Postdoctoral Fellowship News – Current Grad Students https://gradstudents.carleton.ca Carleton University Fri, 09 Jun 2017 15:46:53 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.1 Carleton Researcher Receives Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship to Study Inclusive Government and Citizen Engagement https://gradstudents.carleton.ca/2017/carleton-researcher-receives-banting-postdoctoral-fellowship-study-inclusive-government-citizen-engagement/ Fri, 09 Jun 2017 15:46:53 +0000 https://gradstudents.carleton.ca/?p=32549 logan-cochraneCarleton University’s Logan Cochrane, a researcher in the Faculty of Public Affairs, has been awarded the renowned Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue his work.

Cochrane’s research investigates how effective and inclusive governance is enabled by a responsive government and engaged citizens. If harnessed, citizen-government interactions can strengthen policies and programs and enhance the involvement that individuals have in their community and country.

“My project analyzes why and when citizens mobilize in rural Ethiopia to affect governmental change, and what enables government to positively respond to that,” said Cochrane. “There are longstanding concerns about the lack of citizen participation in Ethiopia, as well as significant challenges with government repression.”

In 2015 and 2016, hundreds of protests occurred throughout Ethiopia, leading to mass arrests and the use of lethal force. The escalation of conflict between citizens and the government resulted in of a state of emergency.

It is crucial to identify the factors for improved citizen engagement and responsive governance to transform the conflict into collaboration.

The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship program is designed to attract and develop top-tier researchers from Canada and around the world. Each year, 70 fellowships are awarded, with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHERC).

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Carleton’s Nafisa Jadavji Wins Ontario Women’s Health Scholars Award https://gradstudents.carleton.ca/2015/carletons-nafisa-jadavji-wins-ontario-womens-health-scholars-award/ Tue, 23 Jun 2015 15:20:42 +0000 http://gradstudents.carleton.ca/?p=24505 Nafisa JadavjiCarleton University’s Nafisa Jadavji, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Neuroscience, has been awarded a Postdoctoral Ontario Women’s Health Scholars Award for research in preventing strokes in women. The award is worth $40,000, plus a $5,000 research allowance.

“This is an extraordinary accomplishment that demonstrates the strong health research focus at Carleton,” said Prof. Patrice Smith. “Dr. Jadavji is an exceptional researcher and her research is innovative and groundbreaking. Her work will undoubtedly contribute significantly to promoting better health for Canadians and this award will be integral to her research success. I am absolutely delighted that Jadavji is a member of my lab.”

In Canadian women, stroke is the third leading cause of death and the risk for stroke increases with age. Jadavji’s research involves homocysteine which is associated with an increased risk for stroke. Her proposed research is multidisciplinary and will investigate the effects of age and elevated levels of homocysteine, a non-protein amino acid on stroke, as well as examine therapeutic options.

“I am grateful and humbled that my research has been recognize,” said Jadavji. “I hope my research findings will help with understand how folate deficiencies and elevated levels of homocysteine affect stroke in women. I am really excited about this research project and I am thankful for the support and encouragement from Dr. Patrice Smith, my supervisor.”

Funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the Scholar Awards Program in women’s health was established to ensure Ontario attracts and retains pre-eminent women’s health scholars to ensure more effective health services and products for women.

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More Tips on Applying for a Postdoctoral Fellowship https://gradstudents.carleton.ca/2013/tips-applying-postdoctoral-fellowship-part-two/ Fri, 25 Oct 2013 12:01:07 +0000 http://gradstudents.carleton.ca/?p=17385 Sophie Tamas is one of three Carleton recipients of the prestigious 2013 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships.

Tamas, who is with the School of Canadian Studies and Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, has been recognized by her peers for her desire to push the boundaries of autoethnographic research. She has written an acclaimed book that examines the very private world of spousal abuse and is currently researching emotional geography, sites of memory and managing loss. Dr. Tamas is committed to interdisciplinary research in a variety of fields, including human geography, social work, sociology, women’s studies and Canadian studies.

She has the following 10 tips for PhD students interested in pursuing a Postdoctoral Fellowship:

 1) Browse faculty webpages in potentially suitable departments in universities located in places where you’d be willing to move. I got my first PDF by emailing a total stranger based on her online bio and pitching my research project. I had no training in her discipline but my project was a good fit.

2) Have a clear sense of what you want to do with your PDF – something other than writing up your dissertation as a book. It can build on your doctoral research but ought to move things forward – ideally, as part of a longer term, say, five year plan. Make sure your project is something you care about deeply – that you’re pursuing your passion – otherwise it will be really hard to persuade others to get on board.

3) Be sure you can explain your proposed research project clearly, briefly, and simply – what you want to do, how, and to what end. 

4) Let your little light shine – don’t squirm too much while stating your accomplishments and capacities. You have to believe you and your project deserve support – but you also have to remember that you’re one star among many. Coming across as arrogant is not going to make others want to work with you. A PDF is a huge privilege and there’s probably thousands of smarter, harder working folks who never get one.

5) Be academically productive. The thing that sells you is your track record. Get through your PhD efficiently, apply for PDFs immediately afterwards, and publish regularly. There are all kinds of academic journals out there – find one within reach. A few articles based on your doctoral work and published quickly will serve you better than a book that languishes for years. If you are finding it hard to get things written, do some honest self-assessment. What are you spending your time on? What’s holding you back? 

6) Have a high tolerance for working alone; PDF supervision can be very hands-off. You have to be self-structuring and self-motivated, and not expect much from a sponsoring supervisor. Working with you ought to be value-added for them.

7) Have a solid backup plan. In addition to my academic life, I work and volunteer in small-town non-profit social services, pursue hobbies, renovate my house, raise three kids, and do outdoor activities. Stay connected to the world outside school so that you don’t feel like your life depends on winning the PDF lottery.

8) Plan on being broke. Most PDFs pay poorly. The income is taxable but no deductions are taken, so you’ll have a big bill every April. 

9) Try not to spend your entire PDF working on applications for ‘real’ academic jobs. It is a necessary but soul-crushing process that needs to take up a limited part of your life.

10) Don’t rely on anyone to get the PDF for you. Do all the leg work. Offer to “help” (ie, ghost write) letters of support or other materials that you need from other busy people. Make sure everything you send out is technically perfect – if you can’t do your own proofreading, hire a pro, but don’t rely on others to find your typos and fix your grammar.

More information about how to become a PDF is available on our Postdoctoral Fellow web page.

The Banting program is designed to attract and develop top-tier researchers from Canada and around the world. Each year, 70 fellowships are awarded, with funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and Canadian Institute for Health Research. Each fellow will receive $140,000 in research funding over two years.

More information about Carleton’s other two Banting recipients is available on our Grad Student website.

You can also read Part One featuring Banting Fellow Rena Bivens’  tips for pursuing PDFs on our Grad Student website.

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Tips on Applying for a Postdoctoral Fellowship https://gradstudents.carleton.ca/2013/tips-applying-postdoctoral-fellowship/ Wed, 09 Oct 2013 12:24:20 +0000 http://gradstudents.carleton.ca/?p=17179 Head shot of Rena BivensCarleton’s Rena Bivens is one of three Carleton Carleton recipients of the prestigious 2013 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships.

The Banting program is designed to attract and develop top-tier researchers from Canada and around the world. Each year, 70 fellowships are awarded, with funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Bivens will receive $140,000 in research funding over two years.

Bivens, who is in the School of Journalism and Communication, has been recognized nationally and internationally for her research. She is currently investigating the design of social media platforms to discover how and why non-profit organizations (NPOs) are using them. Bivens is particularly interested in the use of these technologies by NPOs to educate and advocate for strategies and policies that aim to end gender-based violence.

She has five tips for PhD students who are interested in obtaining a postdoctoral fellowship when they graduate:

  • Do your best to find a good match for your work, both in terms of supervisor and university/department
  • Ensure that you make the connections in your application (i.e. stress that the supervisor and university is a great fit because of Institute X and fellow colleagues Y and Z, etc)
  • Depart from your PhD research but choose something that you are very passionate about
  • Make many, many drafts of your proposal and ask WIDELY for feedback; send it around to people even when you are not entirely happy with it; also, talk casually to as many people as you can about your ideas so that you are forced to keep reformulating your thoughts
  • Figure out what gap you are hoping to fill and make the case for why it is vital that your work is funded

More information about how to become a PDF is available on our Postdoctoral Fellow web page.

More information about the other two Banting recipients is available on our Grad Student website.

In the next newsletter, you can read more tips on becoming a PDF from Sophie Tamas, another Carleton Banting recipient.

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Carleton Researchers Among Recipients of Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships https://gradstudents.carleton.ca/2013/carleton-researchers-among-recipients-banting-postdoctoral-fellowships/ Mon, 23 Sep 2013 18:29:22 +0000 http://gradstudents.carleton.ca/?p=17105 Three Carleton University researchers have been awarded the renowned Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue their work. The announcement was made by the Honourable Greg Rickford, Minister of State (Science and Technology) in Québec City.

Rena Bivens, in the School of Journalism and Communication, has been recognized nationally and internationally for her research. She is currently investigating the design of social media platforms to discover how and why non-profit organizations (NPOs) are using them. Dr. Bivens is particularly interested in the use of these technologies by NPOs to educate and advocate for strategies and policies that aim to end gender-based violence.

Hillary C. Maddin, in the Department of Earth Sciences, is a rising Canadian star in the field of paleontological studies. Her research will take an integrative approach to understanding the role of the brain in the evolution of amphibian cranial form. Through the incorporation of new fossil materials and novel developmental experiments, Maddin’s research will contribute to a better understanding of the fundamental aspects of evolution theory while filling in critical gaps in the amphibian record.

Sophie Tamas, in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, has been recognized by her peers for her desire to push the boundaries of autoethnographic research. She has just completed an acclaimed book that examines the very private world of spousal abuse and is currently researching emotional geography, sites of memory and managing loss. Dr. Tamas is committed to interdisciplinary research in a variety of fields, including human geography, social work, sociology, women’s studies and Canadian studies.

Each will receive $140,000 in research funding over two years.

The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship program is designed to attract and develop top-tier researchers from Canada and around the world. Each year, 70 fellowships are awarded, with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

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Carleton’s Banting Postdoctoral Fellows https://gradstudents.carleton.ca/2012/carletons-banting-postdoctoral-fellows/ Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:09:36 +0000 http://www5.carleton.ca/fgpa/?p=11694 Note: Since the following story was published, Drs. Geiger and Otiono have also been featured in a Nov. 28th issue of Research Works.

Dr. Martin Geiger and Dr. Nduka Otiono are recipients of the prestigious Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships. They will both be at Carleton until  the summer of 2014.

Martin Geiger is working with Dr. William Walters in the Department of Political Science. He spent four years at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies’ (IMIS) at the University of Osnabrück (Germany) – one of Europe’s leading research centres on migration. Previously, he worked at other research centres, including institutes in Spain, Italy and Romania. In 2011, he came to Carleton as a Visiting Scholar in Residence affiliated with the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (EURUS) and the Department of Political Science.

Geiger’s current research focuses on the industries developing and marketing information technologies for the use of managing human cross-border mobility. This research area has recently become central to the Canada-U.S. Smart Border Accords and similar initiatives in Europe. Geiger’s work scrutinizes the effects of new technologies on the management of cross-border mobility and international relations and by doing this, provides recommendations of how adverse effects and democratic concerns can be better addressed and mitigated. Some of his publications include: The New Politics of International Mobility. Migration Management and its Discontents and also The Politics of International Migration Management (both co-edited with A. Pécoud, A.), along with articles in several prestigious journals such as Hommes & Migrations, Migration Letters and Migrations Société.

Nduka Otiono is working with Prof. Pius Adesanmi at the Institute of African Studies. He obtained his PhD from the University of Alberta where he won several awards, including the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship. He was also nominated for the Governor General’s Gold Medal for academic distinction. He recently joined Carleton from Brown University, USA, where he held a one-year postdoctoral fellowship, worked closely with Chinua Achebe as Senior Research Assistant and was appointed a Visiting Assistant Professor. A fellow of the William Joiner Centre for War and Social Consequences, University of Massachusetts, Boston, his interdisciplinary research focuses on “street stories” or popular urban narratives in postcolonial Africa and how they travel across multiple popular cultural platforms such as the news media, film, popular music and social media. His research is informed by his background as a journalist and writer during the worst years of military dictatorship in Nigeria.

Otiono’s publications include scholarly essays in journals and books, as well as a volume of short stories, The Night Hides with a Knife, which won the ANA/Spectrum Prize; two volumes of poetry, Voices in the Rainbow, a finalist for the ANA/Cadbury Poetry Prize, and Love in a Time of Nightmares for which he was awarded the James Patrick Folinsbee Memorial Scholarship in Creative Writing. He is the co-editor of two anthologies: We-Men: An Anthology of Men Writing on Women (1998) and Camouflage: Best of Contemporary Writing from Nigeria (2006), and was founding editor of The Post Express Literary Supplement (PELS), and other literary supplements in Nigeria. He has been a member of the organizing committee of the annual Chinua Achebe Colloquium on Africa at Brown University, and also a member of the Board of Brown University’s Africana Film Festival.   

The Banting Fellowships are awarded to top-tier Canadian and international postdoctoral researchers at an internationally competitive level of funding. They are named after Dr. Frederick Banting who discovered insulin, enabling people with diabetes to live long and healthy lives. More information on the Government of Canada Banting Fellowship can be found at http://banting.fellowships-bourses.gc.ca/about-a_propos/index-eng.html.

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Carleton PhD Student Wins Prestigious Award from SSHRC https://gradstudents.carleton.ca/2011/carleton-phd-student-wins-prestigious-award-from-sshrc-2/ Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:18:55 +0000 http://www5.carleton.ca/fgpa/?p=7247

Dr. Chazan with Carmen Charette, executive V-P, SSHRC

Carleton PhD student May Chazan has been awarded the $10,000 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Postdoctoral Prize. This award is presented to the most outstanding postdoctoral applicant in Canada.

Chazan will draw on research conducted at Carleton University to continue her postdoctoral research with Mark Hunter at the Department of Geography and Program in Planning at the University of Toronto.

She has focused on the Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign, which was started by the Stephen Lewis Foundation in response to large numbers of African children who had been orphaned by AIDS. She illustrated how the campaign positively impacted the lives of hundreds of South African women through their collective response to HIV/AIDS in South Africa.

Chazan applauds the support she received while pursuing her graduate studies at Carleton. “I am extremely grateful to the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, the Institute for African Studies and the Institute for Political Economy,” she said. “So many profs and other grad students have inspired and mentored me along the way. I’ve had the tremendous fortune of working with an exceptionally engaged advisory committee of Mike Brklacich and Blair Rutherford from Carleton, as well as Belinda Dodson from the University of Western Ontario and Alan Whiteside from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. My supervisor, Mike, saw me through both my MA and my PhD and has been an incredible pillar of support.”

Chazan is also the recipient of the University Medal for Outstanding Graduate Work (Doctoral Level) that will be officially awarded at Carleton’s Fall Convocation ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 12 when she formally graduates.

In September, she received the Alice Wilson Award from the Royal Society of Canada. The award is given to a woman of outstanding academic qualifications who is entering a career in scholarship or research at the postdoctoral level.

“May is both an outstanding scholar as well as an amazing and compassionate individual,” said Brklacich, chair of the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Carleton. “I consider myself very fortunate to have worked with her.”

Chazan’s postdoctoral prize was awarded at the 49th annual Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (CAGS) Conference held in Vancouver on Nov. 2. The prizes, which also included the SSHRC Aurora Prize and the William E. Taylor Fellowship, are among the Canadian research community’s highest honours.

“These prizes reward a commitment to the pursuit of knowledge and a dedication to innovative ways of thinking,” said Brent Herbert-Copley, vice-president, Research Capacity at SSHRC. “They honour the emerging researchers and future leaders who are working to enrich our understanding of Canada and the world.”

“Fostering the next generation of talent is important for Canada’s success in the future,” Herbert Copley continued. “Together we can ensure that Canada’s top talent continues to be recognized and supported.”

Each winner was selected by a rigorous peer-review process and prize funds will be directed to research activities.

SSHRC is the federal agency that promotes and supports post-secondary research and training in the humanities and social sciences. Through its programs and policies, the Council enables the highest levels of research excellence in Canada and facilitates knowledge sharing and collaboration across all sectors of society.

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For more information:

Lin Moody
Recruitment and Communications Officer|Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs
Carleton University
613-520-2600, ext. 1146
lin_moody@carleton.ca

Vickie Iacobellis
Communications Advisor | Conseillère en Communications
Communications | Communications
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada
vickie.iacobellis@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca
613-996-0520
www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca

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Researchers Awarded Prestigious Banting Fellowships to Study at Carleton https://gradstudents.carleton.ca/2011/researchers-awarded-prestigious-banting-fellowships-to-study-at-carleton/ https://gradstudents.carleton.ca/2011/researchers-awarded-prestigious-banting-fellowships-to-study-at-carleton/#comments Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:10:21 +0000 http://www5.carleton.ca/fgpa/?p=6583

Eli MacLaren is a new Postdoctoral Fellow at Carleton

Two researchers have been awarded the renowned Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue their work at Carleton University. The awards were announced Thursday in Toronto by the Honourable Gary Goodyear, minister of state (science and technology). Eli MacLaren and Alex Wong will each receive $140,000 in research funding over two years.

MacLaren’s research project, The Production of Canadian Literature, aims to develop and enrich the sovereignty that Canadians require to live well and intervene intelligently in world affairs. The ultimate aim of the project is to produce an eight-part book in which MacLaren will tell the story of Canadian publishing from its origins in the 18th century to today, demonstrating that many international factors have been central in the making of Canadian literature.

Wong’s project studies the costs and consequences of adaptation for organisms. He will attempt to come to a thorough understanding of the process of adaptation in order to confront a number of challenging issues, including biodiversity, climate change and the emergence of new diseases. These studies will provide an important contribution to our understanding of the evolutionary process, helping to predict the responses of natural populations to ecological and medical challenges.

“We’re proud to have attracted these stellar young researchers,” said Kim Matheson, Carleton’s vice-president (research and international). “They will be joining a rich, collaborative and productive environment with sponsorship in internationally renowned research units.”

The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship program is designed to attract and develop top-tier researchers from Canada and around the world. Each year, 70 fellowships are awarded, with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

“MacLaren and Wong are sure to flourish at Carleton and will establish themselves as independent researchers and scholars in their own right. Faculty and students alike who have the opportunity to work with them will benefit greatly,” added Matheson.

Brilliant Research. Brilliant Researchers

Carleton University is a dynamic, interdisciplinary research institution located in Ottawa-Canada’s capital. It has innovative programs in sciences, engineering, arts, and public administration and has realized partnerships with numerous public and private sector organizations. Its strengths have led to international recognition for its faculty, as well as an ability to attract outstanding students.

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