Each year the RSC presents a series of prestigious awards and medals to honour individuals selected for their exceptional contributions.

This ceremony welcomes new Members of the College in a format that showcases the interdisciplinary character of the College.

Join us to celebrate the Class of 2026!

This ceremony welcomes new RSC Fellows into the RSC. During this event, new Fellows sign their names into RSC’s original and historic Charter Book and are presented with a Diploma and RSC lapel pin

Celebrate the Class of 2026 and raise a glass in honour of the new RSC Members, Fellows and Awards Winners.

At the Annual General Meeting (AGM), the membership elects RSC Board of Directors, and receives the RSC’s financial statements.

The Festival of Ideas provides an arena where RSC Members can showcase their work – whether through a visual display, a multimedia presentation, or a book display (or other formats: use your imagination!). Friends and partners of the RSC also have space in the festival to promote engagement opportunities

Meetings of the RSC College provide an opportunity for members to receive a report from the College leadership about the selection process leading to new members, and to strategize next steps in inclusive excellence.

Lightning talks aim to share deep insights within six minutes each. They are opportunities for new and current Members to introduce their work and to share areas of ongoing and emerging focus. More details to come.

Despite remarkable growth in low-carbon generation worldwide, integrated assessment models of the global climate and energy system suggest that carbon dioxide removal technologies must be deployed at large scale to stabilize the climate. Among the most prominent of these is the direct air capture of carbon dioxide. The Canada Energy Regulator foresees up to 46 million tons of carbon removal with direct air capture by 2050. Despite the anticipated need for these technologies, analysts and policy makers have not yet explored the full implications of large-scale deployment. This talk will introduce a research stream at Carleton University that evaluates the technical performance of direct air capture technologies in collaboration with partners, as well as their real economic implications and the suite of policies required to support them. It will introduce new engineering models and decision tools that have been developed to paint a picture of what a direct air capture industry might look like and places these numbers in context relative to low-carbon energy generation technologies. The energy transition involves trade-offs and comprises; neither prudent policymaking nor societal acceptance can be achieved without articulating the benefits and costs of a large carbon dioxide removal enterprise.

The Romanowski lecture features a discussion of some of the greatest challenges facing the environment, and research that is contributing to addressing these challenges.

Marie-Josée Fortin, the 2025 recipient of the RSC’sMiroslaw Romanowski Medal for scientific work relating to environmental problems will deliver this year’s luncheon lecture titled, “Ecological Networks in Dynamic Landscapes”.

Network ecology allows ecologists to conceptualize and model complex and dynamic ecological systems. Here, I present how parallel developments in spatial ecology and ecological network theory and their applications in a spatial context have converged, enabling better selection of protected areas forming interconnected networks, the conservation of ecological corridors, and the management of ecosystem services. In doing so, I address the trade-offs related to network topology and the ecological responses of species when landscapes are dynamic, at the levels of nodes (plots, communities), links (distances and dispersal rates of species, corridors), and the network itself (species abundance, species traits, species generation times, redundancy of trophic interactions). A series of case studies will be presented, ranging from the modification of interactions between species to the monitoring of ecosystem services.

The RSC Eric Jackman Prize in the Human Behavioural and Social Sciences was established in 2025 with the support of a generous endowment from the Jackman Foundation to recognize path-breaking and sustained scientific contributions to preventing harm, strengthening resilience, or otherwise benefiting humankind through research in one or more behavioural and social science fields.

Professor Geoffrey Fong, the recipient of the 2026 RSC Eric Jackman Prize will deliver this year’s luncheon lecture titled, "Advancing Population Health and Global Health Policy ThroughSocial and Behavioural Science"

This lecture describes how social and behavioural science theories, measures, and research designs shaped the creation of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation (ITC) Project—the most extensive source of evidence on policy impact under the global tobacco control treaty, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Since 2002, ITC has conducted landmark longitudinal cohort surveys in 31 countries covering over half the world’s population. Guided by the ITC Conceptual Model, the surveys incorporate extensive measures derived from social and behavioural science theories, enabling detailed evaluation of policy impact and the psychological and behavioural processes through which policies work. Through publications and engagement with governments, WHO, the FCTC Convention Secretariat, and key national, regional, and global civil society organizations, ITC evidence has strengthened and accelerated policies worldwide, including warning labels, comprehensive smoke-free laws, plain packaging, and menthol cigarette bans. A new CIHR Project Grant is supporting the first phase of the Global Prevention of Disease (GPrev) Project, combining evidence synthesis, ITC’s mediational model, and simulation modelling to project long-term policy health benefits in five low- and middle-income countries, including China. GPrev advances a broader vision of “translational preventive medicine”: synthesizing evidence on policies to reduce tobacco use, alcohol use, and unhealthy diets and projecting their health and economic benefits globally, with particular attention to their potential to reduce health inequities.

Meetings of the Academy provide an opportunity for members to receive a report from the Academy leadership about the selection process leading to new members, and to strategize next steps in inclusive excellence.

Meetings of the Academy provide an opportunity for members to receive a report from the Academy leadership about the selection process leading to new members, and to strategize next steps in inclusive excellence.

Meetings of the Academy provide an opportunity for members to receive a report from the Academy leadership about the selection process leading to new members, and to strategize next steps in inclusive excellence.

Bring the conference to a close with a delightful breakfast. Take a moment to enjoy the morning with colleagues, or pick up something to take with you as you depart.