The Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation (VPRI) is kicking off the new year with an event devoted to celebrating and supporting research intensification at York University. The Inspiring Success event will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019, at the Second Student Centre on York University’s Keele Campus.
Rebecca Pillai Riddell
Rebecca Pillai Riddell, Faculty of Health professor and associate vice-president research and innovation, will serve as the event’s host. She notes that VPRI is “playfully working off the double meaning of Inspiring Success by not only working with academic leaders who are in the business of inspiring success in their students and faculty, but also presenting inspiring success stories of our own York research leaders.”
The full-day event comprises three separate parts. The first part of Inspiring Success focuses on York University’s academic leaders who support research. Deans, associate deans and research officers will be attending a workshop from 10 a.m. to noon featuring David Attis, managing director of strategic research for EAB, a best practices firm that uses research, technology and consulting to address challenges within higher education. The workshop will support academic leaders as they in turn support research intensification in an environment of resource constraints.
The second part of Inspiring Success is a lunch mixer that will run from noon to 1 p.m. and will bring the University’s academic leaders together with early career researchers (postdoctoral Fellows and early career faculty members). Early career researchers are asked to bring posters or other visual displays to showcase their scholarly work.
The third part of the event, from 1 to 4 p.m., will feature a series of inspiring and informative sessions delivered by some of York University’s superstar researchers. Each session will be offered in a meaningful and practical way for early career professors and postdoctoral Fellows, with presenters sharing their tips for success in building and sustaining a successful research career.
Early career researchers (or early career researchers and postdoctoral fellows) are asked to RSVP via this Machform before Dec. 20.
Session 1 – Life Hacks for a Successful Tri-Council Grant Application
1 to 2:15 p.m.
New professors and postdoctoral Fellows will be asked to register in one of three workshops on either an NSERC Discovery Grant, an SSHRC Insight Development Grant or a CIHR Project Scheme. In addition to a brief presentation on the nuts and bolts of each of these grant opportunities, professors who have had great success with each of these opportunities will be presenting their top personal “life hacks” for assembling award-winning applications.
Session 2 – Beyond the Grant: Supporting Successful Research Programs
2:30 to 3:45 p.m.
Participants will be asked to register for one of the following two workshops:
Graduate supervision challenges: real life stories, real life advice
Graduate students are an essential element to success. This is particularly true for all York University researchers who apply for Tri-Council grants. Most grants require a demonstrated track record of graduate supervision and creative plans for future supervision. Participants are invited to come and spend some time with an award-winning panel of superstar supervisors. Each panellist will present on their own personal experiences when things did not go as expected with graduate students. The Faculty of Graduate Studies at York University has also just released a new policy on graduate supervision and a representative will be talking about these new policies, which are designed to help professor avoid getting into challenging situations.
Talking to other scientists so they will listen
In today’s academic context, the amount of new research released every day is mind boggling. Even in a sub-field, it is hard to keep up with what’s going on or even decide which talks to go to when attending conferences. Researchers who learn how to capture the attention of other scientists through engaging talks that capitalize on universal principles of communication have a higher probability of having their research cited, their talks attended and their grants funded. Built with the support of TEDxYorkU, TEDxCalgary and CIHR, this workshop will provide practical, take-home tricks to amplify your message when you are talking to other scientists in academic contexts.
The Inspiring Success event is presented free of charge. RSVP via this Machform before Dec. 20 to avoid disappointment.