Event Date: October 6, 2026 - 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Location: FSS 4006, 120 University Private, University of Ottawa

Registration: Google Forms

Presented by CIPS and the Embassy of Germany in Canada

Images shape how we see science and whom we imagine as scientists. In this workshop, participants take a close look at images used in science communication: What do they show, what do they leave out, and which stereotypes do they reinforce? Working with printed examples, the group discusses how images can be chosen and created more consciously. A short hands-on session introduces AI image generation and explores how it can be used creatively and responsibly, including questions of bias and transparency.

The workshop will be held in English and is open to all students of the University of Ottawa. Seats are limited and will be assigned on a first come, first serve basis.

Workshop convener:

Gesine Born is a photographer and science communicator based in Berlin and the founder of the Bilderinstitut Berlin (www.bilderinstitut.de). She studied communication design with a focus on photography at HAW Hamburg, graduating under Ute Mahler in 2006. Her work focuses on the role of images in science communication.

Her participatory project Versäumte Bilder (Missing Pictures) uses AI-generated portraits of historically overlooked women scientists to prompt institutions to research and make visible their own forgotten histories. The project has been shown at the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) in Berlin and at many scientific institutions. Commissioned by the Science Counsellor of the German Embassy in Ottawa, Gesine Born is currently working on a portrait of Canado-German astrophysicist Luise Herzberg who died in Ottawa in 1971.