Guest Speakers

The Freire-Gormaly Lab has held various guest speaker presentations since we believe in industry-relevant research, promoting collaboration, and research partnerships. This is a curated subset of guest presentations.

Mitacs CEO & Scientific Director, John Hepburn, presented on March 7, 2022. It was a very interesting talk about the work Mitacs does to facilitate University and Industry research projects to foster growth and innovation in Canada. It was a particularly insightful reminder of the role PhD's play in spurring innovation in industry. Economies with strong innovation, such as European countries, have higher percentages of PhD's compared to Canada.

NSERC President, Alejandro Adem, presented on May 18, 2021. He shared about the recent new Strategic Initiatives of NSERC, highlighted some recent funded projects, and he gave advice to the audience as they navigate their academic careers.

Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) CEO & President, Laurie Swami, presented on November 21, 2019. She shared about the progress of the research on the Deep Geologic Repository, initiatives to engage local Indigenous communities in Site Selection and the NWMO's Adaptive Phase Management approach to the safe long-term storage of Nuclear Waste.

Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) Vice-President Site Selection, Lise Morton, presented on January 30, 2022. She described her career path, the NWMO's proposed project, and details of the Site Selection Investigations at South Bruce and Ignace. She emphasized the importance of including community well being and developing strong community partnerships throughout the project planning, implementation, and close-out phases.