The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences is proud to have brought you our 83rd Congress, the largest multidisciplinary academic gathering in Canada—indeed, one of the largest such gatherings in the world. Congress 2014 will be remembered for its interdisciplinarity, for the 75 scholarly association meetings and the 5,000+ papers presented. It took place in an outstanding setting at the beautiful Brock University campus in St. Catharines, Ontario in the heart of the Niagara region.

Creating meaningful connections between researchers and the broader community is a key goal for Congress organizers, both at the Federation and at the host university. Through proactive outreach to media, government and other stakeholders, the Federation leverages each Congress to promote and convey the value of social sciences and humanities research to Canadians.

Congress 2014 garnered extensive media coverage from regional and national outlets, with over 180 stories running in 85+ different online, print, radio and television outlets.

• The National Post ran an eight-part series “Oh, the Humanities,” highlighting some of the fascinating research showcased at Congress 2014, and also published an op-ed by Big Thinking speaker David Plotz of Slate.
• The Globe and Mail published op-eds from Antonia Maioni, President of the Federation, and Kevin Kee, Associate Vice-President of Research, Brock University, on the first weekday of Congress, followed by two stories later in the week.
• Other highlights included two stories in Maclean’s, four stories in the Toronto Star, a live interview on CBC Studio Q with Jian Ghomeshi and a television interview on CTV News.
• On the local front, 24 Congress stories hit the regional outlets in the Niagara area.

In keeping with the Congress 2014 theme of Borders without Boundaries, this year’s Congress had an impressive array of international and interdisciplinary programming, open to all attendees.  From Big Thinking speakers, to a diverse mix of Federation-supported international keynote speakers, interdisciplinary sessions and equity sessions, it was an exciting line-up. Career Corner provided opportunities for attendees at all stages of their careers to interact with research funders and explore career-related topics. Highlights of this year’s Congress included the opportunity to get directly involved in an urgent policy issue through the Feeding the Future event hosted by Genome Canada, exploring Life after Graduation hosted by Mitacs, and the National Film Board’s Film Night at Congress. 

The Congress experience now continues online, so be sure to read our Highlights flyer, watch videos of your favourite Big Thinking speakers, and read stories from Congress on our blog.