2023 Annual Conference
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| Nolan BeiseMITACS Senior Advisor, Vancouver Island Founder, mentor, and funder. Build and manage highly-technical teams to create leading-edge brain-computer interface technology. Expert at driving research-based innovations in the public and private sectors. |
| Valerie ChappeFull Professor in the Department of Physiology & Biophysics at Dalhousie University and the Associate Dean of Students and Postdoctoral Fellows in the Faculty of Graduate Studies Dr Valerie Chappe is a Full Professor in the Department of Physiology & Biophysics at Dalhousie University and the Associate Dean of Students and Postdoctoral Fellows in the Faculty of Graduate Studies. After she obtained her PhD from the University of Provence in 1999 (France), she joined Professor John Hanrahan's Laboratory at McGill University (Qc, Canada) as a Postdoctoral Fellow and then moved to Dalhousie University to pursue her Cystic Fibrosis research. During her academic career, she has received numerous awards for her research and her academic leadership. Dr Chappe's research is recognized internationally with funding from the pharmaceutical industry as well as national and international funding agencies (Cystic Fibrosis Canada, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cystic Fibrosis Foundation). Dr Chappe has trained numerous students and is currently leading a CF Research Group at Dalhousie University. As an Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, she is helping trainees in difficulty and supports their mentors navigate complex situations by developing student-centric approaches to conflict resolution. |
| Koassi d’AlmeidaResearch and planning officer at the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at Université Laval Koassi d’Almeida holds a Ph.D in Sociology of development from Université Laval. Since 2011, as a research and planning officer at the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at Université Laval, he is responsible in particular for coordinating the services offered by the university to postdoctoral fellows. From 2006 to 2010, he held the position of research development advisor at Institute in Environment, Development and Society at Université Laval. From 1997 to 2005, he was program manager at the Francophone International Secretariat for Environmental Assessment in Montreal. Koassi d’Almeida is also a lecturer in the Department of Geography at Université Laval. |
| Olaf EllefsonManager in the Research Training Portfolio at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Olaf Ellefson is a manager in the Research Training Portfolio at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Since joining SSHRC, he has developed agreements with governmental and external partners to further strengthen research training in Canada and abroad. He has also contributed to and implemented new funding opportunities in support of Indigenous and Black scholars. He currently leads a team responsible for SSHRC’s Postdoctoral Fellowships, the Impact Awards, and numerous joint initiatives which support the application of social science and humanities research to strategic governmental priorities. |
| James FraserProfessor of Physics, Engineering Physics & Astronomy at Queen’s University James Fraser is a Professor of Physics, Engineering Physics & Astronomy at Queen’s University where he leads an enthusiastic research team exploring laser applications ranging from fundamental studies of novel nano-materials to new manufacturing practices for electric vehicles. He is the project leader for the 6-yr NSERC-funded HQP training program CREATE-MAPS, and co-founded Laser Depth Dynamics (now IPG Photonics (Canada) Inc.). Prof. Fraser is a sought-after speaker and facilitator with many invited talks at international photonics conferences and teaching workshops. Prof. Fraser has won numerous teaching awards including the 2016 Canadian Association of Physicists Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and was named a 3M National Teaching Fellow in 2017, the top teaching award in the country. Prof. Fraser currently serves as the Associate Dean (Graduate) in the Faculty of Arts and Science overseeing program development and support structures for 1800 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows across 30 units. |
| Adel GuitouniAssociate professor of management sciences, decision support systems and international business at the Gustavson School of Business Dr. Adel Guitouni is an associate professor of management sciences, decision support systems and international business at the Gustavson School of Business. He developed a multi-disciplinary approach to teaching and professional activities, which includes his fourteen years work with the Canadian government where he directed large scientific teams involved with major events and strategic initiatives such as the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and Paralympics Games and 2010 G8/G20 summits. Guitouni made more than hundred contributions to multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA), supply chain management, value chain modelling, information systems, and distributed resource management fields. He expanded his expertise to sustainability and social responsibility in business management and decision analysis. He developed collaborative research and consulting projects with industries, governments and nongovernmental organizations. His commitment to a better world for all led him to initiate, in collaboration with Ambassador Beaulieu and Dean Klein, the Victoria Forum in 2017. The goal is to create an open and inclusive space where individuals and organizations from a wide spectrum of backgrounds and perspectives could come together to discuss ideas to address emergent and urgent contemporary challenges, break down silos and encourage innovation. Dr. Guitouni has actively engaged in several capacity building activities that support the democratic transition and socio-economic development in the MENA region (i.e., in Tunisia and Libya in particular). In 2012, along with Nobel Prize Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Prof. Paul Romer, Dr. Guitouni hosted economic development policy workshops in Tunisia. Following the second political assassination in Tunisia in 2013, Dr. Guitouni facilitated negotiations among political foes in support of the Tunisian National Dialogue led by the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet (awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize). In 2014, he succeeded in collaboration with an academic coalition and the African Development Bank to develop and fund leadership capacity-building programs for Tunisian and Libyan leaders worth US$7.5 million. In 2015, he contributed to the establishment of the Mediterranean Entrepreneurship Development and Innovation NGO dedicated to helping Tunisian youth learn e-commerce and establish their businesses. Adel lives in Victoria BC and enjoys life with his wife and two children.
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| Lisa HaleyLisa Haley has overseen the Postdoctoral Office and Program Completion Offices as Senior Advisor and Manager Since 2006, Lisa Haley has overseen the Postdoctoral Office and Program Completion Offices as Senior Advisor and Manager. During that time, she led the implementation of the Postdoctoral Registration System, the Green Shield benefit for postdoctoral fellows, and increased postdoctoral access to various campus services. She has been an active member of the university’s bargaining team in their negotiations with CUPE 3902 Unit 5 through three collective agreements. Lisa has also worked closely with Labour Relations staff to resolve conflicts between employee postdoctoral fellows and supervisors. Most recently, Lisa took a two year secondment to implement the new Centre for Graduate Mentorship and Supervision, which aims to encourage best supervision practices, repair and restore supervisory relationships, and provide conflict resolution services as needed. |
| Nenagh HathawayResearch Coordinator at the Smith School of Business at Queen's Nenagh Hathaway was the Coordinator, Postdoctoral Affairs at Queen's University's School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs from January 2022 to October 2023. She is now Research Coordinator at the Smith School of Business at Queen's. Before returning to Kingston, she was the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Associate in the Physical History of Art at Yale University. From 2017 to 2019, Nenagh was Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Research Fellow cataloguing Northern European paintings in the Lehman collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and from 2016 to 2017, she was the Slifka Foundation Interdisciplinary Fellow in the European Paintings department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She received her Ph.D. in Art History from Queen’s University (2016) and her MLitt from the University of Glasgow’s program Making and Meaning: Approaches in Technical Art History (2011). |
| Jackson HowardRegional Coordinator, EURAXESS North America JacksonHoward is the Regional Coordinator for EURAXESS North America, responsible for Canada and the United States. His main role is to inform the community of researchers of all scientific domains and nationalities based in North America about the career opportunities that the European Research Area (ERA) offers, including European, national, and regional funding opportunities. Another important role is the management of the European Scientific Diasporas in North America initiative together with the EU Delegation and EU Member States & Associated Countries. Prior to joining EURAXESS, he worked in the diplomatic and nonprofit sectors. Jackson holds a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from American University. |
| Fraser HofAssociate Vice-President Research, University of Victoria Fraser was raised in Medicine Hat, Alberta, child of a 12th-generation French-Canadian settler parent and a post-war Dutch immigrant parent. He received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Alberta in 1998. He received his Ph.D. in supramolecular chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute while working with Julius Rebek, Jr. He studied medicinal chemistry as a post-doctoral fellow with François Diederich at ETH-Zurich, and has been a professor at the University of Victoria since 2005. Fraser has been Associate Vice-President Research since 2022, and has championed an overhaul of UVic’s programs and benefits for postdocs. He is active in campus-wide initiatives that aim to grow UVic's success in research, partnerships, and innovation. Outside of work, Fraser takes his greatest pleasures from family, strong coffee, the great outdoors, and soccer. |
| Victoria McGovernSenior Program Officer at the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Victoria McGovern, Ph.D. is a Senior Program Officer at the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. She runs the Fund’s program in Infectious Diseases, the institutional programs in Population and Laboratory Based Sciences and in Quantitative Thinking, and the workforce development-focused Career Guidance for Trainees program. She joined BWF in 1997. For more than 25 years she has been involved in science policy efforts related to strengthening the scientific workforce, an interest she continues at the Fund. is a past chair of Sigma Xi’s Committee on Public Understanding of Science, was one of the original writers for Science’s Next Wave (now Science Careers), and is currently one of the contributors to the Graduate Career Consortium's Carpe Careers column at Inside Higher Education. She serves on the National Postdoctoral Association’s advisory board, the Committee on Postdoctoral and Graduate Education of the American Society for Microbiology, and the Early Career Scientist Steering Committee of the Genetics Society of America. She earned bachelor’s degrees in Biology and English Literature at Washington University in St. Louis and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biochemistry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, followed by an NSF-funded postdoctoral fellowship in marine biotechnology at the Cameron Applied Research Center in Charlotte. At the bench, she was most interested in how organisms use DNA topology to convey information. She was one of the first Hull Leadership Fellows of the Southeastern Council of Foundations, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. |
| Padmapriya (Priya) MuralidharanMITACS Elevate postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University (SFU), Burnaby campus Dr. Padmapriya (Priya) Muralidharan is an MITACS Elevate postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University (SFU), Burnaby campus. She is a cellular electrophysiologist with a background in Cardiovascular Electrophysiology and has experience studying different ion channels across various cell types. Now her research is focused on studying ion channel biophysics using induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes with Prof Thomas Claydon. Having worked on hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes, she is keen on expanding her electrophysiology expertise to studying hiPSC-derived neurons. She pursued her Ph.D. at the University of Western Australia, moved to Memphis, USA, for her first postdoc, and then moved to Canada for her second postdoc. She is the Chair of the Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars (CAPS/ACPP). As the Chair of CAPS/ACPP, Dr. Muralidharan has a strong interest in advocating for postdocs across Canada. She leads and manages her team that helps the postdocs with various aspects such as networking, career planning webinars discussing the options inside and outside academia and industry, and other professional skills. The team represents the thoughts and concerns of fellow postdocs across Canada. She enjoys connecting with postdocs across Canada and sharing helpful information with them. She has previously served as VC Communications (English) at CAPS/ACPP to share CAPS/ACPP and postdoc-related news across its social media platforms – Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and email. She led the Postdoc Appreciation Week (PAW) working group at CAPS/ACPP for 2022 and 2023 by planning and organizing webinars across different topics that are beneficial for the professional development of postdocs throughout Canada. This year she also leads the Advocacy working group at CAPS/ACPP. She has served as VP External at the SFU Postdoctoral Association (SFU PDA) from Jul 2021 to July 2023. Currently, she is Vice President Policy at the SFU Postdoctoral Association and liaises with the university administration to design benefit plans for postdocs and participate in monthly meetings with the administrative members from different departments to reform the existing postdoctoral policies contributing to SFUs 2023-2028 Strategic Research Plan. She is also interested in supporting young girls and women in STEM in Canada. She also volunteered at the Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology where she worked with the advocacy and policy team to analyze the existing educational policies across Canada at postdoctoral levels. |
| Alina RomanManager, immigration Services, Simon Fraser University Since 2017, Alina Roman has overseen the immigration services at Simon Fraser University, and she was involved in the administration of postdoctoral fellows appointments and in the transition of the postdoctoral fellows from employees of the Principal Investigators to employees of the University. She is working closely with the VP Research and Research Personnel Team to improve the postdoctoral fellows experience at Simon Fraser University. Alina Roman earned a Master's Degree in Engineering and is a Regulated Immigration Consultant (RCIC) with many years of experience in the field of immigration. Alina has been teaching immigration law at Ashton College since 2016. In 2017, Alina received the Faculty Award, presented to an instructor who projects a positive, professional, and approachable attitude within the workplace and who possesses outstanding leadership abilities within the school community. Alina was a member of the Practical Experience Advisory Committee for the regulatory body, ICCRC (currently CICC) which regulates all RCICs on a national level." |
| Peter SimpsonDean of the College of Graduate Studies at UBC's Okanagan campus. Peter Simpson (BSc, MSc Waterloo, PhD Western Ontario) is an experimental physicist with an interest in electronic materials. He served as Associate Vice-Provost in the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at Western prior to taking the role of Dean of the College of Graduate Studies at UBC's Okanagan campus in 2020, where he continues to advocate for postdocs. |
| Stephen TuffsAssistant professor in the department of biochemistry and microbiology at the University of Victoria Dr. Stephen Tuffs is a new assistant professor in the department of biochemistry and microbiology at the University of Victoria. Stephen is also the Faculty Postdoc Laison for the Faculty of Science at UVic. Prior to joining UVic Stephen completed his postdoc at Western University (in the dept. of Microbiology and Immunology) where he served two terms as President of the Postdoctoral association at Western., Dr.Tuffs has made important contributions to Western and the broader academic community. Since 2019, Dr. Tuffs has contributed to formal undergraduate teaching, has successfully mentored trainees and students in his own lab, and has served as co-chair for the 2023 Gordon Research Seminar on Staphylococcal Disease at a premier international conference in the field. |
| Matthew VincelliDeputy Director, Scholarships and Fellowships, NSERC. Matt is the Deputy Director of the Scholarships and Fellowships division at NSERC. Trained as a chemical engineer, Matt has been with NSERC for seventeen years, prior to which he lived abroad while working for several years as an engineer with a multinational company in the global energy sector. Within the S&F division at NSERC Matt is responsible for intergovernmental collaborations, for policy and program development and the data analytics team. |
| François ZegersLead for the Vanier-Banting Secretariat in the Research Programs Portfolio at CIHR François Zegers is the Lead for the Vanier-Banting Secretariat in the Research Programs Portfolio at CIHR. During his 17 years at CIHR, he has provided advisory services in analytics, project management, peer review, business transformation and strategy integration, and has coordinated several governance bodies for CIHR and the Tri-Agencies. François’s current responsibilities involve overseeing the program design and delivery of Tri-Agency training programs at CIHR, including the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships and Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships programs. He also contributes to multiple harmonization projects for the three agencies to increase efficiency and standardization for stakeholder communities. |
