2023 Lecture
2023 Architecture of Health:
The Annual Zeidler-Evans Lecture
This year’s Zeidler-Evans lecturer is environmental neuroscientist Dr. Robin Mazumder from the Technical University of Berlin, with moderator Nahlah Ayed, of CBC Radio’s IDEAS. Robin’s lecture will address innovative approaches to health education, research, and/or care through the design, use and analysis of physical space, with a particular focus on social determinants of health and their connection to space.
Monday, October 23, 2023
Doors open at 6:00 pm, Lecture 6:30 pm
Reception to follow
John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design
1 Spadina Crescent, Toronto, Ontario
Main Hall (DA 170)
RSVP by October 18, 2023
Limited Seating. RSVP at FHSevents5@mcmaster.ca
or phone 905-525-9140 ext. 20250.
This event is being recorded by CBC Radio “IDEAS” for potential broadcast use.
Robin Mazumder is an environmental neuroscientist with a keen interest in how urban design impacts individual, community, and societal well-being.
His Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Waterloo was funded by the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and applied wearable technology in real and virtual settings to examine psychological and physiological responses to dense urban environments. In addition to his research, Robin is an outspoken advocate for healthy urban design and has given more than 30 keynotes internationally on the topic. He was named Top 40 Under 40 by Avenue Magazine in 2014, an “Edmontonian to Watch” in 2015 by Metro Edmonton, and in 2018, was awarded the University of Waterloo’s President’s Community Impact Award in recognition of his leadership and advocacy. Robin is also passionate about science communication and has been interviewed by and written for major media publications, including the CBC, Huffington Post, Wired, and Vice.
He is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Technical University of Berlin as part of Research Platform Neurourbanism. Robin is currently writing a book on the topic of his keynote and is signed with the literary agency Cooke-McDermid.
Media: linktr.ee/robinmazumder
Research: https://bit.ly/mazumderresearch
Website: www.robinmazumder.com
A City That Can Save Us
In the 2023 Zeidler-Evans Architecture of Health Lecture, environmental neuroscientist Dr. Robin Mazumder will discuss his research and share the story behind the science, drawing on a personal narrative that informs his main scientific curiosity:
How does the world around us shape how we feel and behave as individuals and function as a society?
Speaker: Dr. Robin Mazumder
Robin will detail how his lived experience and practice as an occupational therapist informed his research interests, particularly his observations on how neighbourhood design contributed to social isolation, a known risk factor for mental illness. He saw the solution not exclusively in healthcare but also in urban design, which led him to explore its connection to well-being for his Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Waterloo. Robin will share these stories of his scientific journey and discuss the research tools, such as virtual reality and wearable technology, he uses to understand how our brains and bodies are impacted by living in cities. Robin will also share the latest research in the new scientific discipline of neurorbanism and the cutting-edge technological innovation propelling it forward, including machine learning and mobile brain imaging.
The lecture will conclude with the opening of a collective conversation on tangible ways in which we as neighbours can work together to transform our cities to ensure equity, support wellbeing, and facilitate social cohesion – and what that means for the future of the planet we share.
Dr. Robin Mazumder
Moderator: Nahlah Ayed
Nahlah is the host cbc radio’s IDEAS. She’s an award-winning veteran of foreign reporting: first, in the Middle East where she spent nearly a decade covering the region’s many conflicts. And later, while based in London, she covered many of the major stories of our time: Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Europe’s refugee crisis, the Brexit vote and its fallout.
In 2012, her book, A Thousand Farewells, was shortlisted for a Governor General’s Award.
