Author: Kueneman, Karen

Staff, 2015 Fall

Western’s Knowledge Exchange School

You are invited to attend Western’s second-annual Knowledge Exchange School, which will be held virtually December 2, 9, and 16, 2020, with morning and afternoon ZOOM sessions offered each week. Topics will include:

  • An overview of knowledge exchange;
  • Enhancing academic writing for dissemination;
  • Developing knowledge exchange plans;
  • Engaging policy-makers;
  • Sharing research through geographical information system (GIS) mapping; and,
  • Writing a pitch for The Conversation Canada.

Open to faculty, staff, trainees, and postdoctoral scholars

For more information about sessions and registration, please visit the Knowledge Exchange School website. For more information about the school, accessibility or to request accommodations, please email Mariam Hayward, Knowledge Exchange and Impact Manager.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Online Events

GIS and digital mapping can be incredibly useful tools for researchers. On Nov. 16 – 19 the first Ontario-wide Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Days will be available for researchers.

This free, online event is open to all levels of GIS knowledge. Students, staff, faculty, and the general public are welcome to attend.

Visit the GIS Day main page for presentation topics, webinar links, and schedules.

Tune-in to lightning talk presentations, demonstrations, and tutorials throughout the week including:

  • The Geography of Pokémon Go
  • How a Kiwi surveyor ends up doing GIS in Scotland
  • GIS Applications in Astronomy
  • Mapping Canadian Tornadoes
  • Historical GIS and Virtual Environments for Immersive Gamed Pedagogy
  • The Discovery of Insulin
  • … and more!

It’s your chance to:

  • Discover how to take advantage of mapping technology in your research, education, or for your next job interview
  • Check out the latest GIS projects and research
  • Draw for a digital door prize
  • Join one of the networking sessions or the virtual trivia evening (Nov. 18)

All are welcome!

The Conversation Canada – Resources

As promised during the October 20 webinar, The Conversation Canada‘s CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Scott White, has supplied Western Research with their one-pager, A Quick guide to writing for the Conversation Canada.

Additionally, for those who were unable to attend—or had to leave early—Western Research has uploaded the recording of the meeting and it is accessible by all Western faculty, students and staff to view at their leisure. Watch the video.

Going forward, all of this information can be found on Western Research’s website. If you have more questions about The Conversation Canada—or its pitch and writing processes—please reach out to Will Kinchlea, Communications and Systems Coordinator at Western Research.

Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) Awards

The CFUW  provides funds for a range of post graduate awards and fellowships to women.

Amount: Varies by award

Deadline: December 14, 2020

Eligibility: Women; Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident in Canada

List of Awards…

Note: There is a “filing fee” for each application.

New Human Research Ethics Guidance Documents – Remote Consent

With the continued risk of COVID-19 exposure and as Public Health and institutional directives such as physical distancing continue to be mandated, researchers must think about converting studies involving in-person contact into remote methods of data collection. Modified study procedures may be carried out with Research Ethics Board approval when feasible (and only when appropriate).

The Office of Human Research Ethics (OHRE) is aware of the urgency to provide the research community with guidelines to support continued research activities. To that end, they have developed two new guidance documents:

Ethical considerations for remote consent and assent : This guidance document was developed by the OHRE in collaboration with six other institutions, including local hospitals, Western’s privacy office and the Lawson Health Research Institute. It provides guidelines for our research community for alternative consent processes, as opposed to the traditional in person consent process. In addition, it also provides a board framework for different consent options and documentation.

Western Qualtrics for electronic documentation of consent: Working closely with Western’s privacy office as well as Western’s Technology Services they have developed a guidance document that addresses specific requirements for the use of Western Qualtrics to document consent (electronic consent).

When conversion isn’t possible: There may be instances when it is not appropriate to make a specific change to your data collection (e.g. conducting in-person interviews about a sensitive topic and with a vulnerable population). In these instances, study activities may have to remain on hold until physical distancing requirements are not required.

Please remember that during these times, the logistics for any prospective research must be carefully considered. For more information, please see the past communication, Considerations for New Initial REB applications and Amendments for ongoing studies.

If you would like to review any previous memoranda or other communications, you can find them on the website under Communications and Memos. To review all guidance and template documents, please visit the Guidance and Templates page, or go to WREM (under HELP > Templates).

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the office at ethics@uwo.ca or 519-661- 3036.

Western Libraries Research Skills Workshops for Graduate Students

Western Libraries is excited to offer a series of free Research Skills Workshops that can help you better understand your research impact, how to retain your copyright as an author, scholarly publishing, data, and more!

These offerings will be of particular interest to graduate students. However, faculty, staff, and undergraduate students are welcome to attend.

Register Today! 

If you have any other ideas for workshops that could be offered, email them to: Western Libraries, Research & Scholarly Communication Team, Email:rsclib@uwo.ca

Northern Scientific Training Program

The Western Northern Studies Committee invites you to apply for:

The Northern Scientific Training Program (NSTP)

The Northern Scientific Training Program (NSTP) provides funding for senior undergraduates and graduate students conducting research in the North. 

This is a supplementary grants program which was put in place to help defray the high costs of conducting fieldwork in the North and to encourage students to develop a commitment to northern research. Students must also have other sources of funds to be eligible. The program funds thesis-based research projects on northern topics from all disciplines and in multi-disciplinary fields.

 Online application forms are available at: https://nstp-pfsn.smapply.io/ You will need to Register to create a new account, or login with your existing username and password.

The deadline for applications is November 10, 2020. The application portal will close after the deadline.

Further information on the program is available in the information manual, which you can access on the NSTP Application and Reporting system website: https://nstp-pfsn.smapply.io

Tips to submitting a successful NSTP Application and frequently asked questions are attached.

CRITERIA and ELIGIBILITY

The Program supports field research in any discipline – life, physical, human and health sciences – as long as the research has an essential orientation and impact on the North, and is part of the student’s thesis research.

Funding is available for ALL complete and eligible applications that are submitted from Western.  Typical awards are between $2000 and $3000, with a recommended maximum request of $4500.  Awards are intended to provide travel expenses for students already receiving research funding from another source (for example, a supervisor’s research grant).

The student must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and enrolled in a graduate or senior undergraduate program at a Canadian university.  The research must relate directly to their thesis (undergraduate honors, Masters or PhD) research. Part time students are eligible for NSTP funding.

A student who is employed or remunerated for their research in the field cannot receive NSTP.

Field schools are not eligible.

Geographic eligibility:  The research activity and travel must be north of the sporadic discontinuous permafrost line (approximately 50 deg N), ANYWHERE in the Northern Hemisphere.


SIMPLE APPLICATION PROCESS

IT IS EASY!  The application and statement of research require significantly less content and effort than NSERC, SSHRC or OGS!

Students must go online, create a profile and complete the online application form.  New supervisors will have to create a profile as well.  The forms for students and supervisors are available at: https://nstp-pfsn.smapply.io

Following the field season for which funding was provided, a brief report is required from the student through the online system. 

Please follow the instructions in the information manual on main page of the NSTP application system website. Incomplete or incorrectly formatted applications will be returned to the applicant for revision.  Applications received at the deadline that are incomplete or requiring changes may not be accepted.

Frequently Asked Questions

DEADLINES AND CONTACT INFORMATION

The deadline for completing the online application is 11:59 pm, November 10, 2020. The application portal will close after the deadline.

Please direct any questions to: Northern Studies Committee at northern@uwo.ca.

Research Recovery at Western – Phase 4

Research at Western is now in Phase 4 of COVID-19 recovery and all employees and students can be on campus as well as visitors including patients. Further, all ethics-approved studies can continue. The existing and on-going constraints include the limited proportional capacity of the campus, screening, research space cleaning, PPE and other strategies to mitigate virus transfer. Also, the guidelines regarding working remotely if that is possible remain in effect. 

Please see the attached document produced by Western’s Human Resources that provides guidance to the process of inviting campus visitors and the preparations they need to consider before coming onto campus.

More information…

FAQs

Human Ethics – Interpretations related to Covid-19

On behalf of the Panel on Research Ethics, the Secretariat on Responsible Conduct of Research has shared new interpretations to support the community in applying the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans, TCPS 2 (2018) during the current COVID-19 publicly declared emergency. The interpretations can be found at this link.

Reminder – Mandatory Human Ethics Training for Western Researchers

This is a reminder that Western Research is implementing mandatory human research ethics training for all research team members, including faculty, librarians, archivists, students, postdoctoral scholars and staff listed on research projects submitted to the human research ethics boards at Western.

Confirmation of completion of human research ethics training must be uploaded and acknowledged by the Manager, Research Compliance Programs and Education prior to starting any study-related activities.

Deadline for new research projects:

–All students listed on a new research project submitted to the human research ethics boards after October 1, 2020 must confirm completion of training by time of submission.

–All faculty, librarians, archivists, staff and postdoctoral scholars listed on a new research project submitted to the human research ethics boards after January 1, 2021 must confirm completion of training by time of submission.

Deadline for existing research projects:

All students, faculty, librarians, archivists, postdoctoral scholars and staff on existing research projects must confirm completion of training by the time of submission of their Continuing Ethics Review (CER) between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021.

Training options: Training can be completed in a variety of different ways. To access training options, information about confirming completion through OWL and answers to frequently asked questions please visit the Human Research Ethics Workshops and Seminars page.

Please do not send your certificate of training via email. Your certificate should be uploaded in OWL as per the instructions in the links above. The Principal Investigator must also maintain a copy of the certificate for all study members as spot checks may be performed.

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Grace Kelly, Manager, Research Compliance Programs and Education, 519-661-2111 x 84692.