TV Show Highlights The Best In University Research
Ever wonder what type of research is going on at Canadian universities? Look no further than your television remote. This spring Atlantic universities will be broadcasting their best research on the region’s cable network, according to University Affairs Magazine. Up to six new half-hour shows, produced by the Association of Atlantic Universities, will begin airing in May.
According to Peter Halpin, executive director of the Association of Atlantic Universities, the segments were prompted by a unanimous message from university research specialists across the country that the public needs to know more about the impacts of campus research. “Ask people what kind of research is going on at universities,” he added, “and most wouldn’t know.”
The series, called The Life Changers, launched last fall with six episodes. Carl Breckenridge, Dalhousie University’s vice-president, research, says that the episodes provide a detailed and relatively inexpensive way to communicate the value and benefit of Dalhousie’s research to the public, private and government sectors. “Communicating research is expensive,” says Breckenridge. “We have to think of the best and most inexpensive way to communicate our research. This [the series] is an experiment.”
The program has already received tens of thousands of dollars in federal funding. Halpin hopes to secure more funding for the new episodes. Hosted by George Jordan, a Halifax-based veteran broadcaster, the episodes air in rotation on Sundays from 12:30 to 1 p.m. on the Atlantic Satellite Network (ASN).
