Mihaela Harmos, Ph.D. and RCIC (A Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant) has been managing the postdoctoral services within the school of graduate and postdoctoral studies at Western University since January of 2011. An important area of her current activity is the development and implementation of programs aimed at enhancing the postdoctoral experience not only at Western University, but also in Canada. In November of 2011, Mihaela invited national stakeholders to Western for a national discussion around postdoc policy and administrative practice, with the objective of producing more consistency, more predictability, and a better international competitive position. In 2012, she co-founded the Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Administrators (CAPA/ACAP) – an organization which aims to share best practices and to promote the environment for successful postdoctoral training. She served on CAPA/ACAP’s steering committee for six years and helped developed five national institutional surveys to track changes in the quantity and quality of postdoctoral research support in Canada. In 2015, she received a Western Award of Excellence, nominated by her peers and postdoctoral fellows, to recognize her contributions to the advancement of postdoctoral services at Western. In 2016, after piloting the myIDP Science Careers at Western and launching the first mentoring program for postdocs, Mihaela was invited to facilitate a workshop “Design and Implementation of Individual Development Plans and Mentoring Committees for Postdoctoral Scholars”, at the National Postdoctoral Association Annual Meeting. Since March 2020, Mihaela has been chairing monthly national meetings, where the postdoc community was able to share best practices and updates, and served as the president of CAPA/ACAP.

Dr. Gavin Douglas is the Vice President Finance Operations for the McGill Postdoctoral Fellows Association. He is also a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Jesse Shapiro’s lab at the McGill Genome Centre. His research focuses on investigating the evolutionary forces driving gene variation in the honey bee gut microbiome. He began this work in May 2021 after finishing his PhD at Dalhousie University. While at Dalhousie University he had a tenure as the graduate student representative on his department’s Graduate Studies Committee. Please see his personal website for more details.

Gavin is passionate about removing logistical barriers that negatively impact postdocs’ research and personal lives, and also making sure that postdocs facing issues of any kind have a voice.

Johanne Ramahenina is a Program development analyst at Mitacs. Her team is accountable for working on designing, developing, testing, launching, operating, and continuously improving programs, including skills development opportunities, that foster innovation in Canada and contribute to public policy goals.  

Her current portfolio includes the development and continuous improvement of Mitacs curriculum, that was designed to complement the hands-on research skills and experience of Mitacs program participants and advanced degree graduates. Johanne held different positions within the Training department at Mitacs, including the oversight of Mitacs’ Training logistics and universities relationship across Canada.

Johanne holds a master’s degree in process and environmental engineering, and a specialized graduate diploma in management. 

Jonathan is currently the Manager, Graduate Completion & Postdoctoral Services at the University of Toronto. His previous roles at U of T include Career Educator, Institutional Strategic Initiatives Officer, and Professional and Graduate Skills Strategist. Nationally, Jonathan is the Project Manager for the CAGS graduate and postdoctoral development benchmarking survey and Chair of the Graduate and Postdoctoral Development Network Benchmarking Steering Committee. He is a co-founder of GPDN has been an expert peer reviewer and participant in a number of roundtables, discussions, and publications on future skills for highly qualified personnel, and he has written articles on graduate and postdoctoral skills development programs for Public Policy Form, Policy Options, University Affairs, Mitacs, and My Grad Skills. Jonathan holds a PhD in the history of science and technology, and has previously published on defence research and science policy in Cold War Canada.

Jennifer Raven (she/her – elle) is an Acting Manager within CIHR’s Science Policy Branch, responsible for the Training and Career Support team. Since first joining CIHR in 2010, she has held positions with the Institute of Infection and Immunity, and in a number of branches including the College of Reviewers, and Initiative Management and Institute Support. Additionally, from 2016 to 2019, Jennifer was on interchange with the Public Health Agency of Canada, as a Senior Advisor for International AMR Initiatives in the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control branch.

Jennifer holds a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Waterloo, and a Ph.D. in Experimental Medicine from McGill University.

Md Saifuzzaman is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the McGill Precision Agriculture and Sensor Systems (PASS) Research Team at McGill University (Macdonald Campus). He holds a Ph.D. degree from the Department of Bioresource Engineering, McGill University, where he investigated machine learning models and AI tools for crop production by integrating proximal soil sensing and remote sensing data. Prior to his work in the Department, he completed two master’s programs – an M.Sc. from Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh, and MES from Queen’s University, Canada.

Working with a large number of international organizations, he developed cutting-edge geospatial technologies along with satellite- and UAV-based imaging systems for precision farming. He has over eight professional affiliations, and chaired different executive committees and chaired numerous workshops, guest-edited special issues, and reviewed submissions to wide range of scholarly journals. Much of this research has involved collaborating with local and international researchers in environmental science, soil science, computer science, and broader geosciences. See more details on his personal webpage.

Ryan is a Lead in the Program Design and Delivery Branch at CIHR working in the Awards Unit.  His team is responsible for CIHR’s Fellowship program along with other strategic awards.  Prior to joining CIHR in 2022, he spent 5 years at the Canada Foundation for Innovation.  Ryan has a Bachelor of Applied Science degree from the University of Ottawa.

Renée Gibbins has been working in the administration of funding for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers since earning her M.A in English literature at the University of Ottawa. Since joining SSHRC in 2009, she has worked to support students and postdoctoral fellows at this important stage in their research career.

Renée Gibbins travaille dans l’administration du financement pour les étudiants de deuxième et troisième cycle, ainsi que les chercheurs postdoctoraux depuis qu’elle a reçu sa maîtrise en littérature anglaise de l’université d’Ottawa. Depuis son début avec le CRSH en 2009, elle travaille à soutenir les étudiants et chercheurs postdoctoraux pendant cette période importante de leur carrière en recherche.

Kayla Zavitske is a Manager in the Scholarships and Fellowships Division at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and has over 15 years of experience working on the development and delivery of tri-agency research training and support programs, both at NSERC and the Tri-Agency Vanier-Banting Secretariat. Kayla’s current team works on the program delivery of NSERC’s flagship undergraduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral programs, and leads program development initiatives for NSERC’s undergraduate and postdoctoral programs.

Anaïs Détolle is a Business Development Director (BDD) at Mitacs affiliated with Université de Montreal where she oversees all Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts projects as well as international programs. As a BDD she is in communication with all instances of the university for smooth operationalization of all Mitacs programs. She also is in constant contact with profs, students, and postdocs to review their proposals. She also develops internship opportunities in the private and municipal sectors. Anaïs holds a Ph.D. in Sociocultural analysis from Concordia University and a master’s in Anthropology from Université de Montréal.

Michelle K. McGinn is Associate Vice-President, Research and Professor of Education at Brock University in St. Catharines, Canada. She holds a PhD in Education from Simon Fraser University and a certificate in Research Administration from Mohawk College. Her primary interests include research collaboration, researcher development, scholarly writing, mentorship, and ethics in academic practice for (post)graduate students and established scholars. She is a co-investigator on the nationally funded “Academic Researchers in Challenging Times” project, where she is exploring the careers, practices, and identities of social science scholars and research administrators (see arictproject.com). As a long-time member of the Researcher Education and Careers special interest group of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction, she collaborates internationally to understand and respond to the needs and interests of early career researchers, including postdoctoral scholars.

Edris Madadian is an environmentalist who has been working in the energy and environmental engineering sector for nearly a decade. He obtained his PhD degree in Bioresource Engineering from McGill University with an emphasis on optimization of advanced biofuels production. In 2018, Dr. Madadian was awarded the prodigious Isaak Wilton Killam Postdoctoral Scholarship by Dalhousie University. In 2020, he was awarded the prestigious AMTD Global Talent Postdoctoral Fellowship by the University of Waterloo. His area of expertise is primarily in environmental remediation and design of renewable energy systems and sustainable engineering for a wide range of applications including agricultural/forestry, oil and gas, and automotive industries. Dr. Madadian is currently the chair of the Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars.

Dr. Paul Onkundi Nyangaresi is a Postdoctoral scholar at the Civil Engineering department at the University of British Columbia-Canada; Obtained Doctor of Engineering in Electronic Science and Technology from Xiamen University-China; MSc in Electronics and Instrumentation from Kenyatta University-Kenya; and BED (Physics and Mathematics) from Kenyatta University-Kenya.

Research interest: Application of UV-LEDs in water, air and surface disinfection; Design and fabrication of UV-LEDs and deep UV vertical cavity surface emitting lasers

Chelsea Smith (she/her) is the Professional Development and Postdoctoral Studies Coordinator at the University of Saskatchewan and sits on the Board of Directors for CAPA.  Prior to joining USask in 2015, Chelsea worked as a Program Associate, School of Environment and Sustainability at Royal Roads University and Program Coordinator, Leadership Development at the Banff Centre for the Arts.  Additionally, she has been a volunteer, organizer, and board member with Girls Rock Saskatoon since 2015.  Chelsea holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Saskatchewan.

Prof. Ioan NISTOR is the Past President of CAPA and is currently a member of the CAPA Executive Board.

Dr. Ioan NISTOR is a Professor of Hydraulic and Coastal Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering and Assistant Vice-Provost Graduate Studies at the University of Ottawa, Canada. Dr. Nistor studies hazards and impacts of extreme events (tsunamis and hurricanes) on coastal communities and infrastructure. Dr. Nistor has been also the Vice-Dean Graduate Studies and Interim Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at uOttawa.

Dr. Nistor is an elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), Fellow of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) and Fellow of the Engineers Institute of Canada (EIC).

Clara Spadafora is the Associate Director of Academic Records in Enrolment Services at McGill University.  Her primary responsibilities include leadership of the Academic Records team, management of academic records including postdoctoral enrolment and affairs, the integrity of the student record, implementation and maintenance of new and existing student records functionality, and provision of guidance and counsel to administrators across the university.  With over 25 years of service, she has influenced change and worked on continuous improvements in support of McGill University’s core mission.