Robert and Patricia Duncanson Lecture Series
Robert and Patricia Duncanson Lecture Series
Thanks to a gift from Tim K. Duncanson in 2018, this series supports an annual lecture in the Faculty of Arts & Humanities offered through the School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities (SASAH). While the lecture will be open to the University community, it will also be a key component of the SASAH Speakers’ Series, which is an important part of the program’s curriculum. This lecture is named in honour of Robert Duncanson and Marjorie Patricia Duncanson.
Each year, the Faculty of Arts & Humanities will invite a scholar or artist to give a lecture at the University on a topic related to the SASAH program’s dedication to Learning with Humanity. The Lecture will stimulate both thought and discussion with regard to the importance of humanities scholarship, and related engagement, to a meaningful search for ways to exert a positive influence on complex contemporary and future problems and challenges.
2024-25 - Wanda Nanibush ''Performing Sovereignty''
Tuesday, March 4 at 5 PM in Conron Hall, Western University (and ZOOM)
From protest to ceremony to performance art, Indigenous artists are breaking the Eurocentric boundaries between art/culture, tradition/contemporary, humor/ethics, fiction/history, and resistance/creation. In "Performing Sovereignty," Wanda Nanibush reveals how, in the process, new histories of protest and performance are sought, and both become the site of Indigenous sovereignty enacted. Artists such as Rebecca Belmore, James Luna, Lori Blondeau, Adrian Stimson, and Shelley Niro, among many others, are our guides. This shift is Indigenous and artist-led.
2024-25 - Carlo Rovelli, theoretical physicist, best-selling author & influential thinker
Thursday, January 30 at 5 PM in Conron Hall, Western University (and ZOOM)
In "Come With Me Inside a Black Hole," Rovelli explores white holes, black holes, and what we do when we do science. A New York Times bestselling author, Carlo Rovelli will guide attendees on a trip towards and into a black hole, illustrating what we know and what we do not know about these strange objects. He will show how we might then get out of a black hole, via a white hole, assuming the theory on which he works, Loop Quantum Gravity, is correct. This trip will illustrate what it is to do science, using imagination, visualization, and creativity, besides ‘cold’ math and logic.
Carlo Rovelli is a theoretical physicist, known for his work on quantum gravity and the nature of time. Among his recognitions are the 1996 Xanthopoulos Award and the 2024 Lewis Thomas Prize. He is affiliated to the University of Aix-Marseille, the philosophy department and the Rotman Institute of the Western University, the Perimeter Instituteand the Santa Fe Institute for Complexity. He is member of the Institute Universitaire de France, honorary professor ofthe Beijing Normal University, Honoris Causa Laureate of the Universidad de San Martin, Buenos Aires, member of the Académie Internationalede Philosophie des Sciences. He promoted the Peace Dividend Initiative, involving 60 Nobel Laureates in asking for a worldwide collaborative military expenses reduction. He has written global best sellers translated in more than 40 languages. He has been included in the 2019 list of the 100 most influential “Global Thinkers” by Foreign Policy magazine and in the 2021 list of The World’s 50 Top Thinkers by Prospect magazine.
2023-24 - Britt Wray, Author and Director of the Chair’s Special Initiative on Climate Change and Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of Stanford Medicine
Thursday, February 29 at 5 PM in Conron Hall, Western University (and ZOOM)
Britt Wray is a ground-breaking researcher and storyteller, and a growing voice around the mental health effects of climate change.
In “How to Cope with Climate Anxiety,” Britt demonstrates the emotional and existential effects of living in a warming world—and how we can get through them together. Although anxieties surrounding the climate crisis can cause us to burn out, give up, and question deeply personal decisions like whether to have children, working through these anxieties can unlock a deep capacity to care for and act on climate issues.
We need to look at the climate crisis as a whole—not just the political or technological issues, but the mental health consequences as well. These effects can be severe, even leading people affected by climate events to experience PTSD and a loss of identity. To combat this, Britt presents practical tips and strategies for healthily and productively dealing with our emotions, living with climate trauma, and strengthening our communities so we can combat climate change together.
Britt has a PhD in Science Communication from the University of Copenhagen, and she is an advisor to the Good Energy Project for climate storytelling and the Climate Mental Health Network. She’s the Director of the Chair’s Special Initiative on Climate Change and Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of Stanford Medicine. Britt’s acclaimed book Generation Dread, about finding purpose during the climate crisis, was named a finalist for the 2022 Governor General’s Literary Awards.
2022-23 - Cameron Bailey, (BA'87, LLD'18), CEO of Toronto International Film Festival
2021 - 22 - David Usher, musician, author, founder of artificial intelligence creative studio, Reimagine AI
2020 - 21 - Dr. Jillian Horton, author, musician, general internist, Director of the Alan Klass Health Humanities Program at the Max Rady College of Medicine in Winnipeg
We welcomed Dr. Jillian Horton (Faculty of Arts & Humanities alumna, English, BA '96, MA '97) on March 4, 2021 to a virtual event as our 3rd Annual Robert and Patricia Duncanson Lecturer. In partnership with The Schulich Medical School, Words Festival, SASAH and the Department of English and Writing Studies at Western, we present this talk during The Grand Rounds.
Dr. Horton discussed her new book We Are All Perfectly Fine: A Memoir of Love, Medicine and Healing. Dr. Horton is an award-winning medical educator, writer, musician and podcaster. After graduating from English at Western, she completed a residency and a fellowship in internal medicine at the University of Toronto and has held posts as an associate dean and associate head of internal medicine. As a teacher of mindfulness, she is sought after by doctors at all stages of their careers.
2019 - 20 - Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University
On November 14, 2019, we welcomed Naomi Oreskes is Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University as the 2nd Annual Robert and Patricia Duncanson Lecturer.
Naomi is an internationally renowned geologist, science historian, and author of both scholarly and popular books and articles on the history of earth and environmental science, including The Rejection of Continental Drift, Plate Tectonics: An Insider’s History of the Modern Theory of the Earth, and in recent decades has been a leading voice on the issue of anthropogenic climate change.
2018 - 19 - Matthew Teitelbaum, Director, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The inaugural Robert and Patricia Duncanson Lecture took place on March 4, 2019 featuring Matthew Teitelbaum, Director, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Matthew Teitelbaum is an international leader in the world of art museums and galleries. His lecture addressed the subject of the future of museums in the twenty-first century with reference to his experiences leading art institutions in the United States and Canada.
