The 2024 Royal Society of Canada Eastern Ontario Symposium is a free event open to anyone from the Kingston community and beyond who is interested in hearing four experts talk passionately about their research. The speakers are all RSC Fellows or Members of the RSC New College of Scholars, Scientists and Artists.
Presentation Topics
KERRY ROWE, FRSC | Why Do We Keep Shooting Ourselves in the Foot? The 'Forever Chemical' Story
Kerry Rowe is the Barrington Batchelor Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering. A Fellow of the Royal Society and an Officer of the Order of Canada (O.C.), his research has been recognized by 150 awards. His pioneering research is being extensively used in waste management, mining, and water resource management. With more than 450 refereed journal publications and three books, Rowe is one of the most highly cited geotechnical engineers in the world and is in demand worldwide as a keynote lecturer and advisor on challenging projects from the Artic to Antarctica. His contributions to environmental geotechnics have been recognized by the ISSMGE R. Kerry Rowe Lecture and his contributions to barrier system engineering by the IGS Kerry Rowe Lecture. He was the 2022 Inaugural winner of the NSERC Donna Strickland Prize for Societal Impact of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research.
His presentation will focus on PFAS, Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances aka the “forever chemical", which were unknown to most people until recently despite the fact they were in our carpets, water repellent clothing, makeup, tooth floss, pizza boxes, nonstick frypans, fire- fighting solution… and we now know that they are in the blood of virtually all Canadians. PFAS resist high temperatures, do not readily breakdown, and if they do breakdown, it is to another PFAS, are mobile, and bioaccumulate. The USA-EPA’s maximum concentration in drinking water is 4 ng/L (4 parts per trillion) for two common PFAS (cf. 500 ng/L for PCBs). PFAS that do not end up in our general environment, end up in solid waste or in the sewer system. How did this happen and what are the ongoing challenges in dealing with them? The talk will answer some, until recently, unanswered questions, and discuss some unanswered questions that are being investigated.
More on Dr. Rowe: Kerry Rowe – Civil Engineering, Queen’s University
PARVIN MOUSAVI | From Diagnosis to Surgery: AI's Role in Transforming Cancer Care
Parvin Mousavi is a Professor of Computer Science, with cross-appointments to Medicine, Pathology, and Biomedical and Molecular Sciences at Queen’s University. She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC), College of New Scholars, and holds a Canada CIFAR AI Chair and a faculty position at the Vector AI Institute. Dr. Mousavi has held visiting professorships at Harvard Medical School and the University of British Columbia. Her research program is at the intersection of AI and digital health, focusing on developing and leveraging machine learning for computer assisted medical interventions and contributing to the societal impact of AI on the global community. Dr. Mousavi has led the international organizations in her field and represented the RSC at the meeting of the G7 Academy of Sciences, helping shape their policies on AI and Society. Dr. Mousavi is a co-founder of Women in MICCAI, the first international society of women in medical image computing. She also leads the pan-Canadian training of the next generation of AI talent through a national training program in Medical Informatics.
Dr. Mousavi’s talk will cover new AI approaches and technical solutions for computer-assisted medical interventions, with a particular focus in the area of surgical oncology. It will discuss the impact of the solutions on improving outcomes, considering the inherent uncertainties embedded in such environments. Dr. Mousavi will also discuss the potential role of AI innovations for enhancing clinical decision making, and the technical challenges associated with translating and deploying these models in clinics.
More on Dr. Mousavi: Parvin Mousavi – School of Computing, Queen’s University, Canada CIFAR AI Chair
MERLYNA LIM | Algorithmic Heartbeats: Love and Hate in the Time of Social Media
Merlyna Lim is the Canada Research Chair in Digital Media and Global Network Society, Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies, and founder/director of the ALiGN Media Lab at Carleton University. Born and raised in Dayeuhkolot-Indonesia, Lim’s research examines the interplay between digital technologies and society, focusing on the internet, social media, and AI. Her work explores how these technologies and societal dynamics dialectically co-shape each other in areas such as citizen participation, activism, and democratic processes. Grounded in Southeast Asia and the MENA region, Lim advocates for viewing the Global South as a key research hub and addressing real-world issues on its own terms. Notable publications include Social Media and Politics in Southeast Asia (Cambridge UP, 2024), Roots, Routes, Routers: Communication and Media of Contemporary Social Movements (Sage, 2018), and Online Collective Action: Dynamics of the Crowds in Social Media (Springer, 2014). For more, visit: merlyna.org.
Dr. Lim’s presentation will explore the interplay between social media, politics, and online collectives, examining how social media algorithms and marketing principles shape content circulation, visibility, and popularity. It will highlight the dynamic interaction between algorithmic processes, user behaviors, and socio-political contexts, with a particular focus on how affect—the currency of social media—drives these interactions. The presentation will also illustrate how the combined effect of political actors manipulating algorithms and the underlying algorithmic and marketing principles on social media cultivates extreme emotional responses, with "love" and "hate" fueling political collectivism and activism. This, in turn, contributes to societal fragmentation, polarization, and autocratizing trends globally.
More on Dr. Lim: Merlyna Lim – School of Journalism, Carleton University, Canada Research Chair in Digital Media & Global Network Society
MARGARET MOORE, FRSC | Territory and Self-Determination
Margaret Moore is Professor in the Political Studies department at Queen’s; Fellow (2019) of the Royal Society of Canada; and has been distinguished invited fellow at other institutions – NYU Abu Dhabi; Nuffield College Oxford, RSS fellow at Australian National University, Olof Palme Professor at University of Stockholm. She is the author of four books. Her 2015 book A Political Theory of Territory was the recipient of a Best Book Prize by the Canadian Philosophical Association.
Dr. Moore’s presentation will invite us to reflect on the fact that almost the entire usable surface of our planet is divided into territorially distinct jurisdictional units. This talk will examine how we should think about territories, what justifies them, and how they relate to other central values that ought to justify or undergird a morally acceptable institutional design. Surprisingly, we haven’t thought much about this, yet many of our conflicts are territorial disputes. We should consider this, especially if we are committed to having, eventually, a rules-based international order where disagreements are settled by normatively justified rules rather than by force. The presentation argues for a particular self-determination theory of territory and contrasts it with other understandings.
More on Dr. Moore: Margaret Moore – Department of Political Studies, Queen’s University
More Information on the Event
Tickets are required and can be obtained from the IBCPA Box Office (up to two tickets per order). Seating is assigned so getting tickets early will ensure a good seat. Unless the event is sold out, tickets will also be available at the door on the evening of the presentation. A cash bar will be open at 5:30 PM and during the intermission. This symposium will be available for livestream viewing using the link on the IBCPA event listing and for the week following the event on the IBCPA Digital Concert Hall.
Cash Bar Opens at 5:30 PM, Event Starts at 6:30 PM with intermission.
In presenting this symposium, the support of the Royal Society of Canada, Queen’s Vice-Principal Research Portfolio, and the IBCPA is gratefully acknowledged.