Mr. Brendan de Caires
Executive Director, PEN Canada

As head of PEN Canada for over a decade, Mr. de Caires defends freedom of expression, and helps exiled writers to establish in Canada. In this capacity Mr. de Caires has edited and co-authored country studies of Mexico, Honduras, India and Guatemala. He is the author of The Winter of a Hundred Books (2010), and A Country Worth Living In (2010). After writing Honduras: Journalism in the Shadow of Impunity (2013), he joined a PEN delegation to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for a special session on impunity in Honduras. He has been a contributor to the Literary Review of Canada and book reviewer for publications in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.

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HOW UBC ENABLED THE COVID-19 MRNA VACCINES

Dr. Pieter Cullis is globally known for his contributions to the field of lipid nanoparticles. His research has contributed to the development of nanomedicines employing lipid nanoparticle delivery technology leading to five clinically approved drugs for cancer therapies, gene therapies, and vaccines, including BNT162b2, the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine marketed by Pfizer/BioNTech.

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PROTECTING HUMANKIND’S COMMON CULTURAL HERITAGE: THE PROBLEM OF CULTURAL APPROPRIATION

Dr. Cécile Fabre is a political philosopher whose research interests include theories of distributive and reparative justice, the philosophy of democracy, and the moral and political philosophy of cultural heritage. Her works have been published in journals such as the British Journal of Political Science, International Affairs, and the Journal of Political Philosophy.