Keep Your Research Out of Questionable Journals

“Predatory publishers present themselves as legitimate journals, claiming to provide peer review and editorial services. In truth, they will publish nearly anything that is sent to them (and paid for) with little to no quality control, as evidenced by the numerous examples of deliberately false papers submitted—and successfully published—by journalists and academics hoping to prove a point.” Read this blog post by Erin Zimmerman at Canadian Science Publishing for more information on identifying fake journals.

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Concordia Library Researcher-in-Residence

The Concordia Library Researcher-in-Residence program was created to promote research in the library and the use of research by practitioners. The program offers the opportunity for scholars, information professionals, or doctoral students to focus on an area of inquiry in a supportive and enriching environment, and to interact with Concordia Library staff and its resources.

Amount:
Current PhD student, postdoctoral fellow, or independent scholar – a stipend of $20,000, plus up to $2,500 for travel/research expenses

Deadline:   August 4, 2017  5:00 PM EDT (notification – September 2017).

Description: The residency period is from January 1 to December 1, 2018. Proposals which include alternative start dates and those of different duration will also be considered. For the 2018 Researcher-in-Residence program, Concordia Library invites proposals relating to any of the Library’s strategic plan goals as well as the following themes:

  • The role of the library in a next-generation university
  • The role of the library in the digital humanities
  • Collection development in an increasingly connected world
  • Use of space for learning and research
  • Digital libraries
  • Communication and outreach to users
  • Efficacy of library instruction
  • Professional development and capacity building of library staff

Eligibility: Researchers and practitioners from library and information studies including current PhD students, postdoctoral fellows, or independent scholars, faculty members on sabbatical leave, as well as other disciplines (e.g., anthropology, computer science, education, informatics, media studies, sociology)

More information and applications…

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Open Media Scholarship

Open Media Scholarship [OMS] is a nonprofit website … dedicated to promoting open access (OA) in media, communication, and film scholarship and teaching. The site features OA journals, books, and resources, along with searches for OA articles and datasets. The rationale for Open Media Scholarship is that media scholars … should be at the forefront of the OA movement …. All OMS data is free to download and reuse, under a CC by-nc 4.0 open access license. Download (as csv files) the most up-to-date journal, book, publisher, and resource data.” (source)

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Career Pathways in the Healthcare Industry

Queen’s Faculty of Health Sciences is hosting

Career Pathways in the Healthcare Industry

Thu May 11th 2017, 3:00pm – 7:00pm
Room 132A School of Medicine Building
15 Arch Street, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7M3N6

The event is designed to provide practical insights into the types of private sector career opportunities that are available to PhD and MD graduates.

The event will also be webcast so that students who cannot physically attend the event can participate. Program details and online registration can be found here: http://healthsci.queensu.ca/cpd/career_pathways

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Western Libraries Provides Access to Research Software Tools

See http://guides.lib.uwo.ca/dataandstatistics/software for information on how and where to access several different types of research software across campus. Included are links to a variety of tutorials and guides for each product.

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Richard J. Schmeelk Fellowship for French-Speaking Graduate Students

If French is your first language “you may be eligible to apply for the 2017 Richard J. Schmeelk Canada Fellowships.



Worth a total of C$10,000 per academic term for up to four terms in total, the Fellowship is awarded to Canadian citizens for graduate-level studies at Western.”  More information at The Wire.

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Mitacs Programs

Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that has designed and delivered research and training programs in Canada for 15 years. Working with universities, companies, NGOs and both federal and provincial governments, they build partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada. Their programs support research students.


Accelerate Program:
Build research partnerships while funding grad students. You and your supervisor apply any time for funding that starts at $15,000. Accelerate is open to both for-profit businesses and not-for-profit (NFP) organizations, such as industry associations, charitable organizations, and economic development organizations.

Description: Through Mitacs Accelerate, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows apply their specialized expertise to business-related research challenges. Armed with the very latest tools, techniques, and innovations, the intern (a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow) brings a new perspective to the problem faced by the partner.

  • Interns spend approximately half of the time on-site with the partner; the remainder is spent at the university advancing the research under the guidance of a faculty supervisor.
  • Open to all disciplines and all industry sectors, projects can span a wide range of areas, including: manufacturing, technical innovation, business processes, IT, social sciences, design, and more.

Funding: Each 4-month internship project receives $15,000 in direct funding, with the partner organization and Mitacs each providing $7,500

Applications: Applications are accepted throughout the year and projects may begin at any time.

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Scholars to Leaders Speaker Series

The Scholars to Leaders Speaker Series is an initiative of the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (SGPS) that is open to all students and scholars across all careers at Western – undergraduate, graduate, professional, and postdoctoral. The Series brings students together with university leaders who are uniquely skilled in mentoring candidates as they prepare for next stages of academic competition and global careers. The next talk:

The Random Walk to Excellence

Dr. Fred Longstaffe
Department of Earth Sciences
Western University

Wednesday, March 29, 2017
12:30 p.m.
IGAB Atrium

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MITACS: Globalink Research Award

The objective of the Globalink Research Award  is to support research collaborations between Canada and select partner countries. The award is open to graduate students. Students in Canada may conduct research in Brazil, China, France (at French universities or Inria Research Centres), India, Korea, Mexico, and Tunisia. Project duration is 12-24 weeks.

Deadline: March 31, 2017

Amount: generally $5000, however varies by destination

Note that letters of support are required from host and home supervising profs.

More information – Mitacs….

More information – SGPS…

Graduate students in Canada may also apply for the Globalink Partnership Award, which supports research projects abroad with industry partners in any country except the United States.  Applicants are encouraged to apply by June 9, 2017, for travel in Fall (2017).

More information…

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Advice for “Getting You Through Graduate School”

Karen Kelsky posts weekly to her blog, The Professor is In, on “topics related to the academic job market, academic life and politics, general professionalization skills related to writing, publishing, conferencing, networking, and scholarly comportment, and the tenure process”.

Kelsky’s advice to grad students comes highly recommended by at least one Western prof.

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