What is SWCC's responsibility to improve science literacy among Canadians?
February Member Meet Up
Date: 7 February 2023
Time: 12-1pm ET
Science literacy encompasses written, numerical, and digital literacy as they pertain to understanding the scientific process - how knowledge is produced and how it becomes science - as well as the result of that process: the findings.
For more than 50 years, the SWCC (and formerly the CSWA) existed to promote scientific knowledge to Canadians. But what is our role to aid science literacy rates in Canada? According to the Council of Canadian Academies (2014) Canada had some of the highest scientific literacy rates among OECD countries, and that has declined markedly in the last decade (Eric Kennedy, CSPC, 2020). Are SWCC members fulfilling the vision of the organization if we are not addressing both the communication of scientific findings and the scientific process?
Join former SWCC President Douglas Keddy, Associate Director, Research Promotion & Profile, Western University and current SWCC President, Rhonda Moore for what promises to be a scintillating conversation about science literacy!
Speaker Bios:
Rhonda Moore
Rhonda Moore is Executive Director, Science and Innovation at the Institute on Governance (IOG). For almost 20 years, Rhonda Moore has worked at the intersection of communications, research, and policy analysis and development. At that intersection, Rhonda has sought out opportunities to build relationships, to connect people and ideas, and to promote evidence-informed decision making in plain language.
Prior to joining the IOG, Rhonda worked for a variety of private, public, and non-profit organizations including the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (now Universities Canada), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the University of Ottawa, and the Public Policy Forum.
Rhonda has a Bachelor of Public Relations from Mount Saint Vincent University and a Master’s degree in Science, Technology and Innovation studies from the University of Edinburgh, with distinction. Rhonda received the University of Edinburgh’s David Edge prize for her dissertation.
Rhonda is fueled by coffee, reading, travel, and spending time outdoors.
Douglas Keddy
A passionate storyteller, Douglas Keddy has spent the better part of two decades in progressive communications roles that support and promote research activities at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. Western is a research-intensive university ranked among the top one per cent of the world’s higher education institutions and a founding member of Canada’s U15 Universities.
As Associate Director (Research Promotion & Profile), Mr. Keddy conceives of and implements communications that foster research participation, enhance partnership development and positively position Western’s research, scholarship and creative activities locally and globally. He is also a former member of Western’s Board of Governors.
In 2016, Mr. Keddy founded Research Communicators Canada to support research communications professionals nationwide through best practices, networking and professional development. Two years later, he served as President of the Science Writers & Communicators of Canada, which has, for 50 years, been the national association of science and technology journalists and communicators. He is currently a member of the steering committee for the Falling Walls Engage Hub Canada.
Common themes throughout these experiences include efforts to actively engage diverse communities with research, to increase scientific literacy and to advance understandings of the importance to our world of innovation and creativity.
Mr. Keddy is an avid explorer and global citizen who has been fortunate to leverage his communications and leadership experience to contribute to various volunteer and capacity-building initiatives in Asia, Africa, North and South America. He holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in English and History from Huron University College at Western and began his career in the financial services sector.
