Talks: Research & My Science Journey
Speaker, Scientists In School
July 2020
I filmed a fun Q&A for Scientists in School's Spotlight series. This is a STEM education charity that inspires over 700,000 children in Canada each year. Link.
Speaker, Exploring By The Seat Of Your Pants
18 May 2020
Amid COVID-19, I spoke to a group of young children about DNA, research and what scientists are doing to better understand our genome.
Speaker, Royal Canadian Institute for Science
1st March 2018
I spoke about how today's scientist is more than just the lab for RCIScience's talk series in the City of Mississauga.
Meet The Chief Science Advisor's Youth Council!
October 2020
In the summer of 2019, the Office of the Chief Science Advisor launched a recruitment drive for its first-ever Youth Council, whose role would be to advise the Chief Science Advisor on youth perspectives and to identify issues and challenges facing young researchers in Canadian science. Positions on the youth council were available to Canadians aged 18-30 interested in the STEM disciplines and their societal dimensions.
Speaker, CanCOVID Speaker Series
26 January 2021
In this talk, Justine Ammendolia and I spoke about our research at the CanCOVID Speaker Series. I shared the impacts of COVID-19 on Canada’s next generation of scientists and professionals. I drew on both the Chief Science Advisor’s Youth Council roundtable consultations, as well as the Toronto Science Policy Network’s COVID-19 Graduate Student Survey.
Speaker, Pint of Science Canada
12 May 2020
In this special Choose Your Own Adventure talk, Pint of Milk attendees decided in real-time what I talked about!
Link (You'll have to register on Crowdcast first, for free, to access this talk)
Speaker, CSMB Science Policy Interview
3 June 2021
As a part of the 2021 Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences' (CSMB) Annual Conference, I spoke to CSMB trainee leaders Krysta Coyle and Matt Berg about my genomics research, science policy and communication experiences.
Panels & Discussions Related To Science & Society
Panelist, Responding To COVID-19 panel
22 Apr 2020
I spoke about the different opportunities for all researchers to engage in the COVID-19 response. This panel was organized by the Society Civic Science Initiative.
24 October 2020
This MIT Policy Hackathon panel, titled "Communicating about Science and Technology", featured Emily Calandrelli (an MIT engineer turned science communicator), me and moderator Poushali Maji to discuss our experience in making science accessible and interesting to a diverse set of people.
Panelist, The Early Impacts Of COVID-19 on the Next Generation of Scientists
19 November 2020
This panel brought together speakers from different organizations to share results from surveys that aimed to understand the specific challenges faced by trainees, post-doctoral fellows, and early-career researchers (ECRs) due to COVID-19, and to highlight opportunities for action to help support the future of science in Canada.
Panelist, Rise of Science Misinformation: Impact on the lives of Canadians
20 November 2020
The panel explored how Canada is addressing the challenge of science misinformation broadly and discussed the impact of both science and health misinformation in the post-pandemic context.
Panelist, ELSI Symposium
28 January 2021
This final panel at the ELSI symposium explored the role of science in society and, by extension, how scientists should prioritize their time between research and societal engagement.
Speaker, Science Writers & Communicators Of Canada
July 2020
I organized and spoke at the "Training Scientists In The Art of Science Storytelling" panel at the 2020 virtual Science Writers and Communicators of Canada conference.
Photo credit: Patricia Tiffany.
Science Communication Projects
Speaker, 2020 Canada Gairdner Awardees Project
October 2020
Every year, the Gairdner Awards celebrate science and research excellence in the medical health areas. In collaboration with the Canadian Society of Molecular Biosciences and the Michael Smith Laboratories at UBC, a series of articles, comics, videos and accompanying lesson ideas were created to celebrate the science of a selection of the 2020 Canada Gairdner Awardees.
In this video, I describe the work of Drs Quarraisha & Salim Abdool Karim.
Harnessing Genomics During The Pandemic And Beyond
Video description:
In this video, Farah Qaiser, a member of the Chief Science Advisor’s Youth Council, explores the role of genomics in the COVID-19 pandemic, and learns more about the Canadian COVID Genomics Network (CanCOGeN), which was launched in the early days of the pandemic. She speaks to Dr. Catalina Lopez-Carrea, CanCOGeN’s Executive Director, and Dr. Rob Annan, the President and CEO of Genome Canada.
Instagram Takeover, Royal Canadian Institute for Science
16 - 19 June 2020
I took over the Royal Canadian Institute for Science's (RCIScience) Instagram account in mid-June, showcasing my research, science communication and policy efforts. You can view my Takeover here.
