A program for early-career researchers/faculty at UBC
Maximizing Impact is a program to engage early-career researchers/faculty in maximizing the impact of their academic endeavours – particularly during these challenging and uncertain times.
Led by Dr. Naznin Virji-Babul, Senior Advisor to the Provost, Women and Gender-Diverse Faculty, UBC Vancouver, and Associate Professor, Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, this program invites all non-tenured faculty members at the level of Assistant Professor who are within their first three years at UBC to take part in an eight-month online program.
The program will focus on the following components:
- Networking opportunities for faculty who are at the start of their academic careers.
- Events/workshops to help early-career faculty effectively lead change (See the list of general themes and speakers below)
- One-on-one leadership coaching, supported by UBC Coaching Services, Learning and Talent Development, Human Resources
Events & Workshops
Month | Theme | Speakers | Date | Location |
| September | Introduction, Coaching and Networking | Naznin Virji-Babul Heather Turnbull Alumni panel: TBD | Sept. 26, 2022, 12:00 – 1:30pm | SWING 205 |
| October | Art and Science of Conflict Theatre: Part 1 | Tom Scholte | Oct. 21 2022, 11:00am– 1:00pm | Centre for Brain Health |
| November | Starting and maintaining a vibrant research program/lab, motivating graduate students Recording available here. Password: PPIR9j=F | Gail Murphy Miriam Sperling Stephanie van Willigenburg Navin Ramankutty | Nov. 22, 2022, 12:00 – 1:30pm | Zoom |
| December | Managing family responsibilities (parenthood and aging parents) with demands of academia | Eli Puterman Jordan Guenette Margaret Moss | Dec. 1, 2022, 12:00 – 1:30pm | Dodson Room, IKBLC |
| January | Healthy Boundaries: Special workshop for women and gender-diverse faculty | Catherine Roome Shenoor Jadavji | January 31, 2023, 12:00-1:30 pm | Centre for Brain Health |
| February | TBD | TBD | TBD | |
| March | Designed Leadership | Moura Quayle | March 7, 2023, 12:00-1:30 pm | TBD |
| April | Discussion on Tenure | TBD | TBD | TBD |
Learn about our speakers
Dr. Virji-Babul joined UBC in 2010 and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, in the Faculty of Medicine. As principal investigator of the Perception-Action Lab based at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, Dr. Virji-Babul leads an active research program in adolescent concussion and infant perceptual-motor and social-emotional development. In addition, she is an associate member of the Institute of Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems and an affiliate team member of the Designing for People research cluster.
As the Senior Advisor to the Provost on Women and Gender-Diverse Faculty, Dr. Naznin Virji-Babul supports institutional efforts to enhance the scholarly and leadership environment and expand opportunities for women and gender-diverse faculty at UBC's Vancouver campus.
Heather Turnbull, MA, Certificate in Organizational Coaching, Professional Certified Coach
Heather Turnbull, MA, COC, PCC, is program lead of Coaching Services with Organizational Development and Learning, UBC Human Resources, and is an on-site instructor. Heather has worked for more than 17 years at the intersection of coaching, engagement, leadership development and curriculum design in Canada, Mozambique, Namibia, Kenya and the UK.
Tom Scholte is a nationally recognized actor, director, writer and producer in the realms of theatre, film, and television. Since 2017, he has been the Faculty Lead and Artistic Director of Conflict Theatre@UBC, a partnership between UBC's Departments of Human Resources, Theatre and Film, and Office of Equity and Inclusion, using Forum Theatre to explore blockages to productive and authentic communication in situations of workplace conflict.
In addition to his continuing artistic practice, Tom in engaged in ongoing research exploring cybernetics in the Stanislavski System of Acting and the naturalistic theatre as a modelling facility for complex adaptive social systems.
Dr. Gail C. Murphy is a Professor of Computer Science and Vice-President Research and Innovation at the University of British Columbia. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), as well as co-founder of Tasktop Technologies Incorporated.
After completing her B.Sc. at the University of Alberta in 1987, she worked for five years as a software engineer in the Lower Mainland. She later pursued graduate studies in computer science at the University of Washington, earning first a M.Sc. (1994) and then a Ph.D. (1996) before joining UBC.
Dr. Murphy's research focuses on improving the productivity of software developers and knowledge workers by providing the necessary tools to identify, manage and coordinate the information that matters most for their work. She also maintains an active research group with post-doctoral and graduate students.
Dr. Miriam Spering is a psychologist and neuroscientist investigating how the brain uses visual information to control movements in humans. Her lab at UBC studies simple eye movements towards visual object of interest and complex sequences of eye, hand and body movements.
Prior to joining UBC in 2011, Dr. Spering was a postdoctoral fellow at New York University, funded by the German Research Foundation. She obtained her PhD in psychology and neuroscience in 2006 from the University of Giessen, Germany, and her undergraduate degree in psychology from the Universities of Konstanz and Heidelberg, Germany in 2002.
Dr. Steph van Willigenburg obtained a PhD in Mathematics from the University of St Andrews and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at York University and then Cornell University. She is currently a full professor at UBC Mathematics.
She is also the co-founder of the Algebraic Combinatorics Research Community to facilitate both research and mentorship for women in algebraic combinatorics. Her passion for mentorship also extends to her teaching, helping the next generation of mathematicians reach their full potential.
Dr. Navin Ramankutty is Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Data Science for Sustainable Global Food Systems at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA) and the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), University of British Columbia. He also serves as the Director of the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES).
Navin's research concerns global land use change and its implications, focusing on agricultural practice and the implications for environmental change and food security. He employs data and models to address the question of how to feed 9-10 billion people while reducing agriculture's environmental footprint.
Dr. Eli Puterman is an associate professor at the University of British Columbia's School of Kinesiology and the Canada Research Chair in Physical Activity and Health. His research, developed in collaboration with community, seeks to develop, evaluate, and disseminate physical activity programs and initiatives among hard to reach and equity-owed populations.
Dr. Puterman's work has been recognized with several young scholar awards, including from the Society of Behavioral Medicine (2014), the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research (2015), and the International Society for Psychoneuroendocrinology (2018). Dr. Puterman is an Associate Editor for Health Psychology, serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation, and is an Executive Member of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research Executive Council.
Dr. Jordan Guenette received his BHK, MSc and PhD in Exercise and Respiratory Physiology in the Health and Integrative Physiology Laboratory within the School of Kinesiology at the University of British Columbia. He received additional research training in Cardiovascular and Respiratory Physiology at the University of Copenhagen and in the Department of Critical Care Medicine and Pulmonary Services at the University of Athens.
Dr. Guenette is currently an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC, Director of the Cardiopulmonary Exercise Physiology Laboratory at St. Paul's Hospital, and is the Associate Director of the UBC Centre for Heart Lung Innovation.
Dr. Margaret P. Moss is an enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation (Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota), and is also Dakhóta. Dr. Moss is the first and only American Indian to hold both nursing and juris doctorates. She has been a nurse for 32 years, a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, and was elected to the Board of Directors. She was also appointed to the Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice (BPH) at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (2021). Dr. Moss was, one of two Indigenous women named on the inaugural Forbes 50 over 50 Impact List 2021. She published the first-ever nursing text on American Indian health, winning two book-of-the-year awards (2016).
Dr. Moss has been a RWJF Health Policy Fellow staffing the Senate Special Committee on Aging; a Fulbright Research Chair at McGill University on Indigenous contexts; and served as the interim Associate Vice President of the UBC Equity and Inclusion Office.