Workshops & Courses

Date

23 June 2025 (onsite and online)
09:00 — 13:00

Participation Fee

About the Workshop

Graduating with a Ph.D. in any field means that you have promising career potential as an academic and social policy influencer. However, you are faced with the challenge of career advancement in an impact factor world. You want to know how to work smart and rapidly advance your career. This starts with coaching on “effectively and efficiently” writing papers and grants. Having the knowledge at your fingertips makes the production process less effortful and more rewarding. This is why I decided to put together a series of three workshops.

This is your paper or grant

Biology refers to structure and function

Your paper is structured like a timer and it functions as if it is on a timer. The introduction starts wide and acts as a funnel. The narrowest part of the paper is the procedure, which is in the methods section. From the first to the last lines of your introduction, concepts become less abstract. We do the opposite for the discussion. Said differently, we start with how a problem affects a target population. Concepts then become testable variables that are increasingly related to a hypothesis with a representative sample. In the methods, the “how-to” and “what happened” parts are very technical. We then discuss how the variables specifically behaved in the results and then offer concrete conclusions, which become increasingly generalizable and applicable in everyday life. We end with how the findings could potentially affect the population at large. The whole time we want your paper to be enjoyable and inspiring. We also want people, worldwide, to get the message without too much effort.

A solid series of writing workshops should cover the essentials of paper production, from start to finish. From this I mean that we will cover how to produce a generic title page all the way to how to write a cover letter that should get the paper reviewed and hopefully published! This workshop also tries to help the writing along, by reviewing common errors that even experienced writers typically produce. It would be important to have a mental checklist of such writing hazards. When publication is achieved, it is also great idea to have a bit of knowledge about organizing yourself for possible media exposure. Here is the content:

Sample Excerpts from the Workshops

“…Over 4 o 5 afternoons… When I write a paper, I always get going with short a “purpose” paragraph, accompanied by the results and followed by the methods. I then simultaneously write the introduction and discussion, ending with judiciously chosen references that show readers that I consume research of the same caliber as my chosen journal… The last thing we typically write is the abstract.”

Content

Convener

Linda S Pagani was born of post cold war-first-generation Italian immigrant parents. She was raised in a working class-newcomer neighborhood of the Greater Montreal area of Canada. Dr. Pagani worked as a registered nurse (1984-1994) at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital of Montreal in medicine, surgery, CVA rehabilitation, and finally, psychiatry. During that decade, she also earned university degrees at both Concordia University (BA Psychology 1986-1989) and McGill University (MA and Ph.D. Educational and Counseling Psychology 1989-1993) in Montreal, Canada. In 1993-1994, Dr. Pagani pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in epidemiological psychiatry at the Université de Montréal, using some of the most valued and informative longitudinal data sets of North American children. After formally leaving hospital nursing in 1994, Dr Pagani began her professorial career at the University of Montreal. In 2005, Dr. Pagani was ranked Full Professor at the School of Psycho-Education. She also has served as Senior Researcher, since 1999, at the CHU Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center in the Brain Health Division. Her research expertise examines modifiable factors in early childhood that affect human development. Her energy has been targeted at ultimately improving social/health policies addressing youth. She has always viewed psychology research/practice as a branch of public health. Her unique long-term research agenda examines: (1) Associated risks of screen-time in early childhood; (2) Associated benefits of physical activity and risks of sedentariness in childhood; and (3) Risks associated with a multitude of family environment factors such as maternal depression, secondhand smoke, minimized social interaction time, and bedroom screens. Dr. Pagani teaches and supervises full-time at the University of Montreal and worldwide. For decades, she has taught research methods and scientific writing, social and health policy; and Clinical Evaluation and Treatment of ADHD. Her clinical expertise as a practicing clinical health psychologist is the diagnosis and care of young people with ADHD, anxiety, and affective disorders. She has expertise in crisis intervention. She offers 1-day, 3-day, or 5-day workshops on (1) Scientific writing for science outlets; (2) Mental health and well-being; (3) ADHD Diagnosis/Care and (4) Social Science Research/Epidemiological Methods. As an active clinical health psychologist and researcher, she has figured prominently in local, national, and international media and is the most visible Umontreal.ca of her generation. Given the accessible nature of her work, she was awarded health achievement of the year at Time magazine in December 2009 for her article in JAMA Pediatrics on children and gambling behavior. Examples: (1) TV makes tots less intelligent, chubbier | CTV News, (2) Analysis: Do family meals lead to healthier lives?, (3) Éducation | La société a changé | La Presse, and (4) « La surexposition des enfants aux écrans pourrait être le mal du siècle » | Le Monde.

Date

23 June 2025 (onsite and online)
15:00 — 19:00

Participation Fee

About the Workshop

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations in 2015, are important for both health care workers, academics, and professionals because these goals address global challenges that directly impact their fields. People share personal and professional responsibilities for addressing human and global challenges, such as poverty, inequality, and climate change. Many also care for family members, loved ones, and raise the next generation. Their roles are instrumental in shaping societies where the SDGs can be realized. Supporting those who support others through their expertise and discipline generates sustainable development and can improve working conditions, resource availability, and societal support. This can, in turn, personally and professionally benefit individuals, and the communities they serve.

Going beyond SDG 3 (good health and well-being) and SDG 4 (quality education), this class/training/workshop focuses on equipping Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) practitioners and researchers with essential mental health literacy skills to prevent burnout by fostering both positive emotion and a purposeful existence. By drawing on Martin Seligman’s Positive Psychology framework, we will explore techniques to enhance well-being through positive emotion, mindfulness, and strength-based approaches that promote joy and calm. Concurrently, we will integrate Carol Ryff’s existential well-being framework, emphasizing self-acceptance, purpose, and personal growth to cultivate a deep sense of meaning and fulfillment in both personally and professionally.

The specific objectives of this course are threefold: (1) to increase individual knowledge of one's unique existence; (2) to demonstrate an improvement in self-understanding relative to others to be able to mobilize one's values and actions optimally with people and situations; and (3) to strengthen/re-calibrate students' well-being (in favor of positive emotion and healthy coping strategies).

The teaching approach provides a stimulating blend of interactive activities, reflective exercises, and group discussions, participants will gain practical strategies to maintain mental resilience, foster emotional balance, and sustain long-term motivation in their critical work. By addressing both short-term life satisfaction and long-term flourishing, this workshop aims to help SDG workers, young and old, not only thrive in their careers but also align personal well-being with their local and global impact goals. Well-being is contagious and can be shared across human contexts.

Content

The content will be modular and uses psychometrics and active learning activities in individual formats and small and large groups:

Convener

Linda S Pagani was born of post cold war-first-generation Italian immigrant parents. She was raised in a working class-newcomer neighborhood of the Greater Montreal area of Canada. Dr. Pagani worked as a registered nurse (1984-1994) at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital of Montreal in medicine, surgery, CVA rehabilitation, and finally, psychiatry. During that decade, she also earned university degrees at both Concordia University (BA Psychology 1986-1989) and McGill University (MA and Ph.D. Educational and Counseling Psychology 1989-1993) in Montreal, Canada. In 1993-1994, Dr. Pagani pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in epidemiological psychiatry at the Université de Montréal, using some of the most valued and informative longitudinal data sets of North American children. After formally leaving hospital nursing in 1994, Dr Pagani began her professorial career at the University of Montreal. In 2005, Dr. Pagani was ranked Full Professor at the School of Psycho-Education. She also has served as Senior Researcher, since 1999, at the CHU Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center in the Brain Health Division. Her research expertise examines modifiable factors in early childhood that affect human development. Her energy has been targeted at ultimately improving social/health policies addressing youth. She has always viewed psychology research/practice as a branch of public health. Her unique long-term research agenda examines: (1) Associated risks of screen-time in early childhood; (2) Associated benefits of physical activity and risks of sedentariness in childhood; and (3) Risks associated with a multitude of family environment factors such as maternal depression, secondhand smoke, minimized social interaction time, and bedroom screens. Dr. Pagani teaches and supervises full-time at the University of Montreal and worldwide. For decades, she has taught research methods and scientific writing, social and health policy; and Clinical Evaluation and Treatment of ADHD. Her clinical expertise as a practicing clinical health psychologist is the diagnosis and care of young people with ADHD, anxiety, and affective disorders. She has expertise in crisis intervention. She offers 1-day, 3-day, or 5-day workshops on (1) Scientific writing for science outlets; (2) Mental health and well-being; (3) ADHD Diagnosis/Care and (4) Social Science Research/Epidemiological Methods. As an active clinical health psychologist and researcher, she has figured prominently in local, national, and international media and is the most visible Umontreal.ca of her generation. Given the accessible nature of her work, she was awarded health achievement of the year at Time magazine in December 2009 for her article in JAMA Pediatrics on children and gambling behavior. Examples: (1) TV makes tots less intelligent, chubbier | CTV News, (2) Analysis: Do family meals lead to healthier lives?, (3) Éducation | La société a changé | La Presse, and (4) « La surexposition des enfants aux écrans pourrait être le mal du siècle » | Le Monde.