Highlights for this issue

• NEW — Introduction to Clinical Trial Research: Brock's
Research Ethics Office invites graduate students to attend a session about clinical trials, the regulations that govern them, and relevant ethical considerations. The session, led by Maureen Nummelin, PhD, Chief Ethics Officer, University of Waterloo, will be held Friday March 7, 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon, Room 207, Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex. RSVP by March 5 to Donna in the Brock University Research Ethics Office 905 688 5550 ex 3035 or reb@brocku.ca

• REMINDER — Call for Nominations to Brock University's 2014 Graduate Mentorship Awards: The Faculty of Graduate Studies invites graduate students to submit nominations for the following two categories:
• a supervisor of master's students only
• a supervisor of master's and PhD students
These two award categories allow us to distinguish outstanding faculty members who have excelled at mentoring and supervising students throughout the all stages of their graduate supervisory careers.
Each award has a value of $1,000 to assist
the recipient with ongoing graduate student mentorship. The awards will be presented on Monday, April 7 at Brock's 9th annual Mapping the New Knowledges Graduate Student Research Conference.
Please be sure to review information about the nomination process
Deadline: Monday, March 10, 2014

• REMINDER — Jack M. Miller Excellence in Research Award — Call for nominations: Graduate supervisors are invited to submit nominations. An annual award is available to one master's and one doctoral graduate student in a research-based program from each of Brock's six academic Faculties (Faculty of Applied Health Science, Faculty of Business (excludes MAcc, MAcc ISP, MBA, MBA ISP programs), Faculty of Education (excludes MEd course-based, MEd ISP programs), Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Mathematics and Science, Faculty of Social Sciences (excludes MADS). The recipient will be acknowledged at his/her convocation.
Value: $1,000/award
Supervisors must complete and submit the nomination package to the Faculty of Graduate Studies. Click here for nomination form.
Deadline: Monday, March 10, 2014
If you have any questions, please contact Joanne Kremble in the Faculty of Graduate Studies at ext. 5207 or email: jkremble@brocku.ca

• REMINDER —Searching for Canada's Top Dissertation of 2014
2014 CAGS/PROQUEST-UMI Distinguished Dissertation Awards: The awards recognize Canadian doctoral dissertations that make unusually significant and original contributions to their academic field. They include a $1,500 prize, a Citation Certificate, and travel expenses of up to $1,500 to attend the 2014 CAGS Annual Conference (St-John's, Newfoundland).
Universities are invited to submit one nomination in each of the two areas:
• engineering, medical sciences and natural sciences
• arts, humanities and social sciences
Brock nominations: The Faculty of Graduate Studies has determined a nomination for the area of engineering, medical sciences and natural sciences. There is still an opportunity for supervisors and graduate program directors to consider submitting nominations, in the area of arts, humanities and social sciences, to the FGS for adjudication. Anyone interested in submitting a nomination for the arts, humanities and social sciences award should contact Mike Plyley at mplyley@brocku.ca by Monday, March 3.
Please review the award information found on the CAGS website

• NEXT ISSUE: Thursday, March 13, 2014

Scholarships/Awards/Grants

• NEW — 2014 Ontario Graduate Policy Research Challenge: This is a new and exciting opportunity for graduate students to share their research and innovative ideas in the areas of postsecondary education, employment and labour market with policy leaders in Ontario. The Challenge seeks to increase the profile of emerging policy scholars by providing a platform for students and recent graduates to communicate their work with the research community and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU). This competition is open to graduate students and recent graduates from master's, doctoral and post-graduate certificate programs at Ontario publicly assisted universities and colleges. Applicants are asked to formulate their research into a policy brief that demonstrates how their ideas can be applied to postsecondary education and labour market issues in Ontario. The top 25 applicants will receive awards worth $3,000, $2,000 or $1,000 and present their ideas at MTCU.
Deadline: Monday, March 24, 2014 - Applications and letters of support from faculty advisors should be submitted to GraduateChallenge@ontario.ca
See details online

• International Funding: Brock International has posted a list of international funding opportunities with upcoming deadlines.

 • 2014 Sangster Award: The Canadian National Committee for CODATA (CNC/CODATA) is accepting  applications for The Sangster Award. This award, valued at Can. $3000, will enable a graduate student enrolled in a Canadian University, or a graduate who has completed his or her graduate degree within three years of the application deadline, to attend and present their work at the 24th International CODATA Conference (jointly organized with World Data System), SCIDataCon 2014,  "Data Challenges for Global Sustainability /Future Earth", November 2 to 5, 2014, in New Delhi, India.
Deadline for Applications: March 31, 2014
For application guidelines and award details
For Conference details: and follow the posted links*** 

• The Henry Mandelbaum Graduate Fellowship: Established in 2011 by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations to honour their retired Executive Director, the fellowship is awarded to a full-time graduate student at a publicly assisted Ontario University who has demonstrated academic excellence, shows exceptional academic promise, and has provided significant community service in his/her university career. Financial needs of students may be a selection factor. The successful candidate will be expected to produce and deliver a paper within one year of receiving the award to the OCUFA Board on a topic related to or resulting from his/her thesis or dissertation research.
Deadline: April 4, 2014
Guidelines and Nomination Form are available online

 • 2014 Canadian Transportation Research Forum (CTRF) Student Paper Competition: The primary focus of the paper must be directly related to a specific transportation practice or policy. Papers must be original work written by the student applicant only. Prizes may be awarded in each of the following categories: Past President's Award $250 (undergraduate); A.M. Stevens Award $500 (master's); Jim Davey Award $1,000 (doctoral).
There may be more than one award in any category depending on the quality of the papers.
Deadline: Saturday, May 31
Details online

• Brock Library Open Access Publishing Fund: Open to Brock faculty, graduate students and postdocs. The purpose of this grant is to assist researchers in disseminating their research broadly via an Open Access (OA) journal. A minimum of four awards will be granted, to a maximum of $2,500 each [Total funds = $10,000]. This Grant is intended to support researchers with limited or no funding. If an alternate funding source is available that permits payment of submission fees (e.g. a research grant), that source must be used before applying to the OA Publishing Fund.
For more information contact: Barbara McDonald, Ext. 3949

Other Opportunities

• NEW — Prometeo Project: The government of Ecuador is funding this new initiative that aims to
strengthen research and teaching capacities in Ecuador. It targets Ecuadorian and foreign professionals with a wide, well-known experience in their area of study. The opportunity allows researchers to conduct academic and scientific projects in several host institutions across Ecuador.
Details online.

• NEW — Call for nominations — Recognition Awards for Theses and Dissertations on Teacher Education Canadian Association for Teacher Education (CATE)
The Canadian Association for Teacher Education is pleased to inform the scientific community that, as part of its mandate to promote research on pre-service and in-service teacher education
as well as staff development, it will once again recognize dissertations and theses in the field of teacher education.
See details about CATE Dissertation Award and Master’s Thesis Award
To be considered for a CATE award your thesis/dissertation must be completed or defended between January 1, 2013 and May 31, 2014.
Deadline for submission: Monday, March 31, 2014
Contact: Dr. Lynn Thomas, Professor, Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, University of
Sherbrooke, Lynn.Thomas@USherbrooke.ca

• REMINDER — Centre for Pedagogical Innovation (CPI) announces the 17th annual Teaching Assistant Awards: Three awards are available: TA Award ($500), Graduate TA Award ($400), and Novice TA Award ($300).
Deadline for nominations: Friday, March 7
Information is posted online
Also, nominations are open for the 6th annual Clarke Thomson Award for Excellence in Sessional Teaching.
Deadline for nominations: Saturday, March 15
Information is posted online
Questions? Contact CPI at ext 3933 or e-mail cpi@brocku.ca

• Publishing Springer Science Review: The Springer Science Review invites submissions of thesis literature reviews from PhD students in the research area of biomedical sciences, earth sciences, geography, energy, environmental sciences and life sciences. More information is available on the Springer Review website

Academic and Professional Development

 • NEW — Graduate student moderators needed:  Graduate Student Moderator Training for
Brock's Conversation Café will be held Tuesday, March 4, 6:30 to 9 p.m.  Participation certificates will be issued at the end of the training that is designed to develop moderator skills, work with a public audience and facilitate discussions that are meaningful. Knowing how to guide a productive conversation is an essential leadership skill. Training is available. To register, for training and volunteer moderator experience at the Conversation Cafes, please contact Stacia  Heaton,  sheaton@brocku.ca or 905-688-5550, x3011.

• Promote your workshops to graduate students with us: If you are hosting a workshop or event related to graduate student professional development that may interest graduate students from within or outside of your faculty, please send us notice to have your event posted on our calendar OR submit the event directly by simply uploading the details into the online form.
The number of participants can be monitored and capped through our online registry. Specific learning outcomes and the competencies that align with your workshop or information session can also be tracked.

• REMINDER — Call for Visual art-works (of all kinds): Are you a graduate student and visual artist looking to express your creative talents? In your investigation of life, do you have images that capture your research interests? The Academic + Professional Development partners are looking for visual art works that convey the concepts of curiosity, intrigue and innovation or simply reflect the graduate student experience.

• CALENDAR OF EVENTS — Please continue to visit our website for updates on academic and 
professional skills training workshops and events. 
Contact: Karin Perry 
Program Coordinator 
Academic + Professional Development X 6129, or gradplus@brocku.ca

Conferences

• Call for Papers, 2nd Annual International Interdisciplinary Conference, AIIC 2014, July 8 to 12, 2014, Azores Islands, Portugal: The conference will be a kind of academic bridge between different cultures, scientific attitudes, academic stages and is aimed at gathering researchers from all around the world, thus contributing for a global flow of the newest scientific thoughts and promotion of the interdisciplinary concept.
Full paper submission deadline: June 10
Email: contact@aiiconference.net
More Information available online

• Call for Papers to the International Educational Technology Conference (IETC 2014), CHICAGO, September 3 to 5, 2014: IETC 2014 seeks a diverse and comprehensive program covering all areas of educational technology. The program includes a wide range of activities designed to facilitate the exchange of expertise, experience, and resources with colleagues. These include keynote and invited talks, full and brief paper presentations, panels and round table discussion sessions.
Abstract Deadline: Saturday, July 5
Full Article Deadline: Sunday, July 20
Registration Fee Deadline: Tuesday, August 5
More information available online

• Fifth International Conference On New Horizons in Education INTE 2014, Paris, France, June 25 to 27, 2014: The conference provides a multinational platform where the latest trends in education can be presented and discussed in a friendly environment with the aim to learn from each other. Prospective presenters are encouraged to submit proposals for papers and posters/demonstrations that offer new research or theoretical contributions.
Abstract Deadline: June 13, 2014
Full Article Deadline: June 16, 2014
Registration Fee Deadline: June 16, 2014
More Information available online

Upcoming Thesis Defences

All are welcome to attend but seating is limited.

• Casey Christoff, MSc student Biological Sciences, will defend her thesis on Monday, March 3, 1 p.m., WH147.
Title: "Investigation into the relationships between molecular chaperones, mitochondrial antioxidant enzymes and endothermic vertebrate longevity"

• NEW — Abeeda Pooja, a Master of Science in Management student, will defend her thesis Wednesday, March 5 at 1:30 p.m. in Cairns 207.
Title: "Job Demands and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Roles of Organizational Commitment and Social Interaction"

• Joyce Penner, MA student Social Justice and Equity Studies, will defend her thesis on Wednesday, April 9, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., WH147.
Title: " Anachronistic Me: An autoethnographic account of recovery through volunteerism"

Please check department program websites to confirm dates, times and locations in the event of changes to the information.

News & Events

•  NEW — We Welcome the World Reception, Monday, March 17, 3:30 p.m., Pond Inlet: Brock International recognizes the term's newest visiting international professors, scholars and university mentorship participants from Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Pakistan, Russia, Spain and Sweden. RSVP to lpark@brocku.ca

• NEW — Alumni Affairs Meet five academics who have switched disciplines mid-career

• NEW — Empirical data shows Ontario university graduates have the best labour market outcomes: COU's new University Works report shows

 • NEW — Brock graduate students step to the microphone for Research on Tap

The Faculty of Graduate Studies e-Bulletin is distributed every two to four weeks. Past issues are posted online.