All posts by riley st clair

It’s Postdoc Appreciation Week! Join us for an Ice Cream Social and Virtual Trivia Night with SFU Postdocs

Events, Socials

Ice Cream Social
It’s Postdoc Appreciation Week and the UBC PDA is celebrating YOU by giving away free ice cream. Enjoy the last days of summer with ice cream and cold drinks while safely meeting up with other postdocs!

**Due to heavy rain and strong winds in the forecast, we have postponed this event to next week.

(Updated) When – Tuesday, Sept 29 at 3:00 pm
Where – The lawn on Main Mall, in front of the Biodiversity Museum (look out for the group of people with coolers full of ice cream)

Register Here!

A note on Safety Precautions:
We are taking safety very seriously and as such we will be following several safety measures. We will be capping the registration at 30 people and during the event we will be enforcing social distancing of 2 meters. We will be providing hand sanitizer and will be encouraging masks to be worn unless you are eating (we will provide masks as needed). The ice cream provided will be individually wrapped. As the pandemic is always evolving, we will be monitoring the situation and may cancel the event if needed.
_________________________________________

Virtual Trivia Night with SFU Postdocs
The UBC and SFU PDA are teaming up for an epic Trivia Night. Join us for a fun evening and connect with other postdocs from SFU and UBC to test your knowledge!
Prizes for the winning team and runner up!

When – Friday, Sept 25 at 6 pm
Where – at home, via zoom

You are invited to bring your partner/roommates/friends along, but let us know how many people are participating, as we will be forming teams.

We will e-mail a zoom link to all participants who have successfully signed up closer to the date. Register fast as spots are limited!

Register Here!

Socially-Distanced Picnic in the Park

Events, Socials

We are excited to welcome back in-person socials with a socially distanced Picnic in the Park. Bring your own blanket and food for a lovely evening outside meeting up with other postdocs!

When: Thursday, August 27 at 4pm
Where: Trimble Park (exact location within the park will be provided upon registration)

This is an inclusive event, so please feel free to bring your partner/children/friends. Just please let us know how many guests will be joining as we will be limiting the number of participants in order to adhere to social distancing and safety measures.

A note on Safety Precautions:
We are taking safety very seriously and as such we will be following several safety measures. We will be capping the registration at 30 people and during the event we will be enforcing social distancing of 2 meters. We will be providing hand sanitizer and will be encouraging masks to be worn (we will provide them as needed). There will be individually packaged soda/water available but there will be no sharing of food at this event, so please bring your own snacks/dinner. As the pandemic is always evolving, we will be monitoring the situation and may cancel the event if needed.

Register Here! We are looking forward to seeing you in-person for a fun and safe August social!

Transitioning from wet to dry lab: a panel discussion

Events

GrasPods is organizing an online panel event on the best ways to transition from wet-lab to dry-lab:

In the current COVID-19 pandemic, many scientists are looking into dry lab research, including exploring big data and bioinformatics methods. In this panel discussion and Q&A session, our invited guests will talk about the best approaches in transitioning from wet to dry lab work, including project considerations, funding, and employment opportunities.

Invited speakers:
Dr. Sam Aparicio- Distinguished Scientist, BC Cancer Research Centre
Dr. Chris Hughes- Staff Scientist, BC Cancer Research Centre
Dr. Sarah Grasedieck- Postdoctoral Fellow, Michael Smith Laboratories

And more!

Event Details:
July 28th, 11 AM-12:30 PM
Zoom Meeting:
Meeting ID: 880 4432 3079​​

3 Minute Postdoc Slam

3MPS, Professional Development, Seminars

The PDA proudly presents 3 Minute Postdoc Slam 2020

The Postdoc Slam Event is going virtual this year! Tune in on July 22 to compete in or attend our annual slam competition and for two great keynote speakers discussing science communication.

Everyone is welcome to attend! (Postdoc Slam Competition is only open to postdocs). Registration is required to attend the event.

When? July 22, 2020 from 2:00pm – 4:30pm

Where? Online via Zoom (participants will receive a Zoom link after registration)

Register here!

If you would like to participate in the Postdoc Slam Competition, presenter registration Deadline is July 8th

Alan Shapiro is a water, sustainability, and science communication professional passionate about applying science communication tools to environmental issues. Alan splits his time between teaching at BCIT and SFU and consulting for non-profits and companies on water and sustainability challenges. He is also co-founder and chair of science outreach non-profit Science Slam Canada. Find him on Twitter at @watercomm.

Dr. Sinéad Aherne is currently a Project Manager at Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre (GSC) at BC Cancer where she has worked since 2017.  Dr. Aherne has a PhD in Molecular Medicine, PMP certification, and 14 years experience conducting & managing clinical and basic science research.  At the GSC she works with Principle Investigators to provide research project management support for large-scale epigenomics projects with a particular focus on financial management, stakeholder management, and knowledge translation. Prior to her role at the GSC, Dr Aherne worked as Science Festival Coordinator for Taste of Science Tampa.  In this position she led a team of seven volunteers to produce Tampa’s largest science festival showcasing 27 speakers across 10 venues.  She has MC’ed events, given TV, radio, & newspaper interviews, and spoken to the general public about her cancer research at the 2016 festival.  She was also a speaker at the March for Science in St. Petersburg, Florida (~ 7,000 people, 2017).

Register Here!

 

Anti-Racism Resources

Policy

Dear UBC Postdocs,

As a community, we value diverse voices and stand for equity and justice. If you would like information on how to connect, become more informed, or how to take action, the Postdoc Community has compiled a list of anti-racism resources:

 

PDA Covid-19 Survey

Policy, Uncategorized

Dear UBC Postdoc Community,

In order to identify and resolve any COVID19 response-associated issues you might be currently facing, the UBC Postdoc Association (PDA) would like to assess the impact of the state of emergency on UBC’s postdoc community.

Therefore, we have prepared an anonymous survey inquiring about the impact of the lock-down and research curtailments on UBC postdoc’s health, safety, work and research, immigration status, career paths, and financial situation.

Please take 5 to 10 minutes to give us your feedback and help us to identify situations that need immediate attention (University-wide or Department-specific), which we can then actively follow up on and present to the responsible authorities. If you are especially satisfied with how UBC or your Department responded to the pandemic, you can also take this opportunity to highlight what you appreciated.

Please follow this link to the (mobile-friendly!) survey and feel free to pass it on to other UBC- and affiliated postdocs:

https://bit.ly/ubcpda-covid-survey

Parts of the anonymous data collected in this survey will be incorporated in the national CAPS survey report on the COVID19 pandemic impacts on postdoc’s, which will provide the basis of national science policy discussions and negotiations (https://sciencepolicy.ca/news/limiting-negative-impact-covid-19-pandemic-canadian-postdoctoral-scholars).

Thank you for your cooperation!

Your UBC PDA team

Online Game Night

Socials
Join us for an online Games Night on Wednesday, June 17th @ 6pm on Zoom. 
We have games for everyone! You will be able to join different groups to play: Online pictionary, Card games and Codenames! Learn to play and if you already know how… you’ll know how much fun it’ll be! Roommates, partners and family welcome!

 

Register here: https://bit.ly/PDAgame-night

Do you have any other online game suggestions ? Let us know!

PDA Movie Night – Watch Party

Socials
Miss the smell of popcorn? Bored of watching movies alone? Join your UBC PDA for a THURSDAY NIGHT WATCH PARTY on June 11th at 7:00pm.

 

Register and Vote for your favorite movies here: https://bit.ly/PDAmovie-nightWe will watch the movie with the most votes together on Thursday, June 11th at 7:00 pm using the Netflix Party app (download google chrome extension here: https://www.netflixparty.com/). We will let you know which movie we will be watching the day before the movie party, so please RSVP!

Join us online for Trivia Night!

Events, Socials

We are excited to announce that we are transitioning our social events to online platforms! First virtual meet-up: Trivia Night!

So grab your favorite snacks and drinks while teaming up with other postdocs to answer fun trivia questions and socialize! There will be prizes (vouchers for local restaurants) for the winning team and runner-up!

Housemates and partners are welcome, but please let us know how many people will be joining so that we can form teams with the same number of people.

When? Tuesday, April 28th at 7pm

Where? Join from the comfort of your own home. We will send you a confirmation e-mail with the Zoom meeting ID and password after you have successfully registered!

Spots are limited, so be sure to sign-up early before it fills up!
Register here: https://bit.ly/pdatrivia