Past Lectures

Elly Gotz

Author and Holocaust Survivor

January 20, 2026

Elly Gotz is a graduate electronics engineer, a pilot, businessman and author of Flights of Spirit. He was born in Kaunas, Lithuania. He spent his teenage years in a Nazi Ghetto in Kaunas and later in concentration camp Dachau, Germany, where he was liberated in 1945 by the American army. After the war he lived in Germany, Norway, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Elly came with his family to Canada in 1964. He lives in Toronto. Elly will talk about his experiences during the war and after liberation from the concentration camps, his search for education, and later life.

Peter Suedfeld

Dean and Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia

September 23, 2024

Dr. Peter Suedfeld is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. He is one of the pioneering researchers in the field of Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy (REST) and in his field research he has studied the reactions and adaptation of crews in the Antarctic, the Canadian High Arctic, and in space vehicles, as well as survivors of the Holocaust and other traumatic events. His research findings were among the first to emphasize the positive aspects and consequences of these experiences.

Watch the recording of this lecture.