BC Environmental and Occupational Health Research Network

Hello BCEOHRN Members!

In 2008 I was involved with BCEOHRN to conduct a gap analysis for its Mentorship Program. I am pleased to be on board as the Mentorship Program Coordinator and continue the progress of this resource for BCEOHRN’s members.

The BCEOHRN Mentorship Program will focus on reaching all of its student and junior members at different academic levels and build relationships between peers and colleagues. The program will be delivered through a variety of approaches, some of which have already been implemented, and others to be established.

These include:
-Connecting mentors or mentees through the mentorship database
-BCEOHRN Special Interest Groups
-Providing mentorship and professional development resources through the BCEOHRN website

Further goals for the program in the upcoming year include:

-Offering workshops and seminars for professional development
-Providing opportunities for students to share and present their research
-Developing an internship branch of the program

I welcome any input or suggestions and look forward to further developing the BCEOHRN Mentorship Program.

Regards, Joann Yuan

Contact me at: mentorship@bceohrn.ca.

Mentorship Initiatives

Gap Analysis

The BCEOHRN Mentorship Program Gap Analyis was carried out in the summer, 2008. The report is available here.

Online Database

The BCEOHRN members’ database is an online searchable tool that provides both mentors and mentees the capacity to locate one another. If you are interested in becoming a mentor or a looking for a mentor, please edit your record to indicate so, or let us know and we can do that for you. Mentorship could take the forms of grant reviews and scholarship application reviews, with relationships being developed across the province. Visit the BCEOHRN members’ database.

BC University Mentorship Programs

Some BC universities offer mentoring programs. For a list of available programs, please refer to the BC University Mentorship Programs page.

Resources for Developing Mentoring Programs

If you are interested in developing a program for your unit or institution, a selection of online resources is available at the Resources for Developing Mentoring Programs page.

BCEOHRN Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

Special Interest Groups have been established to bring together members in several areas of interest. These groups are small, comprised of both senior and junior members, or groups of peers, and are flexible in terms of participants and guidelines. Mini-networks arising from this initiative could be of real benefit to members, including new grant proposals. Groups meet via WebEx/teleconference to address issues of interest to the group members across the province.

More information on these Special Interest Groups can be found at the links below.

• Special Interest Group on GIS (GIS SIG)
  Leader and Contact person: Ian Parfitt, UBC
• Special Interest Group on Water (Water SIG)
  Leader and Contact person: Corinne Ong, Ryerson
• Special Interest Group on Injury Prevention (Injury Prevention SIG)
  Leader and Contact person: TBA
• Special Interest Group for Students and New Professionals (SNP SIG)
  Leader and Contact person: Cheryl Peters, UBC
• Special Interest Group on Workplace Bullying
  Leader and Contact person: Diane Rodgers, BullyFree BC

If you, as a BCEOHRN member, are interested in starting your own SIG, or would like to have a Group started in a particular environmental/occupational health area, please contact us.

Annual Report on SIGs (formerly Peer-to-Peer/Mentoring Groups)

At the 2006 BCEOHRN Scientific Exchange and Annual General Meeting, Dr. Corinne Ong, Chair, reported on the Mentoring Program Working Group, which was struck at the November 2005 AGM. View PowerPoint presentation (.pdf).