Summer Institute in Project Management - May/June 2022

Date & Time

Wednesday, 4 May 2022 - 9:00am to Wednesday, 22 June 2022 - 11:00am

Location

Online via Zoom

Organizer

Postdoctoral Fellows Office

 

Project Management is increasingly becoming a needed skill in both research and non-academic settings. The PDFO Summer Institute in Project Management is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of topics in research project management, including an introduction to the principles, and key elements of scope, time, cost, quality, stakeholder and risk management for projects in research.

This summer institute is comprised of:

  • 12 hours of class time delivered over 6 two-hour workshops
    • Classes will present material for each module and will involve class participation and discussion around prepared project case studies provided by the instructor.
  • Read and watch elements, and lists of supporting materials in the form of online readings and videos for each module.
    • The suggested readings and other materials will assist students in examining the concepts of project management, as well as project metrics, project close-out, and essentials of leadership.

Postdocs who complete all six sessions in full will receive a certificate of completion from the PDFO. The Certificate of Completion is sufficient to be used to demonstrate 12 hours of training or professional development units (PDUs) that can be reported to PMI.org as part of pursuing or sustaining a PMP designation.

TIME COMMITMENT AND PRE-WORK

Due to the interactive and cumulative nature of the Summer Institute in Project Management, participants are expected to attend all sessions in full. Program components include 6 two-hour sessions. In order to maximize time during each session, some pre-work will be required before each session.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

  • All participants must be available to attend all sessions in full.
  • All applicants must hold a current UBC postdoctoral fellowship appointment at the time of application and for the duration of the program.
  • Postdocs who have repeatedly missed PDFO workshops without notice/cancellation may be considered ineligible to attend.

SESSIONS AND CONTENT

Pre-Program Video Module

A video introduction to the program and the instructor, Robyn Roscoe.

Module #1: Key Principles of Project Management - Wednesday, May 4, 2022 - 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
  • Definition of a project
  • Project life cycle
  • Project initiation
  • Ten knowledge areas
  • Project planning
Module #2: Stakeholders and Risk - Wednesday, May 18, 2022 - 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
  • Stakeholders
    • Definition
    • Classification
    • Prioritization
    • Requirements
    • Expectations
  • Risk
    • Definition
    • Assessment
    • Planning
Module #3: Scope, Quality and Project Time Management - Wednesday, May 25, 2022 - 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
  • Scope
    • Definition
    • Scope statement
    • Scope creep/seep
  • Quality
    • Definition
    • Characteristics
    • Criteria
  • Project time management
    • Activity relationships
    • Scheduling of project time
    • Schedule crashing
    • Measuring schedule performance and scope management
Module #4: Project Cost Management (Part 1) - Wednesday, June 1, 2022 - 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
  • Expense categories
  • Budget development
  • Measuring budget performance
Module #5: Project Cost Management (Part 2) - Wednesday, June 15, 2022 - 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

This is a continuation of module #4.

  • Executing, controlling and monitoring, and closing – bringing it all together.
    • Establishing metrics for managing the project.
  • Establishing control points/mechanisms in scope, time, cost, quality, risk, and team.
    • Comparing plan to outputs
    • Confirming completion of stakeholder requirements and expectations
    • Audit considerations
Module #6: Project Team Management and Project Communications Management - Wednesday, June 22, 2022 - 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
  • Project team management
    • Describe/identify project resources required
    • Organization chart/communication plan
    • Decision making approaches
    • Conflict resolution
  • Project communications management
    • Communication planning
    • Performance reporting
  • Final Q&A with instructor

FACILITATOR

Robyn Roscoe

Robyn Roscoe

Robyn Roscoe is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with nearly 20 years of experience in the management of large health research projects, and 30 years of experience in project management in the scientific and technical fields. Since 2011, Robyn has been principal of Lyric Management, a consulting company specializing in management and leadership training, event coordination and delivery, and career coaching.

Most recently, Robyn was the Director of Management and Administration for the Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre at BC Cancer/PHSA responsible for project, finance and operations management, as well as program management for the Personalized OncoGenomics (POG) program. She previously worked in research funding, pharmaceutical testing, and the oil & gas sector as a project manager, operations specialist and environmental manager. She holds a BSc from the University of Manitoba.

Robyn is committed to leading and enabling responsible and efficient conduct of research through good operational controls, administration, reporting, and people systems as well as sound project management to ensure the financial and operational strengths of an organization.

Registration

Registration in this program is required, and is now open. Those successfully registered will receive a confirmation email and Zoom link within a week of the workshop date.

NO-SHOW PENALTY: If you register and do not attend or cancel after 3pm on the day before the event, it may affect your eligibility to join future events. To avoid this no-show penalty, please cancel by at least 3pm the day before the event by emailing postdoctoral.fellows@ubc.ca.

Accessibility

If you have a disability or medical condition that may affect your full participation in the event, please email postdoctoral.fellows@ubc.ca in advance of the event.

PDFO EVENT COMMUNITY AGREEMENT

The PDFO has created a community agreement for our events in order to foster an inclusive, welcoming, and respectful environment in which all event attendees feel safe and supported.

By participating in a PDFO event, we commit ourselves to:

  • Treating one another with kindness, courtesy and respect in all interactions;
  • Engaging in gracious, active listening and valuing others’ opinions;
  • Not dominating discussions so that others can share during the session;
  • Ensuring that any potentially confidential or sensitive information shared as part of the session is not shared outside of the session;
  • Actively participating in the session; and
  • In online sessions, when possible and if comfortable sharing audio and/or video to create a greater sense of community and participation.

DELIVERY FORMAT

Due to the ongoing situation surrounding COVID-19, this program will be delivered online via Zoom. The following suggestions may help to improve the online experience:

  • Use headphones to reduce noise and avoid feedback between your mic and speaker.
  • Ensure that you are in a quiet location so that the audio does not get polluted with unwanted noise.
  • Keep your microphone on mute unless you are speaking during the session.
  • In case of technical problems, time for plugin downloads, etc., please attempt to log into the Zoom meeting 10-15 minutes before the start. You will be placed in the waiting room until the official start time.

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