improv4humans (with The Sunday Service) featuring Matt Besser

2021, Equity + Justice, Climate + Environment, Series SFU Vancouver Speaker Series

In this SFU Vancouver Speaker Series lecture, Wilkinson will address how inequality affected the pandemic experience and response, and how we can improve quality of life post-COVID as we face the ultimate challenge of the climate crisis.

2019, Series SFU Vancouver Speaker Series, Arts + Culture, Climate + Environment

Are we deranged? Acclaimed Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh argues that future generations may well think so, given our imaginative failure in the face of global warming.

2019, Series SFU Vancouver Speaker Series, Democracy

In this SFU Vancouver Speaker Series event, journalist, author and historian Gwynne Dyer discusses how both the emotional and financial pain of unemployment have been driving populism in the U.S. and beyond, and how universal basic income could be a solution.

Series SFU Vancouver Speaker Series, 2017, Future of Work

The future of learning is upon us. How well are universities responding to the changing world students face? How relevant are today’s educational programs for tomorrow’s challenges? How can we ensure universities serve the needs of students? How must universities evolve to ensure their approach to educating is contemporary, fulfilling, and relevant?

Series SFU Vancouver Speaker Series, 2016, Climate + Environment, Economy

Join us for this special evening with Naomi Klein, award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and author.

Series SFU Vancouver Speaker Series, Climate + Environment, 2015, Democracy

In Chris Hedges' vision, the forces that drive the current climate crisis, that drive the planet beyond its carrying capacity and fuel the unfolding extinction event, are the same forces that have invaded and ultimately invalidated our so-called democratic processes. This is a largely unchecked corporate power, driven by a logic of growth and profit-making, that arguably leaves the rest of us little option other than mass disobedience and a grass roots reclaiming of the power of the streets.

Series SFU Vancouver Speaker Series, Arts + Culture, 2014

Few names are as synonymous with Improv as Matt Besser. A founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) along with Amy Poehler, Matt Walsh and Ian Roberts, Besser’s credits include appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Spin City, Frasier, Human Giant, Curb Your Enthusiasm, How I Met Your Mother, Reno 911, Key & Peele, Parks & Recreation, & Comedy Bang! Bang!

Series SFU Vancouver Speaker Series, 2014, Economy

Professor David Andolfatto will discuss money, payments, and monetary policy in a world with cryptocurrencies. Following the lecture, Andolfatto will be joined by cryptocurrency commentators Stephen Hui and Michael Yeung for a moderated discussion.

Series SFU Vancouver Speaker Series, Arts + Culture, 2014, Media + Information

Thorn’s talk will cover how he innovatively turned his college radio show into an independent media powerhouse, and how 12 other people, many of them his friends and colleagues, exemplify the qualities you need to make your independent artistic and career aspirations a reality in the internet age.

Series SFU Vancouver Speaker Series, 2013, Climate + Environment

The lecture “Climate Wars” is based on Dr Dyer's book of the same name. Drawing on interviews with scientists, policy-makers and military strategists in a dozen different countries, it explores the grave geopolitical implications of large-scale (and probably rapid) climate change. Governments are starting to make some calculations that they prefer not to discuss in front of the children.

Series SFU Vancouver Speaker Series, Equity + Justice, Arts + Culture, Media + Information, 2013

Shabana Azmi, who is receiving an honorary degree from SFU on June 12, will speak about her life and work in cinema and activism, focusing on the attitudes towards women on screen and in society, a discussion of particular relevance due to the current political climate in India.

Series SFU Vancouver Speaker Series, 2012, Cities, Equity + Justice

The lecture will trace the evolution of the Right to Adequate Housing since the early 1990's concentrating on the work done by civil society campaigns and movements around the world and their influence on the interpretation of this critical human right at the UN human rights bodies. The lecture will also summarize the many obstacles that impede the implementation of this well articulated human right, including the impact of the current economic crisis in many regions of the world.