{"id":49880,"date":"2018-03-14T12:28:31","date_gmt":"2018-03-14T16:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=49880"},"modified":"2018-03-14T12:30:54","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T16:30:54","slug":"brock-earns-five-semifinal-spots-in-canada-wide-student-research-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2018\/03\/brock-earns-five-semifinal-spots-in-canada-wide-student-research-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock earns five semifinal spots in Canada-wide student research competition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Five Brock University student research videos have made it to the semifinals of a national competition that showcases science research being done in universities across Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca\/ScienceAction\/index_eng.asp\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Science, Action!<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> competition features student-produced, 60-second videos on research projects funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), one of Brock\u2019s major research funders.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After University students from all over the country submitted videos in January, NSERC chose 75 entries, including<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2018\/02\/student-research-highlighted-in-national-competition\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">seven from Brock<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which the agency posted on its website.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The videos were available for viewing throughout February. The public was encouraged to \u2018vote\u2019 for videos by watching them. The 25 most-viewed entries then advanced to the next round.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NSERC announced the Top 25 list of semifinalists, which includes five Brock videos, Monday, March 12.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The videos are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=o2Vg5Jxr8zM&amp;feature=youtu.be\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cell Talk<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Matthew Mueller, Biological Sciences)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7hx9B66gBZk&amp;feature=youtu.be\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DNA: A Mobile Molecule<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Zakia Dahi and Jina Nanayakkara, Biological Sciences)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NEPInOo5J4I&amp;feature=youtu.be\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Old Crow\u2019s New Arctic<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Brent Thorne, Earth Sciences)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=yT44MfGOaf4&amp;feature=youtu.be\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the Fly<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Taylor Lidster, Biological Sciences)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ct71h_ubZOY&amp;feature=youtu.be\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wildfires of Yellowknife<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Josef Viscek, Earth Sciences)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe success of Brock University\u2019s student participants in NSERC\u2019s Science, Action! program is remarkable, but not surprising to anyone who knows the quality of STEM programs and the integration of research and teaching at Brock,\u201d said Brock Vice-President, Research Tim Kenyon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2017\/12\/student-research-competitions-offer-skills-development-exposure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">December interview with The Brock News<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Christian Riel, NSERC\u2019s Director of Communications, explained the importance of communicating science research to the public.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cScience, Action! challenges students to find new ways of explaining complex research so that anyone from kids to grandparents can understand,\u201d he said. \u201cStudents are often surprised at how difficult that can be and they learn very useful communication skills they then carry into their work in the lab or future careers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kenyon said NSERC\u2019s competition is very helpful for students.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt can be the work of a lifetime to develop the understanding and complex skills needed both to do significant research and to effectively convey its impact and meaning to a non-specialist audience,\u201d he said. \u201cBrock\u2019s student finalists are clearly learning these skills early, showing the bright future of creative, high-impact science.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Translating complicated research concepts into compelling language readily understood by a general audience is part of an activity called \u2018knowledge mobilization,\u2019 which seeks to connect research and the wider society.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The students\u2019 ability to convey key messages behind their research to the general public impressed Marty Mako, Acting Manager at Niagara Region Public Health. The organization is a key knowledge mobilization partner for a variety of Brock-based research projects.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIn public health, we strive to make evidence-informed decisions,\u201d he said. \u201cThis involves distilling the best available evidence, then using that evidence to improve practice and policy development. A challenge, however, can be presenting research and evidence in a way that is clearly understood, so it actually leads to change.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mako said students took the challenge of explaining their work in simple terms and ran with it, creating \u201cwell done\u201d videos that were enjoyable and informative to watch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The knowledge mobilization process is typically informed and shaped by those who would use the research, said Jayne Morrish, Knowledge Mobilization Officer with Brock\u2019s Centre for Lifespan Development Research.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOur students\u2019 videos were so effective because they focused on the co-production of knowledge \u2013 working with and from the viewpoints of key partners \u2013 while speaking in plain language, highlighting the connections to relevant communities and telling stories that grabbed the audience\u2019s attention,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Morrish said it\u2019s important for researchers to demonstrate their knowledge mobilization efforts in future funding applications and in their careers. \u201cContests like Science, Action! provide students with a chance to develop their knowledge mobilization skills in an interactive format.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Next month, a panel of judges will select the Top 15 from the 25 videos. The first-place winner will receive $3,500; second place, $3,000; and third place, $2,750. The remaining dozen will receive $2,500.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Five Brock University student research videos have made it to the semifinals of a national competition that showcases science research being done in universities across Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":49881,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3319,4052,188,55,41,1,4,5],"tags":[2195,1099,894,4872,5624],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49880"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49882,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49880\/revisions\/49882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}