University research has a funny habit of being hard to reach if you don't work at a university, yet research itself in its many forms is one of those great universal passions that appeals to and connects us all.

Our Café Scientifique series bridges the research-to-public gap with casual community lectures inspired by the early coffeehouses of 18th century France. Sponsored and hosted by UVic's Faculty of Science, these free evening cafés provide an opportunity to learn about exciting new discoveries in modern science and meet experts in the field. Each event begins with a 45 minute talk followed by a moderated question and answer session.

Upcoming talks:

Speaker: Sonya Bird
Title: Seeing speech: Using speech visualization technology to help learn new languages
When: Tuesday, September 13, 2022
Description: Sonya Bird is a linguist whose research is focused on the articulatory and acoustic properties of speech. Her current work focuses on supporting learners of Salish languages fine-tune their pronunciation. In this talk, she discusses how seeing speech, for example using ultrasound imaging of the tongue, can help us learn to hear and pronounce new sounds in an unfamiliar language.