2021 COVID Creative Award Winner

Queen's University

Queen’s Science Rendezvous Kingston embraced the challenge of being COVID Creative in 2021. Delivering an ambitious, multidimensional 16-day web-based program, they logged attendance by some 29,000 people from around the globe! Coordinators Lynda Colgan and Kim Garrett, with the help of hundreds of talented volunteers, showed incredible resilience and creativity, exceeding expectations and capturing the imagination of visitors with their diverse menu of educational STEAM content.

Retaining and reimagining their Science Rendezvous festival format, the coordinating team designed an interactive and digital floor map that allowed visitors to explore the wide range of available activities at their own pace and leisure. They generated a sizable and diverse suite of engaging and inspiring digital resources, including webinars, live Q&A sessions, virtual tours, downloadable activity booklets, interactive jigsaw puzzles, scavenger hunt activities and experiment demonstrations. The options and opportunities for visitors were virtually limitless, with “live” and “on-demand” events and supports available. Other notable virtual events included the fan-favourite Science Chase and a Million Trees Project webinar with author and scientist Lindsey Carmichael.

Beyond their exemplary content, the coordinating team was committed to showcasing diversity in the scientific community. Within their Innovators and Influencers stages, the team highlighted the leading-edge research being conducted by women scientists and graduate students in order to provide opportunities for youth, and particularly young women, to learn more about the various engineering and physics disciplines. The coordinating team also shone the spotlight on groundbreaking women pioneers in geology, mining and paleontology, who defied the odds to work and study in typically “male” fields and carved a path for others to follow.

Although the coordinating team’s outstanding and creative use of technology was evident throughout their programming, their app is worthy of the ultimate “gold star”. Comprising two single-player mobile games (or hubs), the app invites people of all ages to explore the fascinating worlds of and people from engineering and physics. The two imaginary, interactive environments in the app, Connections City and Space Base, were developed by Sydenham High School students Ben Black and Kye Hallam, in consultation and collaboration with Queen’s Engineering Outreach Manager Scott Compeau and Outreach Coordinator Carmen Maertz as well as a team of faculty and graduate students from the Physics and Astronomy Department, led by Assistant Professor Alexander Wright and M.Sc. student Simran Nerval. By providing the opportunity for high school students Ben and Kye to create the app content and game-based challenges, Queen’s Science Rendezvous Kingston not only facilitated cross-panel collaboration between the secondary school panel and the university, but achieved one of NSERC’s principal goals for Science Rendezvous and Science Odyssey: to mentor, support and encourage youth to pursue interests and develop expertise in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Thank you for being true leaders and a part of the Science Rendezvous community. We are looking forward to seeing what you will come up with in 2022!