Possible Direction of CoPEH-Can

In an email that Jack sent out earlier, he had a great point:  "it is very much in the hands of us alumni to make the community of practice be what we want it to be and to take the shape and form that we would like to see it in for our careers (academic or otherwise) down the road; in other words, we should be starting the process of getting our collective asses into gear and making it happen."

 

While we all can't attend the meeting in Feb, we could all be involved in the discussion around the possible directions of CoPEH-Can.  So, perhaps we can start this discussion here, and those that can attend the meeting in Feb can present the ideas posted here.

 

A great way to start this discussion might be to start with Jack's (GREAT) comments/suggestions he outlined in his email (thanks Jack!):

 

1)  Continuity following our theses/course: How exactly will we be integrating ecohealth after we finish? Many of you are spared the thought of considering this, but the end of my thesis is imminent, and I honestly don't know what to do. This is much more than your typical grad-existential-crisis. What opportunities are there for me to practice ecohealth? Should it just something private? Should it be an explicit project? 

 

2)  I would love it if the community of practice itself might have some projects we could plug into when we graduate. Most of us are not in a position to offer each other work opportunities, but maybe somewhere down the line. In any case, it would be fun to work together. Seriously though, I think we need to think about long-term funding. If we have nothing offered to us, we're likely just to pick up any damned job (anyone have know of postdoc fellowships kicking around, by the way?).

 

3)  In the same vein, I think the community of practice needs to be more dynamic. This may be because I'm fairly goal oriented, but I think it does play an important psychological role for us to feel as if we're participating in something worthwhile. Discussions are very important, but we all need to feel as if we're not only getting something, but also giving something so as to feel in some way invested in the community. It would be nice to feel as if we're doing something. One idea would be to somehow collaborate on projects. Or share our experiences. Or maybe write grants together. Or help each other out on forming research questions? 

4)  My ideal community of practice would be one where I would just have a good time working with, for lack of a better description. It's community where I would feel happy to call on for help, or to look someone up to say, "Hey, buddy (e.g., Wesley), I have this great project and I think you'd find it cool too. Want to pitch in? There may even be some coin for you."  But how to make it happen? Booze usually facilitates this, of course, though this may be impractical for many reasons. Fundamentally, we probably need to form social bonds before we can form strong professional bonds. But what do I know? Clearly, I'm just wino. 

5) Margot suggested the idea of a yearly association-type meeting. I think there are merits to that, especially as it could be a forum to introduce new members. However, I think there is merit in having something more intimate, where I think the nodal activities can play a strong role. So maybe a combination of nodal activities and a yearly meeting might be a good idea.

Comments

[Carli Halpenny]

Hello all and thanks Jack (oh I have missed those teng-style conversations!)

Working with the seeds planted by Jack I have a few ideas as well, pertaining mostly to how we stay in contact/communicate. I think that the web interface is an easy (and cheap) way to start as we work to larger projects, so here are a few suggestions I have.

1. Who are we?
While the students from each year know each other I still don't have a face for most of the 2008 alumni. I think it would be great to post our profiles (did 2008 write an intro before the course as well?). In these I think we should particularly highlight our interests and any specfic projects that are on the go,or in the planning stages. Hopefully this will work towards a more "goal-oriented" action and would also serve to introduce us to any new or interested folk.

2. Meetings
Could we use this forum as a way to post activities for the nodes? It would be great to have not only a schedule (in case we find ourselves travelling inter-nodally) but also to have a brief summary of what everybody is up to.

All for now,
Carli

[Jena Webb]

Hi all,

I have to say a big great thanks to Sheri for putting this blog together; it has really been a missing tool.

I like Carli's ideas and I think I can offer to pick up on them. I have the short biographies of both the 2008 and 2009 participants which I can alter to represent just the alumni and post here, if there are no objections. I could put it in "other," but it might be nice to have a separate category.

I can also talk with the nodal coordinators and get them to post the nodal activities here in "events."

I'd just like to add that as the CoPEH-Canada coordinators we're really just here to provide support, so anything we can do, just let us know.

Cheers,
Jena

[Lise]

I'm late the party, as usual - but I really have no excuse being on bed rest...

I like those ideas Carli and vote for them! Jena, I say go ahead and post the bio's - but I am sure many of us would like to update them from 2008 ;)