The 8th edition, presented by Amazon Web Services, in collaboration with UQAM's Faculty of Science 

MONTRÉAL, Jan. 22, 2025 /CNW/ -

HEADLINES

• Join us for the 8th edition of Women and Girls of Science at the Montréal Science Centre on Saturday, February 15! Learn more
  
  
• Come explore science and technology through four visit paths including 25 big-name exhibitors like L'Oréal Canada, the SAT, ABB Canada, Ubisoft, Archéomusée de Roussillon, and many more!
  
  
• Event ticket price identical to a regular exhibition ticket
  
  
• Talks by Joannie Rochette, in French and English (add $12 per person to the price of the event ticket)
  
  
• Conversation with the Lemay-Pelletier family live from the Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) stage
  
  
• All funds raised through this event will go to support the Montréal Science Centre Foundation

Women and Girls of Science – What's this event all about?

The event marks the UN's International Day of Women and Girls in Science and is designed to stir the interest of young women in careers in science and tech. The 2024 edition was more tremendous than ever thanks to an engaging program and two events partners, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and UQAM's Faculty of Science. This winning combination helped attract 3,300 visitors last year! The event comes back to the Montréal Science Centre this year for its 8th edition on Saturday, February 15 with programming that should prove even more incredible! The event is presented for women and girls, but it is open to everyone. Its program is organized around four different visit paths:

Talks: The IMAX®TELUS theatre auditorium will welcome our first guest, Olympian Joannie Rochette, who will share stories about her inspiring journey transitioning from Olympic victory to medical school and her anesthesia residency. She will present two talks during the event, one in English and one in French. Our second guest is none other than Édith Lemay (of the Lemay-Pelletier family), mother of four children of which three are diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare degenerative disease that leads to vision loss. Speaking from the FRQ Stage in the Science Centre's Passerelle space, Édith will talk about the hopes and projects that fill her family's everyday life, their fight with this rare disorder, and promising scientific advances from the field of medicine. Marine biology expert and comedian Vikie Pedneault (aka Biolovik on social media) will host both talks and moderate enlightening conversations with the speakers. Vikie will also facilitate a panel of experts from AWS and UQAM.

Workshops: These engaging hands-on sessions will invite young visitors to experiment and take on challenges led by Abotec, Zootérapie Québec, and Kiki Code where they can learn about canine behaviour, make their own arrow heads, or program their very own mobile robot. Topics that will undoubtedly stir the interest of these young minds!

Discovery Space: The AWS team will offer visitors a fascinating mix of art and tech with four activities designed to tap into their creativity: building a lava lamp to explore the principles of fluid density, making personalized binary code-inspired trinkets to learn about the fundamentals of programming language in a very hands-on way, making a harmonica to discover some of the fundamentals of acoustics and sound production, and a robot arm demo from Acrylic Robotics that will push the limits of artistic creativity.

Over an entire day, young visitors and the scientists of tomorrow will have a chance to meet 25 exhibiting organizations and take part in all sorts of activities from coding and virtual reality to biology and chemistry and find inspiration about their future careers in the fascinating world of science! Participating organizations include the Canadian Space Agency, Ubisoft, The Neuro, Génome Québec, the SAT, and many more.

Demos inside the exhibition halls: UQAM's Faculty of Science will welcome visitors inside the Science Centre's exhibition halls to present science demos that will inspire wonder and amazement.

• Science Bites, hosted by young women studying at UQAM, is a series of discovery opportunities served up like nibbles that let visitors explore short science demonstrations. Young visitors can wander the Science Centre's exhibition halls and find UQAM students ready to show them how to fish for zooplankton, study fossils, do origami, study insects inside a terrarium, and experiment with magnetism.

The Science Centre's educators will be on hand to offer visitors a unique experience exploring the physics and chemistry secrets hiding behind everyday meal-making. The culinary science lab is the place to discover the molecular reactions at work behind cooking and food transformation. All this inside the feature exhibition Banquet where the delicious side of science comes to life!

A full day of visit and activities designed to let visitors become fascinated and find their favourite side of science! Digital art, biology, chemistry, programming, cosmetics, aerospace engineering, video games… Learn more

Committed Partners Engaged with the Future!
Amazon Web Services is back for a third year as the event's title sponsor in alignment with their commitment to make a positive impact in the local communities that house its data centres and invest in sustainable social impact programs in places where its employees live and work. AWS' renewed engagement also reflects its vision to make STEAM education (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) accessible to all and to help build an increasingly inclusive future that nurtures innovation.

UQAM's Faculty of Science is also back as collaborating partner for the sixth year in a row, reaffirming its commitment to promote gender equity in the fields of science and tech and to its frontline role in educating the scientific leaders of tomorrow.

The 2025 edition marks another important moment for the Montréal Science Centre: it's 25th anniversary! And so, this 8th edition comes to reaffirm the value of the Science Centre's mission and initiatives that, after 25 years, continue to be so fundamentally relevant.

In an effort to promote the accessibility of Women and Girls of Science, event partners and the Montréal Science Centre Foundation will offer event tickets to organizations working with young women ages 10 to 17 from less privileged backgrounds. This will allow more than a hundred young women to take part in this exceptional day. What's more, all funds raised by the event will go to the Science Centre Foundation in support of its mission. Click here to donate and show your support.

"The 8th edition of the Women and Girls of Science event is the most ambitious yet! I have no doubt that its engaging program will help young visitors, especially young girls, dream big about a career in science. It should be an incredible day of wonder and discovery, all made possible by strong, committed, and meaningful collaborations."

 -Cybèle Robichaud, Montréal Science Centre Director

"AWS profoundly believes that empowering talent paves the way to sustainable progress. This is why we are proud to support Women and Girls of Science for a third year running. The event not only promotes the value of diversity in the field but also offers young women the tools to project themselves into a future career in technology.  

                            -Réjean Bourgault, AWS Canada National Director

"UQAM's Faculty of Science is proud to support this event for the sixth year in a row and to share its passion for science by presenting a variety of enlightening experiences to its visitors. Our partnership is yet another concrete expression of our university's engagement to promoting women's access to careers in science." 

                             -Isabelle Marcotte, Assistant Dean of Research, UQAM Faculty of Science

About the Montréal Science Centre
The Montréal Science Centre, a division of Canada Lands Company, is a complex dedicated to science and technology that welcomes more than 600,000 visitors annually. It is best known for its accessible, interactive approach and for showcasing local innovation and know-how. Its major partners are TELUS, Amazon Web Services, The Beat 92.5, and La Presse.

SOURCE Société du Vieux-Port de Montréal Inc.