Join us to celebrate the 25th anniversary of UBC’s Master of Journalism program and engage with experts exploring the impact of AI and its evolving role in shaping media, education, and science.
How will artificial intelligence reshape the news you read and trust? Will it make news better, or just cheaper? Will it help us understand the world, or drown us in information?
Every day, AI shapes the news that reaches your screens. It decides which stories appear in your feed, writes news updates, and even creates videos. These changes affect how you learn about everything from local events to global crises. As media organizations integrate these tools, fundamental questions arise about journalism’s future.
In the classroom, AI tools assist with research, uncover patterns in data, and challenge students to interrogate sources and automate routine tasks. As these technologies become an essential part of learning, educators must prepare students to be both capable users and thoughtful critics of AI.
In science, AI is rapidly reshaping the landscape of research, offering powerful tools to speed up data analysis and automate complex tasks. However, researchers must be vigilant about challenges such as algorithmic bias and unreliable results to maintain the integrity of their work.
Learn from our expert panel as they discuss the practical side of AI, its promise and peril, and how it is impacting the skills we need for the future in media, education, and science.
This event is presented by the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media in partnership with the Faculty of Arts, UBC, and is open to all.
Event schedule
6:00pm – Registration opens
6:30pm – Program begins
7:45pm – Reception begins
8:30pm – Event closes
Event moderator
Dr. Kamal Al-Solaylee (he/him)—Director and Professor, School of Journalism, Writing, and Media, UBC Faculty of Arts
Dr. Kamal Al-Solaylee holds a PhD in English Literature and is Director of the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media at UBC. He has extensive global reporting experience and previously taught at Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Journalism. Dr. Al-Solaylee is the author of the bestseller Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes, winner of the 2013 Toronto Book Award and a finalist for the CBC’s Canada Reads and the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction. His second book, Brown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means (to Everyone) won the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and was finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Awards for Nonfiction. His third book of nonfiction, Return: Why We Go Back to Where We Come From, was published in 2021 and was named Book of the Year by the Globe and Mail and CBC Books.
Event speakers
Dr. Saranaz Barforoush (she/her/hers)—Asst. Professor of Teaching, School of Journalism, Writing, and Media, and Coordinator of the Minor in Journalism and Social Change, UBC Faculty of Arts
Saranaz Barforoush is an Assistant Professor of Teaching at UBC’s School of Journalism, Writing, and Media (JWAM), specializing in journalism education, media ethics, and social media. She leads the faculty-wide AI policy drafting at JWAM each year and has created and leads the newly established Minor in Journalism and Social Change. Dr. Barforoush completed her Ph.D. at the University of Maryland and worked as a reporter in Iran for over a decade. Her research explores global journalism ethics, political communication, and the impact of new media technologies on journalistic storytelling.
Dr. Alfred Hermida (he/him)—Professor, School of Journalism, Writing, and Media, UBC Faculty of Arts
Alfred Hermida transforms how we understand modern media. A digital news pioneer and former BBC correspondent based in the Middle East, he brings 30 years of expertise to the intersection of technology and news. A professor at UBC’s School of Journalism, Writing, and Media, and co-founder of The Conversation Canada, his research focuses on news transformation, media innovation, and the impact of AI on journalism. From his years as a BBC journalist to advancing journalism innovation, Hermida helps audiences make sense of how news works in a digital age.
Nicola Jones (she/her/hers)—BSc’97, MJ’00 – Journalist, and Freelance Science Reporter and Editor
Nicola Jones is a freelance science journalist who writes and edits stories across all the physical sciences, from anthropology to quantum physics, with climate change and the environment in between. She has contributed to Nature, Hakai Magazine, The New York Times, the Pique and more. Based in Pemberton, on the traditional lands of Lil’wat Nation, Nicola has won numerous awards for her writing, taught science journalism at UBC, and published a non-fiction book for children. She has a BSc in chemistry and oceanography, and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of British Columbia.
