*Virtual conference room opens 10 minutes before each session. Listed schedule is in Eastern Time Zone, please check your local time.*

12:30 pm

Welcome from SWCC President, Terry Lavender 

12:40 pm

Welcome from SWCC Conference Chair, Rhonda Moore

12:45 pm

Battling the Infodemic: Yes, Debunking Works (More, Please!)

Speaker: Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy, University of Alberta

Description: The spread of harmful misinformation is a defining characteristic of this pandemic. It has led to deaths, financial loss, increased stigma, health policy challenges, and added to the chaotic information environment. We must counter this “infodemic” with evidence-based communication strategies. Despite concerns about the "backfire effect" and debunking works, if done well!  

2:00 - 2:30 BREAK

*Virtual conference room opens 10 minutes before each session. Listed schedule is in Eastern Time Zone, please check your local time.*

2:30 pm

A conversation with Lenore Newman, 2020 SWCC Book Award Recipient

Speakers:

• Kelly Crowe, former CBC Science correspondent
• Lenore Newman, author, Associate Professor of Geography and the Environment at the University of the Fraser Valley and Director of the Food and Agriculture Institute
  

Description: Lenore Newman, SWCC's 2020 Book Award recipient will deliver short readings from her book Lost Feast, followed by a discussion about the book, her research and the writing and publishing processes with former CBC Science correspondent Kelly Crowe.

For more information about the SWCC Book Awards, please visit https://sciencewriters.ca/book-awards. 

*Virtual conference room opens 10 minutes before each session. Listed schedule is in Eastern Time Zone, please check your local time.*

12:30 pm 

training scientists in the art of science  Storytelling

Moderator: Farah Qaiser, Former Assistant Editor at Massive Science

Panelists:

• Vindhya Kolloru, Former Science Editor at The Varsity
• David Secko, Chair, Concordia University’s Department of Journalism, Projected Futures
• Cristina Sanza, Digital Journalism Instructor, Projected Futures
• Hannah Hoag, Deputy Editor, The Conversation Canada

Description: It is important now, more than ever, that scientists speak up to address the growing misinformation, sensationalism and pseudoscience swirling around amid COVID-19. But instead of shouting out facts into the void, the art of science storytelling can offer answers on how to thoughtfully tackle these important issues, and help empower scientists, especially trainees, with the skills they need to effectively share their expertise.

Stories resonate. By incorporating elements of storytelling, scientists can help foster an appreciation and (critical) engagement of science. In this session, speakers will share different methods of training scientists in science writing and journalism, with a focus on storytelling. This includes how a student-run campus newspaper’s science section provides a space for early training (The Varsity), how a science journalism bootcamp trains graduate students in the fundamentals of science journalism (Projected Futures), and how two different online outlets, The Conversation Canadaand Massive Science, work with researchers to publish stories about science.

This 90-minute session will begin with short talks from each speaker. Next, speakers will head into two concurrent breakout rooms to lead discussions with audience members on what the future of science storytelling training should - and can - include. The session will then end with a synthesis of ideas from both breakout rooms, and an open Q&A.

2:00 pm - 2:30 pm BREAK

*Virtual conference room opens 10 minutes before each session. Listed schedule is in Eastern Time Zone, please check your local time.*

2:30 pm

Awe & Scale in Science Dialogue

Speaker: Jessa Gamble, science writer and co-owner of ‘the Last Word On Nothing’

Description: Science communicators come up against the limits of human intuition, particularly when working with science that is set in spatial scales and timescales far from their audiences’ daily lives. Much of the action in science takes place in tiny and fast or gigantic and slow scales, and this poses a barrier to dialogue. That barrier becomes an opportunity, however, when the emotion of awe is added to the picture. In recent years, the experience of awe has been defined operationally as a perception of vastness that brings about a need for accommodation (roughly equivalent to the need to understand). Vastness here refers to the extremes of any scale: something that is vastly tiny, vastly powerful, vastly ancient, as well as vastly large. In a field where vastness abounds, if we strike the tone just right, we can trigger awe, and with it a powerful thirst for understanding and dialogue where once there was only distrust. I have facilitated versions of this breakout session before, including a Writing About Awe workshop at Beakerhead festival in Calgary, a workshop at TED2018 in Vancouver, entitled “Awe: What is it good for?” and a breakout panel session at the House of Beautiful Business in Lisbon, Portugal with philosopher Myisha Cherry, called “Anger & Awe”. These were all very popular sessions with positive participant feedback.

*Virtual conference room opens 10 minutes before each session. Listed schedule is in Eastern Time Zone, please check your local time.*

12:30 pm

Deploying AI Communications: strategic communications for AI & machine learning

Speaker: Krista Davidson, AI Communications Lead, CIFAR

Description: We live in a world where machine learning technologies can recognize your face, respond to your voice, and perform intelligent everyday functions such as managing your emails to the more extraordinary abilities such as predicting disease diagnosis. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not only transforming the way we live and work but it may be the key to solving important global issues. AI-powered tools are developed to predict major global events from the impacts of climate change, to the next pandemic. Many organizations around the world are exploring ways to harness these insights and capabilities from machine learning technologies. Governments are evaluating how to regulate AI to ensure it is fair, responsible, and equitable, while also driving innovation and economic growth.

Communicating in the “Age of Misinformation” about complex AI technologies means that communicators must consider a whole new set of challenges. From preparing their workforce, managing crisis and reputation, to developing strategic communications that inform and empower their audiences and stakeholders. This session will help the seasoned writer and communicator navigate these exciting technologies with ease and confidence.

Specifically, this session will cover:

• What is AI and how is it transforming different sectors/industries?
• How is it influencing our culture/behaviours?
• What are some of the major implications of AI (ethics, bias, diversity, reproducibility, explainability, transparency, trust, privacy, accountability, the future of work)?
• Debunking myths about the machine.
• What is the role of the science communicator/writer?
• AI for good - how do we leverage these exciting new technologies in a way that benefits all? Do the benefits outweigh the risks?
• AI and the new normal - what will AI mean for a post-COVID-19 world and how can we prepare for the next possible wave of the pandemic?
• How can AI technologies enhance our roles as science writers and communicators?
• Toolkits, guidelines, best practices and resources for understanding, writing and communicating AI.

2:00 pm - 2:30 pm BREAK

*Virtual conference room opens 10 minutes before each session. Listed schedule is in Eastern Time Zone, please check your local time.*

2:30 pm

Science Slam: Bridging the Divide

Organizer: Science Slam Canada

Description: A live, virtual event where performers compete for a prize! 

What exactly is a Science Slam? Based on the format of a poetry slam, a Science Slam is a competition where speakers gather to share their science with you - the audience. Competitors have five minutes to present on any science topic without the use of a slideshow and are judged based on communication skills, audience impact and scientific content. Props and creative presentation styles are encouraged!

The stage is open to everyone, whether you're a science writer, communicator, researcher, student, or artist. If you're interested, please send in your application (see link below). Applications will be selected on a rolling basis until all available competition spots have been filled. 

Apply here to present!

*Virtual conference room opens 10 minutes before each session. Listed schedule is in Eastern Time Zone, please check your local time.*

12:30 pm

HOW CAN WE COUNTER DISINFORMATION? CHALLENGE RESULTS 

Speakers: 

• Nicolas Piccato, Audiovisual and Cultural Attaché, Creative industries, Cultural Service, l'Ambassade de France au Canada
• Stephanie Bach, student, University of Ottawa
• Nicholas Rutherford, student, University of Ottawa
• Matt Zucca, student, University of Ottawa
  

Description: We live in an era of disinformation. Impact and wide dissemination of sound bites have become more important than truth, and manipulation of facts is commonplace. How can we counter disinformation? What innovative ways can technology be used to combat fake news?

Last winter, the Embassies of Germany and France, in partnership with the National Film Board of Canada and the University of Ottawa, launched a project on the topic of disinformation. This project brought together students from diverse backgrounds to propose a digital tool for understanding and decoding disinformation.

In this session representatives from the Embassies of Germany and France will discuss the significance of the challenge they launched, followed by a presentation from the winning team. 

2:00 pm - 2:30 pm BREAK

*Virtual conference room opens 10 minutes before each session. Listed schedule is in Eastern Time Zone, please check your local time.*

2:30 pm

Vaccine hesitation: Connecting perspectives to overcome a communication challenge

Moderator: Alice Fleerackers, Scholarly Communications Lab

Panelists: 

• David J. Hauser, Assistant Professor of Social/Personality Psychology, Queen's University 
• Mona Li, biomedical communicator and Visual Web Designer, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research
  
• Angela M Crawley, PhD Scientist, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute; Assistant Professor, University of Ottawa; and, Adjunct Professor Carleton University

Description: Despite extensive evidence supporting the safety and efficacy of vaccines, more than half of Canadians continue to have concerns about their potential side effects. This challenge has only become more urgent in the context of COVID-19, with over a quarter of Pew survey respondents reporting that they would not get a vaccine for the virus, even if it were available. Yet, while many have responded to this vaccine hesitation with calls to combat the rise of “fake news” or false information, perhaps more pressing for today’s science communicators is the need to understand and counteract false beliefs. For, as a wealth of research from both the fields of social psychology and communication has demonstrated, our emotions, lived experiences, and personal relationships can play a strong role in shaping our daily decisions—as much as (if not more) than our knowledge. We may claim to believe in

facts, but, time and time again, we put our trust in stories. This interdisciplinary roundtable will take a deep dive into those stories, sharing insights from research as well as personal, lived experience. Bringing together diverse perspectives and expertise from psychology, immunology, and science communication, it will seek to bridge communities and spark new conversations about anti-vaccination beliefs, how they spread, and how communicators, researchers, public health officials, and individuals can collaborate to overcome them.