In January of this year, UBC Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies was approached by Shawna Lawson, Program Assistant at Tapestry Wesbrook Village, a vibrant seniors retirement community just South of campus. A partnership grew around the desire for UBC graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to present their research to Tapestry residents as part of a regular seminar series. These seniors have a unique and established history with UBC, as many are retired Professors, Emeriti or Faculty, and Shawna saw this program as an opportunity to connect these life-long learners with leading edge research at UBC.
The idea came to fruition this month as the first of the Masterclass Speaker Series was held at Tapestry at Wesbrook Village. Active Aging was the topic and featured PhD Candidate Erin Macri (knee osteoarthritis), and postdoctoral fellows Dr. Glenn Landry (sleep quality) and Dr. Brodie Sakakibara (mobile-health to improve self-management) from the Faculty of Medicine.
With 60 residents attending, not a single seat was left empty. The residents asked pertinent and pointed questions during the Q&As, and kept the speakers for nearly 30 minutes after the lecture ended to answer even more questions. By all accounts a huge success!
Future Sessions:
May 28th at 2:30 – Understanding Ecohealth: Human health and its relationship to animals, microbes, and the environment. Confirmed speakers are UBC graduate students Kaylee Byers, Dept. of Zoology, and Martha Liu, Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology.
June 25th at 2:30 – Featured speakers will be UBC Law’s Andrew Pilliar, who researchers access to justice and lawyer career satisfaction, (a 3MT 2012 finalist) and Courtenay Crucil, Dept. of Education and Counseling Psychology, who researches the integration of social justice into counseling psychology practice (One of SSHRC’s top 25 Storytellers 2015)
Priority seating is for Tapestry residents but all members of the UBC community are welcome to attend.
UBC graduate students or postdocs interested in presenting in the series should email jacqui.brinkman@ubc.ca Manger, Graduate Pathways to Success Program.
The Masterclass Speaker Series takes place monthly (with the possible exception of July and August) at:
Tapestry at Wesbrook Village
3338 Wesbrook Mall
Vancouver, BC V6S 0A6
T: 604-225-5000
www.discovertapestry.com