MURPH 2019-2020 Program

MURPH Scholar Nicole Ketter, fourth-year Biology and Psychology student at UBC Okanagan, got invited to the UBC Board of Governors meeting on Feb. 14, 2020 to talk about her experience with the MURPH program. After a presentation by UBC President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Santa Ono about implementation of UBC's Strategic Plan, that is Shaping UBC’s Next Century, Nicole shared with the Board members what she has gained through participating at MURPH and how this experience has encouraged her to pursue graduate studies after finishing her bachelor's degree this year.

The 9 MURPH research teams, encompassing 21 undergraduate Scholars, presented their posters at this year of UBCO Interdisciplinary Student Health Conference. The following two MURPH groups won the best poster awards in their respective research categories. Congratulations to Angela, Noman, Andrew, Joan, and Reece!

• Medical Technology Category: Joan Brewer, Andrew Nicholson, Reece Walsh. X-ray Vision: Seeing Radiation from Medical Procedures.
• Media and Health Category: Angela Leung, Noman Mohammad. Smoke-free Dads: A game changer for better health.

MURPH roadmap. MURPH offers a two-phase research engagement path to undergraduates admitted to the program. Phase 1 runs over the Winter Terms 1 and 2, and expects a part-time commitment from the students. Throughout this phase, a number of select multidisciplinary projects in applied health will be launched, each creating a unique platform for 2-4 undergraduates, named as MURPH Scholars, from distinct faculties (Arts and Science; Creative and Critical Studies; Education; Engineering; Health and Social Development; Management; and Medicine) to gain an unprecedented team-based research experience in the field. At the end of this phase, some of the projects will be selected by faculty and industry experts to extend to Phase 2 that spans the Summer Session, and offers a full-time research job opportunity to the involved undergraduate students. In addition to working on a team-based research project, participating undergraduates will be provided the opportunity to attend various research and professional skills workshops—such as multidisciplinary teamwork, data analysis, job interviews, research report preparation, and entrepreneurship—all to be organized and coordinated by MURPH administration. A top graduate student is also hired part-time to provide continual mentorship support to undergraduates over the course of the program.

Application deadline: Friday, August 16, 2019.

For Faculty Members

We are inviting faculty members at UBC Okanagan to submit their project proposals to MURPH for the Winter Session of 2019/20. MURPH Steering Committee, composed of a number of faculty members from the participating departments and institutes, will review and select the proposals for funding. Each awarded project will receive the following benefits:

▸Salaries of two part-time undergraduate students (10 hrs/week for 20 weeks)^I;
▸Financial support for project materials/supplies (maximum $1500);
▸Continuous mentorship support to hired undergraduates, offered by the MURPH Graduate Student Mentor as well as the Administration team.

The undergraduate students for each project will be selected, in direct consultation with the PIs of the approved projects, from the pool of successful student applications to MURPH.

^I Note that next to regular (paid) research assistant appointments, some other students who are applying to MURPH might wish to have their projects linked to a credited course, in which case they are not entitled to be paid; however, they will still be full members of projects (MURPH Scholars).

Projects Requirements. Each project must:

▸be relevant to health (any categories, e.g. biomedical engineering, public health, remote health, medical education, etc.);
▸foster cross-disciplinary partnership;
▸have two PIs, each from a different faculty at UBC Okanagan (Arts and Science; Creative and Critical Studies; Education; Engineering; Health and Social Development; Management; and Medicine);
▸create research opportunities for undergraduate students from distinct disciplines.

For Undergraduate Students

We are inviting all undergraduate students from any faculty at UBC Okanagan (Arts and Science; Creative and Critical Studies; Education; Engineering; Health and Social Development; Management; and Medicine) to apply for MURPH research positions over Winter Session of 2019/2020. Applicants must have an average of A- Cumulative GPA (80%) or higher, along with a clear vision and enthusiasm to get involved in highly multidisciplinary research projects in applied health.

MURPH offers participants the following opportunities:

▸A 20-week (starting September 16, 2019) part-time paid ($15/hour) research job in a laboratory setting at UBC Okanagan, with the potential of becoming a full-time job in Summer 2020;
▸A minimum of three training workshops on topics relevant to multidisciplinary research in health, such as multidisciplinary teamwork, data analysis, job interviews, research report preparation, and entrepreneurship;
▸Travel and accommodation support to attend the Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference in Vancouver (March 2020);
▸Continuous mentorship support provided through a graduate student dedicated to MURPH.

Note: If any student is willing to apply to MURPH as part of their requirements for a course, e.g. HMKN 499, FLEX, etc., they can still be considered as a full member of a MURPH project and a MURPH Scholar, but will not be eligible to be paid for it through MURPH, as the research experience will be part of their coursework.

For Graduate Students
To provide mentorship support to accepted undergraduates in MURPH along with assisting the senior management team with execution of the program, a part-time position (10 hrs/week for 11 weeks starting mid September) is available for graduate students at UBC Okanagan for Winter Terms of 2019/2020. This position is expected to provide a unique opportunity for the graduate mentor to engage with various research labs across campus and to gain mentorship and teamwork experience towards implementing a brand new undergraduate research initiative at UBC.

The applicants should have strong academic background and vision for multidisciplinary applied health research projects. The successful candidate can be a full time Master’s or PhD student in any faculties at UBC Okanagan.

For any inquiries regarding this program, please email Mahdi Takaffoli, MMRI Research Engineer, at mahdi.takaffoli@ubc.ca.