The 2025 Royal Society of Canada Eastern Ontario Symposium is a free event open to anyone from the Kingston community and beyond, interested in hearing four experts talk entertainingly about their research. There will be a short period for questions following each presentation. Tickets are required and can be obtained in advance from the Isabel Box Office (up to two tickets per order). Seating is assigned so getting tickets early will ensure a good seat. The cash bar will open at 12:30 PM. This event will be available for livestream viewing using the link on this page. The video can also be viewed during the following week on the .
In presenting this event, support is gratefully acknowledged from the Royal Society of Canada, Queen’s Vice-Principal Research Portfolio, and the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts.
RICHARD J. BATHURST—Finally, a good news story for plastics? Modern geosynthetics in geotechnical applications
Richard Bathurst, Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering at the Royal Military College of Canada, is also cross appointed with the Civil Engineering Department at ¸ŁŔűĽ§. His presentation will trace the trajectory of using geosynthetics in the civil engineering earthworks landscape over the past 50 years. Unlike the bad-news stories that are often connected to the use of plastics, this is a good-news story because these materials are durable and long-lasting without damaging the environment.
CATHLEEN CRUDDEN—The power of organometallics: From catalysts to self-assembled monolayers to atomically precise nanoclusters
Cathleen Crudden is the Allie Vi Douglas Distinguished University professor in the Department of Chemistry at Queen’s University. She is also the Scientific Director of the Carbon to Metal Coating Institute. Research at this institute focuses on using N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) to address current challenges from microelectronics, to metal corrosion, to cancer targeting and therapeutics. This presentation will describe the modification of metallic surfaces with NHCs in many areas, including NHC-stabilized clusters in biological studies and in catalysis.
AMY LATIMER-CHEUNG—Learning to prioritize quality over quantity: Lessons from research partnerships
Dr. Latimer-Cheung is a Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University and is the Director and Principal Investigator leading the Canadian Disability Participation Project 2.0. In this presentation, she will reflect personally on how her research focus has shifted over the years from developing recommendations for the optimal dose of exercise for persons with disabilities, to emphasizing the quality of physical activity participation for persons with disabilities. In pursuing this emphasis on quality academic outputs combined with implications for the quantity of participation, she has formed invaluable partnerships with colleagues and research users. As she will explain, in refocussing of her personal research mission, Dr. Latimer-Cheung's work not only makes an empirical contribution but most importantly, makes an impact in real-world settings.
JOHN SMOL: Forgotten lakes — Braiding indigenous knowledge with lake sediment archives
John P. Smol is a Distinguished University Professor at Queen’s University in the Department of Biology where he founded and co-directs the Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Lab (PEARL). Long-term environmental data are lacking for most lakes. While we can’t go back in time and directly monitor these “forgotten lakes”, we can reconstruct missing data sets with lake sediment analyses (i.e. paleolimnology). Additionally, his lab’s retrospective “western science” approach shares many similarities to Indigenous Traditional Knowledge, where a key focus often includes “looking backwards” for historical information on local ecosystems. This presentation will show how working alongside Indigenous knowledge holders is providing critical data, at appropriate spatial and temporal scales, for evidence-based remediation efforts and the ongoing negotiations regarding reconciliation.
For more information on each speaker, their presentation and their research, please visit the .