News
Most graduates seem satisfied with the experience but miss the celebratory aspect afterwards.
dissertation looks at the glacial history of northeast Quebec, the product of three seasons of fieldwork. The defence was held on Microsoft Teams videoconferencing software, chosen partly for its closed captioning functions to accommodate a committee member with a hearing disability. It all went smo...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/virtual-victory-inside-the-new-normal-of-online-doctoral-dissertation-defences/
In my opinion
A new taskforce report by the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies says it’s time to rethink the PhD.
dissertation. But, faced with unprecedented change in the academy and the world, academics are struggling with unresolved questions about the broader purposes of the degree.
Universities are increasingly engaged with society, changing the way we think about doing and communicating research; innov...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/the-dissertations-form-and-content-need-to-evolve/
Career Advice
A few tips that can help PhD mothers complete some of the major dissertation milestones.
dissertation is a done dissertation,” but how does one complete a dissertation post-baby? As a parent, caring for a child or children can sometimes feel all-consuming, making it difficult to achieve substantial progress on major writing milestones. This can add significant pressure in an environme...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/guide-birthing-dissertation-post-baby/
News
UQAM’s Jean-Hugues Roy analyzed theses and dissertations from the past 25 years to answer the age-old question: How long should it be?
dissertation or master’s thesis is: How long should it be?
Not finding a definitive answer, Jean-Hugues Roy, a former reporter for Radio-Canada and now a professor at Université du Québec à Montréal, decided to wade into the issue using data analysis. Inspired by University of Minnesota res...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/researcher-determines-average-length-theses-dissertations-quebec/
Careers Café
dissertation.
Although you need much more than this to successfully transition into the next phase of your career, your research and dissertation should be a high priority for you. Whether you are working in a lab or working primarily on your own, you are responsible for keeping track of this per...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/careers-cafe/hows-the-dissertation-going/
The Black Hole
dissertation - in haiku form!
A friend of mine recently told me about this blog, a place where you can submit a single haiku to summarize your dissertation. Just think of it as an entirely different way to communicate your science!
Here are some dissertation haikus. Let us know in the commen...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/the-black-hole/quick-hit-dissertation-haiku/
News
We are publishing regular updates on the situation facing Canada’s universities with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic.
dissertation-committee meetings have already moved online, and now students will also have the option to remain enrolled in their programs, to choose “Final Stage Status” if they have already completed 75 percent of the first draft of their thesis and all coursework, or to take an “inactive”...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/covid-19-updates-for-canadas-universities/
Magazines
dissertation defences
COLUMNS
In my opinion: Teaching and learning centres are the academic heroes of COVID-19
Adventures in Academe: Combatting toxic positivity with critical hope
Career Advice: The analysis paralysis of online teaching
...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/magazine/issues/latest-issue/
Features
Seven academics reflect on the moment they realized the world had changed.
dissertation defences. We had to roll those out remotely, with none of us deeply experienced with the online systems. I worked with two staff members to ensure all the documents were in secure servers, accessible to the appropriate people, and to draft a guide to the online platform for all particip...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/where-were-you-when-the-pandemic-hit/
From PhD to Life
Rebecca Maymon of Adoc Talent Management explains how the PhD employment landscape is shifting.
A few months ago, Adoc Talent Management released a report on their PhDetectives project, which includes original research on the professional competencies of PhD students and graduates across Canada, as well as the views of employers. The report's findings provide a valuable framework for understan...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/from-phd-to-life/phdetectives-report-sheds-light-on-canadian-phd-skills/
Features
The scholar’s latest book is not only the culmination of a career spent examining the ethics of biotechnology, it’s a call to action for the rest of us get in on the conversation.
dissertation at Western University on research involving human embryos. A several-years stint outside academia after her PhD, starting with a think tank and then with the first bioethics department at Sick Kids hospital in Toronto, gave her experience talking to non-philosophers about ethical issues...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/francoise-baylis-wants-to-help-you-understand-genome-editing/
Career Advice
The University of Toronto G2G Peer Advisors provide graduate students with practical conflict resolution and communication advice.
A complex and competitive mix of academic pressures and interpersonal relationships make graduate school simultaneously invigorating and potentially unsettling. Students must navigate complex institutional policies and processes as well as develop and maintain productive relationships with thesis su...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/peer-to-peer-conflict-coaching-helps-students-navigate-the-rocky-seas-of-grad-school/
News
In this program, Indigenous PhD students receive a stipend, teaching experience, faculty mentor and time to complete their dissertation.
dissertation defense.
Keri Cheechoo, a Cree Iskwew (woman) from Long Lake #58 First Nation, was also one of the inaugural fellows in 2018. She successfully defended her dissertation at the University of Ottawa this past December and was recently hired as an assistant professor with U of Ottawa’...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/queens-pre-doctoral-fellowship-program-supports-indigenous-scholars/
Features
Queen’s University terrorism researcher Amarnath Amarasingam is no stranger to intersectoral strife.
dissertation on social activism, organizational dynamics and youth identity in the Tamil community in Canada, he conducted dozens of interviews with former Tamil Tiger fighters, honing a research technique that has become a pillar of his academic work.
Then a series of events – the Arab Spring ...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/this-religion-professor-has-become-the-medias-go-to-expert-on-radicalization/
In my opinion
For me, podcasting is a way to continue the conversation with my students and bring my research to unexpected new audiences.
dissertation research to audiences with different levels of expertise (tenured professors, undergraduate students and our grandmothers). My podcast is an expanded and extended version of that exercise. My two sons, 11 and 13, remain my toughest critics and the litmus test for a good episode. If they...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/why-should-academics-make-a-podcast/
From PhD to Life
“Throughout grad school, I always thought about how I could leverage my research, writing, analytical, and communication skills if an academic job never panned out.”
dissertation, I realized I would have to be pragmatic when it came to my career opportunities.
What was your first post-PhD job?
My first job was a policy analyst position for Northern Policy Institute, a think tank focused on providing evidence-based solutions for northern Ontario. I started that...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/from-phd-to-life/transition-q-a-mike-commito-director-of-applied-research-and-innovation/
Career Advice
I can be an effective scholar and leader only if I am healthy both physically and mentally.
dissertation with project management, fieldwork and finalizing a major grant contract.
By December 2018, I was burnt out and, in a careless moment, I had an accident and suffered a concussion. I only took a week off to heal from the physical trauma, because I was teaching during the winter term a...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/productivity-isnt-possible-without-well-being/
In my opinion
Within academia, the professional editor is considered to be an outside, unknown and potentially dangerous entity.
Each semester as assignment deadlines near, dog-ate-my-homework syndrome appears in my inbox (typically around 3:00 a.m.) from undergraduates requesting editorial assistance with laughably unrealistic turnarounds. Most students mean well but are still learning time-management skills. Others are too ...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/dog-ate-my-homework-syndrome-and-other-tales-from-an-academic-editor/
From PhD to Life
You do not have to accept the labour conditions that have become the norm in universities, even if you are passionate about research and teaching.
dissertation under time constraints and financial stress. I was not thinking about the future so much as getting through each day. Life after the PhD was not discussed in my program, except for students trading successful postdoc applications and foreigners (we were a vast majority) discussing visa ...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/from-phd-to-life/transition-q-a-anais-bertrand-dansereau-mixed-methods-researcher/
Careers Café
This column is being relaunched, the first post takes a unique look at some of the issues that affect contingent faculty.
dissertations, they are often encouraged to do free or underpaid academic labour, labour that is often encouraged by the use of the term “opportunity.”
For instance, we are told that writing book reviews is a great opportunity to learn about academic publishing and to get our name out there. ...
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/careers-cafe/the-problem-with-opportunities-and-the-devaluation-of-academic-labour/