Spring Career Symposium: Building Clarity and Confidence and Roadmap to Careers

Date & Time

Tuesday, 11 May 2021 - 12:30pm to Wednesday, 12 May 2021 - 4:30pm

Location

Online via Zoom

Organizer

Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and the Centre for Student Involvement and Careers

 

The Spring Career Symposium for UBC Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows is being organized by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and the Centre for Student Involvement and Careers.

This events spans two days. Day 1 will feature a series of keynote events and workshops with the theme of building career confidence and communication strategies.  Day 2 will feature a Roadmap to Careers series with panels of professionals, and, through interactive Q&A, will explore opportunities in the various sectors, how to learn more and get connected, how to discover and apply for opportunities, and more. 

DAY 1 - TUESDAY, MAY 11, 2021 - BUILDING CONFIDENCE AND CLARITY

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM: Communicating Your Value in a Way that Works

This will be an interactive working session in which participants will be encouraged to have their cameras and microphones on and available. Participants will participate in small breakout groups and may also deliver a brief pitch to the larger group. By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

•    Communicate their value in a way that will create curiosity
•    Create impactful personal value statements
•    Deliver an elevator pitch that speaks to their ‘why’

Facilitator:

Ivan Wanis Ruiz

“I want to make you Batman! There is no one right way to speak, but there are tools that you can apply depending on the situation."

Ivan Wanis Ruiz

Ivan Wanis Ruiz is a communications expert and a guest instructor at several top universities across Canada from, UBC in the west to UofT and Bishops in the east. Ivan also works with several Fortune 500 companies across North America in industries ranging from Financial Services to Oil and Gas to Industrial Design. When he is not teaching how to speak, he is doing it as the official spokesperson for both the PanAm Games in 2015 and The Invictus Games 2017.  He is also regularly hosting and emcee'ing large events across Canada to audience from 3 to 30000.  He is a top rated instructor on Coursera and Udemy virtual training platforms with over 150,000 students worldwide.  When he's not speaking or teaching you can find him on the dance floor as a professional salsa dancer and instructor.

Click here to register for session #1, Communicating Your Value in a Way that Works (Tuesday, May 11 - 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM).

2:15 PM - 3:45 PM: Panic to Power: Make Stress Work for You

Are you feeling uncertain or worried about getting experiences and making connections necessary for your journey at UBC and into meaningful work? Is the stress around pursuing your goals making you feel avoidant and unmotivated rather than confident and focused? You are not alone! If your stress or nervousness is getting in your way, this workshop will offer useful information and effective coping strategies to turn your unease into motivated, productive energy that will help you approach your career development with increased comfort and confidence.

FACILITATORS:

Danielle Barkley

Danielle Barkley

Danielle Barkley, PhD is a Career Educator who works with the Centre for Student Involvement and Careers to support graduate students at UBC. She completed her PhD in English literature at McGill University and has previous experience as a university instructor and writing consultant.

Kelly Lyons

M.A Student in Counselling Psychology

4:00 PM - 5:15 PM: Small Talk IQ

Goodbye awkward silences and drawn-out discussions on rain. Hello best practices in today’s small talk!

Learn how to approach and engage your conversations in a way that builds value for you and your network. Improve your practice and Interpersonal IQ with this skills-booster, and leave with practical tips you can immediately use. Yes, you! This is a communication skill that anyone can learn and practice.  This session will help you:

•    Empower your conversational IQ and bust old myths.
•    Learn new tactics that build genuine relationship value.
•    Practice + leave with the How 

FACILITATOR:

Rose Hastreiter

Rose Hastreiter

As an educator, Rose Hastreiter is known for her energy and effective tactics-based approaches. She has instructed 25,000 professionals to date, and is ranked by national organizations as one of Canada’s top facilitators. Hosts for Lead Her Alliance Canada, as well as donates 20% of her time towards not-for-profit and social enterprise projects. She’s also the founder of LMG creative audio, a Canadian creative agency that provides audio for commercial TV and film projects.

Rose is also the founder of L3C. L3C helps professionals empower themselves with practical tactics and approaches in human-centered, principles-based project-management.  20+ years of project management and facilitation experience in various sectors. Her focus is on helping groups dial into the human factor in professional scenarios: Topic Specialties include: Communication, self management, time management, professional project management, collaboration and change management.

 

DAY 2 - WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021 - ROADMAP TO CAREERS

1:00 PM - 2:30 PM: Roadmap to Life Sciences Industry

A panel of professionals, through interactive Q&A, will explore opportunities in the various sectors, how to learn more and get connected, how to discover and apply for opportunities, and more. Panelists are:

Chad King

Chad King, PhD, is the Executive Director, Research and Site Head of Amgen British Columbia. The Biologics Discovery team that Chad leads is focused on the discovery of novel antibodies and large molecules in support of Amgen’s Therapeutic molecule pipeline. In addition, this team generates non-therapeutic antibody tools to support a wide range of drug discovery activities at various stages of development and commercialization; Discovery research, Safety Sciences, PKDM and Biomarker Discovery. Chad is passionate about new technology development to support novel Therapeutic Discovery platforms. He is a named co-inventor on a large portfolio of patents and applications representing 20+ different large molecule therapeutics including Repatha (evolocumab) and Aimovig (erenumab). 

Christine Genge

Christine Genge, PhD, Recruitment Manager at STEMCELL Technologies. Christine Genge first joined STEMCELL Technologies as a Scientific Inside Sales Representative after completing her PhD in molecular cardiac physiology at SFU in 2016. A pilates teacher in her spare time, Christine has a knack for connecting and engaging with people. She has now combined this talent with her scientific expertise as she heads up the Talent Acquisition Team at STEMCELL. Having transitioned from an academic research background into industry, she is passionate about helping STEMCELL grow through bringing in others committed to moving science forward.

David Heliwell

David Helliwell, MBA, is a software entrepreneur who has spent much of his career building mission-driven companies in the healthcare and Cleantech industries. In 2006, after 10 years in the energy/cleantech space as a geophysicist, a strategy consultant, and a director of policy to a Canadian cabinet minister, he co-founded Pulse Energy, shepherding its evolution into the world's leading energy intelligence software company for businesses at the time of its sale in 2014. After a family sabbatical in the South Pacific in 2016, he co-founded Thrive Health with his co-founder from Pulse as well as his brother James.

Dominik Roeser

Dominik Roeser, PhD, an Associate Professor in Forest Operations at the UBC Vancouver, has built a forest operations research program at UBC, focusing on supply chain design, forest technology implementation, steep slope harvesting and biomass operations. Before starting at UBC in April 2018, Dr. Roeser was working at FPInnovations where he, as Senior Director, he managed a multidisciplinary team focused on improving the competitiveness of the forest sector and developing practical solutions to improve efficiency of forest operations and reduce the impact of wildfires in Western Canada. Dr. Roeser has more than 20 years of experience in forest research and innovation and has been working with industry to develop solutions that support the emerging bioeconomy both in Europe and in Canada. 

1:00 PM - 2:30 PM: Roadmap to Government

A panel of professionals, through interactive Q&A, will explore opportunities in the various sectors, how to learn more and get connected, how to discover and apply for opportunities, and more. Panelists are:

Chelsea Nilausen, MSc, is a Senior Economist in the Economic Analysis Division of the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) at Natural Resources Canada. Her work primarily focuses on forest sector competitiveness, as well as industry, trade, and socioeconomic impact analyses. Prior to starting with the CFS back in early 2017, she worked as a program coordinator for the Forest Resource Management Department at UBC, and as a private forest consultant.

Christine Kormos, MSc, PhD, is a Senior Behavioural Scientist with the British Columbia Behavioural Insights Group (BC BIG), where she serves client ministries by using behavioural insights knowledge and tools to improve government programs and services. Previously, as a Mitacs Canadian Science Policy Fellow with the BC Ministry of Agriculture, she implemented a large randomized controlled trial to increase uptake of a program and delivered training to public sector colleagues. As a behavioural economics consultant for Consumer Reports and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, Christine investigated how the presentation of fuel economy and home energy efficiency metrics impacts consumer willingness-to-pay for efficiency. After completing her BSc (Honours) in biology and psychology from Queen’s University, Christine did her MSc and PhD in Applied Social Psychology at the University of Victoria, followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Simon Fraser University.

Patricia Corrigan

Patricia Corrigan, MA, is the Chief of Staff and Director of Corporate Affairs at Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a Canadian Crown Corporation with a mandate to champion and fund research and innovation within and alongside developing regions to drive global change. Her work at IDRC includes driving a large-scale organizational transformation and working with the President and CEO on strategic outreach for IDRC around the world. Prior to working at IDRC, Patricia worked in strategic communications and issues management for the Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War Museum, and as a Program Officer working on policy and program development for a bilateral Canada-US border program at Canada Border Services Agency. Patricia has an MA and BA in English Language and Literature from Carleton University in Ottawa.

S Lynn Fong

S. Lyn Fong, MA, Senior Policy Analyst within the Government of Canada, has worked on a variety of public policy areas, including improving the socio-economic conditions of Indigenous Peoples and their communities, public health, official languages, trade, life sciences, and sustainable development in Canada and in Southeast Asia. Her proficiency in Mandarin, Cantonese and French, her intercultural competencies, and her expertise of Asia and its policy environment made her a valued contributor, both in Canada and internationally.  Lyn continues to see the impact of her contribution during the coronavirus pandemic, including on issues relating to anti-Asian racism and systemic racism. An active volunteer in the National Capital Region of Ottawa-Gatineau, in addition to being a mentor, she is the President of the Ottawa Chapter of the Concordia University Alumni Association and is also on its Board as VP, Strategic Volunteer Engagement.

Ty Paradela

Teilhard (Ty) Paradela (they/them), PhD Candidate, works as a senior policy analyst in the Gender-Based Violence Policy division at Women and Gender Equality Canada. They are also finishing their PhD in History at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. They served as Vice-President, University and Academic Affairs of the UBC Graduate Student Society (GSS) in 2017 - 2018. In this capacity, he represented the advocacies of 10,000 graduate students in the university, provincial, and national levels. 

3:00 PM - 4:30 PM: Roadmap to Consulting

A panel of professionals, through interactive Q&A, will explore opportunities in the various sectors, how to learn more and get connected, how to discover and apply for opportunities, and more. Panelists are:

Alan Shapiro

Alan Shapiro, MSc., is a Vancouver-based water and sustainability professional and an instructor in BCIT's School of Business + Media. Through his consultancy, Shapiro & Company, Alan has worked with industry, non-profit, and research sector clients on projects ranging from mapping Canada's water technology landscape to engaging freshwater organizations around resilient recovery. Since January 2021, he has been leading Foresight Cleantech Accelerator's new waterNEXT initiative, developing a pan-Canada ecosystem to support the acceleration and adoption of water innovation in Canada. Find him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanyshapiro/ or Twitter at @watercomm.

Grace Siennah Kamara, MA, “is a young African intersectional feminist passionate about gender equality, social justice, international development and business strategy. She is a Consultant at McKinsey & Company, holds an MA in Development Studies from the Graduate Institute, Geneva (IHEID) and a BA in International Relations (Major), Gender, Race, Sexuality & Social Justice (Minor) from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Sciences Po (full year exchange).”  Over the past 8 years, she has dedicated her intellectual and career pursuits to problem solving across several industries including, but not limited to, Private Equity, Financial Services, Public & Social Sector, Healthcare Systems & Services and Technology & Software. She has also built competence in Diplomacy, Policy & Business Analysis, Marketing & Sales, Digital and Strategy. In her free time, she enjoys bead jewelry making, writing and spoken word poetry.

Sam Shariff

Sami Shariff, M.Sc., is an Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company’s Digital Office in Calgary. At McKinsey, he specializes in large-scale digital transformations while bringing experience in the design of IT procurement strategies, execution of IT cost transformations, and deployment of advanced analytics to enable clients to achieve large scale impact in the near term. Prior to McKinsey, he spent several years driving large scale digital transformations across the energy, healthcare and banking sectors with IBM. 

Vasilii Triandafilidi

Vasilii Triandafilidi, PhD, is a consultant in the BCG Toronto office with experience in Financial Services, Manufacturing & Operations, Automotive and Sport & Telecom industries. Vasilii re-joined BCG as a Consultant 2020, following a summer internship in 2019. Prior to joining BCG Vasilii obtained his PhD in Chem Engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC) working on new materials and advanced computational models. While trying to commercialize his PhD research on smart polymers he co-founded Innovation OnBoard (IOB), UBC’s premiere student run start-up platform that matches industry problems with teams to solve them. He also led a multi-University effort to transform Engineering Education. When not at work, Vasilii enjoys travelling and learning local languages, reading history books, listening to podcasts and playing soccer. He is also a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

3:00 PM - 4:30 PM: Roadmap to Public Sector

A panel of professionals, through interactive Q&A, will explore opportunities in the various sectors, how to learn more and get connected, how to discover and apply for opportunities, and more. Panelists are:

Conor Reynolds

Conor Reynolds, PhD, currently leads the Air Quality & Climate Change Policy team at Metro Vancouver. This team is responsible for the development and implementation of Climate 2050, Metro Vancouver’s 30-year regional climate action strategy, as well as the new Clean Air Plan, which will identify and prioritize actions to reduce air contaminant and greenhouse gas emissions in our region over the next 10 years. Conor is a professional engineer with two decades of experience related to the science, policy and management of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. He has a PhD in Resource Management and Environmental Studies, and a M.A.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, both from UBC.

Noah Quastel

Noah Quastel, PhD, is the Director, Law & Policy, Healthy Indoor Environments Program, BC Lung Association. Noah is a practicing lawyer and member of the Law Society of British Columbia. He also holds a PhD in Human Geography, and is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Simon Fraser University. Dr. Quastel's research spans sustainability, the built environment and radon exposure law and policy.

Rebecca Gibbons

Rebecca Gibbons, MPH, has a range of experiences in the non profit-health sector, where she has worked in program planning and delivery, research and evaluation, and stakeholder engagement. As a Program Manager at the Mental Health Commission of Canada, she currently supports student mental health initiatives in post-secondary education. Previously, she has led the roll-out of health programs in diverse communities both in Canada and internationally in Nepal and Belize. She has worked on projects focused on issues like children’s outdoor play, social isolation among older adults, and health care access for people living with hepatitis C. Her work and writing have been published in Healthy Debate and featured on CBC Radio. Rebecca holds a Master in Public Health degree from the University of British Columbia, and a Bachelor of Arts in Health Studies from Queen’s University.

Shagun Bhanot

Shagun Bhanot, PhD, CPHR, People Lead at Vantage Point, brings over 10 years of experience in non-profit and education sector, where she had the privilege of engaging meaningfully in both: her passion for knowledge sharing and people engagement. As an HR professional, she has always believed in aligning organizational vision to its HR initiatives that organically lead to employee engagement, talent development and performance improvement. She completed her PhD in English Literature and Linguistics at one of the top universities in India, and immediately joined Indian Institute of Technology New Delhi as a Lecturer. Shagun served as a Board Member for the Immigrant Advisory Council, volunteered with Vancouver Foundation’s Neighbourhood Small Grants program, and supports Plan International Canada.

Registration Information

Click here to register for session #1, Communicating Your Value in a Way that Works (Tuesday, May 11 - 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM).

General registration for all sessions is now open through Graduate Pathways to Success. Priority will be given to current UBC graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. After registering, you will receive confirmation and additional event details within 2-3 business days. If you experience any difficulty using the online registration tool, please e-mail graduate.pathways@ubc.ca.

Accessibility

If you have a disability or medical condition that may affect your full participation in the event, please email graduate.pathways@ubc.ca, 604-827-4578, well in advance of the event.