Talk description

AI tools now make it easy to produce polished manuscripts, reviews, and syntheses, and journals are seeing the result as rising submission volumes and eroding quality signals. This talk draws on a recent Biological Conservation perspective and on observations from editorial practice to examine what is lost when content is generated without an intellectual and emotional process: the cycle of probing, doubting, and reconsidering analyses builds a researcher’s connection to their work and the satisfaction of creating something new. In this webinar I will highlight the parts of science that AI cannot replace, including novel data, judgement, and the relationships that shape ideas, and invite discussion on how we keep these at the centre of research and publishing.

Speaker:

Amanda Bates is a Professor of Biology at the University of Victoria, and Director of the Canadian Institute of Ecology and Evolution. Her research combines diverse data in historical time series to identify the most probable causes of where and when species occur, with work spanning thermal tolerance, species redistribution, biodiversity monitoring, and biodiversity change. She is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Global Ecology and Biogeography, serves on the editorial board of Biological Conservation.

When: September 14, 3:30 PM EST / 12:30 PM PST

Format: Virtual webinar via zoom (Link available to CSEE members only)

What to Expect:

• Presentation by NSERC Program Officer: Learn about the latest updates to doctoral and postdoctoral NSERC scholarship and fellowship programs, including any changes to application requirements, evaluation criteria, and deadlines.
• Interactive Q&A Session: Get your specific questions answered directly by the program officer.

Speaker Bio:

Savannah Sloat, Associate Director of Science Indigenous Initiatives at the University of Waterloo, is a proud member of Six Nations of the Grand River, Tuscarora Nation. In her role, she leads Faculty-wide efforts to embed Indigenous perspectives across teaching, research, and curriculum, and oversees the Indigenous Science Centre. Savannah works closely with Indigenous communities, campus partners, and students to build meaningful relationships, strengthen cultural awareness, and support systemic change within the Faculty of Science. 

Speaker Bios:

Gillian Chow-Fraser: Gillian has spent almost a decade within the environmental non-government organization sector working for national and provincial non-profits on conservation issues including: woodland caribou recovery, wood bison recovery, Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, oilsands tailings and old-growth forestry. She completed her Masters degree at the University of Victoria in woodland caribou ecology, before quickly jumping into the non-profit sector. She specializes in strategic planning and communications for advancing conservation based on scientific evidence and community priorities, with experience engaging with communities directly to better understand needs, co-developing research programs, creating knowledge exchange products, and leading public advocacy campaigns to push government action on the biodiversity and climate change crises.  Most recently, she worked for the Bulkley Valley Research Centre as an Extension Specialist, where she worked directly with forest practitioners to create resources that translated scientific information to make on-the-ground decision-making that prioritizes diverse ecological and social values easier.

Katie Goodwin: As an Applied Vegetation Ecologist at SwampDonkey Solutions, Katie is Part-Researcher and Part-Restoration Practitioner. She develops, tests, and evaluates restoration projects to ensure they effectively kickstart succession and restore ecological processes in boreal forests of western Canada. She also studies vegetation responses to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. As a consultant, she works with First Nations, community groups, governments, research entities, and private companies to support ecosystem restoration, land use planning, and land management decision making. Prior to her current position, Katie worked for the BC Ministry of Forests, completed her PhD in Botany at UBC, and MSc in Geography at MUN. 

Kelly Zenkewich

Kelly Zenkewich is a strategic communications leader at Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, where her passion lies at the intersection of advocacy, science communication, and storytelling. With a background in biological sciences and nearly a decade in non-profit communications, plus earlier years in journalism, she specializes in translating complex science into compelling narratives that mobilize action and influence policy through targeted campaigns and digital engagement. Outside of work, Kelly follows trends in online culture, enjoys video games, and can often be found tracking deer and moose in the fall.

Javier Ibarra-Isassi (pronunciation: ha-vee-err eeh-bah-rah eeh-sah-see) Pronouns: he/him: Javier completed his PhD in Biology at Concordia University in Montreal. His doctoral research focused on trying to understand what determines biodiversity patterns. Specifically, he studied how ant traits vary across the world and across environmental gradients. He also studied how agricultural practices influence multiple facets of ant diversity. During his PhD at Concordia, he realized the need to develop his professional skills beyond his technical and academic ones. This led him to take different workshops and participate in other events for professional development available at the university and eventually became a workshop instructor within Concordia’s School of Graduate Studies. After a few years as an instructor, he became the Coordinator of Graduate Research and Thesis Support programs at Concordia. From this position, he helps the graduate student and postdoctoral community achieve their goals through overseeing different academic support and professional development programs. He is a member of the Graduate and Postdoctoral Development Network and the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies. When he is not working, he likes to walk with his dog around the city and nearby parks, and try new ingredients and restaurants.

There will be a total of 4 presentations, leaving a 20 minute Q&A period from the audience.

Description: (*Note: Event will be in English*) 

Science drives discovery – but it also faces challenges in reproducibility, equity, and trust. Addressing these challenges requires two synergistic approaches: the adoption of Open Science practices and the generation of empirical evidence via meta-research. My seminar has three parts. First, I will focus on a few main types of problems we currently face in relation to scientific evidence. Second, I will introduce key ideas behind Open Science movement and how Open Science practices can improve the ways we do science. Finally, I will describe a few examples of past and current meta-research projects from our research group and global collaborations. I will discuss how they contribute to Open Science by investigating equity in the scientific system. At the end, I will share resources you can use to contribute to a more transparent, trustworthy, and collaborative scientific enterprise.

When: Tuesday February 24th @ 11 AM PST / 2:00 PM EST

We encourage all members to attend this session and we look forward to building a valuable learning community through EcoEvoEdu.

Best regards,

Canadian Society of Ecology and Evolution

Questions about this webinar or the EcoEvoEdu series? Contact us at student-etudiant@csee-scee.ca 

Speaker Bio:
Dr Malgorzata (“Losia”) Lagisz

Dr Malgorzata (“Losia”) Lagisz is an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta. With prior appointments in Australia, UK and New Zealand, her interdisciplinary research spans ecology, evolutionary biology, biomedical science, environmental studies, and social science. She uses evidence synthesis (systematic reviews, meta‑analyses, systematic maps, and meta‑epidemiology) to tackle critical questions across disciplines. Dr Lagisz co‑leads a team dedicated to advancing evidence synthesis, Open Science and equity in research. Learn more at www.i‑deel.org and mlagisz.weebly.com.

Mentoring early-career writers is hard. It can be easier if you recognize that both pieces of writing, and the people who write them, go through stages of development – and the most useful help you can give depends on those stages. I’ll suggest approaches to commenting on draft writing and to mentoring writers based on these ideas about development. The goal: let’s maximize the value of your help to your mentees, without inflating (and maybe even reducing!) the time and effort you need to put in.

About the Speaker:

Stephen Heard is an ecologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of New Brunswick and a Past President of CSEE. He’s also rather obsessed with scientific writing – how we tend to do it, how we can do it better, and how we can teach and mentor others so they can do it better too. He’s the author of The Scientist’s Guide to Writing (Princeton University Press, 2 nd ed. 2022) and coauthor of Teaching and Mentoring Writers in the Sciences (University of Chicago Press, 2025). He blogs, with an almost comical lack of focus, at https://scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/.

(*Note: Event will take place in English)

Event Description

CSEE and Canadian Science Publishing invite you to join us for a practical webinar and panel on knowledge mobilization. You’ll learn how to identify your audience, write clear plain language summaries, and discover tools that can help amplify your research impact. This session is designed to give researchers concrete strategies to make their work more impactful—by moving it beyond academia and into the hands of those who can use it to improve policies, practices, and lives.

Bios

Hilary Belleville is a Journal Development Specialist for Canadian Science Publishing (CSP), and a Fellow of the SDG Publishers Compact Action Group. She interacts with various research communities and partners to discover what their needs are from a publisher, and how CSP can best support them. As an advocate for open science, Hilary is dedicated to advancing interdisciplinary research related to the sustainable development goals and strives to make this research discoverable by all. With a bachelor’s degree in environmental practice, Hilary is committed to using science for a more sustainable world.

Andrea Wishart is a Journal Development Specialist for Canadian Science Publishing (CSP), and CSEE’s main partnership contact for the publisher. Holding a PhD in biology, she is expanding her experiences as a researcher into expanding opportunities for authors and editors through new journal initiatives and decreasing barriers to publishing. As long-time member of CSEE and former student councillor, Andrea remains dedicated to strengthening global access to and understanding of ecology, evolution and more. 

Description: Curious about what it takes to secure a faculty position in today’s academic landscape? Join us for a candid and practical webinar featuring a panel of recently hired faculty members who will share their experiences navigating the job market.

The session will begin with brief introductions from each speaker, highlighting their academic backgrounds, current roles, and reflections on their application journeys. Following the introductions, the floor will open for a live Q&A, giving attendees the chance to ask questions about application materials, interview strategies, campus visits, and more.

This is a great opportunity to hear directly from those who’ve successfully made the transition and gain actionable insights to support your own faculty job search.

We’re kicking off this series with our annual webinar focused on NSERC scholarship and fellowship applications. This session is specifically tailored for our student and postdoctoral members who are navigating the evolving NSERC funding landscape.

When: September 5, 3:30 PM EST / 12:30 PM PST

Format: Virtual webinar via zoom [link will be shared at a later date]

What to Expect:

• Presentation by NSERC Program Officer: Learn about the latest updates to NSERC scholarship and fellowship programs, including any changes to application requirements, evaluation criteria, and deadlines.
• Interactive Q&A Session: Get your specific questions answered directly by the program officer.

Submit Your Questions in Advance (by August 23)

To ensure we address the topics most important to you, please submit your questions ahead of time using our Google Form (questions will be sent to NSERC Program Officers after August 23): Google Form 

We encourage all eligible members to attend this first session and look forward to building a valuable learning community through EcoEvoEdu.

___________________________________________

Nous ouvrons la série avec notre webinaire annuel consacré aux demandes de bourses et de subventions du CRSNG. Cette séance s’adresse particulièrement à nos membres étudiant·e·s et chercheurs postdoctoraux qui souhaitent mieux comprendre l’évolution du financement offert par le CRSNG.

Date : le 5 septembre, à 15 h 30 (HNE) / 12 h 30 (HNP)
Format : webinaire sur Zoom (lien à venir)

Au programme :

• Présentation par un représentant de programme du CRSNG : tour d’horizon des nouveautés dans les programmes de bourses et de subventions, avec une attention particulière aux changements concernant les exigences, les critères d’évaluation et les dates limites.
• Séance interactive de questions-réponses : posez vos questions en direct et obtenez des réponses personnalisées.

Envoyez-nous vos questions à l’avance (avant le 23 août)

Pour nous aider à cibler les sujets qui vous intéressent le plus, nous vous invitons à soumettre vos questions avant le 23 août via notre formulaire Google. Celles-ci seront
ensuite communiquées aux représentants de programme du CRSNG : Formulaire Google

Nous espérons vous voir en grand nombre à cette première séance et avons hâte de bâtir, grâce à EcoEvoEdu, une communauté d’apprentissage vivante et stimulante.