Author: Jennie Bartosik

Applications are now open for Students in community: Engaging meaningfully (a joint initiative of the University of Victoria’s Community-Engaged Learning Office and Research Partnerships and Knowledge Mobilization).

Graduate and upper-level undergraduate students doing curricular community-engaged research and projects January to April 2023 may be eligible to apply to receive $1075 and be a part of a cohort with other community-engaged student researchers.

Applications will be accepted from now until January 9, 2023 or until all program spaces are filled, whichever is sooner.

Learn more about the Engaging Meaningfully initiative!

All questions about the initiative can be directed to communityprojects1@uvic.ca.

The UVic Society for Students with a Disability is looking forward to offering our peer support groups again next semester! These groups are a chance for disabled students to come together to share support and resources, as well as to build community. We have five groups that cover the topics of autism, chronic pain, invisible disabilities, learning disabilities, and mental health.

Interested students may sign up here:
https://bit.ly/SSDPSGWinter

We will poll students who sign up before January 10th to choose a time for each group, and registration will stay open until the groups begin in late January or early February. If we have space, we will continue to sign up students past that date, but some groups do fill up quickly.

Students in ES 407 are working on a social change project, with the goal of changing the signage of Cadboro Bay to be an honest and accurate representation of our history. See below for a link to their petition.

Hello! Researchers at the University of Victoria, Department of Computer Science are conducting research to design an interactive system to improve diagram accessibility for people with visual impairments.

If you meet the following criteria, we would love to hear and learn from you!

1. Consider yourself to be blind, visually impaired, or partially sighted;
2. Rely on the auditory channel, or auditory combined with other sensory channels to access information from a computer;
3. Use screen readers, braille-based systems, self-created solutions or others to access digital information;
4. Have an age of more than 18 years;
5. Reside in Canada.

During the study, you will be asked to participate in a remote interview session on Zoom or on Microsoft Teams. This session will be centred around understanding the current experience of you accessing diagrams and diagrammatic information, and assessing the need for a technology solution that could improve the accessibility of diagrams.

Insights gained from interviews with you will help us explore approaches to broaden access to diagrammatic information for people who may be otherwise left out or limited from the types of information they can readily access due to the constraints of how current technologies are designed (i.e., high reliance on visual channels of access). The result of this study will help inform the design of future computational systems to address diagram accessibility issues for people with visual impairments. The interview session will last 1 hour and as a thank you for your time we will provide an Amazon gift card of $30 CAD.

This project is titled “Improving Diagram Accessibility for People with Visual impairments”, and the researcher conducting this study is Yichun Zhao, an MSc student in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Victoria. This study is taking place under the supervision of Dr. Miguel Nacenta and Dr. Sowmya Somanath. The University of Victoria research ethics number for this study is 21-0425.

If you have any questions or would like to participate in this study, please contact me directly via email at yichunzhao@uvic.ca. Thank you, Yichun Zhao

This study recruitment information is also available through this accessible link: https://chunthebear.github.io/diagram-accessibility-research/.

Would you like to learn more about ocean science and climate studies as part of your science degree?

Join us 24 November, 2 PM in the Bob Wright Centre lab wing B121

Learn about the Minor in Ocean Sciences, joint programs with other departments, and some of the exciting careers that our graduates move on to.

Are you thinking about applying to Dental School? We’ve got some upcoming virtual events that we think would be perfect for you!

Virtual Mock DAT Day

Join us for a free practice DAT with The Princeton Review on Saturday, November 26th from 10am-1:30pm. You will be virtually proctored by one of our awesome reps! After the test, you will get free access to a detailed, interactive score report.

Virtual Dental School Symposium

In addition, Princeton Review will be hosting a virtual Dental School Symposium on Wednesday, November 16^th, from 7:00pm-10pm EST, 4:00pm – 7:00pm PST, 5:00pm -8:00pm MST, and 6:00pm-9:00pm CST.

This exciting event includes:

• Overview of the application process to dental school
• Strategy Session for the DAT
• Q&A panel of dental school students and grads to get all your questions answered

To register for BOTH events, please visit: www.princetonreview.com/dentaleventscanada.

Find the 6-digit event code (PSOId) for your campus and enter it here: https://secure.princetonreview.com/free-event-enrollment

Questions?
Call 1-800-273-8439 ext: 1207.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Are you hoping to attend IMPAC5 in Vancouver in February?

IMPAC5 has recently released an exciting call-for-applications for international youth ages 18-35 to participate in IMPAC5’s youth pre-congress and congress-based program. Ocean Wise is pleased to be leading the program, Coastal Connections, in coordination with the Government of Canada’s IMPAC5 team.  

Here are the program overviews for indigenous  and non- indigenous applicants and here’s the application page for youth to apply to.

In short, Coastal Connections offers pre-congress and congress-based programming for youth and young professionals. Youth can apply for multiple connections including virtual training, in-person team building, and an intergenerational knowledge exchange/mentorship program.  

We’re particularly looking to reach Indigenous and Northern youth, and there is a limited amount of funding to cover their accommodation, transportation, and registration to the Congress. Indigenous youth will be prioritized for this funding. It will be an extraordinary experience for a young person to accelerate their personal and professional development at IMPAC5.  

The application deadline is Nov 14th.  

The International Centre for Students will host an online (ZOOM) Information Session about Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) on Thursday, November 24th to guide international students’ transition out of University. In this session, students can expect to learn the most-up-to-date PGWP program information and tips to submit a successful application from regulated immigration practitioners.

UVic’s International Centre for Students invites you to their Virtual International Opportunities Fair!

November 14 – 18, 2022 (during International Education Week)

Tune in for live and recorded sessions: www.uvic.ca/iof

Learn about our academic exchange partner universities, international co-ops, field schools, and funding opportunities!

RISE-Globalink Research Internship

Mitacs is pleased to launch a special initiative in partnership with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The RISE-Globalink Research Internship (RISE-GRI) offers undergraduate students at Canadian universities the opportunity to undertake summer research internships at eligible German institutions.

Successful candidates participate in three-month research projects supervised by PhD students in Germany.

• Open to full-time undergraduates in biology, chemistry, computer science, physics, earth sciences, or engineering (or a closely related field) who have completed at least two years of a four- or five-year program.
  • Students in Quebec enrolled in a three-year undergraduate degree must have completed at least one year of their university program.
• Students must apply through the RISE application portal.
• Projects must start between May 15 and July 10, 2023.
• Successful candidates receive $6,000 toward travel and accommodations

Hello all you ghouls and goblins…

The Biology department’s Halloween celebrations have begun! Stop by the office for a treat and enter your guess into our candy count. The lucky winner gets to take home the jar full of cavities candies next week! For those of you in costume on Halloween day, stop by to pose for a photo and you will be featured in our November newsletter.

Are you thinking about applying to Medical School? The Princeton Review has got some upcoming virtual events thatwould be perfect for you!

Virtual Mock MCAT Day

Join The Princeton Review for a free practice MCAT on Saturday, November 5^th, 2022, from 9am-4:30 pm. You will be virtually proctored by one of their awesome campus reps! After the test, you will get free access to a detailed, interactive score report.

Virtual Medical School Symposium

In addition, The Princeton Review will be hosting a virtual Medical School Symposium on Thursday November 3^rd, 2022, from 6-9 pm PST.

This exciting event includes:

• Overview of the application process to medical school

• Strategy Session for the MCAT

• Q&A panel of med students and med school graduates

To register for both events, please visit: www.princetonreview.com/medicaleventscanada

ATTENTION! FREE MCAT Study Sheets

We have exclusive study sheets to help you prepare for the MCAT! If you would like a copy of each one, register for an event before October 14^th, and receive a 6-digit code!

Questions?
Call 1-800-273-8439, ext. 5293.

We look forward to seeing you at our events!

The Princeton Review Team

UVic Libraries welcomes applications to the Peter and Ana Lowens University of Victoria Libraries Special Collections Student Fellowship Program.  The Fellowships are open to UVic undergraduate and graduate students from any discipline.

Student fellows undertake an independent research or creative project using rare and unique materials from Special Collections and University Archives. Projects can include ongoing research or new areas of scholarship.  Student fellows receive a $1, 000 award, attend workshops, and are mentored by library staff and faculty. For more information see: https://www.uvic.ca/library/about/awards-contests/awards-fellowships/lowens/index.php. Applications are due November 15th.

Two information sessions will be offered in early November to provide more information about the program and application process. For more information about the sessions, and to register, please see: https://libcal.uvic.ca/event/3691193 and https://libcal.uvic.ca/event/3691197.