Connecting Research to the Public Good: 2025 Annual Fall Lecture Series
9 October 2025 - 20 November 2025
EVENT DESCRIPTION
Each year, the Rotman Institute of Philosophy organizes a public lecture series open to the public. The theme for this year’s lecture series is Connecting Research to the Public Good.
Abstract
The Public Good and higher education are traversing constantly-shifting political, economic, and social terrain.
What role do we have — as academic researchers, teachers, students, leaders of research centers and institutes, and members
of our communities and society — to connect our work to the Public Good? How can we best attend to the needs and interests of
communities and society? And how ought we envision the Public Good and the role of higher education within it?
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Brendon Samuels (Ecological Design Lab, School of Urban and Regional Planning, TMU), Dr. Cheryl Currie (UWO), Dr. Bri Watson (UWO), Dr. Jennifer Simpson (TMU), Dr.Treena Orchard (UWO), and others to be announced for this year’s series: Connecting Research to the Public Good.
All lectures will be held on Thursdays in October & November, from 7:00 – 8:30 pm weekly.
This year’s event will take place at different venues:
- October 9th – Museum London, Lecture Theatre, 421 Ridout Street North, London, ON.
- October 16th – Innovation Works, Community Room, 201 King Street, London, ON.
- October 23rd – Innovation Works, Community Room, 201 King Street, London, ON.
- November 6th – Hume Cronyn Memorial Observatory, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON.
- November 13th – Central Library, Lawson Room, 251 Dundas St, London, ON.
- November 20th – Central Library, Lawson Room, 251 Dundas St, London, ON.
Attendance is free and open to the general public. Advance registration is not necessary.
Rooting Resilience: a Call for Academics to Love Where We Live
Lecture Theatre, Museum London
Thursday, October 9, 2025 | 7:00 – 8:30 pm
In this lecture, Brendon Samuels will discuss how he applied his research locally during his doctoral studies to pursue nature-positive decision making. Building on these experiences, he advocates for laying down roots and nurturing relationships beyond campus –radical acts that humanize the academy and steward the places academics call home.
SPEAKER PROFILE
Brendon Samuels holds a PhD in Biology and Master of Neuroscience from Western University and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Guelph. While studying at Western, Brendon served as chair of the City of London’s Environmental Stewardship and Action Community Advisory Committee, as the Society of Graduate Students Sustainability Coordinator and as a member of Western’s President’s Advisory Committee on Environment and Sustainability. Brendon founded and leads Bird Friendly London, a grassroots organization dedicated to protecting and celebrating birds in the city. He is currently the vice chair of the Old North East Neighbourhood Association and teaching a graduate course about sustainability topics at Western. Brendon has received awards recognizing his research and service from Western University, Nature London, the London Environmental Network, Nature Canada and the Urban League of London.
TITLE TO COME! – Dr. Cheryl Currie
Community Room, Innovation Works
Thursday, October 16, 2025 | 7:00 – 8:30 pm
Abstract to come!
SPEAKER PROFILE
A World Divided into Sheep & Goats: The Scientific Practice of Taxonomy and the Construction of Private Identity
Community Room, Innovation Works
Thursday, October 23, 2025 | 7:00 – 8:30 pm
Based on work done for a book tentatively titled The Kinseys & the Myth of the Sexual Revolution, this talk presents the results of an investigation into the Kinseys (the man and the Institute) in order to examine the profound influence of taxonomy and knowledge organization on the shaping of people’s most private interiorities: gender, sexuality, and personal identity.
SPEAKER PROFILE
B.M. Watson is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Information & Media Studies at Western University focusing on the (multiple) histories of information and how cultural heritage institutions like libraries, archives, and museums relate to marginalized communities through the practice of equitable cataloguing and knowledge work. Watson was one of UBC Library’s inaugural EDI Scholars-in-Residence, a recipient of a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and a fellowship from the W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics. They are a two-time awardee of the Public Scholar Initiative and the Nancy DeLaurier Award from the Visual Resources Association.
Mega Satellite Constellations
Cronyn Observatory, Western University
Thursday, November 6th, 2025 | 7:00 – 8:30 pm
In the spring of 2025, the Rotman Institute of Philosophy launched its annual Think Tank competition, awarding research funding to Dr. Pauline Barmby and her interdisciplinary team – Dr. Sarah Gallagher, Dr. Denis Vida, Dr. Valerie Oosterveld, and Dr. Eric Desjardins – for their project on satellite mega constellations. This presentation shares the team’s findings to date, explores emerging and enduring questions, and invites audience engagement through a live Q&A.
Project details:
For nearly seven decades, humans have launched satellites into orbit for communication, defense, science, and navigation. In recent years, however, the number of satellites has surged – driven largely by mega constellations like Starlink. These vast networks offer transformative benefits, such as expanding internet access to remote regions and enhancing Earth observation capabilities. Yet they also pose serious risks: environmental damage from rocket launches and atmospheric re-entry, disruption of ground-based astronomical research, and the growing threat of space debris that could jeopardize future missions.
This project brings together experts in environmental philosophy, astronomy, space technology, and international law to critically examine the complex trade-offs of satellite constellations. The team aims to illuminate the ethical, scientific, and legal dimensions of this rapidly evolving frontier- and to propose thoughtful policy recommendations for governments and global stakeholders.
SPEAKER PROFILE
Dr. Pauline Barmby is Professor and Chair of Physics & Astronomy at Western University and chairs the Board of the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy. She develops computational tools to analyze large astronomy datasets in order to study stars, star clusters, and their formation in nearby galaxies.
The Public Demands of a University Education
Lawson Room, Central Library
Thursday, November 13th, 2025 | 7:00 – 8:30 pm
This lecture will focus on the purposes of a university education as related to the public good. The question of students’ capacities following graduation is a timely and relevant issue, and under much debate. This talk will consider multiple views and will also offer a vision that speaks to the world in which we live.
SPEAKER PROFILE
Jennifer Simpson is a Professor in the School of Professional Communication at Toronto Metropolitan University. She served as the chair of the university renaming committee at TMU from 2021-2022. She has over 20 years of teaching experience and has served in multiple senior leadership roles including that of Dean and Provost. Her work as a leader, researcher, author, and teacher has for three decades focused on the challenges of equity and the obligations of universities to the public good.
Vulnerbro: Documenting the Tender Edges of Masculinity
Central Library, Lawson Room
Thursday, November 20, 2025 | 7:00 – 8:30 pm
This talk traces the emergence of Dr. Orchard‘s sexual and cultural interest in men as partners, figures to learn from, and fascinating literary fodder. Specifically, it unpacks the rhizomic connections about men and masculinity between her previous book about dating apps and what she is discovering about men, dating, and masculinity, as she gathers data for her new book called Vulnerbro. Using surveys, online interviews, and snail mail letters from far flung places like Ottawa and a correctional facility in California, it offers a tender analysis of how men are navigating gender, subjectivity, and who they are in our time of flaming culture wars hell bent on dividing us. Dr. Orchard also discusses the implications of these data as well as the research process more broadly for the public good, which is something she reflects on frequently as a public scholar.
SPEAKER PROFILE
Treena Orchard is an anthropologist, author, and activist in the School of Health Studies at Western University. Her internationally recognized qualitative and arts-based research explores sexuality, gender, and health among diverse cultural and digital communities. Published last year, her compelling memoir Sticky, Sexy, Sad: Swipe Culture & The Darker Side of Dating Apps was nominated for Book of the Year & People’s Choice Award by MindValley. She’s currently working on her next book that explores masculinity and vulnerability.
This event series is co-sponsored by the London Public Library, the Faculty of Arts & Humanities, the Faculty of Information & Media Studies, the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Social Science, and the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry.
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