Upcoming Events

Groves of Academe | Apr 29

A Special Presentation with Fiona Farrell, Author of The Deck

The Groves of Academe reading group is delighted to be joined by this month’s author Fiona Farrell to discuss her new book. Fiona Farrell is one of New Zealand’s leading writers. Educated at the universities of Otago and Toronto, she has published volumes of poetry, collections of short stories, non-fiction works, and many novels. We are looking forward to engaging with this smart and talented individual, who has an affection for Canada rooted in her time as graduate student in Ontario in the early 1970s.

This event is open to all members. Please register below. 

About the Book

What is the point of inventing stories when reality eclipses imagination? A little way off in the future, during a time of plague and profound social collapse, a group of friends escapes to a house in the country where they entertain themselves by playing music, eating, drinking and telling stories about their lives. There are tales of thieves and pirates, deaths and a surprise birth, a freak wave and many other stories of misadventure resulting in unexpected felicity. The Deck borrows the motifs of Giovanni Boccaccio’s 14th-century masterpiece, The Decameron, in which another small group gathered to avoid contagion and passed the time telling stories. But what is the role of fiction, this novel asks, as civilisation falters?

About the Author 

 Fiona Farrell's first novel, The Skinny Louie Book, won the 1993 New Zealand Book Award for fiction. Other novels, poetry and non-fiction books have been shortlisted for the Montana and New Zealand Post Book Awards with four novels also nominated for the International Dublin IMPAC Award. In 2007 she received the Prime Minister’s Award for Fiction, and in 2012 was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature. The Broken Book, a book of essays relating to the Christchurch earthquakes, was shortlisted for the non-fiction award in the 2012 Book Awards and critically greeted as the ‘first major artwork’ to emerge from the event. The Villa at the Edge of the Empire was also shortlisted for this award in 2016. Her work, which The New Zealand Herald has praised for its ‘richness — of both theme and language’, has been published around the world, including in the US, France and the UK. Beryl Fletcher praised Farrell for having ‘. . . the rare ability of turning the mundane events of domestic life into profound human experiences. Her writing is poetic, moving and literary.’

When:  Monday April 29 at 4:00 pm
Where: Zoom

Register Here

Open to all Emeritus College Members. The Groves group will be meeting prior to the author joining the meeting for regular discussion. Please contact Graeme Wynn for more details please contact convenor, Graeme Wynn (wynn@geog.ubc.ca). 

CURAC Later Life Learning Zoom session | May 1

Wilder Penfield Lecture at The Neuro with Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt FRS FREng FBCS, Principal, Jesus College, Professorial Research Fellow in Computer Science, the University of Oxford, UK

The Penfield Lecture was inaugurated in 1985 to honour Wilder Penfield, pioneering neurosurgeon and founder of The Neuro. Sir Nigel Shadbolt will deliver the 2024 Wilder Penfield Lecture. A cocktail reception will follow.

Talk Abstract:

This lecture will reflect on what makes the scientific method so powerful, how it has transformed our world, and how it has been informed, enriched, and made possible by accomplishments in engineering. The lecture will discuss the most recent manifestation of this marriage of science and engineering – the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI). It will review the various roles AI is playing in science and how it is augmenting the scientific process. It will discuss the need to apply our science to understand the properties and impact of new emerging AI systems. The lecture will consider how AI can generate spurious as well as accurate output, how it has the potential to be weaponised to undermine science, but also how it can be used to confront disinformation. We will review the crucial role that high quality data plays in AI, and the importance of trusted open data ecosystems. The talk will argue that current discussions around the ethics, regulation and governance of AI must involve a plurality of perspectives if we are to realise the full potential of AI.

Meeting at 1:00pm Pacific Standard Time (Vancouver) 
(4pm Eastern Time)

Livestream Link

Okanagan Outdoors Activities Group | May 4

Okanagan Outdoors Activities Group

A first meeting/outing for the group is planned as a hike into Cosens Bay in Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park on May 4.  The area has dramatic views, with abundant wildflowers and migratory birds. It also has an interesting history as a training area used by the Canadian military.

Persons with an interest in participating should contact the convener Ian Walker, ian.walker@ubc.ca or co-convenor Melanie Jones, melanie.jones@ubc.ca for up-to-date activity information.

Photo: Spotted Towhee and Cusick’s Serviceberry in Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park (Ian Walker, 3 May 2017)