LFS Today May 7, 2021

New Face in LFS Communications!

We are happy to announce that Shannon Wong will be joining us as our new Communications Coordinator starting on Monday. She will be working closely with Karen Lee in creating compelling content for the Faculty’s websites, print materials and social media/digital communications. Having worked most recently as the Communications Coordinator for the BC Council of Forest Industries and prior to that, Communications Assistant for the Real Estate Council of BC, Shannon brings a level of experience that will strengthen our Communications Team!  Shannon holds a BA in Communications (Print and Digital Publishing Minor) from SFU.

We are excited to have her join the Faculty!  Shannon’s first day is Monday, May 10, so feel free to virtually introduce yourself next week! Her email is: shannon.wong@ubc.ca.

REMINDER: Notification of Workspace 2.0 Decommissioning by October 29

This is a reminder that Workspace 2.0 is being decommissioned and will be end-of life on October 29, 2021.

If you have already completed the migration, thank you for your efforts. No further action is required on your part.

If you have not yet migrated your files off of Workspace2.0 to one of the other file storage solutions that UBC has to offer, please do so as soon as possible.
After October 29, 2021, any files remaining on Workspace 2.0 will be permanently inaccessible.

For more information about the decommissioning of Workspace 2.0 and the various storage solutions that UBC offers, please visit: https://it.ubc.ca/storage
The webpage includes a link to a step-by-step guide for migrating files from Workspace to Microsoft OneDrive.

Contact the Learning Centre at it@landfood.ubc.ca if you would like further assistance with this migration.

Sustainable Friday

Your sustainability tip of the week is
Cut up old t-shirts to use for rags when cleaning around the office or lab.

Do you have a sustainability tip to share with your colleagues? Send it to mcm-lst@lists.ubc.ca and lfs.today@ubc.ca! Tips can cover a range of settings, from lab work to your community to working from home. 

NSERC Discovery Horizons Grants Launch and SPARC Support

On May 5^th NSERC announced the official launch of the Discovery Horizons grants, with a Letter of Intent deadline of June 15^th 2021.

The objective of this pilot funding opportunity is to support investigator-initiated individual and team Discovery research projects that broadly integrate or transcend disciplines to advance knowledge in the natural sciences and engineering (NSE) and would significantly benefit from being assessed by an interdisciplinary peer review committee. Full applications submitted to this NSERC program will thus be reviewed by a tri-agency interdisciplinary peer review committee, which NSERC is piloting in partnership with CIHR and SSHRC.

SPARC will offer support to interested applicants in the form of reviews of LOIs, with a May 26^th 2021 deadline for submissions to SPARC. Please contact Alex Unterberger as soon as possible if you are interested in receiving a review.

CIFST Webinar: Pushing the potential of food entrepreneurs

In 2015, Mike McNeil quickly jumped at the chance to build an accelerator program for food and beverage + health and wellness products founded by Canadian entrepreneur Arlene Dickinson. As the first accelerator of its kind in Canada, they learned things the hard way, but eventually, they prevailed. Last year, their accelerator companies did over $150 million in revenue.

Today, District Ventures is Canada’s ecosystem for consumer goods, featuring a commercial kitchen in Toronto, a $100 million venture capital fund, and marketing experts to support brand development.

Mike will touch on a variety of topics in this presentation. If you run a support program for entrepreneurs, you will learn what has worked for DV in propelling early-stage companies forward. If you’re an entrepreneur (or thinking of becoming one), Mike will share insights for getting started, raising capital, and some of the approaches that have worked for their entrepreneurs. Throughout his presentation, he will touch on the different resources in their ecosystem. He’s been on all sides of entrepreneurship, and he’s excited to share his experience during this webinar.

CIFST Webinar Speaker: Mike McNeil, Vice President, Accelerator & Kitchen Programs, District Ventures 

Wednesday, May 12, 2021
12:00 – 12:45 p.m. EST
Register: Click here

AAFC’s Youth Employment and Skills Program

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Program provides a wage subsidy to employers who hire youth for agricultural jobs. The program offers support for 50% of wages to a maximum of $14,000.

Employers can apply on or after May 5, 2021 for their project to be considered. Projects may start retroactively as early as April 15, 2021.

An additional $5,000 of funding is available to offset the costs of employee relocation or to offset the costs of barriers faced by youth.

Applications will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis as long as funds are available. Find out more.