Impact
People, partnerships and public education
The impact of a shared commitment.
PIR’s story is visible in its classroom connections, volunteer networks and recognition of people who made research accessible.
Documented milestones
These are dated records of activity and support. Announced funding and expansion targets are not presented as completed outcomes or lifetime totals.
2008: ORION recognition for VROC
VROC received the 2008 ORION Discovery Award of Merit, recognizing its use of technology to support education. Western’s Gazette reported the award on November 28, 2008, highlighting the program’s live video connections between classrooms and researchers.Learning at different scales
PIR’s reports document both individual classroom conversations and events shared across many schools. Each measure describes a particular program and reporting period.- 277 VROC sessions in 2014: the 2014 Executive Director Report records this calendar-year classroom activity. See the VROC history and annual session table.
- 41 PIR Live Events in 2016: the 2016 report records 840 concurrent endpoints across those events and estimates 21,000 student participations using 25 students per endpoint. This was a calculated reach estimate, not a count of unique students.
- More than 2,500 participants in a 2017 DNA extraction activity: the annual report records 1,570 students participating live from 47 locations, with further classes using the recording. The overall figure includes later participation.
- 85 Delta lesson plans: the curriculum resources were developed in 2016 and launched in 2017. The annual report records more than 9,000 lesson downloads in the first nine months. Downloads measure resource use, not individual students.
Sources: Executive Director Report 2014, p. 6; Executive Director Report 2016, pp. 4 and 7; and 2017 Annual Report, which also includes updates from 2018. These figures should not be added together as a lifetime audience total.
Research experiences and northern connections
PIR helped deliver Sanofi Biogenius Canada, connecting secondary students with research mentors and opportunities to undertake biotechnology projects and present their findings. The 2014 report records 130 projects competing during the September 2013–August 2014 competition year. Through Connected North, PIR worked with Cisco Canada and other partners on interactive educational connections with northern communities. The 2014 report records 59 sessions in the September 2013–August 2014 program year, including expert, class-to-class and teacher professional development sessions. The 2015 report records the end of PIR’s program commitment on August 31, 2015 and the transition to TakingITGlobal. These statements describe PIR’s historical role. Explore Delta, Sanofi Biogenius Canada and related initiatives.Making research personal
Researchers gave their time to speak with students, answer questions and discuss their careers. Teachers helped connect those conversations to classroom interests. VROC, live events, podcasts and visits to research institutions provided different ways to participate. Explore the educational programs.Recognizing research and service
The supplied organizational history describes the Biomedical Science Ambassador Awards, recognizing research achievement, public communication and service. It also records Founders’ Awards honouring Bluma Appel, Dr. Calvin Stiller and June Callwood for their contributions in PIR’s formative years. Student essay competitions brought young people into the recognition program, with regional prizes named for Andrew MacFarlane, June Callwood and Wilbert Keon. The Scientific Journey community event included the Bessie Borwein Teacher of the Year Award. Later National Awards materials describe recognition in biomedical science, science, technology and engineering, and mathematics, alongside the Ronald G. Calhoun Science Ambassador Award for a member of the lay community. The annual report records the addition of an early-career researcher award in 2017. The later mathematics award bears Jonathan Borwein’s name.The National Awards
The Winter 2013 edition of The Partner announced a single national awards event recognizing biomedical science and STEM research. The later awards combined recognition of a researcher’s body of work with recognition of efforts to make research understandable and accessible to students and the public.
The 2018 nomination documents preserve six categories:
- Biomedical Science Ambassador: Research and public outreach in biomedical science. 2018 historical nomination document (PDF).
- Science Ambassador: Research and public outreach in science. 2018 historical nomination document (PDF).
- Technology and Engineering Ambassador: Research and public outreach in technology and engineering. 2018 historical nomination document (PDF).
- Jonathan Borwein Mathematics Ambassador: Research and public outreach in mathematics. 2018 historical nomination document (PDF).
- Ronald G. Calhoun Science Ambassador: Sustained leadership by a member of the lay community in support of research. 2018 historical nomination document (PDF).
- Young Ambassador: Research communication and outreach by an emerging researcher, including graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and early-career faculty. 2018 historical nomination document (PDF).
The five researcher-award documents, including the Young Ambassador category, assigned 75% of their assessment to outreach excellence and impact and 25% to research excellence and impact. The Ronald G. Calhoun Science Ambassador Award used separate, outreach-focused criteria for a member of the lay community. The annual report records the introduction of the early-career award in 2017.
These are historical award categories and nomination documents. Their deadlines, eligibility rules and submission instructions describe the 2018 cycle and are not a current call for nominations.
The Evening: research and community support
The Evening galas brought supporters together around research education and helped fund PIR’s work. Two surviving invitations from 2012 use the theme Virtually Educating Our Future:
- The London Evening 2012 invitation (PDF) advertised April 1, 2012 at the Best Western Lamplighter Inn in London.
- The Ottawa Evening 2012 bilingual invitation (PDF) advertised May 9, 2012 at the Hampton Inn Ottawa & Conference Centre, naming Senator Kelvin K. Ogilvie as Biomedical Science Ambassador honouree and Maureen McTeer for the Ronald G. Calhoun Science Ambassador Award.
The invitations document the advertised events and honourees. Ticket prices, response slips and contact details are preserved as archival information.
A network behind the work
The University of Toronto, Western and Toronto General Hospital are identified in the historical account as sponsoring institutions at PIR’s beginnings. Later partnerships brought educators, researchers, technical specialists and supporters together across institutions. In 2013, Cisco and Sheridan College announced their collaboration with PIR to support video-based STEM outreach. Earlier support included Ontario start-up funding described in the supplied history and the federal Youth STEM contribution announced in 2011.Volunteers, patrons and community support
The organizational foreword recognizes hundreds of volunteers and the London, Toronto and Ottawa chapters. Their work included fundraising events, educational resources, administration and connections with researchers and schools. Patrons and community leaders helped open doors. The historical records identify supporters including Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, Bluma Appel and June Callwood. The Evening galas connected these communities with students and researchers while supporting PIR’s educational work.A continuing legacy
STEM Camp began in 2013 at two pilot locations. Kevin Cougler’s account explains how summer programming grew from PIR’s educational mission.Sources behind the milestones
- Cheryl Stone, “Researchers try to get students interested in science,” The Gazette, November 28, 2008, p. 2.
- Dr. Ronald G. Calhoun’s supplied PIR organizational history and foreword, and the PIR pamphlet, described in the historical archive.
- Government of Canada announcement and backgrounder, November 24, 2011.
- Cisco announcement, May 30, 2013.
- Kevin Cougler, Executive Director Report 2014, pp. 4–6; Brent Peltola, Executive Director Report 2015, p. 4, and Executive Director Report 2016, pp. 4–8; 2017 Annual Report; and the historical National Awards nomination documents. These documents were supplied by Kevin Cougler.