My, how things have changed! If you’ve been a post-doc at UBC for more than a year or two, you may remember what it was like to win an award and lose your health benefits. Perhaps you struggled with the question of whether to have children without decent parental leave, or found yourself unable to renew your appointment just as your project started to bear fruit. You might have wished there was a central office to answer your questions, or that you weren’t at the mercy of your supervisor whenever a problem arose. This is how things used to be.

Continued on page 2 >>

Perhaps you’ve noticed all the construction that’s happening on the periphery of the aca-demic campus, all the time. The UBC Board of Governors has placed affordable, accessi-ble housing for faculty, staff, and students in its top priorities. They have created a prelimi-nary Housing Action Plan (available at www.planning.ubc.ca).

The potential housing options discussed in this document were developed based on an extensive review of the current housing on campus, public input, and assessment of other universities. The Community Planning Task Group does have the interests and concerns of postdocs in mind, due mostly to the relent-less lobbying by Associate Dean Tony Farrell. They recognize that in its current state, hous-ing options are limited, too expensive for a postdoc salary, and not accommodating enough for families. Despite this recognition, the proposed housing plan falls short of its goals to provide affordable and diverse op-tions.

Continued on page 6 >>

Volume 4, Issue 1

UBC’s Postdoc Policy catches up with the times By Andrew Hegle

June 2012

Special points of interest:

Reviewed UBC Postdoc Policy

UBC Housing Action Plan

University of Toronto New Ruling

Postdoc Seminars

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Postdocs: Employees or Trainees? By Anne Steino

A recent ruling in Ontario has the potential to change the way post-doctoral fellows (PDFs) are viewed all over Canada. The stage was set between the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Governing Council of the University of To-ronto. The dispute is well known to Canadian PDFs, as they find themselves in the no-man’s land called “trainee”, where they are no longer students, but not quite

employees either. Should all PDFs at University of Toronto become real employees (as wanted by CUPE), or should they remain trainees (as wanted by the university)? This was the question brought to the Ontario Labour Relations Board, and the answer came on January 20, 2012: All Postdoctoral Fellows at University of Toronto are in fact to be considered EMPLOYEES.

Continued on page 6 >>

Ignoring Conflicts 3

Postdoc Research Week 4

Team Building 7

Science Online Vancouver 8

BrownBag Lunch Meeting 8

Positive Networking 9

Inside this issue:

Affordable Housing for UBC Postdocs By Nirupa Goel

Continued from page 1 >>

When I arrived at UBC in 2007, a nascent and loosely organized group called the UBC Postdoc Club was my only resource for information, advice, and professional develop-ment. At the time, anyone hoping to receive a fellowship (i.e., most of us) had to weigh the costs of private insur-ance against the benefit of being awarded for re-search excellence. This injustice and others like it was often the main sub-ject of conversation at social events, and no one was really sure if anything could be done to change things. We knew that being a postdoc wasn’t supposed to be easy, but we felt isolated, invisible and powerless at UBC.

By 2009, the PDA had dwindled down to three members, our future un-certain. But the network we’d built helped catalyze a handful of determined postdocs into a new collaborative effort with the UBC administration. As a result, we now enjoy full health bene-fits and parental leave, a Post-doctoral Fellows Office that holds orientations and monthly professional development work-

shops, and an appointment limit of up to five years. We didn’t get everything we wanted, but it was a great start. What remained was to update UBC policy to cement these changes.

Late last year I was asked to

represent the UBC PDA as two policies related to postdocs (#61 and #86) were revisited by a team of deans, administrators, and legal experts. Policy 61, which explicitly details how postdocs are dealt with at UBC, was particularly due for an over-haul, having last been amended in 1997. With the input of the public, we formalized the recent expansion of benefits, updated

the dispute resolution process, clarified appointment limits, and made other changes to the lan-guage to bring it in line with the current postdoc environment. If you haven’t already, I strongly encourage you to familiarize

yourselves with the re-vised policy at http://universitycounsel.ubc.ca/files/2012/04/policy61.pdf. (Policy 86 can be found at the same link with the num-ber substituted).

Of course, compromise is inevitable when mak-ing big changes like these, and there are issues that remain for UBC postdocs: imple-menting a pay scale, a pension plan, and aca-demic fee waivers would go a long way toward putting us on equal

footing with the rest of UBC’s employees. As we move into the future, the PDA will continue to advocate for these and other concerns. By formalizing our successes in UBC policy, we not only have a firmer ground to stand on next time, we have evidence that change is possible. It’s just up to us to make it hap-pen.

UBC’s Postdoc Policy Catches Up With the Times By Andrew Hegle

Page 2 POSTDOC ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

“With the input of the

public, we formalized the

recent expansion of

benefits, updated the

dispute resolution process,

clarified appointment limits,

and made other changes to

the language to bring it in

line with the current postdoc

environment.“

UBC Postdoctoral Fellows Office (PDFO) UBC established the Postdoctoral Fellows Office (PDFO) within the Faculty of Graduate Studies in early 2010 to formally acknowl-edge the key role played by Post-doctoral Fellows (PDFs) in achiev-ing the goal of increasing the qual-ity and excellence of UBC’s re-search and scholarship. PDFO offers regular professional devel-opment workshops.

Contacts: Web: www.grad.ubc.ca/postdocs Email: postdoctoral.fellows@ubc.ca Phone: 604.822.2848

UBC Postdoctoral Fellow Facts

All incoming PDFs are encouraged to contact UBC’s Work and Relocation Centre prior to arrival for friendly and expert assistance for relocation.

www.hr.ubc.ca/worklife-relocation/ Benefits for PDFs are handled through

UBC Faculty Relation www.hr.ubc.ca/faculty-relations/ Postdoctoral placement may be renewed

annually for up to five years.

If you work with peo-ple, you will experience conflict. Resolving it probably wasn’t men-tioned in your job de-scription and you can always find better things to do than deal with it. Yet despite your hope that it will go away, it hangs around like an unwanted rela-tive who has overstayed his welcome. Many of the reasons people give for avoiding conflict turn out to be myths – with a price tag at-tached.

Reason #1: It’s not that big a deal – it will sort itself out.

While some squabbles evapo-rate, most conflicts don’t. Quite the opposite, they either escalate and erupt or fester and go un-derground (“buried, but not dead”). The resulting tension and negativity are palpable in a workplace and can spawn a toxic environment.

This reasoning also underesti-mates the cost of conflict to an organization. Unresolved con-flict results in wasted time, poor decisions, turnover and retrain-ing, absenteeism, health costs (stress leave) and even litigation. It also takes an emotional toll on those directly involved and even on those indirectly affected by it. Like it or not, conflict is a big deal in organizations.

Reason #2: They’re grownups - they should be able to sort it out themselves.

From the outside, a conflict may seem simple to resolve, yet it’s hard to see the picture when you’re inside the frame. Years of experience as a mediator showed me that capable and well-intentioned people feel trapped and powerless in conflict. They benefit immensely when some-one can help surface the conflict and provide a safe space to ex-

plore and resolve it. There is no shame in struggling with con-flict. Managers and even co-workers can play a pivotal role in shifting confrontation to reso-lution.

Reason #3: Dealing with it will only make it worse.

You can’t have conflict resolu-tion without acknowledging the conflict. When conflict is ig-nored or suppressed, it simply morphs into other forms (gossip, backbiting, cliques). Addressing it may surface emo-tions with which you are un-comfortable, but this discomfort soon passes. Often, the appre-hension about raising an issue is far worse than the conversation itself. On the flip side, conflict can be the catalyst for creative solutions, positive change and even improved relationships.

Sometimes it may be right to ignore a conflict – when you make a strategic choice based on your assessment of the serious-ness of the situation and the ramifications of ignoring it. But more often than not, avoidance stems from fear (of confronta-tion, of looking incompetent, of being disliked). Rather than ac-knowledge that fear, people find reasons to justify inaction.

When conflict arises (as it most surely will), be honest with your-self. Acknowledge your discom-fort and examine your reasons for inaction. Instead of seeking

reasons not to deal with the conflict, consider the following reasons to involve yourself:

the discomfort will seldom be as unpleasant as you fear it will be

workplace tension will dimin-ish; morale will improve

you will prevent minor is-sues from escalating, saving time and energy in the long run

you will regain peace of mind

those involved and affected by it will once again be able to apply their energy to the job at hand.

With conflict, the temporary discomfort of addressing it will pay dividends in the long run – both financially and emotionally. As the commercial for Fram Oil Filters says, “you can pay me now or pay me later”.

Three Good Reasons To Ignore Conflict (And The Price You’ll Pay) By Gary Harper

“When conflict is

ignored or

suppressed, it

simply morphs into

other forms (gossip,

backbiting,

cliques).“

Page 3 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1

Gary Harper is the principal of Harper and Associates. He is a trainer, writer and facilitator who special-

izes in conflict resolution. Through his unique blend of experience as a personal injury lawyer, general manager, insur-ance regulator and retail store owner, he learned the value of clear communication and con-flict resolution skills. Since 1991 he has trained and mediated in a wide variety of organizations and sectors, including the film industry, health care, and gov-ernment. Gary is a member of the instructional team of the Centre for Conflict Resolution at the Justice Institute of B. C. and recently authored The Joy of Conflict Resolution: Trans-forming Victims, Villains and Heroes in the Workplace and at Home.

Find out more about Gary's highly regarded book, The Joy of Conflict Resolution and his workshops at www.joyofconflict.com

As part of UBC’s Celebrate Research Week, which took place from March 2nd-9th, the Postdoctoral Association held an outreach event at Science World (the Vancouver centre for science) on March 8th. 12 post-docs in total volunteered their time to create posters depicting their area of re-search, and present them to children of varying ages at Science World, in a way that we hoped would spark their imagination about science and university research. The subject matter of the post-ers covered many diverse areas of science, such as how cancer spreads, how immunization works, how logic can be applied in everyday life, and a hand grip measurement study that included an engaging hands-on demonstration!

The event was a novel and enjoyable exercise in communicating research to a different target audi-ence, i.e. to school-age children rather than the

academic community that we regularly encounter at UBC or at a conference. The PDA plans to organize a similar event next year in conjunction with Science World – more details will be pro-vided in a future edition of the newsletter!

UBC Postdocs Celebrate Research Week By Jane O’Hara

Page 4 POSTDOC ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

Mitacs Step is Canada’s only comprehensive program provid-ing business-ready skills to up and coming researchers. Step trains graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in essential interpersonal, project manage-ment and entrepreneurial skills required for them to succeed in their future career.

Mitacs Step workshops are open to graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Newfoundland & Labrador. All Mitacs Step workshop facilita-tors are vetted for quality, de-liver interactive sessions and are experts in their field.

Workshops are offered in the following key areas:

Basics of the Business Environ-ment

Developed as an overview of the business world, these workshops provide participants with advice,

resources, and skills to success-fully interact in the ever-changing business environment throughout the duration of their internship, academic experience, personal lives, and careers.

Business Etiquette

Time Management

Networking

Communication

These workshops apply the foundation of effective commu-nication to the development of stronger working relationships with high-quality results.

Communicating Science

Presentation Skills

Business & Emotional Intelligence

Technical & Scientific Writing

Entrepreneurship & Intellectual Property

This series of workshops is aimed at fostering an entrepre-

neurial class well-versed in the latest research techniques and methodologies. The three com-ponents of this curriculum will build on the existing skills of graduate student and postdoc-toral fellows and leverage the strength of local business com-munities.

Intellectual Property 101

Discovering the Entrepreneur Within

Project Management

Through these workshops, par-ticipants will gain new skills in managing both large and small-scale projects, setting realistic goals and milestones, effective time management, end-goal perspective and clear team com-munication.

Introduction to Foundations of Project Management

Foundations of Project Management 1

Foundations of Project Management 2

Managing Projects

Mitacs Step Workshops for UBC Postdocs

Page 5 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1

Testimonials from UBC PDFs

“The Foundations of Project Management workshop is split into two parts of two days each. The first two days focus on project planning and team work, including how to work with people of different strengths and how to make a realistic project plan. The second two-day part concentrates on being the project manager of a team, discussing conflict resolution, how to give and receive criticism, and being an effective leader. If you are interested in applying for the Project Management Professional certification from PMI (Project Management Institute), the four-day workshop count as 28 hours towards the required 35 hours of education. “ Anne Steino

“I attended the MITACS workshop “Build Your Scientific and Technical Writing Skills” (two days) on Febru-ary 23rd-24th 2012. This workshop was an effective blend of theory and hands-on practical advice for improving your scientific or technical writing. This mixture of learning meant that the material remained fresh and interesting over the 2-day period. The instructor, Michael Sjoerdsma from Simon Fraser University, was a dynamic teacher and very helpful in answering questions from participants. As well as learning various theories about writing, attendees got the chance to put these new ideas into practice by editing a piece of academic writing that they or another attendee had generated and brought along with them, complete with on-the-spot guidance from Michael. “ Jane O’Hara

Find out more about Mitacs Step Workshops at http://www.mitacs.ca/step

Page 6 POSTDOC ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

Continued from page 1 >> The proposal includes two op-tions for rental housing. The first is a partnership with BC Housing and a non-profit housing society that would target employees with a house-hold income under $64000. The rent price would be based on the renter’s income (not more than 30%) and household size, so specific prices are not outlined. Unfortunately, this option may be limited to Cana-dian citizens and permanent residents due the restrictions set by BC Housing. This may not cause concern to most fac-ulty and staff, but would be a great limitation to foreign post-docs, the group that perhaps would benefit the most from on-campus housing. The sec-ond rental option is co-operative housing. The proposal suggests that a studio would be afford-able to a person making $30000

and a 1 bedroom unit for a $49000 income. There would be additional units for which the rent would be set at 30% of the

renter’s income. In addition to the issues of affordability, there is and continues to be a shortage of available rental housing. UBC currently has 800 rental units and under the proposal, would

build an additional 1800 units for faculty and staff only over 30 years. There are also several proposed options for subsidized home ownership, but these are only available to tenured and tenure-track faculty. So, by 2042, UBC will be able to ac-commodate about 28% of the non-tenure track faculty and staff (currently < 9%). I sup-pose that’s pretty reasonable for future postdocs, if UBC revises their rental price recom-mendations. The proposal is under review now, based on the feedback they received online and from workshops held at the end of March. These days though, if you are a postdoc who wants to live on campus, you may be able to

afford a closet, and you’ll have to fight for it. For more information, please visit ubcvhousingactionplan.sites.olt.ubc.ca

Trainees are not entitled to full maternity or parental/adoptive leave while employ-ees are. As PDFs are often in their early thirties, this is a crucial point of interest for the Torontonian PDFs (as a side note; since UBC allowed full benefits for all their PDFs in august 2011, forty (40!) PDFs at UBC have taken maternity/parental leave).

Many other implications for PDFs at Uni-versity of Toronto are listed here.

This Ontario Labour Relations Board ruling will not only reach into the policies of Canadian uni-versities, it will likely also impact the way research is funded in Canada. Canadian researchers get the ma-jority of their funding from three federal funding councils; the Natu-ral Sciences and Engineering Re-search Council of Canada (“NSERC”); the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

Continued from page 1 >>

This has many potential impacts on the PDFs, and while the Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Schol-ars (CAPS) is still trying to work out the details (e.g. the possibility of retroactively claiming employment insurance, pension and maternity leave), here is a short list of some of the most important implications.

Trainees are not entitled to pension (through the Canada Pension Plan) while employees are. As a PDF has already spent 9-11 years in university, another 5 years (the maximum length of a PDF at UBC) without pension is really starting to impact your retirement.

Trainees are not entitled to employment insurance, while employees are. As PDFs are always time-limited and often very short-term (many are hired on 6-month contracts), the risks of being without employment insurance are obvious.

of Canada (“SSHRC”); and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (“CIHR”). Unlike some of the American funding agencies, the three Canadian funding coun-cils do not specify the salary ex-penses for PDFs (i.e. salary, pen-sion, benefits) in their grants. It is therefore a great concern that the money for benefits and a pension plan would not be added to the expense of having a PDF in a grant application, but would simply come out of the PDF salary instead. This would significantly lower the aver-age salary for PDFs at University of Toronto and thus highly impact the ability to attract qualified research-ers to the university. This new rul-ing thus presents a great challenge in the future not only to the indi-vidual labs and universities but also to the funding councils.

Postdocs: Employees or Trainees? By Anne Steino

Affordable Housing for UBC Postdocs UBC Housing Action Plan By Nirupa Goel

“The rent price

would be based on

the renter’s income

(not more than

30%) and

household size“

In a career that has spanned 30 years, I can count on the fingers of one hand the teams that have con-sciously de-signed their culture. While some teams may head out for a game of paintball or a team lunch to blow off some steam or get to know one another better, there is plenty more that can be done to design an environment of team dynamics that will allow the team to perform optimally.

Think about it: a group of peo-ple working together will settle into a set of behaviours, or a culture. Usually this ends up being a mix of things that are good for the group, and some, well, caustic behaviours that we have all experienced. If allowed to evolve on its own, there isn't much chance that the culture will serve the team's needs effec-tively.

One of the useful tools that assists the development of an effective team culture is the Re-lationship Awareness Theory, developed by Elias H. Porter. His work is based on four basic premises. Two of them work together to expose some com-mon challenges in working in a team:

We do things in order to allow us to stay in our 'happy place' - we have internal motives (that are not visible) that drive our behaviours

Without knowing the motives that

drive the behaviour of others, we can only judge their behaviour based on our own internal motivations.

In other words, we tend to judge other people’s behaviours based on our own value system, which often is not a reasonable match.

In a team environment, we can use this theory, embodied in simple tools, to bring our inter-nal value systems to the surface. This leads to interesting, appre-ciative discussions with others on the team.

We gain some crucial insights about our teams:

Most teams have a wide range of internal values, which can become a strength if we learn to harness that diversity.

People often handle the same situation in very different ways - what may be quite comfortable for one person will be very stressful for another.

We often have very different needs for communication - one person may just want you to get to the point, while another may be very sensitive to the needs and feelings of others on the team.

Most importantly, though, we appreciate that no single value system is ‘right’ for a team, and there will be times when each

person's strengths will be valuable to move a team forward. We leverage the strengths we have, and learn to support one another in order to achieve our team’s goals.

Using the Rela-tionship Aware-ness Theory as a framework for building a strong,

appreciative team culture brings to the surface important distinc-tions about us that otherwise may lie hidden and serve to pull the team apart in a time of crisis.

Using the Relationship Awareness Theory as a Lens into Team Dynamics By Jim Brosseau

“Most teams have a

wide range of

internal values,

which can become a

strength if we learn

to harness that

diversity.“

Page 7 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1

About Jim Brosseau

With over 30 years in industry working on teams, Jim has

learned a great deal about the value of taking the time to con-sciously build an effective cul-ture. As principal of the Clarrus Consulting Group for the past 10 years, he has focused on helping teams realize their true potential through training and mentoring, in a wide range of disciplines. With expertise in technology projects and project management, including a lead facilitator role in UBC’s Certifi-cate in Project Management for 3 years, he recognizes that the ‘hard skills’ have their place in a team environment, but are only truly useful in the hands of a team that has learned to collabo-rate effectively. Jim can be reached at jim.brosseau@clarrus.com, or visit www.clarrus.com to learn more about his book, Software Teamwork, pub-lished in 2007.

Page 8 POSTDOC ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

ScienceOnlineVancouver (SoVan) is a new Vancouver-based branch of the ScienceOnlineNOW organiza-tion. Through online networks and face-to-face discussions the goal is to facilitate discussions and engagement in online communication of science and research in the Vancouver com-munity. I attended the inaugurating event in Vancouver in April 2012. The organ-izers had put together a panel of a scientist, a journalist and an online science-consumer to spark a discus-sion about the new age of science communication. Being in Vancou-ver, the obvious choice of a scientist to kick off this discussion was Dr. Rosie Redfield from UBC, who pioneers in online science communi-cation by blogging about her research

(progress as well as lack thereof) in real-time, in spite of the risks of her ideas getting scooped. The panel and the audi-ence engaging heav-ily in the discussion of whether science and research should be shared in real-time online or not, and I went home with the sense of a new community being built. One that I am quite excited to be part of.

SoVan aims to host monthly meet-ings at Science World to discuss many other aspects of online

science communication and help create a strong science commu-nication network in and around Vancouver.

Science Online Vancouver By Anne Steino

successful leadership outcomes.

The invited panel members for this session represented a variety of areas in science and technology, encom-passing academia, industry and gov-

The topic for Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology (SCWIST) meeting on Wednesday March 28th 2012 was “What is Fe-male Leadership?” This subject was evidently timely, as the topic of leadership has been addressed in several recently published books that focus on the emerging trend towards a collaborative approach to leadership, which has partially re-placed the more traditional “command and control” style of leading people. Carolina Chanis, an MSc candidate in Forestry at UBC, highlighted that many characteris-tics associated with the “collaborative” style are more com-monly observed in females, in con-trast to the “male” ones associated with the other, hierarchical style. This suggests that qualities more traditionally seen as “feminine” can now be brought to the table and even confer an edge in achieving

ernment.

For the latter half, the discussion was opened up to the panel of speakers and the room. Many aspects sur-rounding the concepts mentioned in

the initial presentation were dis-cussed, including “work-life bal-ance”, “framing” one’s experiences in a positive light, and how to pur-sue your individual goals while maintaining collaborative and pro-ductive leadership. Discussion was lively, engaging and many different anecdotes and points of view were batted around among the women present. We gained a strong sense of the many ways in which women can lead today, in a fashion that preserves their own unique person-ality and values.

The SCWIST Brown Bag lunch meet-ings will resume in the Fall semester, with discussions on a variety of topics, so check back soon on the website www.scwist.ca for updated information.

Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology BrownBag Lunch Meeting, March 28 -- Women and Leadership By Jane O’Hara

We poll our Positive Network-ing® audiences and the first question we ask is: How many people in the room enjoy net-working? We see a few tentative hands go up. Without fail, less than twenty percent of people put up their hands. This is an astounding number, given that networking is such an essential skill for both personal and pro-fessional success. In fact, this aversion is so common we have given it a name: networking nervosus. Besides natural feelings of social anxiety, many people dislike networking because they feel they have to sell themselves. We have all experienced transac-tional networkers in action – people who after they meet you drop you ‘like a hot potato’ be-cause you can’t do anything for them. Our philosophy of networking is different: networking is not all about you; it’s discovering what you can do for someone else. When we first tell people about Positive Networking®, we sometimes get skeptical looks. However, the responses we re-ceive after the idea is put into practice are quite amazing. One student told us it changed her whole view of networking. “It takes all the pressure off,” she said. “Now I don’t feel I have to go out and sell myself.” Best-selling business author Guy Ka-wasaki says this about Positive Networking®: “This what-can-I-do-for-you attitude is the key to building extensive, long-lasting connections.” He calls it “the world’s best definition” of net-working. You can easily spot a Positive Networker in a crowd. She’s the person who rescues a lone soul at an event with a friendly smile and handshake. He’s the person who acts as a connector, intro-ducing a new acquaintance to others because he thinks there may be a mutual fit. Positive Networkers are the people who end their telephone conversa-tions and emails by saying “is there anything I can do for you?” And they mean it. Networks operate in other inter-

esting ways. One of the most counterintuitive is “the strength of weak ties.” For many people, the goal of networking is to fo-cus all their attention on devel-oping relationships with a close circle of key contacts, often re-ferred to as a “centers of influ-ence (COIs).” While these COIs are important, they tend to know all the same people you do. Research done by social scientist Mark Granovetter found that people you don’t think you have anything in com-mon with—those weak links or acquaintances—often turn out to be your best connections. For example, he found that 84% of people who found a job through networking found it through a weak link, not a close contact. What does this mean? It’s sim-ple: we should treat all our con-tacts like gold. Tim Sanders, The Likeability Factor, says, “if all I do as a bizperson is take what I can get from you, I’m not truly relevant to your life. You may have to speak to me now, but if I lose the job that brings us into contact, you probably won’t speak to me again.” The bonus of becoming more engaged with others is personal happiness and wellbeing. As Tom Donohue, CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce, writes in the foreword to Work the Pond! “For me, the most re-warding aspect of networking is the personal happiness it has brought. My own life has been greatly enriched by the hun-dreds, if not thousands, of peo-ple from all backgrounds I have gotten to know and had the opportunity to help.” Research shows that people who are more connected and more engaged are healthier and have a greater sense of wellbeing and happi-ness. 7 tips for more effective, en-joyable networking: 1. Practice Positive Networking.® 2. Have business cards and give them out. 3. Make others feel comfortable. 4. Just say yes! When you receive an invitation to an event, avoid the temp-tation to make routine excuses such as

“I have too much work,” or “it’s probably not that interesting.” 5. Contribute more than your pres-ence. Do you ever come back from a networking event, thinking, “I didn’t meet anyone worthwhile.” Instead, think: “What did those people gain from meeting me?” 6. Follow up fast, and be brief. Re-turn phone calls or emails the follow-ing day. Keep emails and messages brief and on-point. 7. Be a connector. The true sign of a great networker is acting as a connec-tor. At social and business events, make a habit of introducing people if you see that they might have mutual interests or could help each other.

The Power of Positive Networking® By Gayle Hallgren-Rezac and Judy Thomson Co-authors of WORK THE POND! Use the Power of Positive Networking to Leap Forward in Work and Life

“Our philosophy of networking is

different:

networking is not all about you; it’s

discovering what

you can do for someone else. ”

Page 9 VOLUME 4, ISSUE 1

Gayle Hallgren-Rezac is a speaker, entrepreneur (founder, Cookies by George) and a YWCA Woman of

Distinction. She has spent over two decades observing and writ-ing on networking around the world. Gayle is a member of the Davos Circle, having attended the Annual World Economic Forum over eleven times. She is also an expert on the art of con-versation, a subject she writes and speaks on frequently. Gayle is chief engagement officer of Shepa Learning Company, a training and development com-pany.

Judy Thomson is a chartered accountant, business consultant and speaker who has held executive posi-tions in human re-sources and admini-

stration with global companies in Canada and Asia. She was also part of the start-up manage-ment team of the world-famous Rocky Mountaineer Railtours. In addition to her role as chief op-erating officer of Shepa Learn-ing Company, Judy is vice-chair of The Vancouver Board of Trade’s Women’s Leadership Circle® advisory council, is a director of the BC Women’s Enterprise Centre, and is a di-rector of a publicly traded min-ing exploration company. If you’d like to receive free weekly Positive Networking Tip, sign up at www.workthepond.com and follow us on Twitter. Work the Pond! is avail-able on amazon.ca and as an ebook.

Some of us postdocs hope to get an academic job, and focus only on developing the skills that we think will be necessary for an academic career. In reality, however, statistics show that academic jobs are only available for a small percentage of post-docs; just count the number of postdocs in your department, and compare it with the number of faculty openings each year. Therefore, at some point, most of us will have to explore other career options, and of course we would find it very chal-lenging as we would be lacking some of the skills needed to work outside the academia.

In this issue, we have tried to emphasize on the necessity of developing the professional skills re-lated to industry and business as well as academia. These skills are the ones that we often ignore, and think would not be needed for our future jobs. But you know what, as a person whose first job was working on a rice farm, and now is an engineering postdoc, I believe that our career path always changes, and you never know what skill will be handy in the future!

In addition to these expert opinions, we have also included an update on very crucial issues for UBC postdocs, including Policy 61, UBC Housing Ac-tion Plan and the University of Toronto new rul-ing. A report on the PDA seminars, social events and the outreach event have also been included in this issue.

On behalf of the PDA executives and members, I hope that you enjoy the new formatting of this issue and find the articles helpful.

On 14th/15th April, the PDA organized a weekend away in Whistler. Beautiful Spring weather made skiing pretty tough and gave those with pale com-plexions embarrassingly red faces. There were also several new faces on the postdoc social scene: Jo, Gerben, Johan. Welcome to UBC! After a day on the slopes, we all met back at the UBC lodge where we drank merrily and feasted on home-cooked food. This was an entertaining bunch with diverse and interesting back-

This year the PDA has started hosting a series of informal semi-nars by postdocs, for postdocs! We have had three presentations so far, by Alisdair Wallis from Chemistry, Giorgio Levy from Physics and by Ali Ahmadi from engineering. Thanks to our initial speakers and to those who came out in support of this new event. As always, lunch will be provided. If you would like to participate, please email nirupa at mail.ubc.ca . We are aiming to have one talk per month, with the talk lasting 20 to 30 minutes. We are hoping to create a casual atmosphere, conducive to asking questions and discussion.

grounds. One piece of sage ad-vice for you; when opening a bottle of frozen champagne, never direct it towards an unsus-pecting Dutchman. We want to get as many postdocs as possible involved in the social side of life at UBC. If you have an idea, please email VP-social Chris (parkerca@ieee.org) or myself (alexchat@ubc.mail.ca). Keep an eye out for upcoming events by checking out emails from the PDA. After all, summer is com-ing... riiight?!

PDA Seminars By Nirupa Goel

UBC Postdoc Assoc ia t ion Newsle t te r Volume 4, Issue 1, June 2012 Editorial board: Ali Ahmadi, Jane O’Hara, Anne Steino Writers: Alex Chattwood , Nirupa Goel, Andrew Hegle UBC-PDA Executive: Dan Patton (President) pattonda@mail.ubc.ca Anne Steino (VP – Operations) asteino@hotmail.com Nirupa Goel (VP – External) nirupa@mail.ubc.ca Stacey Herzer (VP – Finance) herzer@zoology.ubc.ca Ali Ahmadi (VP – Communications) aahmadi@ece.ubc.ca Chris Parker (VP – Social) parkerca@ieee.org UBC-PDA executive committee members: Jane O’Hara johara@brc.ubc.ca Julien Bergeron jujuberge@gmail.com Jason Winget jwinget@gmail.com Andrew Hegle ahegle@interchange.ubc.ca Cordula Klockenbusch cordula@brc.ubc.ca Dan Wang wangdan@interchange.ubc.ca Rebecca Malott rmalott@cfri.ubc.ca Email: ubc.postdoc@gmail.com Web: http://blogs.ubc.ca/ubcpda/ Join us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter @UBCPostdoc Join our group at Linkedin

PDA Socials By Alex Chattwood

A Letter From the Editor By Ali Ahmadi

About UBC PDA The UBC Postdoc Association (UBC-PDA) was established in 2006 as a coalition of volun-teer postdoctoral fellows and research associ-ates (RAs) with the goal of enhancing the post-doc experience at the University of British Columbia in all aspects – personal, profes-sional, and social. All postdocs and RAs at UBC are considered to be members of the PDA, and we are run by a small executive council of postdocs from multiple Faculties. But because postdocs fre-quently come and go, we are always in need of new executive members. We would especially welcome anyone interested in helping to organ-ize PDA-sponsored seminars and social events, edit our quarterly newsletter, keep our website up to date, or serve as a representative of UBC in CAPS, the Canadian Association of Post-doctoral Scholars. These are just a few exam-ples of how you can help make UBC a great place for postdocs and get the most out of your own experience. Please join our mailing list to receive news and find out how you can get involved!