Recipients 2022

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 FY 21/22 Q4:      
Dr. Yu Seby Chen Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Medicine 66th Biophysical Society Annual Meeting - February 2022 San Francisco, CA
Dr. Zishuai Zhang Department of Chemistry; Science Telluride Innovation Workshop on Decarbonization of Cement Conference – February 2022 Virtual
Quarter FY 22/23 Q1:      
Dr. Caroline Arbuckle Department of Philosophy; Arts The Annual Meeting of the American Research Center in Egypt - April 2022 Irvine, CA
Dr. Gabriel Banvillet Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Applied Science 2022 TAPPI International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials - June 2022 Helsinki, Finland
Dr. Shekooh Behroozian Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Applied Science International Biennial Conference of Pseudomonas 2022 - April 2022 Atlanta, GA
Dr. Laurel Forshaw Department of Educational Studies; Education PODIUM Choral Conference & Festival - May 2022 Toronto, ON
Dr. Illiassou Hamidou Soumana Respiratory Medicine Division; Medicine American Thoracic Society's International Conference (ATS2022) – May 2022 San Francisco, CA
Dr. Travis Hodges Department of Psychology; Arts Organization for the study of sex differences (OSSD) 16th Annual Meeting - May 2022 Marina del Rey, CA
Dr. Kira Hoffman Department of Forest & Conservation Sciences; Forestry Ameridendro - June 2022 Montréal, QC
Dr. Marcus Johns Department of Wood Science; Forestry 2022 TAPPI International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials - June 2022 Helsinki, Finland
Dr. Milad Kamkar Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Applied Science 2022 TAPPI International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials - June 2022 Helsinki, Finland
Dr. Jelena Kolic Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences; Medicine 29th Boston Ithaca Islet Club Meeting - May 2022 Montréal, QC
Dr. Kevin Kung Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Applied Science 19th International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization - June 2022 Princeton, NJ
Dr. Yashodani Pillay Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics; Medicine Consortium of Universities for Global Health: Global Health Conference 2022 – March-April 2022 Online
Dr. Jennifer Richard Department of Psychology; Arts Organization for the Study of Sex Differences (OSSD) - May 2022 Marina del Rey, CA
Dr. Nicole Sanford Department of Psychiatry; Medicine Organization for Human Brain Mapping – June 2022 Glasgow, Scotland
Dr. Fatemeh Salehian Kia School of Information; Arts The American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2022 Annual Meeting  - April 2022 Online
Dr. Claire Shackleton Department of Physical Medicine; Medicine American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Annual Scientific Meeting 2022 - May 2022 New Orleans, Louisiana
Dr. Miguel A. Soto Department of Chemistry; Science Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition – June 2022 Calgary, AB
Dr. Anila Virani Department of Pediatrics; Medicine 15th International Conference on Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes – April 2022 Online
Dr. Rachael Wade Department of Chemistry; Science Joint Aquatic Science Meeting - May 2022 Grand Rapids, MI
Dr. Zhen Xu Department of Chemistry; Science Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition – June 2022 Calgary, AB
Quarter FY 22/23 Q2:      
Dr. Rosanna Carver Department of Geography; Arts Ocean as Archives - July 2022 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Dr. Nathalie Chardon Department of Botany; Science MtnClim Research Conference – September 2022 Gothic, CO
Dr. Courtney Collins Department of Botany; Science 2022 Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America – August 2022 Montréal, QC
Dr. Jennifer Hinnell Department of English; Arts International Society for Gesture Studies - July 2022 Chicago, IL
Dr. Jasmeen Kaur Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Applied Science 4th Annual MANA Conference - September 2022 Edmonton, AB
Dr. Liyang Liu Department of Wood Science; Forestry ACS Fall Meeting 2022 - August 2022 Chicago, IL
Dr. Harmony Martell Department of Geography; Arts International Coral Reef Symposium - July 2022 Bremen, Germany
Dr. Zayda Morales Moreira Department of Microbiology and Immunology; Science miCROPe: Microbe-assisted crop production-opportunities, challenges, and needs – July 2022 Vienna, Austria
Dr. Elisabeth McClymont Departments of Paediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynaecology; Medicine 2022 Congenital Cytomegalovirus Public Health and Policy Conference - August 2022 Ottawa, ON
Dr. Tiev Miller Department of Medicine; Medicine 61st International Spinal Cord Society Annual Scientific Meeting - September 2022 Vancouver, BC
Quarter FY 22/23 Q3:      
Dr. Haoyu Deng Department of Medicine; Medicine 2022 Canadian Lipids and Vascular Summit – October 2022 Whistler, BC
Dr. Ali Farroukhi Department of Pediatrics; Medicine 7th International Workshops on the Causes of Childhood Leukemia – November 2022 Munich, Germany
Dr. Florence Gregson Department of Chemistry; Science The American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) 40th Annual Conference – October 2022 Raleigh, CO
Dr. Karolin Heinze Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology; Medicine Future Perspectives in Ovarian Cancer Research – November 2022 Stockholm, Sweden
Dr. Mariko Sakamoto School of Social Work; Arts The Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting - November 2022 Indianapolis, IN
Dr. Alejandra Wiedeman Department of Pediatrics; Medicine 22nd IUNS-ICN International Conference of Nutrition – December 2022 Tokyo, Japan
Quarter FY 21/22 Q4

Dr. Yu Seby Chen

66th Biophysical Society Annual Meeting - February 2022

I had the pleasure to attend 66th Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in San Francisco. It was a 5-day conference packed with numerous symposium, platform talks, poster sessions, and professional development workshops. Everyone was ecstatic to have an in-person conference since the pandemic started two years ago. I had the pleasure to give my first oral presentation at an international conference on cryo-EM studies of ryanodine receptor disease mutant and modulation by calmodulin. I received many positive comments afterwards. It was great interact with poster presenters in person. I learned about many interesting proteins relevant to my project as well as techniques I have never heard of, such as voltage-clamp fluorometry, which seemed to be very popular these days for studying voltage-gated ion channels. The BPS2022 Lecture was given by Nobel Prize winner, Frances Arnold, who gave an inspiring talk on how engineered proteins are able to create compounds never seen before with countless applications for improving our everyday life. In general, it was a wonderful experience to finally attend an in-person conference, which helps me network and interact with many experts in the field. I hope many more to come.

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Dr. Zishuai Zhang

Telluride Innovation Workshop on Decarbonization of Cement - February 2022

The purpose of the Telluride Innovation Workshop on Decarbonization of Cement is to bring academic, industrial and national laboratory leaders together to brainstorm pathways to decarbonize cement industry. During this meeting, we identified high-risk/high-reward technologies that have promise to reduce carbon intensity and increase energy efficiency of cement making process. Portland cement, used in concrete, is the most widely used man-made material. But it is also responsible for 8% of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions. In cement manufacturing, calcium oxide (CaO) is a major precursor to produce Portland cement. It currently is being produced via high-temperature, energy-intensive calcination of calcium carbonate (CaCO3).
After four days of discussion, this workshop addressed methods that utilize novel electrochemical processe to produce cement precursors, electrified methods to generate heat for cement production or alternative CO2 storage methods. The participation of scientists from two communities: i) cement and ii) electrochemical/electrolysis fields. We successfully built a bridge between these two communities through this innovation workshop, as electrochemistry can play a big role in cement manufacturing over the course of next decades

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Quarter FY 22/23 Q1

Dr. Caroline Arbucke

The Annual Meeting of the American Research Center in Egypt - April 2022

From April 22-24, 2022 I had the opportunity to present at the Annual Meeting of the American Research Center in Egypt in Irvine, California. This is the largest annual conference for professional Egyptologists in North America. My presentation was a summary of the work that I have been doing for the last two years as a postdoctoral scholar working on the Database of Religious History (DRH) at UBC. My presentation included a summary of the general utility of the database followed by how I believe it can be used for both research and teaching in the field of Egyptology, specifically. The presentation itself was well-attended and well-received, and lead to excellent questions and discussions with other Egyptological scholars about how this could change our field. In particular, one lengthy discussion turned to how the database and the individual entries housed within it might be able to serve as a digital textbook, replacing costly and increasingly out-of-date textbooks currently available to study ancient Egyptian religion. A number of scholars are also now eager to contribute to the database. It was therefore a very productive conference, and will help to further the goals of the DRH project. 

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Dr. Gabriel Banvillet

2022 TAPPI International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials - June 2022

My participation to the 2022 TAPPI International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials was a great opportunity to valorize my work in UBC and connect with other researchers in my field. My presentation, "Enzymes recovery during cellulose fibers in situ hydrolysis in a twin-screw extruder for cellulose nanofibrils production", was well appreciated and raised several questions, both fundamental and applied. This subject was especially relevant in this conference, as it was a new proposition of process for producing cellulose nanomaterials in a green, continuous and energy-efficient way. This was underlined by several researchers from the organizing committee, and I had great discussions with several of them.

In addition, I had the chance to chair one session, "Renewable Production III", which was a great opportunity to connect with the senior speakers. I also talked to many researchers from various generations thanks to the numerous networking events organized by the committee. I felt also very lucky to visit Aalto University in Espoo and connect with our partner research group there. Overall, this conference was a very inspiring experience, both on the scientific and personal side, and was a great moment after 3 years of remote collaborations.

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Dr. Shekooh Behroozian

International Biennial Conference of Pseudomonas 2022 - April 2022

Receiving great support, I attended the Pseudomonas 2022 conference in Atlanta, United States, which was an exceptional opportunity to meet many leading researchers in my field of study. The conference greatly covered cutting-edge research across different aspects of Pseudomonas spp. genomics, metabolomics, antimicrobial tolerance, evolution and coevolution, and multi-species interactions, collectively allowed me to contextualize my research in a bigger global picture. I presented two posters on the chemotaxis of P. aeruginosa in the context of cystic fibrosis (CF) pulmonary infections to a broad range of audiences. I received valuable feedback from international colleagues and managed to make new connections with local peers attending this conference. I also enjoyed many fruitful discussions with junior and leading scientists during the breaks and the dedicated networking sessions. This conference served to broaden my scientific perspective and professional network, expand my career goals, and solidify connections with other colleagues in CF research. I came back with novel ideas to incorporate into my research and new insights into knowledge translation and scientific communications. I am very grateful to the Faculty of Applied Science and the Postdoctoral Fellows Office for their generous support of my participation in the Pseudomonas 2022, which was productive and inspiring.

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Dr. Laurel Forshaw

PODIUM Choral Conference & Festital - May 2022

It was my great pleasure to attend and present at PODIUM Choral Conference & Festival in Toronto, ON. Hosted by Choral Canada (https://www.choralcanada.org/index.html, an organization that serves choral conductors, singers, choirs, publishers, and administrators throughout Canada and beyond), the PODIUM 2022 conference theme was “Reimagine, Rebuild, Reconnect” as choirs and choral conductors came together for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.

My session—“Truth before Reconciliation: Engaging in Transformative Change within Choral Practices,”— prompted participants to consider ways in which choral music practices need to engage in practice-reflexive work with the aim to understand the ways in which choral music traditions, musics, pedagogical and performance approaches, and aesthetics rely on and uphold settler colonial constructs that serve as a barrier to reconciliation within the discipline. In the second half, participants were asked to work in groups responding to five questions, spending time with each before moving to the next question, where they were asked to also engage with the responses of the previous groups. Questions included: what “truths” are held about choral music; what barriers to reconciliation are embedded within ourselves/myself and within our artistic practices; what does “musical excellence” mean in the context of choral music?

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Dr. Illiassou Hamidou Soumana

American Thoracic Society’s International Conference (ATS2022) - May 2022

I had the great pleasure of attending the American Thoracic Society’s International Conference (ATS2022), which took place from May 13th to 18th, 2022, in San Francisco, California.

The ATS International Conference is the largest venue for pulmonary, critical care, and sleep professionals, from those in the earliest stages of their careers to those whose research or strides in clinical care has gained them international recognition. Each year, more than 10,000 participants from worldwide gather to present and learn about the newest research advances and build new collaborations.

I presented a poster titled: “Alterations of the functional metagenomic composition of the airway microbiome in response to diesel exhaust exposure”, at the May 16th, 2022, poster discussion session. My presentation showed that even acute exposure to diesel exhaust induced significant changes in the airway microbiome metabolic functions and has stimulated enriched discussion on the overall impact on respiratory health.

My abstract received an Abstract Scholarship from the Assembly of Environmental, Occupational, and Population Health Program Chair, recognizing the quality of the research presented.

Overall, attending ATS2022 was an enriching experience that allowed me to present my research and receive feedback from world-leading researchers in my research field.

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Dr. Travis Hodges

Organization for the study of sex differences (OSSD) 16th Annual Meeting - May 2022

I was excited to attend the first in-person international conference with my lab (Galea lab) since the beginning of covid-19. The Organization for the Study of Sex Differences (OSSD) conference was in Marina Del Rey, California, this year and is a conference aimed at enhancing knowledge about sex/gender differences in clinical, endocrine, neuroscience, and many other disciplines. OSSD is one of my favourite conferences to attend because of how accepting and helpful the members are. Every time I attend OSSD I make new friends/mentors/colleagues. This year I presented a poster titled "Sex differences in neural activation related to negative cognitive bias after chronic stress exposure" based on some of my postdoctoral research and I had a lot of great feedback. Poster visitors gave me ideas for upcoming experiments and collaborative opportunities. I attended several research talks that taught me new information about covid-19 prevalence and treatment, novel methods of measuring sex-specific effects, and how to tackle the increase in domestic violence worldwide. Some new friends/colleagues gave me excellent advice about my career goals and let me know that I could contact them at anytime with questions. I highly recommend OSSD because the lifelong connections and friendly atmosphere are exceptional.

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Dr. Kira Hoffman

Ameridendro - June 2022

This conference was the first in-person conference I've attended since 2019 and provided an important opportunity to connect with colleagues and share research research findings in the field of dendroecology. I gave an oral presentation and attended several excellent keynote talks and was able to have discussions on frontiers in dendroecological research. A major highlight of the conference was a special session on how to promote allyship in STEM positions.

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Dr. Marcus Johns

2022 International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials - June 2022

The UBC PDF Travel Award enabled me to attend the 2022 International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials in Helsinki, Finland and present on my current research. The conference was organized by the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) and brought together recognized leaders in academia and industry from around the globe to discuss the latest advances in renewable nanomaterials.

My oral presentation covered my recent research into developing new analytical techniques to rapidly characterize cellulose nanomaterials during processing. I was able to receive invaluable feedback from a variety of stakeholders, enabling me to hone my research moving forward, and made new contacts for future collaborations. Furthermore, the specialization of the conference provided me with access to high-quality talks with direct relevance to my own research and enabled me to preside over the Biomedical session. Finally, I was able to combine the conference with giving an alumnus talk at the University of Bath and visit the secondary school in the UK with which I have an ongoing outreach project. This may not have been possible without the financial support provided by this award

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Dr. Milad Kamkar

International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials - June 2022

The International Conference on Nanotechnology for Renewable Materials is a leading annual conference in the area of sustainable materials. This conference is a major international forum for materials scientists, polymer engineer researchers, practitioners, developers, and users. Attendees share and explore methods the newest ideas, breakthroughs, findings, techniques, tools, and experiences.

Attending this conference gave me the opportunity of meeting experienced researchers in my research area which was a professionally rewarding experience. Attending the presentations by top researchers in the field of advanced materials, I was be able to update my knowledge and find new trends in this field which can be integrated into my current research. Moreover, giving a presentation at such a conference helped me to introduce our work at the world stage and discuss other perspectives to my research with the best researchers in the area which will, in turn, help me improve the proposed methodology. More importantly, I chaired two sessions in this conference:

Session 12: In-situ Polymerization & Thermosets
Session 27: Biocomposites & Biodegradable Polymers

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Dr. Jelena Kolic

29th Boston Ithaca Islet Club Meeting - May 2022

The 29th Boston Ithaca Islet Club Meeting was the first in-person conference that I have attended in almost 3 years. I enjoyed presenting my research project to experts in my field and getting feedback on my data. I had a 20-minute time slot to present my work and answer questions. I found this format to be very engaging as it provided the speakers with plenty of time to introduce the project and present their work. It did not feel rushed like some 10-minute presentations I have given in the past. As such, I found the conference to be well organized and well-attended. I also enjoyed the social aspects of the conference. I re-connected with researchers I have worked with previously and had the opportunity to meet with new islet biologist in my field of research. I think that the networking opportunities this conference provided will be beneficial in the future, as I am currently finishing up my post-doctoral work and will be looking for new positions in the near future.

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Dr. Kevin Kung

19th International Conference on Carbon Dioxide Utilization - June 2022

This is my first time attending a conference specifically related to carbon dioxide utilization, but given the incresaing interest in this field, both my academic supervisor and I thought that it would be a productive venue to seek feedback for my work. The experience did not disappoint.

The conference was widely attended by eminent scholars in this field from all continents. For example, Alan Hatten from MIT, Thomas Jamarillo from Stanford, and Angela Dibenedetto from the University of Bari not only gave keynotes, but also stayed around during other talks and poster sessions to personally interact with the rest of the participants. It was immensely enjoyable to hear more nuances to their thoughts and works through these personal interactions. Beyond the technical sessions, the conference was also balanced by speakers on carbon market policy considerations, as well as climate start-ups sharing their commercialization experinece. I really appreciate the opportunity to consider carbon removal in the larger scheme of things beyond technical research.

After I presented orally, I received very good feedback. There were many follow-up questions, as well as constructive criticism, especially on the ability to monitor the post-combusion emissions from our process.

Finally, beyond the conference, I was also able to interact more closely with researchers from the new Princeton Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Visiting their labs and research groups not only enabled me to learn more about their techniques, but also allowed me to contemplate potential collaboration opportunities with my group back at UBC.  

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Dr. Yashodani Pillay

CUGH Global Health Conference - March-April 2022

The Consortium of Universities for Global Health 13th annual global health conference took place from 31 March- 1 April 2022. Approximately 5,000 people from 135 countries were in attendance. The conference was made up of recorded and live satellite sessions, posters and oral presentations, plenary sessions, and concurrent sessions with panel discussions and networking rooms, allowing me to engage with the material presented in many ways and connect with others in my field.

My poster presentation was titled “Saving young lives: Triage and management of sepsis in children using Smart Triage” and focused on using quality improvement and low cost innovations to improve child health outcomes in low resourced settings. One of the satellite sessions, discussing implementation science and ways to build capacity using project implementation, exposed me to interesting strategies and approaches which will be instrumental moving forward in my project. Further, sessions on decolonization in global health brought together several scholars in this field for honest discussions relating to potentially harmful structures and power dynamics and important steps that need to be taken at each phase of projects to address these issues. As I plan to join my research team’s Respectful Environments, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusivity (REDI) committee, it was a great opportunity for me to learn about what other academics are doing globally to address these issues and what we can do to facilitate progress.

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Dr. Jennifer Richard

Organization for the Study of Sex Differences (OSSD) - May 2022

The conference covered a range of topics relevant for my research and, as my background isn't in sex differences, I learned a lot. I also got very positive feedback on my poster with experts in the field, and ideas for moving forward with the project. 

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Dr. Nicole Sanford

Organization for Human Brain Mapping - June 2022

The conference was broadly aimed for researchers seeking to understand the human brain, including those carrying out basic, translational, and/or clinical studies. On each day of the conference, I participated in poster sessions (including two sessions where I presented my work), symposia, and keynote presentations. I also attended several networking events beyond the primary conference venue. Therefore, the conference was a valuable platform that allowed me to share my work and get constructive feedback from researchers in similar and diverse fields, as well as being a setting for learning about novel and innovative research in a variety of fields of neuroscience. It was also a unique opportunity for connecting with members of my research team who are not located in Vancouver.

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Dr. Fatemeh Salehian Kia

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2022 Annual Meeting - April 2022

I presented the research work on detecting learners' self-regulatory engagement when they interact with the online learning environment. I received helpful feedback on SRL measurement that will help me greatly on proceeding with my research study.  

This was my first time to attend the AERA conference. It was valuable experience since I have a technical background in data science and attending this conference provide an opportunity for me to broaden my netweok of researchers/collaborators. I had intellectual conversations with educational psychologists and learning scientists that broaden my knowledge in theories and research methods. Our discussion allowed me to address the challnges of measuing learners' engagement differently. it can lead to potential collaborations with other research groups. In addition, the conference provides a series of professional workshop for emerging and early career members. These workhops were helpful specifically  in a stage that I am currently in as a postdoctoral researcher to establish my research work. 

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Dr. Claire Shackleton

American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Annual Scientific Meeting 2022 – April 2022

This was my first time attending the ASIA Annual Scientific Meeting. It is an internationally renowned conference specializing in spinal cord injuries from both a preclinical and clinical perspective. It was a great opportunity to be able to present my work to an expert audience in order to receive critical feedback, as well as to learn from all the other oral presentations and interactive poster sessions. ASIA is a relatively small conference which enables networking with colleagues from all over North America, from fellow postdoctoral students to internationally recognised experts in the field. I got to meet and engage with scientists and clinicians using the latest techniques in spinal cord rehabilitation. Specifically, several labs presented novel work on neuromodulation, the current scope in which I am working. We also got one on ones with funding agencies, industry representatives and board members, highlighting the different levels of support involved in our research collaborations.

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Dr. Miguel A. Soto

Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition – June 2022

The Canadian Chemistry Experience and Exhibition 2022 was a great opportunity to share my recent work with the Canadian chemistry community. With over two thousand attendees, I had the chance to engage with scientists from all over Canada, including undergraduate, graduate students, and professors. My talks were part of the Frontiers in ‘Supramolecular Chemistry Symposium’ and the ‘Interactions of Macromolecules with Nanostructured Surfaces’ symposium. This exposure allowed me to have fruitful discussions about my research projects and come up with new ideas that I may incorporate into ongoing research.

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Dr. Anila Virani

The 15th International Conference on Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD 2022) - April 2022

Thank you PDFO for providing the funding! This 4-day conference was held in Barcelona, Spain but I attended it virtually. It was a different but intellectually rewarding experience. The time difference made it difficult to attend live sessions but the conference team was well-equipped with the engagement options for the remote participants such as a conference mobile app, post-session recordings, on-demand e-poster viewing, and options to provide feedback/comments and connect with the presenters/participants. The presentations, panel discussions, e-posters and trade fairs were informative and presented by the international faculties, clinicians, and industry representatives. The highlights for me were the presentations on novelties and advances in diabetes technology, research on improving end-user experiences and discussions on Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREMs). As a postdoctoral research fellow, I support the development of a digital health solution for pediatric diabetes patients and clinicians; this conference helped me learn about the latest research and connect with renowned researchers in the field of diabetes and digital health. I also presented my first e-poster as a postdoctoral fellow during this conference. All in all, it was an incredible experience and thank you PDFO for creating such opportunities for the UBC postdoc community.

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Dr. Rachael Wade

Joint Aquatic Science Meeting – May 2022

Attending the Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting (JASM) 2022 was not only a timely experience as my first in-person conference since 2019 but also for the numerous important opportunities it afforded. JASM 2022 was my first conference as a UBC postdoctoral researcher and my first opportunity to share UBC-affiliated research. In addition to presenting my research and receiving valuable feedback, I also had the opportunity to speak in detail with co-authors on a first-authored manuscript summarizing the results I presented. There truly is a benefit to in-person meetings, versus email or Zoom. Beyond discussion of this manuscript that will be submitted for consideration for publication before July 1, 2022, co-authors and I planned our next two manuscripts, which helped fuel my motivation to continue being productive during my postdoc. I also cultivated collaborations, including brainstorming writing of a paper together. I had not made meaningful connections with these collaborators prior to this conference, and I do not feel it would have been possible if I had not been able to attend JASM 2022 in person. Lastly, attending this conference allowed me to pursue service opportunities, including judging student presentations eligible for award and joining an internal grant review committee.

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Dr. Zhen Xu

Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition – June 2022

I had the pleasure to attend the Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition (CCCE) in Calgary Canada. CCCE 2022 was the premier conference and annual event of the Canadian Society of Chemistry that hosted over 2000 delegates from Canada and all over the world. The program of CCCE included plenary, lectures, oral presentations, poster presentations, and numerous workshops. I was selected to give a 20-minute oral presentation in a special seminar named ‘New frontiers in supramolecular chemistry’. I presented the host-guest hydrogel research conducted in the MacLachlan group, and I received many positive feedbacks during Q&A and afterwards. I particularly enjoyed the poster session, during which I had the chance to talk to many talented fellow chemists in person for the first time in two years and learn about the wonderful chemistry being done in Canadian institutions. CCCE also allowed me to connect with leaders in my research field, and I found inspirations to solve some of my research problems and challenges. I also expanded the horizons of my research and learned about the emerging technologies in chemical science, such as CO2 reduction and absorption, hydrogel heterogenous catalysis as well as cutting-edge spectroscopic method.

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Quarter FY 22/23 Q2

Dr. Rosanna Carver

Ocean as Archives - July 2022

Oceans as Archives brought together academics, activists and artists to discuss the ocean as a source of knowledge anchored in critical traditions including postcolonial theory and decolonial and anitcolonial critique. The conference was hosted in Amsterdam and my attendance enabled me to present the work of the collaborative that I am part of as well as to learn about research related to my own. The conference afforded me the opportunity to learn about other work by, as well as to present my research to, those located outside of the normal confines of the academy. It was a great opportunity to network and outside the sessions I was also able to flesh-out a co-authored paper with another colleague who was also attending. The conference, which helped me to rethink and develop my ideas, took place in a refreshing format which encouraged connection and engagement with a range of ideas and theories. I received helpful feedback from my own session which I will incorporate in future publications that result from this work. I really appreciate the support of the PDFO, through the Travel Award, in helping to reduce the costs incurred related to this opportunity.

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Dr. Nathalie Chardon

MtnClim Research Conference – September 2022

Attending the MtnClim: Science for Decision-Making in Mountains conference in Colorado, USA was valuable both academically and professionally. I presented a talk summarizing my ongoing work on how plant species might be limited in their ability to expand their geographic ranges with climate change, and received many excellent questions that are helping me move forward with this work. It was instructive to learn about the different avenues of research that are currently being pursued on climate change effects in mountains, from hydrology to geology to ecology to forestry, and discuss how these are connected. The intimate conference setting at a field research station allowed me to meet most participants, and it was eye-opening to talk about career options with such a diverse group of practitioners and academics. It was exciting to meet people whose work I had followed for years, as well as meet new researchers to the field. It was priceless to attend an in-person conference again, and the many informal discussions around coffee breaks and meals gave me countless ideas for my research as well as career pursuits.

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Dr. Courtney Collins

2022 Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America – August 2022

The 2022 ESA/CSEE meeting in Montreal was a great week of scientific talks and presentations, networking, and diversity equity and inclusion based workshops. My poster received a lot of visitors and I really enjoyed the opportunity to discuss my research with people one on one. I received some great feedback for how to improve my analyses and next steps to take with my project, and met several potential new collaborators from both Canada and the US. In addition to my poster, I also had the opportunity to co-lead a workshop for the Women in Soil Ecology (WiSE) network titled: "Fostering inclusion of unique identities, skills, and motivations to shape the future of Soil Ecology" which had over 40 participants join. In this workshop, we used a Venn diagram activity to encourage women to consider how their personal identities and skill sets intersect with unique challenges in our field and the world more broadly to help define future career pathways. We received feedback from participants that the workshop was really enjoyable and beneficial. Lastly, I attended a workshop on how to enhance safety in field research settings including best practices for preventing sexual harassment and assault. As a leader of field research teams, I gained a lot of valuable insight from this training that I will implement going forward.

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Dr. Jennifer Hinnell

International Society for Gesture Studies - July 2022

ISGS is the highest profile international conference for my area of studies - the study of gesture in language and communications. It was hosted this year, for the first time since 2018, at the University of Chicago, one of the world’s most renown gesture centres. I had a wonderful week in Chicago reconnecting with colleagues and finding out about their new research, networking with new contacts, sharing two research projects through two oral presentations, and attending talks and poster sessions to learn about new research related to mine. I received very productive feedback on my presentations and both projects will move along to publication stage shortly, incorporating this feedback. I very much appreciate the support of the PDFO through a PDF travel award to attend the conference.

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Dr. Jasmeen Kaur

4th Annual MANA Conference - September 2022

I attended the 4th Annual MANA Conference (MANA 2022) which was held in Edmonton, Canada and presented my research. The conference was organized by the Metabolomics Association of North America and brought together recognized leaders in academia and industry from around the globe to discuss their contributions and latest research in metabolomics. The conference covered different fields of metabolomics, including plant metabolomics and natural products, which is my research area. I presented a poster and an oral presentation on the metabolic profiling of volatile organic compounds emitted by the corpse plant using two-dimensional gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry. I got best poster award for presenting my research. I received valuable feedback from the leading researchers that enabled me to contextualize my research in a bigger global picture. The conference involved high-quality talks with direct relevance to my own research, and dedicated networking sessions that helped me to make new connections for future collaborations. This conference served to broaden my scientific perspective and professional network. I am highly grateful to the UBC Postdoctoral Fellows Office for the financial support that enabled me to participate in the conference.

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Dr. Liyang Liu

ACS Fall Meeting 2022 - August 2022

I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to UBC Postdoctoral Fellows Office. With their support, I can attend the 2022 ACS fall meeting organized by the American Chemical Society. I was invited to present at the presidential symposium on “Enabling the Circular Economy through Polymer Molecular Recycling." Presenters in this session aimed to develop creative strategies and products to address problems about the plastic waste. My presentation is about how biopolymers such as lignin can make advanced plastic foams. After the talk, I appreciate the chance to communicate with audiences and other researchers. Their comments from different perspectives usually help my research significantly. After Covid 19, it is my first opportunity to attend the ACS meeting in person. I am very excited to meet with my colleagues, friends, and collaborators during these days. They are so kind to share their research experiences and how they address the problem they have. Friends like them are meaningful and priceless, as they always try to help with my career and research. Besides, I can build new worldwide collaborations and make new friends during the poster session.

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Dr. Harmony Martell

International Coral Reef Symposium - July 2022

I had the pleasure to attend the 15th International Coral Reef Symposium in Bremen, Germany. It was a 5-day conference filled with daily keynotes, multiple concurrent sessions, poster sessions, and professional development workshops. This is a greatly anticipated conference that occurs every 4 years and it was incredible to be there in person, seeing colleagues from many countries I have not seen since 2016. I gave an oral presentation on some of my work here at UBC on the development of models for coral bleaching and dysbiosis that integrate both temperature and light and my talk was met with many positive comments. I had some trepidation about traveling since the pandemic is still in full swing but being in person was simply no substitute for remotely attending. I spoke to several of my peers about ways to improve my model, about other work I’m doing, and several collaborations have formed due to my attendance. Notably, I will work with some scientists at the Australian Institute of Marine Science to test my model on a few different species using an incredible set of in situ light data they have collected on Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef. Additionally, I spoke to a few other colleagues about potential jobs in Saudi Arabia and Australia! Overall, it was invaluable being at the conference, and the funds from the PDFO will greatly offset the expenses!

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Dr. Elisabeth McClymont

2022 Congenital Cytomegalovirus Public Health and Policy Conference - August 2022

Attendance at the 2022 Congenital Cytomegalovirus Public Health & Policy Conference was extremely valuable for my career development. As a researcher who is relatively new to the research area of cytomegalovirus (CMV), this was my first opportunity to meet various key researchers in this field at an in-person venue. I was able to not only meet these leaders in my research area, but also to hear about the new developments in their research programs. The thing that struck me most about CMV research was the small number of researchers dedicated to this important topic. Although CMV is the leading cause of non-genetic hearing loss and neurodevelopmental delay, resulting in an enormous health burden, this was one of the smallest conferences I have attended; attesting to the lack of focus dedicated to this important topic. I found this to be very motivating to continue my research in this area as I feel I have much to contribute and much more research is needed.

While at the conference, I presented my research findings and gained extremely valuable feedback that I have now incorporated into our study plans. One of the leading researchers on CMV was in attendance and offered to collaborate on a future sub-analysis. I was recently awarded a National CMV Foundation Early Career Award to conduct a new study; many of the adjudicators for the award and the National CMV Foundation staff were also in attendance, allowing me to showcase my research to date for them.

The final aspect of the conference that was particularly impactful for me was the connection to community members. This conference is very focused on community involvement of the families affected by congenital CMV. Hearing their personal stories and experiences with congenital CMV was motivating and opened my eyes to the impact that my research could have for future families. I also appreciated their feedback on our studies and what could be important aspects to bring in to our future research based on what is important to them given their lived experiences.

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Dr. Tiev Miller

61st International Spinal Cord Society Annual Scientific Meeting - September 2022

I am very grateful to be selected as the recipient of this prestigious travel award which will help to defray a portion of the cost associated with my participation as a delegate at the 61st International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) Annual Scientific Meeting. I was able to present 3 poster abstracts:

Poster #1: Adrift in an info-demic era: A scoping review on the quality of web-based information for spinal cord stimulation

Poster #2: It's not about the chair, it's how you move it: A case-series on the cardiometabolic demands and psychosocial effects of wheelchair dancing in people with spinal cord injury

Poster #3: The quality and availability of current breastfeeding guidelines for mothers with spinal cord injury: a narrative review

It was a wonderful experience networking with other leading researchers and industry professionals working to improve quality of life for people with spinal cord injury (SCI). The plenary presentations and break away sessions were inspiring and provided me with an important framework to model my own research endeavors after. I am very much looking forward to attending future conferences hosted by ISCoS and similar organizations (e.g., ASIA) in order to exhibit the important research we do in our lab and also build lasting collaborations with a growing global network of SCI researchers.

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Dr. Zayda Morales Moreira

miCROPe: Microbe-assisted crop production-opportunities, challenges, and needs – July 2022

The symposium “Microbe-assisted crop production – opportunities, challenges and needs” (miCROPe 2022) addresses basic and applied aspects of applying beneficial microorganisms in crop production. Attending miCROPe this year was a great opportunity to share our microbiome work in peas, carried out at UBC in collaboration with NRC (National Research Council Canada), and AAFC (Agriculture and Agri-food Canada). With the title "Unraveling host-microbiome interactions for root-rot disease suppression in peas" I presented our research in a flashtalk and in a poster. We are studying the potential of Pseudomonas fluorescens and related species to control Aphanomyces euteiches of pea. Our research represents an important step toward the identification of strains and mechanisms to control a wide range of important root rot pathogens in a sustainable way. Sharing our results with the scientific community and hearing about another sustainable ways to mitigate disease emergence was a great experience.

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Quarter FY 22/23 Q2

Dr. Haoyu Deng

2022 Canadian Lipids & Vascular Summit - October 2022

Canadian Lipid & Vascular Summit is a joint annual meeting initiated in 2019 of the CLC and CSATVB to bring together basic and clinician scientists from Canadian and international research institutions to present their recent, unpublished findings in the fields of lipid and lipoprotein metabolism, atherosclerosis, and other aspects of cardiovascular and metabolic disease. The cutting-edge research conducted by CLVS scientists is at the forefront of biomedical research and continues to advance knowledge toward potential therapies to target metabolic diseases including atherosclerosis, obesity, fatty liver disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, among others.

In addition to featuring established investigators in the field, the meeting highlights presentations from trainees at all levels. 

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Dr. Ali Farrokhi

7th International Workshops on the Causes of Childhood Leukemia – November 2022

It was interesting to talk to other research groups that I have been studying their papers for a couple of years and get their insight about their current findings.

I believe participating in the “7th International Workshop on the Causes of Childhood Leukemia” near the end of my post-doc position provided me with an exceptional opportunity to share and discuss the result of my research with other scientists in the field of childhood Leukemia.

One of the valuable experiences of this meeting was that two research group in the meeting showed interest in our project and after meeting we have been in contact with them to discuss possible collaboration in the future projects. I hope this can help me to take effective networking initiatives to provide the foundation for international collaborations.

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Dr. Florence Gregson

The American Association for Aerosol Research (AAAR) 40th Annual Conference – October 2022

In early October I was fortunate to be able to attend the American Association for Aerosol Research conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. Being my first in-person conference since the COVID-19 pandemic began, I really benefited from being able to network and learn from the varied talks and poster sessions. Aerosol research is a field that encompasses a number of important current topics (and crises!), such as the airborne transmission of
respiratory pathogens, the human health effects of inhalation of polluted air, as well as the effect of aerosol particles on global heating. This conference comprised symposia covering these topics as well as other themes such as aerosol technology and chemistry. I presented a talk on my research into the physicochemical properties of aerosol from biomass burning events like wildfires. With the prevalence of wildfires predicted to increase in the coming years, it’s important to understand the properties of the smoke particles and how they could affect the climate and human health. My talk was well received and I had some interesting questions and discussions that will hopefully lead to future collaborations with other researchers in this field. I thoroughly enjoyed this conference, so thank you to the Faculty of Science for this PDF travel award!

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Dr. Karolin Heinze

Future Perspectives in Ovarian Cancer Research – November 2022

I presented my research on molecular subtypes in endometrioid ovarian cancer and its influence on the tumor immune microenvironment at the ‘Future perspective in ovarian cancer’ conference held by the Swedish Cancer Foundation (cancerfonden) at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden in November 2022.

This was my first international in-person since begin of the pandemic and I was excited to finally meet Swedish collaborators. While given the opportunity to share my latest research findings I also got to connect with international colleagues and past collaborators, talk about each other’s work and discuss future research ideas and possibilities for collaboration.  Cancerfonden also hosted an interactive workshop to identify current challenges and gather ideas to improve and support research particularly in the field of ovarian cancer.
It was overall a very productive and energizing meeting which will help further my research and I hope many more are to come.

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Dr. Mariko Sakamoto

The Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting - November 2022

The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) Annual Meeting was held in person November 2-6th 2022 in Indianapolis, Indiana for the first time since the pandemic started. This was my first time attending in person, the previous two GSA annual meetings I attended were virtual conferences due to the pandemic. GSA is an interdisciplinary conference and attracts researchers from around the world interested in research in the field of aging. I presented on work from my postdoctoral fellowship with the Flipping Stigma project – a research study that revolves around an Action Group of people living with dementia who are working collaboratively and in partnership with the research team to address social exclusion and dementia-related stigma. I had a wonderful experience at GSA 2022. I was able to share outcomes and knowledge from the Flipping Stigma project, as well as connect and network with other researchers in my field of interest. Thank you to the Faculty of Applied Science and the Postdoctoral Fellows Office for helping to support my participation in this conference!

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Dr. Alejandra Wiedeman

22nd IUNS-ICN International Congress of Nutrition - December 2022

I recently had the opportunity to attend the 22nd IUNS-ICN International Congress of Nutrition in Tokyo, Japan. The conference, held over six days (December 6-11, 2022), brought together researchers from around the world to present recent developments in the field of nutrition. I was thrilled to be among them to present my postdoctoral research findings on choline nutrition during development. The title of my poster presentation was Dietary choline and betaine intakes are associated with anthropometric measures in young children from Vancouver, Canada.

The keynote speakers presenting in the plenary lectures were the highlight of the conference. In addition, there were numerous sessions covering a wide range of topics, which were divided into several tracks, including dietary guidelines, food safety, and basic nutrition. The sessions were well-organized and provided time for Q&A, allowing attendees to interact with speakers and ask questions about their research.

Overall, attending the 22nd IUNS-ICN International Congress of Nutrition was a highly valuable experience. The conference was a great place to network and exchange ideas, providing a valuable opportunity to connect with other researchers in the field. The conference was a great experience to learn about the latest developments in the field of nutrition worldwide.

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