The Royal Tyrrell Museum is heading into the new year with the 2014 edition of Speaker Series.
The program, which brings expert scientists in their field, out of the lab and onto the stage to share their work, has become a popular fixture over the last decade.
“We have been really fortunate with the support of the Royal Tyrrell Museum Cooperating Society, that has provided funding, to bring in researchers from all over the world to present,” said Tyrrell curator of dinosaur palaeontology François Therrien. While he did not found the program, he has certainly played a role in building into what it is today.
“We have people come from Australia, China, Japan, Europe and all over North America, and have always had very interesting presentations.”
The presentations are aimed at a wide audience.
“My goal when I took over Speaker Series was to not only to bring in researchers who would talk not only about dinosaurs and palaeontology, but also a little bit about different topic that could be general interest, but with a scientific background and context so people can learn more about the natural wonders of the world,” he said.
One of the strengths of the program is while sometimes there are technical talks, Speaker Series is geared towards, not just the educated, but also the curious.
“We always ask the presenters and guests to make a presentation that will appeal to a general audience that may be interested in science, but not have a science background, said Therrien.
He sees this as important part of the museum’s responsibility.
“The mandate of the museum is to conduct scientific research with top-notch researchers but also communicate the results of those discoveries not only through peer reviewed scientific articles, but to a general audience, the people that visit the museum. That can be through the galleries, where people come through every year, but also through Speaker Series, where the researchers can communicate directly with the audience,” said Therrien.
Part of that outreach is to make Speaker Series available to an even wider audience. For the last few year they have posted each presentation online.
“Now people, who can’t come to the museum because it is scheduled during a weekday, can log on to Youtube and watch the presentation at home whenever they want to,” said Therrien.
Speaker Series kicks off on January 9 with Eric Snively from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. He will be speaking about dinosaur biomechanics. All talks begin at 11 a.m.
