A great way to learn more about paleontology and the great research that is taking place at the Royal Tyrrell Museum and beyond, is the Speakers Series.
The annual series, where leaders in the fields of paleontology and related sciences present talks on their subject, kicked off again on February 8.
The series is typically in the off-season of the most busy time for the museum, and is a great chance for residents to get a first-hand look at work done at the museum.
“It is a great free opportunity for community members to connect with Tyrrell Museum research scientists directly. You can’t get much more direct than actually sitting in an auditorium and listening to them in a presentation and then having the opportunity to interact directly,” said Dr. Craig Scott, director of preservation and research at the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
He notes it goes beyond the work within the walls of the Tyrrell.
“It is beyond Royal Tyrrell Museum research, it’s all of these people we bring in to do these talks. In addition to the local research crowd, you can interrogate people from all over the world that we get in here to do these talks,” he said. “A lot of what we try to do is bring people on who are doing contemporary work that is really interesting. We try very hard to get a variety of subjects. Some years, we have a very intense paleontology focus and other years, we get talks that venture out into the broader sciences.”
While the Tyrrell is one of the main tourist attractions in the province, celebrating the field with great displays, the Speaker Series is a good opportunity to explore science.
“It gives you the sort of behind-the-curtains scene in terms of the kind of work that goes into developing hypotheses and testing them, and the resulting research that actually gets incorporated over time into our exhibit,” he said.
The Speaker Series has endured for about 19 years and continues this season. Talks are on Thursdays at 11 a.m. and run until May 2.