Highlights for this issue

• NEW — Grant-writing workshops, Thursday, May 28 — RSVP as soon as possible: Faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students are invited to presentations by Dr. Robert Porter, an international grant-writing expert. The workshops will focus on key principles of successful grant writing and strategies for pursuing funding. Participants can sharpen their proposal writing skills, explore keys to a more powerful and persuasive writing style, and learn how to avoid common pitfalls of grant writing.
Session One, 9 a.m. to 12 noon, Academic South 203: Basic principles of great grant writing.
Session Two, 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Academic South 203: Determine whether your research is a good fit for the funding opportunity you are considering. Communicating with Agency Program Officers. Mock Review Panel:  reviewer’s perspective and best ways to meet those expectations.
Refreshments will be served in the morning and at breaks during each workshop.
RSVP: Contact Erika Penner at orsadmin@brocku.ca or ext. 5332 and indicate whether you will be attending Session 1, Session 2, or both.

• NEW — The Ontario Graduate Policy Research Challenge: The challenge is designed to reward high-quality graduate student research that is relevant to postsecondary education, training and labour market policies in Ontario. The Challenge is open to graduate students and recent graduates from graduate programs at publicly assisted Ontario universities or post-graduate certificate programs at Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAAT).

Top applicants will receive awards up to $3,000. Finalists will be provided the opportunity to discuss policy issues raised in their briefs with MTCU staff and present key findings at an Award Ceremony organized by MTCU.
Deadline: June 8, 2015
More information

See Brock's additional policy research challenge incentive below.

• NEW — Vitae Essential Skills Policy Challenge Incentive: Three prizes of $100 will be awarded to Brock graduate students who have completed the Ontario Graduate Policy Research Challenge application and their submission has been approved and signed by their Faculty Advisor and Department Chair. For more details, please contact Karin Perry.

• NEW — Student Health Services (SHS) — Spring Semester hours: During the spring semester (to July 9) SHS will be open Monday to Thursday (closed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday) as follows:
          9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. - All morning appointments are seen at the SHS office located inside Campus Pharmacy (beside East Academic).
          12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. - All afternoon appointments are seen at the SHS Harrison Hall office located beside Campus Security (across from the Walker Complex).
SHS provides a range of services and programs for students including confidential primary health care, prevention programs, wellness education and strategic medical and academic partnership promoting optimal health and university success.
Visit the SHS website for full details of its services and programs.

• NEW — e-Bulletin summer schedule: The e-Bulletin will go to a monthly distribution for June, July and August. Issues are scheduled for Thursday, June 18, Thursday, July 23 and Thursday, Aug. 13. The e-Bulletin’s regular distribution of every other week is expected to resume on Thursday, Sept. 3.

The e-Bulletin is also posted online.
Previous issues of e-Bulletin are posted online.

TAKE NOTE
Deadlines or events that will occur between this issue and the first week of the next issue are highlighted for your immediate attention.

Scholarships/Awards/Grants

• NEW — Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships: The Government of Australia has recently opened the competition for its Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships for 2016. This initiative offers support to international scholars to undertake study, research or professional development in Australia.
The Endeavour Research Fellowships provide funding for graduate study or post-doctoral work in an Australian institution. The fellowships are not limited to young scholars, and any candidate with a doctoral qualification may apply.
The Endeavour Executive Awards are intended to help build international professional links and collaborations with Australia. Successful candidates will be funded for one to four months of professional development in Australia. Please note that these awards do not fund direct academic research; they are intended to provide a mechanism for developing or learning new skills in a scholar's field or area of expertise, rather than furthering existing research interests and outcomes.
Full information, guidelines and links to the online application form are available on the Government of Australia's website.
Deadline: June 30, 2015

• NEW — Ontario's TalentEdge Fellowship Program (TFP): The program provides support for Ontario-based PhD graduates and Postdoctoral Fellows (PDFs) to work on industry-driven research and development projects. This program is open to PDFs across all disciplines and areas of specialization. Fellowships may be academic (college or university), or company based.
Each 12-month TalentEdge fellowship is valued at $85,000.
Applications may be submitted at any time and will be reviewed throughout the year.
More Information

• The Mitacs Accelerate Program provides funding for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to apply their specialized expertise to business-related research challenges. Partners can be either for-profit businesses or not-for-profit organizations. For more information contact Louisa Ho, Commercialization Research Officer at lho@brocku.ca. Click here for more details.

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research IHSRP Travel Awards: IHSPR will provide travel awards in 2014-2015 for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and new investigators to attend and present their research at meetings, conferences (including international conferences) and/or symposia that align with the Institute's mandate and advance their professional development and/or knowledge translation initiatives in health services and policy research.
See more information online.

• Student international funding opportunities: Visit Brock International for a listing of scholarship and awards programs

• 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

Vitae: Essential Skills for Graduate Students

Academic and professional development program for graduate students provided in partnership with nine campus units.

• NEW — Vitae Writing Retreat for Graduate Students: Tuesday, May 26, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Rodman Hall Arts Centre. Although this retreat is now full, we will be hosting a weekly "writing practise" space for graduate students throughout the month of June. Co-hosted by: Faculty of Graduate Studies, Centre for Pedagogical Innovation & Learning Services. Please send an 'email' of interest to Karin Perry to register.

Campus Partners Presents:

• Calling all Writers! We are recruiting graduate level students (Masters/PhD) for volunteer writers: contributing creative and stimulating blog content. Writers will have some editorial range yet provide a voice for the graduate student experience. Writers must submit sample of writing. For more details, please contact kperry@brocku.ca

Please continue to visit our website for professional development programs and workshops.

Conferences and Events

• NEW — NSERC Community Engagement visit at Brock, Thursday, June 11, 9 a.m. to 12 noon, Academic South 216: NSERC has begun its third annual round of community engagement visits to provide researchers, students and other stakeholders an opportunity to learn more about some recent program and policy developments. These visits will also serve as a platform for the community to ask questions and seek more information from some of NSERC's grants and scholarships staff.
Some of the topics that will be discussed include:
— Discovery Research (update on Federal Budget, NSERC strategic plan, program news, etc.);
— Scholarships and Fellowships (update on post-doctoral fellowships and Collaborative Research and Training Experience program);
— Women in Science and Engineering (update on new Chairs for Women in Science and Engineering as well as other initiatives); and
— Policies and guidelines – (update on a variety of issues ranging from grant funding extensions to Open Access).
RSVP by June 8: Participants are asked to RSVP through Connect with NSERC by June 8.

GSA

Visit the GSA website for news and events.

• GSA Health and Dental plans: Just a reminder that your 2014-15 GSA Health and Dental plans are in effect until August 31/15. If you are a new student, or want to add your family to your plan, the opt-in for the summer term is open from May 1 to May 29/15 - see details and application form
You must bring in the completed form with a cheque or money order to
the GSA Office (MC C302) before the deadline.

Upcoming Thesis Defences

Check Faculty websites for notices of upcoming thesis defences.

• Andra Lenius, MA student Applied Health Sciences (Health and Physical Education), will defend her thesis on Monday, May 25, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., in Walker Complex 203 (by videoconference).
Title: "FIT FOR ACTION: A comparative case-study of the implementation of an adaptive fitness and conditioning program for teen and transition age youth with moderate functioning ASD"

• NEW — Christopher Oberc, MSc student in Chemistry, will present his thesis defence on Thursday, May 28, in CRN 550, 1 p.m..
Title: "Predicting the pose of β-Casomorphin-5 and 7 in the opioid receptors"

• NEW — Katelyn Rickers, MA student in Applied Health Sciences (Health & Physical Education), will defend her thesis on Tuesday, June 2, 12 noon to 3 p.m., Walker Complex 203.
Title: "The effect of different phases of synchrony on the synchrony effect"

• NEW — Amanda Lepp, PhD student in Biological Sciences, will present her thesis defence on Wednesday, June 3, at 1 p.m. in H313.
Title: "The role of MicroRNAs and retinoid signaling during spinal cord regeneration in the adult newt"

• Eleftherios (Terry) Soleas, MEd student, will present his thesis defence on Monday, June 15, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., WH147. Title: "New Teacher Perceptions of Inclusive Pedagogies: Designing new futures for the changing classroom"

• NEW — Narnia Worth, PhD student in Psychology, will present her thesis defence on Monday, June 15, at 2 p.m. in WH 147.
Title: "Players and Avatars: The connections between player personality, Avatar personality, and behavior in video games"

• NEW — Sandra Pitts, MA student in Applied Health Sciences (Sports Management), will defend her thesis on Wednesday, June 24, 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., Walker Complex 203.
Title: "Sport values of bantam, midget and intermediate female hockey players and their minor hockey associations"

News

• NEW — Watch videos of Brock's 2015 3MT finals

• NEW — Grad students, award donors honoured at annual reception

• NEW — See a schedule of Brock's 2015 Spring Convocation

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