I am delighted to share an invitation to a new Summer Institute for a course called LEAD: Lifelong Education and Development. I hope you can share this invitation throughout your networks, especially with graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, senior undergraduate (e.g., honours) students, and collaborators or professional contacts.
What?
LEAD participants build skills in mentorship, strategic learning, academic resilience, navigating difficult conversations, and project management. The activities and the assessments are designed to be authentic and immediately relevant, in that they are tailored to the work/research that participants are currently doing. The course has already been piloted and formally offered, with fantastic outcomes, and we’re excited to be able to reach even more learners.
Who?
LEAD is designed for early career researchers/students from any discipline, including postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and senior undergraduate students, and offers many opportunities to further develop professional and lifelong learning skills, to help participants better succeed through their studies and career.
Why?
Fostering innovation and scientific discovery in today’s fast-changing world, exceptional training is needed for graduate students and other highly qualified personnel. However, many issues can plague research and advanced training environments, including steep learning curves where many professional and learning skills are rarely taught. Further, many equity-deserving groups disproportionately face barriers to success. Our team developed this course to better equip and empower participants with lifelong learning and professional skills and foster more inclusive, equitable, and productive research and work environments. Supporting students in taking LEAD is one way that professors can contribute to building equitable, inclusive, and diverse training environments, as increasingly required by granting agencies.
How?
You can participate in the LEAD course in a few different formats: Anyone is welcome to join us during our inaugural Summer Institute, August 26–30 at uOttawa and Carleton University (register here); those who complete the course will receive a certificate. Students at uOttawa can alternatively take the course in Fall 2024 as a for-credit graduate course; offered in two parts, with each part worth 1.5 credits.
We welcome professionals!
On Friday, August 30, we’re inviting professionals and educational leaders to join us for networking and to exchange ideas. We’d love to hear from you and have participants share their experiences with you. Please let us know if you can join us (register here). We welcome professionals from industry, government, academia, etc.
Our team is dedicated to making graduate education more equitable, inclusive, and diverse. We welcome your suggestions and questions. You can learn more on our webpage.