LFS Today Sept 20, 2022

News

LFS in the News

Marina von Keyserlingk comments on calf management

Marina von Keyserlingk, an NSERC Industrial Research Chair, was featured in The Western Producer in an article Public Considers Calf Age in Views on Slaughter.

She discussed findings of their survey that assessed public attitudes toward how surplus dairy calves are managed and how calf management practices influence these attitudes. Her research team distributed an online questionnaire in Canada and the United States. In total, 998 people participated: 502 in Canada and 496 in the U.S. “To our knowledge, ours is the first study suggesting that providing calves with a reasonable length of life is a key primary concern for the public when faced with the issues of early-life calf slaughter and cow-calf separation together.”

—–

Siyun Wang on the Enoki mushroom recall

CBC interviewed Siyun Wang regarding the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s recall of Enoki mushrooms, sold in B.C., for possible Listeria contamination. She talks about steps that food processors can take to prevent the occurrence of Listeria.

—–

News Release: Human-Animal Interaction Lab

UBC Media Relations has issued a news release announcing Sasha Protopopova’s lab in the MacMillan building New canine lab seeks four-legged research participants. The new Human-Animal Interaction Lab has officially opened and will soon be inviting pet dogs and their owners to engage in canine cognition research. The lab, which was renovated thanks to federal and provincial funding via the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the BC Knowledge Development Fund, has recently undergone inspections by UBC veterinarians to ensure it is safe for pups and their humans. The room is outfitted with specialized flooring for easy cleaning, high-tech 360-degree cameras, and a two-way mirror with an observation room next door where researchers can observe the dogs without being noticed.

MFRE Faculty Spotlight: Nishant Kalia

Nishant Kalia brings several years of experience to the MFRE program in derivatives trading and investment research for commodities such as sugar, coffee, and oil via the Commodity Trading Lab he teaches. In this lab, students have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the dynamic world of commodity trading.

Read more

Events

Seminar today! Does Online Activism Make Business More Sustainable

When: September 20, 2022, at 12pm

Where: Online or In person

Speaker: Dr. Hamish van der Ven, UBC Forestry – Wood Science

REGISTER HERE

Join Forestry’s Research Seminar Series with today’s talk titled Clicking for Change: Does Online Activism Make Business More Sustainable?

In recent years, environmental activism has moved from the ‘streets’ to the ‘tweets.’ Companies face increasing pressure to address the environmental concerns of social media users. But to what extent does so-called ‘clicktivism’ lead to meaningful changes in corporate environmental practices?

In this presentation, Dr. Hamish van der Ven examines a recent case of clicktivism targeted at the Canadian dairy industry. #Buttergate led to widespread concern about deforestation due to the use of palm oil derivatives in dairy cattle feed. By analyzing historical Twitter data and conducting qualitative interviews, Dr. van der Ven examines what #buttergate can teach us about the impacts of clicktivism more generally.

Nov. 29 – How Do I Get Started? Creating Safer Learning Environments for Indigenous Students in STEM at UBC

Within this session, we will explore a recently developed resource that responds to commonly asked questions about how STEM faculty can ‘get started’ with “Indigenizing our curriculum’ (UBC ISP Goal #4) and creating safer classroom environments for Indigenous students.

As a group, we will learn about the impetus for this student-partnered resource development, hear from Indigenous students about their experiences in STEM, and discuss how we, both individually and collectively, can foster more inclusive teaching and learning environments.

Tuesday, November 29

1:00 – 2:30pm

Learn more and register

Deadlines

Oct. 3 – Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellowships

PLEASE NOTE: The internal LFS application deadline is Monday, October 3, 2022. Late and/or incomplete applications will not be accepted.

The UBC Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellowships are provided annually from the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Fund for Advanced Studies and are available for most fields of research. The number of awards offered presently varies between three and five per year.

Value: Annual stipend of $50,000 for a maximum of two years plus a travel and research allowance of $4,000 over two years.

The application and nomination process is briefly summarized below. Refer to the Application Guide and Nomination Guide posted on the Killam webpage for complete details.

UBC Vancouver (UBC-V)

• Each UBC Vancouver department or unit sets its own internal application deadline for receipt of applications (typically early to mid-October). LFS internal deadline is Monday, October 3, 2022.
• Each department or unit at the Vancouver campus may forward one nominee to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies by November 10, 2022, at 4:00 pm PT. Note: Please refer to the list of units that may submit nominations (Applied Biology AABI, PLNT, SOIL, ISLFS and Food Science FOOD, HUNU). Rather than using UBC SharePoint, a Qualtrics survey link is provided in the nomination form and nomination guide for nomination submission.
• UBC-V contact: killam.fellowships@ubc.ca

For complete application and nomination details, as well as detailed eligibility requirements, please visit https://www.postdocs.ubc.ca/award/killam-postdoctoral-research-fellowship.

Applications, including supporting documentation, are to be sent electronically to shelley.small@ubc.ca