ask questions after the talks.
Bronwyn Jaques talks about her research on how local heritage and culture are reflected in tourism and economy.
Laura Murray talks about Kingston's historic Swamp Ward.
Murray's research involves reinterpreting historical records that were never meant to serve as such. She extracts information from such innocuous sources as fire department maps to help build a more complete picture of the time she is studying.
Queen's Marketing Director Helen Vasilevsky comments on the potential impact of events such as IGnite.
McDonald Institute Scientific Director Tony Noble welcomes the guests and introduces the evening's speakers.
