Dr. Jessica Grahn
Director, Human Cognitive and Sensorimotor Core of the Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario

Dr. Grahn was the first researcher to establish the neural link between hearing musical rhythm and spontaneous activation of the brain’s motor control system by asking the question why do humans move to rhythm? Her contributions to the fields of psychology and neuroscience have brought her a Charles Darwin Award in Public Communication of Science from the British Science Association, the Early Researcher Award from the Ontario government, a New Investigator Award from CIHR, and an E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship by NSERC. She is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and was named to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. Currently, Dr. Grahn hopes to advance her work in cross-species comparisons to guide training interventions for Parkinson’s patients.

Previous lecture

WHAT’S THE HARM? CONSIDERING THE COMMUNITY IMPACTS OF HATE CRIME

Dr. Barbara Perry has written extensively about inequality, justice and the motivations behind hate crimes. Her publications include Silent Victims: Hate Crime Against Native Americans (2008), Policing Race and Place: Under- and Over-policing in Indian Country (2009), Hate Crimes (2009), Diversity, Crime and Justice in Canada (2011) and Right-wing Extremism in Canada (co-authored 2019).

Next lecture

WHO OWNS OUTER SPACE? SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ON THE FINAL FRONTIER

Dr. Michael Byers’s work focuses on Outer Space, Arctic sovereignty, climate change, the law of the sea, the laws of war, and Canadian foreign and defence policy. Dr. Aaron Boley seeks to put the solar system in context with the many other planetary systems we know exist. His research seeks to answer the question of whether there is life elsewhere in the galaxy.