Attention: Doctoral students and their supervisors
UBC’s flagship program to encourage and fund impactful, cross-disciplinary, multisectoral doctoral research, the Public Scholars Initiative (PSI), is getting ready to accept applications for its 5th cohort of students. We are reaching out to you to ensure you’re aware of this initiative important for your doctoral students. We would very much appreciate if you or your staff could forward the message below to your program’s graduate students and supervisors.
Launched in 2015, PSI has since won national and international recognition for its focus on ‘reimagining the PhD’ to benefit society and enhance career readiness. Currently PSI has a network of 150 doctoral students and alumni from eleven faculties across UBC, and we are looking to add 30-40 more students this year. UBC’s Public Scholars enjoy academic support, professional development and networking opportunities, and, not least, up to $20,000 in funding over two years for research expenses and/or stipend. All Public Scholars are also required to take part in PSI’s Research Talk Series PhDs Go Public, and present their research in a public forum, usually in the evening downtown.
Though an increasing number of universities in Canada and beyond are developing public scholarship programs, UBC’s PSI remains unique in that it supports only rigorous scholarship relevant in some fashion to the students’ core learning, and encourages integration of the research and scholarly products (which could include policy briefs, multimedia, technical reports, etc. in addition to scholarly papers) into the dissertation. This ensures that the work receives appropriate oversight and assessment, and ‘counts’ toward a UBC PhD degree.
If you are interested in hosting a PSI information session at your department, I would be very pleased to arrange one specifically for your students. In these events, we are joined by Public Scholars from your department (or faculty) who share their experiences, and we also offer personalized consultation and application support. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me at Serbulent.turan@ubc.ca
Best wishes,
Serbulent Turan, PhD
Public Scholarship Coordinator | https://www.grad.ubc.ca/psi
Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies | The University of British Columbia
201-6371 Crescent Road | Vancouver BC | V6T 1Z2 Canada
Phone 604 827 2472 | serbulent.turan@ubc.ca
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Public Scholarship Initiative Information Session – March 5th, 11:00 – 1:00, Thea’s Lounge
Dear Students,
UBC’s Public Scholars Initiative will start accepting applications for its fifth year on March 25th! A groundbreaking, award-winning scholarship program, PSI currently has 150 scholars from almost all faculties across UBC. Public Scholars enjoy (1) continuous academic support; (2) up to $20,000 financial support over 2 years and; (3) numerous professional development and networking opportunities.
If your work involves innovative forms of scholarship; engaging communities and other partners for a tangible positive social impact; or more career-relevant forms of scholarship, you may also become a UBC Public Scholar. We would like to invite students, faculty, and staff to join us for the PSI information session to learn more about the initiative, funding criteria and the application process. The session will be on the 5th of March, from 11:00 to 1:00 at Thea’s Lounge in the Graduate Student Building. Please RSVP here.
The 2019-20 applications for PSI will run from March 25 to May 24, 2019. We strongly encourage all students who plan on applying to attend the information session. More information about the initiative, scholarship holders, and the 2019 competition can be found on the PSI Website.
If you have further questions, please contact Public Scholarship Coordinator Serbulent Turan, at serbulent.turan@ubc.ca.
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