Student research on display at Mapping the New Knowledges conference

This file photo shows the poster presentations in the Mapping the New Knowledge Conference. The 2016 event is happening Thursday.

Think of Brock University’s Mapping the New Knowledges Conference as an encyclopedia of graduate student research coming to life.

On Thursday, April 7 more than 100 graduate students from across all of Brock’s six academic Faculties, will talk about their wide-ranging areas of research and scholarship at the 11th annual Brock conference organized by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA).

There is a full day of sessions and special events scheduled with the hub of activity on the 400 and 300 levels of the Plaza Building and the 300 level of the Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex.

A complete conference schedule along with the abstracts of all presenters is posted at https://brocku.ca/webfm_send/40225

Aidan Smyth, GSA president, is presenting at the conference for the second consecutive year.

“MNK is a day in which everyone takes a break from working in their offices and labs to come out and learn about each other’s research,” says the master’s student in Applied Health Sciences. “The conference opened my eyes to the wealth of innovative research going on at Brock and gave me the opportunity to learn more about the research projects that my peers and lab mates were working on. ?It’s energizing to meet new students and listen to them talk about their passions and research interests.”

The conference opens at 8:30 a.m. when Professor David Gabriel, Applied Health Sciences, will give the keynote address. Gabriel is recognized internationally for his research and teaching in biomechanics and neuromuscular physiology. He was elected in 2010 as an International Fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology. The academy’s membership is considered a “who’s who list” of the top individuals in the fields of Kinesiology and Physical Education.

There are 77 graduate students giving oral presentations in three sets of concurrent sessions and 42 graduate students presenting at two poster sessions. As well, five graduate students are competing in the finals of Brock’s Three Minute Thesis® Contest with the winner advancing to the provincial 3MT® finals on April 14 in Waterloo.

The conference will also feature the presentation of the Graduate Mentorship Awards and the Marilyn Rose Graduate Leadership Award. The awards presentation will take place immediately following a Bench Dedication in memory of Marilyn Rose, former FGS Dean, being held at 12:45 p.m., on the pathway between MacKenzie Chown and Cairns Complex.

The conference will wrap late afternoon with the GSA Social at Isaac’s.

“This is a unique conference — few universities in Canada offer similar opportunities through which graduate students develop their research presentation skills in a welcoming and transdisciplinary atmosphere,” says Mike Plyley, Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies, who has helped to organize the conference since it was first held in 2006. “While on the surface, MNK is one day in the life of graduate students, it means so much more because it strengthens our alliance as researchers and scholars as we discover new potential ways to work together in making a difference in our world.”

Follow the conference at #BrockMNK2016