After a summer hiatus, Nerd Nite North Van is back for the fall! Photo by Robert Shaer.

By Charlie Cook, Programs Assistant

Come think and drink with Nerd Nite North Van, now hosted at the Museum of North Vancouver (115 West Esplanade)

Nerd Nites feature speakers who deliver 15-minute talks on a range of complex subjects, but in simple, easy-to-understand terms.

After a summer hiatus Nerd Nite North Van is back with a special gardening-themed show. Learn about the mental health benefits of gardening, local plants, and other soil-themed subjects from our three fascinating speakers.

Each talk includes a fun, interactive question-and-answer period in a relaxed, pub-style atmosphere to meet other nerds who yearn to learn more about the amazing discoveries being made every day.

Folks out and enjoying our last Nerd Nite in May of this year. Photo by Robert Shaer.

Nerd Nite North Van on Thursday, September 28th

Join us at the Museum of North Vancouver (115 West Esplanade) on September 28th for a special gardening-themed Nerd Nite. Tickets include admission to the Museum’s Permanent and Feature Galleries, along with some entertainingly nerdy presentations.

Presentations run from 7-9 pm, but we strongly encourage you to arrive early, between 6-6:30 to grab a drink, socialise, and visit the museum’s galleries.

Get your tickets now!

The night includes 3 unique speakers, a short intermission, as well as a chance to win some trivia prizes. Food and drink are not allowed in the galleries but may be enjoyed in the lobby. This is a +19 event.

Meet The Speakers

Photo courtesy of Jordan Mara.

Jordan Mara (he/him) – Gardening’s Mental Health Benefits

Jordan Mara launched Mind & Soil in 2020 with the mission of introducing 1,000,000 individuals to Restorative Gardening. To help connect individuals with gardening’s mental health benefits, Mind & Soil offers a combination of entertaining online education and the organic gardening products needed to not only have a thriving garden but to experience how peaceful, calming, and restorative gardening can be! 

Find Jordan on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube: @MindandSoil

Emi Do (she/her): Re-building our social ecology for a just and resilient food system

Emi came to cooperatives as a small-scale urban farmer trying to find a viable alternative to the dominant food distribution chain. The sense of empowerment, mutuality, and solidarity that the experience provided sparked an interest in the cooperative model as a means to democratize and transform relationships across different workplaces and contexts. Through studying one of the largest agricultural cooperative federations (JA) in Japan for her PhD studies and incubating different worker cooperative enterprises under a new worker cooperative law there, Emi explored organizational practices that foster novel, collaborative ways for people to work together. After trying her hand in academia as a researcher and assistant professor for a couple of years at Tokyo University of Agriculture, she returned to Canada and is excited to continue exploring applications of her studies in pursuit of food justice and building solidarity as the cooperative coordinator at Young Agrarians. She recently co-authored Cooperatives at Work, a book on the power of democratic organizations. When she’s not in the kitchen, you can find Emi scampering on trails in the mountains.

Find Emi on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook: @youngagrarians

Photo provided by Dr Lily Chunling Liu

Dr Lily Chunling Liu (she/her)- Empowering Wellness: Cultivating and Harnessing Medicinal Plants for Health and Vitality

Lily Chunling Liu is an instructor, writer, and specialist in Chinese herbal medicine. She is interested in the cultivation and utilization of herbal medicine to enhance people’s well-being, as well as the design of medicinal gardens and farms. Lily’s writings on Chinese medicinal plants have been featured in some anthologies published in Canada (2019,2020), and her comprehensive research, including monographs, books, and research papers has been published in China. Lily holds a Ph.D. in Chinese botanical medicine and previously served as an Associate Professor at the Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China. She also received a M.Sc. from the University of British Columbia, and currently, she works as an Instructor in the School of Horticulture at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

Call for Speakers

Are you a fun, passionate nerd who loves public speaking? If you have a topic you love to talk about, come share what you’re ‘nerding out’ at Nerd Nite North Van!

We are seeking pitches from presenters who can deliver 15-20-minute talks on a subject of their choice.

Get in touch for more information and how to submit by emailing programs@monova.ca or come talk to us after the show!