Teresa Branch-Smith

Philosopher in residence, Philip Beesley Architect Inc.
Teresa Branch-Smith

Teresa Branch-Smith approaches complexity from a background in biochemistry and as a result is particularly interested in discussions about emergence that involve biology based examples. This can range from the study of protein interaction to the swarming behaviour of bees. Most recently she has looked at instances of emergence in near-living architecture. Near-living architecture is a type of modern architecture aimed at creating responsive and adaptive spaces. The interactions between the mechanistic and active chemical components of these near-living architecture spaces can offer interesting feed-back based instances of seemingly emergent properties.

In addition to Branch-Smith’s academic pursuits, she has worked regularly in science communication since her undergraduate studies in biochemistry. After her bachelor's, she completed a graduate diploma in science communication. During her graduate diploma she learned effective techniques in rhetoric, written, visual and oral communication; however, she specializes in science communication through exhibit design. Branch-Smith has worked as a curatorial researcher at the Canadian Science and Technology Museum (Ottawa), programming assistant at the ROM (Toronto) and as an exhibit designer at Science North (Sudbury).

Branch-Smith also has an interest in science policy development. Recently, she worked with Dr. Heather Douglas (Waterloo chair in Science and Society) as a research assistant to help create the Science-Policy Interface: International Comparisons workshop that brought together science policy scholars and practitioners to examine science policy issues across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.