Spark Connections: July 7, 2022

Welcome Lisa Kaida as Spark's Acting Academic Director 

Spark's Academic Director, Michelle Dion will be on research leave starting July 1^st - December 31^st 2022.

While on leave, Spark is thrilled to announce that Lisa Kaida will be serving as Acting Academic Director. Lisa joins us from the Department of Sociology. Lisa is the Vice President of the Canadian Population Society (2022-2024) and specializes in the social and economic integration of immigrants and refugees. Lisa brings a wealth of relevant experience and expertise to the role and we are so excited to have her!

The Spark Co-Lab is open!

McMaster has a free coworking space designed for research teams in LR Wilson 5803.  If you’re looking for a space to work, meet as a team, or engage with partners, you may wish to join The CoLab.

At Spark, we are excited by the energy that develops when people working on diverse projects interact, and so have built a coworking space where you can both focus and engage with other faculty, research staff, RAs and grad students across disciplines.

I'm interested. How do I join? It's simple. You can stop by for a brief (15 minute) orientation any time between 8:30 and 4:30 Tuesday and Thursday. Just ring the bell and someone will answer, or email us at talk.to.spark@mcmaster.ca to schedule a time to visit. We'll ask you to sign a user agreement, arrange for access to the space, and get you set up on our Booking System to reserve private spaces in the CoLab.

Who do you want to speak at Spark Talks 2022-2023?

Spark's weekly research talks (Fridays at 10:30-11:20 am) are back in fall 2022. Planning is already in the works for an academic year full of informative sessions by some great researchers. As always, we want to provide you with engaging content from people whose work or skills spark an interest!

Do you want to share your work?
      Great!  This is a supportive starting place for sharing your work across disciplines 

Maybe share your experience with a method, technology or research area?
      Yes, let's build our collective research toolkits and find others with the same interests

Expose others to someone whose work or career you admire?
      This is an easy initial engagement with Mac (and we pay stipends to external speakers)

Speakers can be anywhere in the world. All Spark Talks will be hybrid with a group convening in LR Wilson 5803 and available via Zoom. We have lots of open seminar slots from Sept 2022-April 2023, so can accommodate schedules!

Nominate a speaker

After another year of engaging seminars, Spark will be taking a break from Spark Talks during the summer months (May-Aug).

With excitement for Spark Talks return in Fall 2022, we will feature some of our favourite talks from this year in a weekly social media campaign on Twitter @Spark_McMaster. Join us on twitter every Friday at 10:30am during the summer for #SparkResearchReplay!

Check out the latest #SparkResearchReplay videos below:

Connect with Spark on Twitter

Midweek Meditation - July 13th

Spark is hosting drop in guided meditation from 3:00-3:45 pm bi-weekly on Wednesdays in LR Wilson 5803.  Led by Spark's own Allison Van, who is a long time meditator and has taught meditation for the last seven years, this is a no pressure time and space to let your thoughts settle.  

The next midweek meditations session is July 13th

Looking to pool software licences?

Now you can! Fill out this form and we will reach out if we can match you with others looking to pool licences.

We are also attempting a pilot in fall term allowing for virtual desktop access to several licenses for major Qualitative Data Analysis software, and will be seeking volunteers to test out the viability of this option.  FSS faculty, please email talk.to.spark@mcmaster.ca if you're interested in participating.  

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Research Conversations

We provide up to 4 hours of free support each year to all McMaster researchers (students, staff and faculty) on every social research topic imaginable.  If we can't help you, we'll help you find someone who can.   
Request a research consultation at https://forms.gle/7FciqxCtK5fN6AD97
 

Qualtrics Licences

If you are an FSS researcher who would like to request access to Qualtrics survey software, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/Gn2KvYgdebjo8d2W8.

Brighter Spark Applied Research

Spark offers custom research and evaluation, as well as highly skilled assistance in implementing virtually any social research method. Our cost-recovery services include methods and software training, custom research, state-of-the-art facilities, and taking on elements of your project to support its completion.
For a full list of Brighter Spark Applied Research's services, visit: https://spark.mcmaster.ca/brighter-spark

Help us profile your research, publications, job ads, opportunities, and upcoming events by sending them to: talk.to.spark@mcmaster.ca to be showcased in our following newsletter.

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2022 ICPSR Summer Program

For summer 2022, the ICPSR Summer Program will offer its renowned training program either in-person in Ann Arbor, or as a fully online format. The 2022 Program will feature a broad curriculum ranging from introductory to advanced courses in a variety of methods and techniques. 

Registration for the Second Session will close on Sunday, July 10, 2022.

Learn more about the summer program here

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Critical Global Health: Summer Workshop Series

Critical Global Health is hosting a "summer workshop" series led by Ph.D. students across McMaster University, University of Guelph, and Western University. This series aims to interrogate and critically re-think certain approaches and methodologies used within health research. Each event will be an hour-long and online via Zoom. All sessions are free! 

• July 14th @ 7 PM - Hanna Chidwick - An imagined future for global health? Problematizing a conceptualized framework for the future of the field
• July 15 @ 7 PM- Zoha Salam - The construction of "vulnerability" when researching health topics among racialized migrants
• July 21st @ 7 PM - Maya Stevens-Uninsky - Decolonizing Evaluation: imperialism in research through the lens of sexual health

Learn more and register for the workshops here

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Back to Mac: Getting Research Ready 

August 11th at 8:30-9:45am  (Online event, Event URL sent via registration email)
Hosted by: McMaster University Library, Ariel Stables-Kennedy

Whether you're starting your first year at Mac or you are coming to campus after a year of learning remotely, everyone is welcome to attend this orientation session, where you'll connect with peers and learn how to access various resources to support your success as a student.

Learn more and register here: https://libcal.mcmaster.ca/event/3676860 

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Data Matters : Data Science Course Series

A week-long series of one and two-day courses aimed at students and professionals in business, research and government. Data Matters gives students the chance to learn about a wide range of topics in data science, analytics, visualization, curation and more from expert instructors. Registration is now open, reserve your spot now!

Data Matters will be held virtually via zoom on August 8th-12th 2022

Learn more and register here

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Omni Search Tool Now Live at McMaster Libraries

After years of planning and preparation, a new library services platform is live at McMaster University Libraries. This catalogue is expected to better meet the needs of McMaster's academic community thanks, in part, to a search tool called "Omni". Omni includes the ability to find resources, narrow searches using filers, pin and tag materials, export citations, access collections at 17 partner institutions and more. 

Learn more about the Omni Academic Search Tool here

In this new section, we want to celebrate the achievements of colleagues, friends, and those doing important social research with the potential to spark a brighter world.  We welcome recommendations for kudos features (including for yourself).  Please send them to: talk.to.spark@mcmaster.ca.

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A big congratulations to Jessica Blackwood (Accessible Digital Media Specialist Supervisor) and Kate Brown (Accessibility Program Manager) who received the 2022 CUCCIO Community award for amplifying digital accessibility in education at McMaster University. CUCCIO is Canada's community of information technology leaders in higher education. 

Congrats to Robert Innes (Political Science), who has been announced as the incoming chair of the newly created Indigenous Studies Department. 
Learn more about Robert, and how he plans to build on the successes of the Indigenous Studies Program here

Kudos to Zachary Vrhovsek (Recent Grad, Econ and Mathematics) who was one of the winners of the prestigious Governor General's Academic Medal. This award is given annually to two exceptional students and recognizes high scholastic achievements. 
Read more about Zachary and the award here

Shout-out to Casey Scheibling (Sociology) who was featured in the recent InsideHook article titled "Where have all the dad blogs gone? Were they ever really here?".  Casey argues that "dad bloggers are reconstructing fatherhood and masculinities in ways  that promote care and equality overall"
Read the full article here

Kudos to Noah Fry (PhD Candidate, Political Science) who was featured in The Conversation article "Why New Zealand is right to call out Canada on it's dairy industry".
Read the full article in The Conversation here
 
Shout-out to the first cohort of the Master of Public Policy in Digital Society Program graduates (2021-2022), who crossed the stage at spring convocation. 
Read more about the recent grads here 

Spark: a centre for social research innovation

Website: https://spark.mcmaster.ca/
Linked-in: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spark-a-centre-for-social-research-innovation/about/  
Email: talk.to.spark@mcmaster.ca
Subscribe to Spark Connections: https://spark.mcmaster.ca/contact