Zain Verjee
Navigating Authentic Storytelling

How do we ensure that we tell more authentic stories in our media, especially on behalf of groups that don’t normally command sustained media attention? One of the world’s most respected and recognized journalists, she has worked as a CNN International anchor, reporter, and interviewer. She is also the co-founder of aKoma, Africa’s premier digital storytelling platform, representing authentic African stories in the media.

Website: aKoma   Twitter:@Zain_Verjee

Tristan Gooley
Natural Navigator

How do we keep alive a navigational tradition that helps to define us as humans? Before there was the compass and GPS, there was the art and craft of navigating by the sun, stars, water, and wind. Based in the UK, Tristan is “The Natural Navigator” and has led expeditions on five continents, helping to inspire new generations to retain this timeless set of navigational skills and natural understanding.

Website: The Natural Navigator   Twitter:@NaturalNav

Dr. Barbara Perry
Navigating Alt-Extremism

In a world rife with extremism acts, how do we help change things when that next extremist might well be our neighbour and look exactly like us? A Professor in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, and the Director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism. Dr. Perry has made substantial contributions to the limited scholarship on hate crime in Canada, including work on anti-Muslim violence, hate crime against LGBTQ communities, the community impacts of hate crime, and right wing extremism in Canada.

Website:  UOIT Profile

Dr. Paul Fedak
Navigating Surgery

A cardiac surgeon and scientist at the University of Calgary, Dr. Fedak is committed to the innovation and translation of new surgical therapies for patients with advanced heart disease. He has pioneered several novel surgical techniques, and leads a collaborative research effort with Northwestern University to better understand risk prediction around heart disease.

Website:  Profile – Libin Cardiovascular Institute

Notas de 4
Navigating Musical Fusion

A powerful fusion of traditional Flamenco influences combined with traditional Latin American tunes and Mexican, Cuban, and Canadian jazz, Notas de 4 performances are intense, edgy, energetic, and inspiring.

Website:  Notas de 4 (Facebook)

Dr. Shadia Drury
Navigating Philosophy

How did we come to see the world as revolving around us as humans, versus understanding ourselves to be part of a bigger natural order? Elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2005 in the discipline of philosophy and ethics, Dr. Drury’s lifelong exploration of the history of western thought and political and religious philosophy makes her an insightful observer on today’s political environment in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Alice Woolley
Navigating Ethics

Amid the controversy of U.S. Supreme Court nominations that highlight the challenges of defining the truth in public allegations of misconduct, what are the ethical and moral responsibilities of those watching and commenting in the public sphere? Twice named one of Canada’s 25 most influential lawyers, Alice Woolley can be considered one of Canada’s pre-eminent scholars in legal ethics and lawyer regulation.  The author of over 40 scholarly articles, including several books which she has written or edited, Woolley’s work has been relied upon by the Supreme Court of Canada, lower courts and regulators of the legal profession.

Website:  Alice Woolley on ABLaw Blog    Twitter:@woolleylaw

Stephen Carter
Navigating Decision

Have you ever had to make a decision? Well, then someone has been trying to figure out how you make them, so they can better persuade you to act in a certain way. Stephen is an innovator, pushing the bounds of what is possible. Best known as one of Canada’s leading political strategists, he played a leadership role in the rise of Calgary’s now world-famous Mayor Naheed Nenshi, and currently navigates better decision-making in a number of realms through his professional firm, QED Marketing.

Website: QED Marketing Inc.    Twitter:@Carter_AB

Briana Brownell
Navigating Artificial Intelligence

When you think about artificial intelligence, do you see an apocalyptic future of a machine-dominated world, or one where human capabilities are augmented in new and potentially wonderful ways? Briana Brownell is a data scientist turned tech entrepreneur, futurist and expert in artificial intelligence. She is exploring Uncanny Learning: impacts of building technology that surprises us with creativity, insight and intelligence.

Dr. Ali Asani
Navigating Religions

How does our concept of religion inspire and contribute to our artistic creativity? Ali S. Asani is Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures at Harvard University. He provides instruction on a variety of courses on the Islamic tradition, and he is a specialist of Islam in South Asia. Professor Asani’s research focuses on the Shii and Sufi devotional traditions in the region, and explores how religion and the arts intersect in a cultural perspective.

Dr. Jessalynn Keller
Navigating Girls Culture

At a time where it is emerging as an ever more powerful voice, where is girls’ culture headed online, and how powerful a platform for activism and community is it? Dr. Jessalynn Keller is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication, Media, & Film at the University of Calgary and an expert in girls’ media cultures, contemporary digital feminisms, and mediated celebrity culture.

Ramona Big Head
Navigating Trauma and Ways of Knowing

An educator with over 22 years of experience, Ramona Big Head is currently in her second year as principal of the ground-breaking Kainai High School, where she and associate principal Charlton Weasel Head are using a combination of brain science and traditional ways of knowing to help Kainai youth find their identity and advance their education through innovative curricula. A prior instructor at the University of Lethbridge for two years (2011-2013) in the Faculty of Education, Ramona currently is also a PhD Candidate out of the University of British Columbia examining the correlation between arts education and identity in Kainai youth.

Charlton Weasel Head
Navigating Trauma and Ways of Knowing

Charlton is the Associate Principal at Kainai High School, working together with principal Ramona Big Head to use a combination of brain science and traditional ways of knowing to help Kainai youth. My wife is Stacey. He has been an educator for the past 15 years, all spent at KHS, and enjoys working with and along side our staff, students and parents. He finds it very exciting to see the school’s students prosper, reach their goals and become prominent Kainaiwa community members whom will continue to make change and become positive leaders.

Dr. Marie-Claire Shanahan
Navigating Learning

What does it mean to say that scientific knowledge and practice belongs to everyone? Dr. Shanahan is an Associate Professor of Learning Sciences at the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary. She works to understand how to remake scientific communities and technological spaces to ensure access to knowledge and expertise for all. Her work brings to light how our private worlds and identities can both benefit from and inform scientific practices and the design of technologies. Dr. Shanahan will be co-presenting with Dr. Pratim Sengupta.

Website:  Professional Profile    Twitter:@mcshanahan

Dr. Pratim Sengupta
Navigating STEM Education

What does it mean to design technologies as public worlds? Dr. Pratim Sengupta, Research Chair of STEM Education at the University of Calgary’s Werklund School of Education has been working to understand this question by designing open source and open science technologies in public spaces and public schools through unsilencing hidden narratives and bringing us together. He is the recipient of a CAREER Award (2012) from the US National Science Foundation. Dr. Sengupta will be co-presenting with Dr. Marie-Claire Shanahan.

Website:  The Mind, Matter & Media Lab (M3Lab)  Twitter:@pratim

Shaffina Mohamed
Navigating Gardens of Connection

With a career that spans building a socially-conscious occupational therapy practice and currently managing operations for her family’s industrial lighting company, Shaffina Mohamed is an entrepreneur, community investor, and people connector at heart. Shaffina currently leads the Ismaili community engagement with the Aga Khan Garden, Alberta under the Aga Khan Council for Edmonton. With a strong interest in better understanding the parks and gardens restored and developed by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture worldwide — including the new garden in Edmonton opening in October 2018 — her quest for learning and understanding has led Shaffina to be the visionary for a multi-sensory production ‘Reflections in Paradise’ in an effort to bring awareness about the impact of these spaces on individuals, families, communities, and countries.

Website:  Aga Khan Garden, Alberta