Join us for poutine on Friday, 17 March at 6:30 pm in the La Belle Patate, a restuarant that serves authentic Québécois cuisine, including 38 varieties of poutine. Poutine is a Canadian dish, originating in the province of Québec.
RSVP to Jessica by Wednesday, 15 March.
Let’s watch a live ice hockey game on Friday, 31 March at 7:00 pm in the Rogers Arena. Vancouver Canucks vs. Los Angeles Kings are playing.
Cost per ticket: $61
Please note that payment is required to secure your place. Unfortunately, due to space limitations, refunds will not be possible.
RSVP to Jessica by Monday, 27 March.
We are excited to announce the call for nominations for candidates to be part of the UBC Postdoctoral Association’s 2017/2018 Executive Team.
This is a great opportunity to:
The PDA Executive Team consists of 6 Volunteer Officers (i.e. President and 5 VPs) whose position will be voted on at our Annual General Meeting on Thursday, March 9th in the Life Sciences Institute (LSI) room 1510 (5 pm). For a detailed list of our open Officer Positions and a description of their role below.
We encourage all postdocs to attend the AGM on March 9th.
Light snacks and refreshments will be served!
Eligibility: All candidates must be UBC Postdoctoral Fellows.
Service on the Executive Committee: Candidates should be able to attend the majority of the Executive Committee meetings held bimonthly either on or off-campus, as well as the PDA events. Executive Committee member terms are 1-year, beginning 1 April 2016 and concluding 31 March 2017.
Self-Nomination: Download the UBC PDA nomination form here. Please fill out this form and return it to ubc.postdoc@gmail.com along with a recent photo and a short Letter of Interest (100-200 words) detailing your interest in serving on the PDA Executive and any relevant experience.
Nomination deadline: Thursday March 2nd, 2017.
Commitment: On average, the President attends 2 meetings a month (5-10 hours a month), while the VP attends 1-2 meetings a month (2-7 hours a month)
All Executive Officer positions are open for election, interested PDA members may also join the PDA executive as non-elected Committee Members at this (or any other) time. Click the position to read a brief description of the role:
Your vote counts! Join us as we elect the new PDA Executive Committee for the upcoming year, and vote on any amendments to the PDA Constitution on Thursday 9 March at 5:00 pm at the Life Sciences Institute (LSI), Room 1510. No RSVP required.
The event will commence with reports from the past PDA Executive Committee members followed by short introductions of the new nominees, after which you can place your vote. We will then vote on any proposed amendments to the PDA constitution, and will conclude the event with a light reception furnished with complimentary snacks and refreshments to welcome the new committee members.
Please contact us if you have any questions. You can add this event to your Google Calendar by clicking on the button below. Alternatively, you can subscribe to the entire calendar, with all our events, here!
Let’s meet with SFU postdocs and have a beer together on Monday, 23 January at 6:30 pm in the CRAFT Beer Market!
Please contact Jessica, if you have any questions.
Join us for ice skating on Friday, 10 February at 10:00 pm in the Thunderbird Arena at UBC! Come out and try the public session – even if you’re new to skating.
Cost for UBC Faculty/Staff: $3.75 per person for admission, $3.50 per person for skate rental
RSVP by Wednesday, 8 Feb 2017.
Please contact Jessica, if you have any questions.
The Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars (CAPS) has released the results of the 2016 Canadian National Postdoc Survey.
Of the over 2,100 participants, 136 were affiliated with UBC, which was the highest number of any institution (way to go, UBC postdocs!). Some key findings of the survey:
In spite of the fact that many postdocs are now in their mid-30s or beyond, there is a widespread lack of access to government benefits that afford most other Canadian workers paid parental leave, employment insurance, and access to the Canada Pension Plan. (Please note: at UBC all postdocs are eligible for paid maternity leave, but this is not the case at most Canadian universities.) In addition, many postdocs are living far away from their support networks and dealing with stressful job situations, which may negatively impact their mental health.
To read more about the survey results, please visit the CAPS website:
http://www.caps-acsp.ca/en/
Are you concerned about the status of postdocs in Canada and wondering how to take action? Here are some ideas:
Locked in a room – What would YOU do?
Join us for a real life escape game on Friday, 20 January at 6:10 pm at Locked Canada! Escape Room Experiences are 5D team games wherein you are locked in a room and forced to solve a mystery within 45 minutes. We’ve booked the theme “Crimson Room” for 6 players.
Cost: $18.70 per person (including tax). Please note that payment is required to secure your place. Unfortunately, due to space limitations, refunds will not be possible.
RSVP by Monday, 16 Jan. Places will be allocated on a first come first serve basis.
Be on time, otherwise it will be deducted from our gaming time!
Please contact Jessica, if you have any questions.
Join us for ice skating on Sunday, 8 January at 5:45 pm in the Thunderbird Arena at UBC! Come out and try the public session – even if you’re new to skating.
Cost for UBC Faculty/Staff: $3.75 per person for admission, $3.50 per person for skate rental
RSVP by Wednesday, 4 Jan 2017.
Please contact Jessica, if you have any questions.
Written by: Houra Loghmani Khouzani, Alexander Smith and Jenny Chik
The UBC PDA Research Day 2016 was a resounding success! This annual event brings together postdocs from a wide range of disciplines to showcase their cutting edge research in a variety of projects at UBC. We had over 60 postdocs, faculty, staff, and students join us at the Life Sciences Institute for 6 postdoc oral presentations and the following poster session on November 24, 2016.
Our first speaker was Dr. Jenn Bossio from Obstetrics & Gynaecology, who presented a fascinating talk on “Innovations in sex therapy and mindfulness at UBC: Development of a novel treatment approach for couples dealing with sexual dysfunction after prostate cancer treatment”. Dr. Bossio spoke about the effects of prostatectomy (surgical removal of the prostate), its effect on sex and relationships, and how her team uses couples-based therapy to increase sexual intimacy. Dr. Bossio was awarded the first prize for her excellent oral presentation.
The next speaker was Dr. Michael Irvine from Mathematics, who gave a great talk about “Linking models of infectious diseases to policy”. Dr. Irvine spoke about how disease modelling and web tools for policy-making were making an impact in the fight to eradicate a number of neglected tropical diseases such as lymphatic filariasis.
Dr. Esther Maas from the School of Population and Public Health (Partnership of Work, Health and Safety) then gave a very well received talk focused on the idea that “Return-to-work is not a single event”. The crux of Dr. Maas’ talk was how returning to work after suffering a musculoskeletal injury is a complicated process. Often times there are lingering issues that may necessitate modified work schedules or other shifts to accommodate workers.
This was followed up with a very engaging talk from Dr. Paula MacDowell, a postdoc in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy. Her talk was entitled “#GirlsHack@UBC”. Dr. MacDowell centred on how women are marginalized in the technology industry, despite gains made in other fields, and that girls are underrepresented in the ranks of technology creators and innovators. She concluded her talk with an interactive game allowing the audience to participate using an Internet connected device, which received much positive feedback.
Dr. Amir Sharafian gave the penultimate talk about “Using low-carbon fuels with minimum environmental impacts in transportation: Green solutions to mitigate climate change”. He won second place in the oral presentations for his captivating talk. He spoke about the importance of low carbon fuels and renewable energy sources. He concluded by noting that cattle farming is one of the worst sources of methane, so to save the plant we should all cut back on burgers!
We ended our presentations for the day with a talk from Dr. Alexander Weber from Pediatrics on “Diffusion Imaging Reveals White Matter Damage in Ice Hockey Players for Up To Two Months Post-Concussion”. Dr. Weber’s work is focused on traumatic brain injury seen in varsity hockey players, using different MRI interpretation techniques to better quantify the type, extent, and duration of brain injury following a concussion. He found that healing may not be complete 2 months post-concussion. Dr. Weber was the recipient of the third place award for his oral presentation.
Our talk presentations were judged by: Dr. Abby Collier, an Associate Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dr. Leonard Foster, Professor and Interim Head of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Dr. Emilie Lameignère, a Research Associate in the Centre for Blood Research. The judges evaluated each presentation on comprehension, communication, engagement, and visual aids.
The fascinating presentations were followed by the poster session and reception. 6 judges evaluated nearly 15 posters. While all the posters were excellent and showcased the innovative projects happening at UBC, ultimately the poster/ presentation that scored the best on the criteria of: comprehension, engagement, delivery and visual quality were: Katharina Rothe from the department of Medicine Genetics, Mariya Cherkasova from the department of Neurology and Heidi Wolfmeier form Microbiology and Immunology. During the announcement for prizes and awards, light refreshments were made available as postdocs networked and discussed their research in a relaxed setting.
All and all, it was another successful event by the PDA and of course with the participation of all our presenters, attendees and judges. We would like to extend our special thanks to our judges (for the oral presentation and poster session) and to all the PDA members that dedicated their time to making this event a success!