OHBM Student and Postdoc Special Interest Group (SP-SIG) events to come

OHBM Student and Postdoc Special Interest Group (SP-SIG) events to come

By: Marianne Chapleau

Edited by: Elisa Guma,Hajer Nakua, Carolina Makowski and Jenn Ferris

We are getting closer to the annual OHBM conference and I hope you are all as excited as we are! Our goal for this year’s virtual conference is to recreate the in-person conference experience to the best of our ability. We have many things in store for the conference, and we would like to share them with you so that you may bookmark events to attend! For those that prefer an audible summary, checkout a recent podcast that highlighted some of the SIG’s events, particularly centered around mentorship: bit.ly/3bDRYsl.

“Link with mentors” Event

With OHBM 2021 fully virtual, we are splitting off this event into its own series: Link with Mentors across 3 regional hubs! In this event, the OHBM trainees (students and postdocs) have the opportunity to engage in informal conversations around career development with both early and senior researchers, as well as industry experts. The aim of the event is to inspire and motivate the next generation of OHBM researchers, giving them an opportunity to learn from the experiences of invited mentors.

Schedule: June 11th, 12pm in various time zones.
Details: Can’t make it to our link with mentors event or forgot to register? You can still try to catch many of these mentors at the actual conference itself, or sign up for our all-year-round OHBM mentorship programme, which will be launched for a new round again this Fall.

Career and Scientific Development Workshops

We are pleased to present our career and scientific development workshops, which are meant for students and ECRs who want to learn more about several hot topics in academia. In order to make these sessions as engaging as possible, we have asked our speakers to pre-record their (20-30 minute) talk which will be available on the Sparkle platform prior to the conference. If you see a workshop that peaks your interest, we encourage you to watch the talk before the conference begins, and come to the live Q&A with your questions! Each speaker will be available for two different live Q&A sessions, detailed below.

Speakers:

Neuroimaging best practices beyond open science: Ethics, collaborations and high quality research. By Satrajit Ghosh, Ph.D. (Live Q&A June 21st, 1pm EDT & June 23rd, 9pm EDT)

Dr. Ghosh will talk to us about how to produce high quality research without compromising ethics and best practices in neuroimaging. Additionally, he will discuss how to establish and maintain collaborations. Dr. Ghosh received his PhD in Cognitive and Neural Systems from Boston University. Dr. Ghosh is an assistant professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at Harvard Medical School, and the director of the Data Models and Integration project of ReproNim, an NIH P41 Center for Reproducible Neuroimaging Computation. He is also a co-editor-in-chief of BMC NeuroCommons, a journal focussed on enhancing the digital Commons for neuroscience through increased data, software, and reproducible results.

Transitioning from academia to industry: Why, when, how and where? By Bimal Lakhani, Ph.D. (Live Q&A June 21st, 1pm EDT & June 23rd, 9pm EDT)

Dr. Lakhani will share his transitional story from academia to industry, one he did not expect to make, and will talk to us about how skills acquired in academia may translate outside of it. Spoiler alert, there are more than you think!

Dr. Lakhani is currently VP, Product & Lead Scientist at HealthTech Connex Inc. in Surrey, British Columbia. He completed his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Toronto in the Department of Rehabilitation Science and his post-doctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia in the Department of Physical Therapy.

Reimagining the incentivization structure in academia. By Cooper Smout, Ph.D. (Live Q&A: June 21st, 9pm EDT & June 23rd, 1pm EDT)

Dr. Smout will talk to us about what he thinks the four major crises in science are and how we can address these problems with open science. He will share his thoughts on how to make science more transformative and collaborative, and how we can be mobilizing a future where we don’t have to sacrifice scientific integrity. Dr. Smout completed a B.Sc. degree in psychology and a Ph.D. degree in cognitive neuroscience.He is the founder of the Project Free Our Knowledge, a collective action platform for researchers.

Navigating academic careers: What are our options and how can we reach our goals? By Mariam Aly, Ph.D. (Live Q&A: June 21st, 9pm EDT & June 23rd, 1pm EDT)

Dr. Aly will talk to us about navigating a career in academia, what tenure track jobs are and how one may go about getting one. Additionally, she’ll tell us about some other non-tenure track jobs. Finally, she’ll provide some guidance on how to prioritize your training if you are aiming to stay in academia, how to stand for and share your political beliefs, and so much more! Dr. Aly completed a Ph.D. degree at the University of California - Davis in 2013. She now holds a position as an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Columbia. Her general area of research interests include interactions between attention, perception, and memory in the brain and in behaviour.

Schedule:

Pre-recorded videos on OHBM conference platform + live Q&A sessions (see above)
Details: There will be a pre-recorded session that members can watch prior to the workshop and then there will be the live sessions. The dates and times above refer to the live sessions.

Annual Symposium: “All Hands on Deck: Patching the Leaky Academic Pipeline”

The 2021 OHBM Student and Postdoc Special Interest Group Annual Symposium will bring together a panel of expert speakers that will describe the current “leaky pipeline” of academia, and share actionable steps that we can all take to patch it up. The “leaky pipeline” is a metaphor that describes the progressive loss of talented academics from racialized minorities as we ascend to higher career stages in science. The inability to retain all the best and brightest individuals in the system regardless of race, ethnicity, class, or gender, is a major problem facing the scientific community. The OHBM Student and Postdoc SIG recognizes that science should be a place where everyone can aspire to be leaders in their field. It is time to ensure that individuals from historically marginalized communities are part of the scientific discourse and discoveries. We hope this workshop will spark conversations about the future of inclusive science, and that it will both educate and inspire you to be part of this important cultural change in science.

Schedule: Pre-recorded videos on OHBM conference platform + live Q&A sessions on Monday June 21st 11:10-12pm EDT & Wednesday June 23rd 7:10-8pm EDT
Details: There will be pre-recorded videos that members can watch prior to the symposium and then there will be the live sessions. The dates and times above refer to the live sessions.

Speakers:

Best practices for embracing diversity in academic practices. By Lucina Uddin, PhD.

Dr. Uddin is an Associate Professor at the University of Miami. She has contributed greatly (over 150 publications) to mapping dynamic brain connectivity and its applications to neurodevelopmental disorders, and was awarded the Young Investigator award by the Organization for Human Brain Mapping in 2017. On top of her scientific achievements, she has worked tirelessly in various initiatives to promote justice, equity, diversity and inclusivity in academia.

Diversity Matters but Don't Forget the Inclusion and Equity. By Antentor Hinton, Ph.D.

Dr. Hinton was named one of the 100 Black Culture Makers and Thought-Leaders by Forbes magazines. Dr Hinton is a powerful voice in the discourse around racial equity in science, and has received countless awards for research mentoring and promoting equity in science.

Undervalued Work and Unsung Heroes. By Angeline Dukes, B.A.

Mrs. Dukes is the co-founder of the viral twitter movement, and thriving online community #blackinneuro. Mrs. Dukes has created a global community of black neuroscientists through her work organizing Black In Neuro week and the Black In Neuro mini conference.

The OHBM SP-SIG Social and Open Science Gala

This event, co-hosted by the SP-SIG and Neuro Bureau will be a two-hour long social featuring performances from the OHBM community and time to mingle with colleagues and peers in the OHBM community. It will feature a curated introduction portion, in which members from the NeuroBurea, SP-SIG, and other OHBM-SIGs will introduce themselves, followed by some fun and exciting live performances (5-10 minutes long each) from the OHBM community, including musical acts, theatrical performances, yoga sessions, and more. There will be something for everyone! If seeing your peers give a performance on stage inspires you, there will be an opportunity for members of the community to “get on stage” to perform as well. Between performances, there will be short breaks in which trainees and researchers will be encouraged to mingle at different tables on the Sparkle platform and enjoy the performances. This event is meant for both trainees, ECRs, and senior researchers.

Schedule: Tuesday June 22 (6PM UTC, 11AM PDT, 2PM EDT, 7PM BST, 2AM CEST, 4AM AEST)