Did you know that many recent graduates lack skills that are important for their future careers?
Studies show that post-secondary graduates in Canada often lack skills and abilities valued by employers and research supervisors. This skills gap limits career opportunities and impedes growth and innovation in Canada's biotechnology and life science sectors.
We make high-quality talent development affordable and accessible to help students prepare for jobs in the bioeconomy or graduate studies.
Our program is an exceptional, affordable opportunity for post-secondary students to enhance job readiness and research preparedness through student-centred, student-organized, and student-led activities.
It has six 90-minute workshops where 6-10 students complete fun and engaging activities with the support of a student facilitator. The facilitator has volunteered to help other students take advantage of the program. They are also paid an honorarium.
Participants receive a certificate confirming the completion of a nationally-recognized skills development program!
The BioSkills workshops are student-centred, student-organized, and student-led, and reinforce and expand on the learning acquired by students completing online courses developed by BioTalent Canada.
These professionally designed courses are based on extensive labour market research and are part the BioTalent Canada BioSkills Recognition program. This program is designed to help graduate fresh out of university stand out from the crowd by showcasing their skills with an industry-wide recognized BioReady certificate.
We have a deal with BioTalent Canada, allowing us to give post-secondary students in Canada free access to their talent development programs. While students must purchase access, we provide workshop participants with a discount code to cover the full cost of the Essential Skills Fundamentals ($300) and the Technical Skills Fundamentals ($450) programs. We give students free access to the courses but have no role in developing, creating or delivering BioTalent Canada's online courses and we don't charge for access to them).
Workshop Schedule
Managing research and literature reviews
The workshop introduces the program and covers methods and tools to conduct and organize research efficiently. • Database use • Organizing research notes • Reference managers • Conducting a literature review
Efficient problem-solving strategies
This workshop covers concepts and approaches that students can use to improve their ability to identify and address problems and challenges. • Essential problem-solving skills and why they are important • Identifying strengths and areas for improvement • Strategies to strengthen problem-solving skills
Foundational skills and concepts
This workshop covers skills that deemed essential for bioeconomy jobs and BIOSTEM research, including and techniques that improves scientific reading and writting. Reading Skills • Key words and phrases identification • Skimming and scanning techniques • Question analysis writing Skills • Writing preparation • Plain writing and formatting Numeracy Skills • Metric system measurements • Number conversions • Laboratory budgeting • Concentration and dilution calculations Document Use Skills • Lists and tables • Entry forms • Charts and graphs • Flowcharts
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
The workshop introduces scientific reporting methods and approaches that students can use to ensure quality and reproducibility. • Producing scientific reporting reproducibility and accountability • Introuction to Quality Assurance (QC) and Quality Control (QC) • Standard operation procedures (SOPs) for QA/QC • QA/QC management systems • Health and safety practices
Communication and collaboration
The workshop introduces concepts and approaches that students can use to improve their ability to commicate and collaborate with others. • Communication and collaboration essentials • Tecniques to identify strengths and areas for improvement • Strategies to strengthen communication and collaboration skills
Effective management and work practices
This workshops introduces best practices approaches, including Standard Operating Procedures, Good Labotaroy Practice (GLP), Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). Laboratory work • Documentating experiments • Lab equipment and material usage • GLP SOPs Clinical work • Introduction to clinical practice • Applications of clinical research • Proper documentation and requirements • GCP SOPs Manufacturing work • GMP SOPs • Quality control requirements • Conducting investigations • Health and safety