Events

PDA Research Day 2016

Events, Professional Development, Seminars

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We are excited to announce that we are holding our annual Research Day on Thursday November 24, 2016! This half-day mini conference is our flagship event every year. This is a great opportunity to showcase your research and network with individuals from diverse departments at UBC and industry.

Presentations (2:15 – 4PM LSC3 Theatre)
Posters and reception after the oral presentations (LSC Atrium)

If you are a UBC affiliated postdoc or research associate and would like to make a 10 minute oral presentation or a poster presentation, please submit your abstract here (oral presentation deadline: 1st November, poster presentation deadline: 18th November).

Attendance is free and open to all interested parties. Please RSVP here, by 23 November. Space is limited (last year we had a wait list), so please sign up early to avoid disappointment! Cash prizes to be won and drinks and refreshments will be served.

PDA Socials for August

Events, Socials

Join one today! If you’re nervous about finding us, or have any other questions about our socials, please e-mail Justin Hart, at justin.hart@mech.ubc.ca.

Dinner & Bar Night at Storm Crow Alehouse
Stormcrow alehouse v2
When: Aug 19, 2016 @ 6:00pm
Where: Storm Crow Alehouse, 1619 W Broadway (map)
Details: Storm Crow Alehouse is Vancouver’s premier fandom & geekdom themed bar. Drink shots randomly assigned by the roll of a D20, or randomly generate a dungeon burger! Play board games from Storm Crow’s extensive menu. Bond with your fellow postdocs in the closest approximation to our natural habitat outside the laboratory. RSVP to justin.hart@mech.ubc.ca

Movie-night clipartMovie Night at Justin’s
When: Aug 27, 2016 @ 6:00pm
Where: Justin’s House – RSVP for address
Details: This spring, members of the postdoctoral association helped Justin build massive projection home theater in his home. Unfortunately, this will be the last hurrah of the home theater, as he is moving to a new residence. We’ll vote on 2 Blu-Ray movies and watch them in style. BYOB RSVP to justin.hart@mech.ubc.ca
See you there!

UBC PDA Socials for July!

Events, Socials

It’s summer! The UBC PDA has a variety of socials coming up – from lunch meet up on campus to public swim at Kits beach – join one today!

If you’re nervous about finding us, or have any other questions about our socials, please e-mail Justin Hart, at justin.hart@mech.ubc.ca.

canada-day-fireworks

Canada Day Fireworks social
When: July 1 at 7.30 pm
Where: 9 O’clock Gun at Stanley Park (map). Note: Location changed!
Details: Join your fellow postdocs to see the Canada Day fireworks from Stanley Park! Bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on and a covered dish dessert or snack to share. Stanley Park is very busy during fireworks displays, so please RSVP in advance so we know to expect you. Come early and help us stake out a spot or meet Justin at 7:30pm sharp at the 9 O’Clock Gun. RSVP to justin.hart@mech.ubc.ca.

Lunch Meetup at AMS Student Nest
When: The first Thursday of every month at noon
Next date: July 7, 2016
Where: AMS Student Nest (map) – Meet in first floor near the entryway
Details: Join your fellow postdocs for a casual lunch in the AMS Student Nest food court. Reconnect with your colleagues across campus or make a new friend! If you’re nervous about finding us, drop the VP Social an email at justin.hart@mech.ubc.ca. No RSVP required.

Poutine & Bar Hopping on Granville St
When: July 8, 2016 at 6:30 pm, poutine at 7:15 pm, followed by bar hopping
Where: Start from Smoke’s Poutinerie – 942 Granville St, Vancouver, BC (map).
Details: It’s summer, so the bars on Granville St are a popular spot in Vancouver. We’ll start by grabbing some classic Canadian fare at Smoke’s Poutinerie, then do drinks at the bars on Granville St. If you’d like to do only drinks, meet us at Smoke’s at 7:15 pm. We’ll go to The Speakeasy, then see where our interests take us. Granville St is busy during the Summer, so you won’t find us unless you RSVP. RSVP to justin.hart@mech.ubc.ca.

Public Swim at Kits Pool
When: July 23, 2016 at 2:00 pm, drinks at 6:30 pm
Where: Kits Pool, 2305 Cornwall Ave, Vancouver, BC V6K 1B6 (map)
Details: Join us for a day at Kits Pool. Sit in the sun or swim to your heart’s content. Cost of admission is $5.86 per person. At 6:00 pm we’ll change out of our swim trunks and have dinner and a beer at Local on Cornwall. RSVP to justin.hart@mech.ubc.ca.

See you there!

The 3 Minute Postdoc Slam of 2016 – Event Review!

Events, Professional Development

This year’s 3 Minute Postdoc Slam was a great success! Over 40 postdocs, faculty, staff, and students gathered in the LSC3 lecture theatre in the Life Sciences Institute to hear 7 postdocs, from 7 different departments, present their research in only 3 minutes with the aid of a single PowerPoint slide.

3MPs review 1

This year we started out the event with a special guest talk from Craig Jones, winner of the UBC 3 Minute Thesis competition and a finalist in the Canadian National 3MT competition. He gave a fantastic and engaging talk titled “The War Lawyers”, and set the stage for a great afternoon of presentations.

Our first contestant in the competition was Dr. Elisa Wong from Pharmaceutical Sciences, who presented her talk “The story of a powerful mutant population”. Next up was Dr. Kais Dridi from Electrical and Computer Engineering with a talk on “How Can Nanotechnology and Nanostructured Materials Revolutionize Solar Energy Conversion Systems?”. Dr. Noushin Nabavi from the department of Urologic Sciences then presented her work “Understanding Mesothelioma: inter- and intra-tumor heterogeneity”. The last talk of our first half was “Reward cues and decision-making” by Dr. Mariya Cherkasova from the Faculty of Medicine. Following a short coffee break, Dr. Amir Sharafian from Mechanical Engineering spoke on “Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG): A Green Transportation Fuel”. Dr. Jennifer Rowland from Michael Smith Labs spoke on “Remote control: Bacteria modify epigenetics to take over your cells”, and our final contestant of the day was Dr. Carly Priebe from the department of Kinesiology who gave a presentation titled “Run to Quit”.

All our postdoc presenters were judged by our 3 judges: Dr. Cara Haney from Michael Smith Labs, Dr. Jonas Beaudry from the Allard School of Law, and Dr. Tara L Klassen from Pharmaceutical Sciences.  The judges evaluated each presentation on comprehension, communication and engagement, and made numerous comments about each presentation, which were given to the presenters following the competition. Prizes were awarded to the top three presentations as scored by our judges, as well as to the “People’s Choice” presenter, which was determined by the audience.

Following the presentations from our contestants, we had an excellent and informative talk from Dr. Tara L Klassen on the topic of communication – “Car Salesman or Professor: Communicating your Message”.  The event was finished off with a networking reception – good food, drink, and conversations!

3MPs review 2

3MPs review 3

Thanks to all that presented, and attended, in making the day such a success!

Congratulations to our award winners!

1st place ($100): Dr. Carly Priebe

2nd place ($75): Dr. Mariya Cherkasova

3rd place ($50): Dr. Jennifer Rowland

Peoples’ choice ($25): Dr. Elisa Wong

Special speaker: Bobbi Lambright

Events, Professional Development, Seminars

Bobbi Lambright profile picPathways To Success

DATE: Monday, May 2                  

TALK + Q&A: 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM

MEET-AND-GREET: 2:00 – 2:30 PM

LOCATION: Room LSC3 (lecture theatre)

Please contact us if you have any questions!

In over three decades as a top leader in a wide range of business roles and environments, Bobbi Lambright has started companies, merged organizations and consistently delivered excellent customer service and shareowner results.  A former journalist, Bobbi has followed an unconventional career path to success and learned some important lessons along the way.  She has been recognized for her communication and leadership skills through national and international awards to companies under her direction.

Bobbi will join us on May 2nd to share some insights from her journey,  giving an insider’s view of what’s behind business trials and triumphs and offering ideas and suggestions on how to make opportunities out of challenges.  She will share some of the lessons learned from mentors, customers and employees and looks forward to a lively discussion following the presentation.

Speaker Biography

Bobbi was appointed Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer for ATCO Australia in July 2015. She has held progressively senior positions since joining the ATCO Group of Companies in 1986, most recently as President, Distribution Division, ATCO Electric in Canada. She is also Chair of the ATCO Structures and Logistics Board in Australia and is involved across the full spectrum of ATCO’s Australia based businesses. With her extensive experience in regulated utility operations, Bobbi is responsible for leading and delivering strategic growth initiatives of ATCO’s utilities and energy businesses Australia-wide, through her sharp focus on customer service and her development of competitive, cost-effective products and services.

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!

UBC 3 minute postdoc slam: Present your research in 3 minutes to win!

Events, Professional Development

3MPS 2016 details

DATE: Thursday, 26th of May

PRESENTATIONS (4 – 6 PM): Room LSC3 (lecture theatre)
REFRESHMENTS AND NETWORKING (6 – 8 PM): Room 1510

Our annual 3MPS is back! Engage the audience and tell us about your research in exactly 3 minutes, using one static slide. Top 3 presenters to win $100, $75 and $50 in cash!

Tara L. Klassen, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, will join us to give a special guest presentation from 5:30 to 6:00 PM on communicating your research to the public.

Snacks and refreshments will be served from 6:00 PM in Room 1510.

If you would like to present at the event, please sign up by 19 May. Space is limited, so sign up soon!  Check out the rules and additional details of the contest here!

If you do not want to present, please still join us as an audience member! To attend, please register online, or at the door. Please contact The UBC PDA 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!

POSTDOC SOCIAL: Pub Quiz Tuesdays @ Mahony & Sons UBC

Events, Socials

PubQuiz2016

Do you think you know it all? Is your head crammed with useless information that is waiting to be freed? Then this evening is for you! Join us for Pub Quiz nights every Tuesday at 7:30 pm at Mahony and Sons, UBC. It’s taco Tuesday and there are drink specials available. 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!



UBC PDA Annual General Meeting 2016 (March 30th)

Events, Executive, Socials

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Your vote counts! Join us as we elect the new PDA Executive Committee for the upcoming year on Wednesday 30 March at 5:00 pm at the Life Sciences Institute (LSI), Room 1330. 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 end the evening with a reception with snacks and refreshments to welcome the new committee members.

Please contact contacting 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!

Call for Nominations: 2016/2017 PDA Executive

Events, Executive, Professional Development

We are excited to announce the call for nominations for candidates to be part of the UBC Postdoctoral Association’s 2016/2017 Executive Team.

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This is a great opportunity to:

  1. Gain leadership experience
  2. Represent the postdoc community
  3. Organize professional development, research and networking events

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 Wednesday, March 30th in the Life Sciences Institute (LSI) room 1330 (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 30th.
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 April 2016-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: Wednesday March 23rd, 2016.

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)

Executive positions open for election (click to read role descriptions):

The UBC PDA President shall:

Act as the public face of the PDA to:

  1. speak on behalf of the PDA at orientation and wherever appropriate
  2. understand the needs of PDA members and ensure equal representation across departments

Be responsible for meetings of the PDA Executive members to:

  1. chair and set the agenda for meetings
  2. ensure proper operation of the meetings
  3. take minutes at meetings, or designate a member to do so
  4. manage copies of the minutes, agendas, and any other materials

Be responsible for the execution of decisions by the PDA Executives

Lead the Annual General Meeting and PDA Elections

Work together with the VP-Communications to:

  1. direct content for communication to members of the UBC postdoc community
  2. manage and update the website
  3. respond to emails
  4. direct the advertisement of PDA events.

Work together with the VP-External to:

  1. collaborate and communicate with the Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars
  2. raise awareness of postdoctoral issues and find avenues of support

Work together with the VP-Social to create a calendar of social events and ensure a broad outreach.

Work together with the VP-Operations to:

  1. ensure liaising with the UBC Postdoctoral Fellows office and Deans office
  2. representing the PDA during meetings with UBC faculty, staff and administrators
  3. coordinate the Executive Members of the PDA

Work together with the VP-Finance to:

  1. ensure responsible stewardship over the annual budget when planning events
  2. being aware of outflow and inflow

**President and/or VP-External has the chance to attend the annual CAPA/CAPS Meeting

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The UBC PDA VP-Operations shall:

  1. Organize professional development activities for postdocs.
  2. Set up regular PDA meetings via doodle polls and arrange suitable venues on/off campus
  3. Organize non-social UBC-PDA events
  4. Attend and participate in meetings of the PDA executive members
  5. Assist in all PDA executive members plan.
  6. Perform duties of the President, in the event of absence or illness of the President

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The UBC PDA VP-External shall:

  1. Raise the voice of UBC postdoctoral fellows at regional and national platforms through participation and dialogues with the Canadian Association for Postdoctoral Scholars (CAPS-ACSP)
  2. Build and promote alliance with various BC industrial sectors to create opportunities for researchers outside academia
  3. Work with CAPS-ACSP to create and sustain dialogue with legislators to acknowledge the role of postdoctoral fellows and research associates to Canadian economy
  4. Address or raise awareness for issues relevant to postdoctoral fellows and research associates
  5. Work with the UBC PDA executive team to ensure smooth running of the organization and liaise with its partners

**President and/or VP-External has the chance to attend the annual CAPA/CAPS Meeting

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The UBC PDA VP-Communications shall:

  1. Be responsible for the development of the communication strategy
  2. Manage communication activities that promote, enhance, and protect the PDA’s brand reputation
  3. Responsible for disseminating news items relevant to UBC postdocs, in the form of a monthly newsletter
  4. Work with the President in planning content for the PDA newsletters
  5. Work with the President to recognize internal and external communications opportunities
  6. Work with the President in managing communications on the PDA’s Facebook page and Twitter
  7. Exercise judgment to prioritize media opportunities, and prepare presentations and other supporting material as needed during events
  8. Work with the team to maintain and continuously improve the PDA website
  9. Promote events
  10. Support the communications needs of the PDA and the Postdoctoral Fellows Office

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The UBC PDA VP-Social shall:

  1. Attend and participate in the biannual PDA orientations
  2. Advertise the PDA to the new postdocs
  3. Deliver the “Getting to Know Vancouver” talk
  4. Organize a social for postdocs after the orientation
  5. Plan, advertise and execute regular social and networking events for postdocs, including the annual:
  6. Whistler trip (organize to/from Whistler and reserve accommodation at the UBC lodge)
  7. “3 Minute Postdoc Slam” competition (assist all PDA executive members plan)
  8. “UBC Postdoc Research Day” (assist all PDA executive members plan)
  9. Holiday party (venue reservation and run games e.g. “white elephant”)
  10. Organize monthly social events for the PDA community
  11. Attend and participate in meetings of the PDA executive members, which include booking public venues on/off UBC campus

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The UBC PDA VP-Finance shall:

  1. Be a Postdoctoral fellow residing in the Life Sciences Institute (due to budget restrictions)
  2. Oversee correct use and spending of the UBC PDA budget and liaise with Life Science Institute (LSI) admin staff
  3. Help organize events (3-Minute Postdoc Slam, Postdoctoral Research Day, seminars in general)
  4. Serve as the LSI Postdoc representative on the Life Sciences Institute Steering Committee (meets once a month)

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Executive Committee Members:

These volunteers are non-elected and serve as helpers.

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