Recipients 2021

Since its launch in 2011, the PDF Travel Awards have helped many UBC PDFs attend conferences to present their work, enriching their PDF experience and helping anchor them within the academic world. Please read below to find out more about past award recipients.

Name

Department, Faculty

Conference - Date Attended

Location

Quarter 1:      
Dr. Mahdi Mehrtash Chemical and Biological Engineering; Faculty of Applied Science

IEEE Texas Power and Energy Conference - February 2021

Virtual

Dr. Oralia Gomez-Ramirez School of Population and Public Health; Faculty of Medicine 5th UCL Qualitative Health Research Network (QHRN) Conference - March 2021 Virtual
Dr. Hao Yin School of Population and Public Health; Faculty of Medicine 2021 SBCA Annual Conference - March 2021 Virtual
Quarter 2:      
Dr. Olivia de Jongh Gonzalez School of Population and Public Health; Medicine International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA) XChange Initiative 2021 - June 2021 Virtual
Dr. Jesus Martin del Campo Oral Health Sciences; Faculty of Dentistry Experimental Biology 2021 - April 2021 Virtual
Dr. Elisabet Rodriguez Llorian Pharmaceutical Sciences: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences Annual Conference of the Canadian Economics Association - May 2021 Virtual
Dr. Emma Morton Psychiatry; Faculty of Medicine International Society for Bipolar Disorders - May 2021 Virtual
Dr. Gideon Obasanmi Opthalmology and Visual Sciences; Faculty of Medicine The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Annual Meeting - May 2021 Virtual
Dr. Emmanuel Osei Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics; Faculty of Medicine American Thoracic Society Conference - May 2021 Virtual
Dr. Katerina Rnic Psychology; Arts Association for Psychological Science 2021 Virtual Convention - May 2021 Virtual
Quarter FY 21/22 Q2*      
Dr. Alfiya Battalova Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy; Faculty of Medicine Society for the Study of Social Problems 71st Virtual Annual Meeting 2021 - August 2021 Virtual
Dr. Patricia Comeau Oral Health Sciences; Faculty of Dentistry 2021 IADR/AADR/CADR General Session and Exhibition - July 2021 Virtual
Dr. James Crispo Pharmaceutical Sciences: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences 60th ISCoS Annual Scientific Meeting - September 2021 Virtual
Dr. Negin Motamed Yeganeh School of Music; Faculty of Arts ICMPC16-ESCOM11 Conference - July 2021 Virtual
Quarter FY 21/22 Q3      
Dr. Hannah McElgunn Department of Anthropology; Faculty of Arts American Anthropology Association Annual Meetings - November 2021 Virtual

*Modification to quarter names occurred in FY 2021-22 and will continue in this new format moving forward.

2021 Q1

Dr. Mahdi Mehrtash

IEEE Texas Power and Energy Conference – February 2021

As a postdoctoral research fellow and on behalf of the University of British Columbia, I had the opportunity to present my recent research findings in the IEEE Texas Power and Energy Conference (TPEC 2021). The 5th year of TPEC conference, which was held online on February 2-5, brought together participants from industry and academia to present and discuss the latest technological developments and challenges in the power and energy industry. The conference invited keynote speakers from the industry to share their thoughts and experience, and sought the high-quality research papers to be presented.

In this conference, I had the chance to meet several researchers who are working on my field of expertise, which is Power System Optimization. Also, I attended poster session, plenary sessions, and some of the oral presentations. I believe that attending high-quality conferences is a great opportunity for postdoctoral fellows, and other researchers, to become familiar with the state-of-the-art findings in their field, to present their works for other researchers and receiving their feedbacks, and to meet new friends whom might be their future collaborators. Finally, I want to add that the online platform of this year of TPEC was as great as it was in previous years when it was not online. 

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Dr. Oralia Gomez-Ramirez

5th UCL Qualitative Health Research Network (QHRN) Conference - March 2021

By attending the QHRN conference, I was able to listen to interesting dialogues and participate in learning opportunities. Despite the barriers to meaningful participation in virtual/remote virtual conferences, I benefited from attending this conference in three ways:

1) The keynote speakers offered thoughtful and thought-provoking conversations on timely issues, including conspiracy theories and building hope after the Grenfell Tower fire in London. A key takeaway from these conversations was for health researchers, policymakers, and decision makers to remind ourselves to focus our interventions and interjections on addressing and changing values, rather than solely on providing education, if we truly want to affect actual behavioural and social change. The organizers also offered opportunities for virtual networking with other attendees.

2) I attended two pre-conference workshops, where I learned about qualitative longitudinal research and process evaluation of complex health interventions using qualitative methodologies. These workshops were well-designed and offered opportunities for practical learning and direct conversations with the facilitators on the subject matters at hand.

3) I had the great opportunity to share a pre-recorded highlight presentation of findings from rapid critical qualitative assessment of Canada’s COVID Alert app. I expect this will provide opportunities for continuing conversations with others at the QHRN.

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Dr. Hao Yin

2021 SBCA Annual Conference - March 2021

Supported by the Faculty of Medicine-PDFO, I attended SBCA 2021 Annual Conference last week. The generous travel award allowed me to share my work and learn many recent advances in benefit-cost analysis across the world. On March 22, I did a presentation about my recent work on exploring the interaction between health cost attributable to ambient air pollution and population ageing. To answer this question, I developed an age-adjusted value of statistical life year measure that captures the relationship between value of statistical life and population age. I got many questions from the audience about recent trends in health cost of air pollution, uncertainties, and methodology. Some researchers were also very interested in my work and requested my slides through email. The questions and suggestions from the other researchers are extremely valuable to advance my current and future research. In addition to my presentation, I also find it extremely informative from the plenary and specific topic sessions. I learned advanced research in cost-benefit analysis for forests in African countries, willingness to pay to improve IQs of kids as well as recent cost estimates of COVID-19 studies. The methodology they used and the ideas behind these works are very inspiring.

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2021 Q2

Dr. Olivia De Jongh Gonzalez

International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA) XChange Initiative 2021 – June 2021

I am fortunate and grateful to be a recipient of the Faculty of Medicine PDF Travel Award to attend the ISBNPA XChange Initiative 2021. Despite the limitations derived from the pandemic, I had the opportunity to virtually meet and learn from experts in the areas of behavioral nutrition and physical activity who offered thought-provoking talks. In addition, I was able to lead two oral presentations and be part of the co-authors team in 3 other studies, all of them related with a mobile health (mHealth) intervention that promotes healthy behaviors among children and adolescents living with obesity and their parents. We received valuable feedback for our research and we are looking forward to continue disseminating our findings. While these studies are published, I invite you to read our abstracts in the ISBNPA abstract book: 1) De-Jongh, Tugault-Lafleur, Hamilton, Ho, Buchholz, Morrison, Ball & Mâsse. Who uses the Aim2Be app and how? Users’ typologies and their impact on health-related outcomes. 2) De-Jongh, Tugault-Lafleur, Hamilton, Ho, Buchholz, Morrison, Ball & Mâsse. A mHealth intervention in children with overweight and obesity and their parents: Findings from a pre/post study. 3) Buckler, De-Jongh, Hamilton, Ho, Buchholz, Morrison, Ball & Mâsse. Differences in participant group characteristics at baseline dependent on recruitment strategy: Results from the Aim2Be RCT. 4) Tugault-Lafleur, De-Jongh, Hamilton, Ho, Buchholz, Morrison, Ball & Mâsse. Effectiveness of a mobile health intervention aimed at changing lifestyle behaviours in children with overweight and obesity: Findings from the Aim2Be RCT. 5) Deslippe, Buckler, De-Jongh, Mâsse & Macdonald. Social support increases children’s use of an e-health behaviour modification app.

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Dr. Jesus Martin del Campo

Experimental Biology 2021 - April 2021

Participating in the Experimental Biology 2021 virtual conference was a pleasant learning experience. This is the first time I have participated in a conference using this format. Attendees from five associations participated in the conference, making it a very well attended event. I had the opportunity to present the first results of my postdoctoral project, that I carry out at Life Sciences Institute, on craniofacial malformations in sea turtles. I also had the opportunity to attend lectures and talks on relevant topics of my postdoctoral work and to meet researchers and works related to my professional interests. In addition to know the current techniques that are being used in the scientific field. An advantage of the virtual conference, in this case, is that the talks were available for a certain time after the event ended; so we had the opportunity to see presentations that we had missed or that were of interest to us to see them again. I also had the opportunity to interact virtually with colleagues and researchers, as well as exchange points of view and doubts that arose.  In general, it was a very enriching experience for my work and also on a personal level.

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Dr. Elisabet Rodriguez Llorian

Annual Conference of the Canadian Economics Association - June 2021

Attending the Annual Conference of the Canadian Economics Association was an enriching experience. My presentation discussed ongoing research on prductivity losses among multiple sclerosis patients and allow me to receive valuable feefback from other presenters and participants. Though in a virtual format, there were opportunities for networking and the exchange of ideas across participants from different fields and carreer stages.

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Dr. Emma Morton

International Society for Bipolar Disorders – May 2021

I presented a summary of my PhD and postdoctoral research on the optimal measurement and treatment of quality of life outcomes in bipolar disorder, “An update on the definition, measurement, and treatment of quality of life in bipolar disorder”, as part of an “Experts by Experience” symposium entitled “Novel Treatments in Bipolar Disorder: From Proof of Mechanisms to Clinical Outcomes” during the preeminent bipolar disorders conference. My co-presenters Professor Roger McIntyre and Phyllis Foxworth are leaders of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, the leading United States-based lived-experience organisation focused on education, advocacy, research and peer support to improve the lives of people living with mood disorders. Our session was presented to a live audience, an enjoyable rarity in online conferences, and we partook in a lively Q&A segment. This was a valuable networking experience, as it solidified my relationship with members of DBSA, with whom I am currently co-authoring a paper, and my knowledge of regulatory procedures regarding the approval of patient-reported outcome measures for clinical trials. During the conference, I also became aware of an ISBD initiative to develop an Early and Mid Career Committee, and have submitted an application to become a member of this program.

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Dr. Gideon Obasanmi

The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Annual Meeting – May 2021

Conference report coming soon.

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Dr. Emmanuel Osei

American Thoracic Society Conference – May 2021

The annual international meeting of the American Thoracic Society is a leading scientific meeting in respiratory medicine. This year’s meeting was held virtually from the 14th to 19th of May and was attended by over 15 000 international clinicians and scientists in all fields of respiratory, critical care and sleep medicine, as well as industry professionals in related areas. Scientific symposia, thematic poster sessions, and poster discussion sessions provide exposure to cutting-edge respiratory research and the opportunity to network with both experts and trainees in the field. For this year’s ATS, my proposal for a ‘Meet the Expert’ seminar titled, “Complex In Vitro Models of the Lung: Bridging the Gap Between Disease Complexity and Therapeutics” was accepted. Hence, I was involved in planning and presenting this session with senior colleagues in my field which was a resounding success. In addition to this, my abstract titled, ‘Reticular Basement Membrane Proteins in The Airways of Asthmatics Modulates Basal Airway Epithelial Attachment and Barrier Formation’ was accepted and presented as poster. Although, this was the second virtual ATS, I was still able to meet and deliberate with colleagues and distinguished researchers in my field and I look forward to the next conference.

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Dr. Katerina Rnic

Association for Psychological Science 2021 Virtual Convention – May 2021

Attending the Association for Psychological Science (APS) 2021 convention was a valuable experience. I presented my findings on the prospective association of emotion regulation with diurnal cortisol among early adolescents in the context of the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. My talk generated dialogue with colleagues, including leading experts in my field, researchers from other subdisciplines of psychology, students, and clinicians, thereby allowing for an exchange of ideas and for key networking opportunities. This presentation also allowed me to gain experience disseminating my research broadly to mixed audiences of experts and non-specialists. Furthermore, I received invitations from other conference attendees to view their posters and discuss their work and its implications, enabling rich discussions and opening the door to future collaborations. Furthermore, given the broad focus of APS, I was able to attend keynotes, symposia, and poster presentations on topics both closely linked to my research area (e.g., challenges and opportunities for advancing clinical science), as well as on topics that cut across subdisciplines (e.g., equity, diversity and inclusion in psychological research). Attending a diversity of presentations was valuable for keeping abreast of the latest developments in psychological science.

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Quarter FY 21/22 Q2

Dr. Alfiya Battalova

Society for the Study of Social Problems 71st Virtual Annual Meeting 2021 - August 2021

From August 4 to August 7, 2021, I attended the Annual Society for the Study of Social Problems Conference. The conference was held virtually. The 2021 theme of the conference was Revolutionary Sociology: Truth, Healing, Reparations and Restructuring. The Program Committee invited the attendees to envision a more effective future for the forces of radical and revolutionary sociology. The conference included several sessions that focused on disability. As a researcher with a background in disability studies and sociology of disability, I was thrilled to attend such sessions as Disability, Family, and Care in the Covid-19 Era, Revolutionizing the Disability Experience, Disability and the Future of Work in a Post-Pandemic Economy and others. The conference provided me with a great opportunity to connect with colleagues and learn about current research in my academic area. My own presentation that focused on the lived experiences of people who use motorized mobility scooters brought people from various disciplinary backgrounds. The conference organizers made sure to allow for some time for attendees to connect, and this created a more welcoming environment at the conference.

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Dr. Patricia Comeau

2021 IADR/AADR/CADR General Session & Exhibit – July 2021

The 45th Meeting of the CADR, held with the 99th IADR General Session & Exhibition and 50th AADR Annual Meeting, on July 21-24, 2021, provided scientists and researchers the opportunity to present and discuss recent investigations and discoveries. My presentation was on “Methacrylate-based Dental Adhesive Resin Properties Tuned by Adding Natural Compound”. I was also co-author on a second podium presented by my supervisor Dr. Adriana Manso.

The meeting was well attended with over 5,000 individuals from more than 80 countries registered. As an attendee I had access to 2,672 poster presentations, 724 oral presentations, 26 ePoster discussion presentations, 36 Lunch and Learning sessions, 11 hands-on workshops, eight satellite symposia, 72 Symposia and three Distinguished Lecture Series plenary sessions. I attended as many as I could “live” virtually, and have continued to observe the recorded sessions as able since the conference dates. I highly recommend this conference to students, PDFs, and more senior faculty who have an interest in dental research, particularly with regards to the design of still-needed dental tools and materials.

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Dr. James Crispo

The International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) Annual Scientific Meeting - September 2021

With support from the Postdoctoral Fellows Office (PDFO), Dr. Cragg, and the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, I virtually attended the International Spinal Cord Society’s (ISCoS) 60th Annual Scientific Meeting at the end of September 2021.

Having recently shifted the primary focus of my health services and outcomes research to pediatric spinal cord injury, this was my first time attending an international scientific meeting related to spinal cord injury. Simply put, the meeting was exceptional! Thought-provoking lectures on the history and treatment of spinal cord injuries, as well as engaging workshops that explored the use of health data, patient perspectives, and emerging research methods, enabled me to acquire knowledge that will be beneficial to my current research. Furthermore, attending the meeting allowed me to engage with leading experts in the field of spinal cord injury, which is anticipated to result in future collaborations.

Overall, the conference has further inspired my interest in pediatric spinal cord injury research and enhanced my knowledge of this topic. I am thankful for the generous support from the PDFO, Dr. Cragg, and the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, which permitted me to participate in this wonderful virtual meeting!

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Dr. Negin Motamed Yeganeh

16th Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC) International Conference – July 2021

The 16th Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC) International Conference was jointly organized with the 11th triennial conference of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM). This Virtual conference took place from 28th to 31st of July, 2021. It provided an interdisciplinary and intercultural platform for the dissemination of the most recent developments in music cognition research. It brought together a diverse group of leading researchers from various areas of Music Cognition and Perception.

Supported by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, I had the opportunity to present our current research findings at this conference last week. This oral presentation was based on the data collected during the Covid-19 pandemic and evaluated the Effects of Covid-19 Restrictions on Stress during Opera Performance. Although it transpired in a virtual format, attending this conference was an enriching experience for networking, receiving feedback, and exchanging knowledge with other international peers. From the posters and symposia to the specific topic sessions, I found this endeavour to be extremely informative. I eagerly look forward to attending the next year ICMPS-ESCOM conference.

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Quarter FY 21/22 Q3

Dr. Hannah McElgunn

American Anthropology Association Annual Meetings - November 2021

On November 20th, I presented a paper entitled "Re-Considerations: Ethics and Linguistic Anthropological Engagement with Hopi Projects" at the American Anthropology Association Annual Conference. This paper was part of a panel entitled Ethics and Language in Theory and Practice. What I most appreciated about this panel was the opportunity to interact with a new group of scholars. The papers on the panel adopted diverse approaches to ethics, drawing on fieldwork in a wide range of locales. Although our panel was hybrid, the panel organizers did an excellent job managing the tech set up so that those who attended virtually felt included and were able to interact with the in-person attendees.

Unfortunately there were some timing issues which left essentially no room for discussion after the papers were presented. However, the panelists have been in touch by email and we are discussing the possibility of contributing to an edited volume.  

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