Who we are
The Trainee Advisory Committee (TAC) is composed of students and fellows from all academic levels and is representative of all WCHRI research disciplines. TAC engages in-training members in WCHRI programs / activities and is responsible for:
- providing career, mentorship and skill-building opportunities and resources
- providing feedback and suggestions to improve WCHRI programs and trainee engagement
- advising on WCHRI Research Day workshops, topics and format
- representing in-training member interests in WCHRI.
Current Programs
The purpose of the Mentorship Program is to provide meaningful mentorship experiences for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows involved in women and/or children’s health research. The Mentorship Program matches WCHRI trainees to leaders both within and outside of academia working in women and/or children’s health. The Mentorship Program runs annually from September to May and organizes events to encourage trainee professional development.
Eligibility
Mentees:
- Mentees must be supervised by a WCHRI member and be a graduate student in a thesis-based program or postdoctoral fellow; and
- Must either be an applicant to the WCHRI Graduate Studentship Award (GSA) competition or WCHRI Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (PDF) competition;
- Priority will be given to WCHRI GSA recipients.
Mentors:
- Mentors must be a current or previous WCHRI member; and
- Have held an academic position (assistant, associate or full professor) for >1 year; or
- Have received a Ph.D. in women’s and/or children’s health and currently work in a sector relevant to WCHRI.
Mentors will be recruited using the yearly membership renewal form sent by WCHRI each June. Non-academic members will be contacted via email. Interested individuals will receive a Google form to collect relevant information for matching.
Timeline and Commitments
Mentors and mentees will receive monthly communications to provide guidance on mentorship meeting topics and tools for mentee introspection. Mentees will be expected to participate in three events – an orientation, a mid-point workshop, and a year-end event.
| Event | Month |
| Recruitment | July – August |
| Orientation Workshop | September |
| Monthly Mentorship Meetings | September – December |
| Mid-point Workshop (mentees only) | January |
| Monthly Mentorship Meetings | January – May |
| Year End Event | May |
| Program Evaluation Survey | May – June |
This program aims to highlight research activities of current and past WCHRI-funded trainees, with the goal of increasing awareness of research activities and engagement with trainee members. TAC creates trainee focused content to incorporate into various media through WCHRI (e-newsletter, website and social media accounts).
Examples of profiles
- Ashton James: Building consensus on indicators of social and emotional well-being (September 2022)
- Samuel Yang: Connecting with communities to improve sleep education (June 2022)
- JuliAnn Thai: A summer of research (September 2021)
Please contact wchritac@ualberta.ca if you have any suggestions for future trainee spotlights!
This program seeks to offer a robust learning environment to further engage and promote undergraduate trainees’ interest in women and/or children’s health research as a career goal.
This program’s main event is a summer learning workshop series that offers students opportunities to enhance their knowledge on a wide range of topics, from effective research and technology tools to the exploration of career paths in health research and more.
This workshop series is open to all undergraduate students who applied to the WCHRI Summer Studentship Award Program. Additional learning workshops are held throughout the fall and winter and are open to all undergraduate students with an interest in women and/or children’s health research.
Please contact wchritac@ualberta.ca if you have any suggestions for topics to include in future workshops.
Upcoming workshops:
| Date | Topic | Speaker |
| June 13 | Indigenous Health and Taking Reconciliation | Shannon Cornelsen, urban member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation, researcher & undergraduate at the University of Alberta |
Membership
WCHRI in-training members from all levels have the opportunity to join TAC. Members will be selected by the current TAC members to be representative of WCHRI member faculties/departments, research themes and levels/types of training (i.e. undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral and residency). Principles of equity, diversity and inclusion will also be considered in this process. Expression of interest applications will be accepted year-round and will be kept on file until a relevant position opens up within one of the subcommittees. Membership will also be sought through a quarterly process as well.
To apply, please fill out the expression of interest form and we will be in contact within six weeks of application.
Term:
- 1.5 years (renewable). The committee will meet once every month or as needed. Each program subcommittee also has its own scheduled meeting/work times.
- There is an expectation that newly nominated members will be available to sit on the committee and their respective subcommittees for a minimum of 18 months.
A current list of TAC members can be found on our Governance page.
Questions?
Please let us know if you have any questions at wchritac@ualberta.ca.