Vivien M Srivastava Workshops

In partnership with the Vivien M. Srivastava Memorial Endowment Fund, UBC Science sponsors workshops hosted by women and women-identifying graduate students and/or post-doctoral fellows for their peers across UBC Science.

Career Planning

Proposed event or workshop series should explore career-planning issues faced by women and women-identifying science graduate students and/or post-doctoral fellows. It should facilitate discussions of a range of questions regarding professional and personal life goals and decisions in preparation of the next steps for a successful research career. Invited speaker(s) will typically include mentors from within and outside academia (e.g., faculty members, professionals, alumni).

A single event or a series of (2-4) mini-workshops held over the course of one term for your peers may be tailored to certain fields (e.g., physical, mathematical or life sciences) or appeal more broadly (across STEM). Sample topics include:

• Overcoming structural and individual biases and barriers
• Leadership strategies
• How to align career goals and personal life choices
• Transitioning after the PhD
• Professional networking and building a relationship with potential reference-letter writers

While hosts can invite peers and colleagues of all genders across UBC Science, attendee priority must be given to women and women-identifying graduate students and post-docs.

Eligibility

Graduate students enrolled in a UBC Science graduate program or supervised by a tenure-stream faculty with a primary appointment within the Faculty of Science (UBCV) and post-doctoral fellows appointed within the Faculty of Science (UBCV) can apply for workshops hosted on UBCV campus or hosted online. Proposal submission by a group of at least two organizers is required including at least one woman/woman-identifying person.

Funding

• Maximum funding is limited to $1,500 for a single-event proposal or per workshop in a series proposal. Co-sponsoring opportunities are welcome.
• Eligible expenses include light lunch or snacks/refreshments (for on-campus events), technical support (if not freely available through UBC), and honoraria. Tokens of appreciation (non-cash gifts) must be below $100 in value per speaker.

Review

Applications will be accepted throughout the year. Decisions are based on applicants' eligibility, stringency of proposal and availability of funds. Applicants will be notified within a month after the application’s submission date.

See application form for detailed requirements and recommendations.

Research Mentor

The fund partners with UBC Science units to support the costs associated with the invitation of women and women-identifying scientists and mathematicians to give a research talk hosted by the unit’s seminar series, and a career-mentoring workshop hosted by graduate students and/or post-doctoral fellows for their peers in UBC Science.

Proposed workshop will facilitate career-mentoring and networking discussions, with the invited speaker exploring with her audience how to recognize and overcome potential implicit or explicit career barriers. Sample topics include:

• Addressing structural and individual biases
• How to align career goals and personal life choices
• Transitioning after the PhD
• Professional networking
• Building relationships with potential reference-letter writers
• Imposter syndrome
• Success in science through resilience and tenacity
• Or other, field-specific mentoring topics

A successful application will require collaboration between the unit’s seminar organizers and workshop organizers (post-docs/graduate students) to identify guest speakers willing to facilitate a workshop (in addition to their research presentation). A successful application will include details of organizing the workshop (duration: min. 1.5 hours, max. 4 hours).

Eligibility

Science graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in collaboration with Science unit’s seminar host (or seminar committee) can apply, for workshops hosted on UBCV campus or online. Proposal submission by a group of at least two organizers is required.

Funding

• Funding for a research-mentor event is limited to a maximum of $1,500 per workshop proposal.
• Eligible expenses include technical support (if not available/free through UBC) and an honorarium for the invited speaker.
• For an on-campus event, eligible expenses also include light lunch or snacks/refreshments at the workshop (at $25 maximum per person), and up to half of the speaker’s travel expenses (the department pays the remainder of the travel expenses).
• The fund will co-sponsor one research-mentor workshop per UBC Science doctoral-degree program each academic year.

Review

Applications will be accepted throughout the year. Decisions are made based on the applicants’ eligibility, stringency of proposal, and availability of funds. Applicants will be notified within a month after the application’s submission date.

See application form for detailed requirements and recommendations.

Skills Development

A proposed full-day workshop designed to offer training to women and women-identifying graduate students and postdocs in an area deemed assets for a successful research career. Examples include: Data and software-programming. Best practices in real-time PCR for data collection and analysis. Figure assembly and acceptable manipulation of scientific images. The workshop can be tailored to certain fields (e.g., physical, mathematical or life sciences) or more broadly, with relevance to peers across science. Workshop facilitators may include the applicants, women and women-identifying postdocs and graduate students in UBC Science, mentors from within and outside academia, and professional facilitators.

Not everyone has experienced a diverse and equally encouraging learning environment to gain the technology knowledge and skills needed for pursuing their career goals. With this opportunity, we are building on the success of previous events for women in science, providing for a safe and open learning and networking environment.

Eligibility

Women and women-identifying graduate students enrolled in a UBC Science graduate program or supervised by a tenure-stream faculty with a primary appointment within the Faculty of Science (UBC Vancouver), and women and women-identifying post-doctoral fellows appointed within the Faculty of Science (UBC Vancouver) can apply, for workshops hosted on UBCV campus, or hosted online. Proposal submission by a group of at least 2 organizers is required, 3 or more facilitators strongly recommended.

Funding

• Eligible expenses for an on-campus event include light lunch and snacks/refreshments at $30 maximum per person participating at the full-day workshop. An honorarium for a professional facilitator may be considered. However, priority will be given to facilitators who are women and women-identifying post-docs or graduate students in Science.
• Eligible expenses include technical support (if not available/free through UBC) and honoraria for invited speakers, with a maximum funding of $2,000 per proposal.
• Facilitators who are women/women-identifying post-docs or graduate students in Science will be eligible to apply for additional funding for a train-the-trainer event that they will attend in preparation of their proposed full-day workshop.

Review

Applications will be accepted throughout the year. Decisions are made based on the applicants’ eligibility, stringency of proposal, and the availability of funds. Applicants will be notified within a month after the application’s submission date.

See application form for detailed requirements and recommendations.

This initiative is sponsored in memory of Dr. Vivien M. Srivastava, the first woman to receive a PhD in Zoology at UBC. Learn more about the Vivien M. Srivastava Memorial Endowment Fund and our women-in-science initiatives.