What is MURPH?
MURPH is a new undergraduate research program at UBC Okanagan, awarded through the UBC’s Program for Undergraduate Research Experience (PURE) competition, aiming to offer a unique cross-disciplinary platform to undergraduate students for engaging in academic research, while also providing professional training through custom-designed workshops. The core component of MURPH includes project teams comprising multiple undergraduate students and faculty members across different disciplines working together on applied health research projects.
List of Projects and MURPH Scholars
Building Resilient Rural Communities: Understanding the Mental Health Impacts of Climate Change Events and COVID-19 Dr. Nelly D. Oelke (Nursing) and Dr. Carolyn Szostak (Psychology)
Management
Nursing
Incorporating Cultural Safety in a Diabetes Prevention Train-the-Trainer Program: Building and Testing Inclusivity Content into a Digital Educational Learning Platform
Dr. Mary E. Jung (Health and Exercise Sciences) & Dr. Braden Te Hiwi (Community, Culture, and Global Studies)
Human Kinetics
Biochemistry and Indigenous Studies
All My Relations: Indigenous Youth and Elder Wellness Circle
Dr. Donna Kurtz (Nursing) & Dr. Charlotte Jones (Medicine)
Psychology
Nursing
Nursing
Maximising the potential of wearable activity trackers and global positioning systems to characterise complex human movement behaviours in health research
Dr. Christine Voss (Medicine) & Dr. Homayoun Najjaran (Engineering)
Engineering
Human Kinetics
Community-Led Action for Resiliency Important Throughout Youth (CLARITY) Project
Dr. Sana Shahram (Nursing) & Dr. Karen Ragoonaden (Education)
Human Kinetics
Biochemistry
MURPH Graduate Mentors
PhD student in Applied Science
PhD candidate in Biology
MURPH is supported by
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 setting for a minimum of 2 undergraduates, named as MURPH Scholars, from distinct faculties to gain an unprecedented team-based research experience in health-related fields. At the end of this phase, some projects will be selected by the program management team to extend to Phase 2 that runs over the Summer Term and offers a full-time research job opportunity to the accepted undergraduates. In addition to working on a team-based research project, MURPH Scholars will have the opportunity to attend various research and professional skill development workshops uniquely designed by the MURPH team. Two graduate students will also provide continual mentorship support to the Scholars over the course of the program.
The last year program supported 9 applied health projects encompassing 10 disciplines with a total of 19 faculty members and 21 MURPH Scholars. Please learn more about students success story and the programs highlight from previous year here; the 2019-2020 program webpage can also be found here.
2020-2021 Special Program
MURPH is now accepting applications from faculty members, undergraduate students, and supporting organizations interested in conducting multidisciplinary research projects for the upcoming (September 2020-April 2021) academic year. To learn more about the application process, please click on a link below that is relevant to you.
Special program: Given the current pandemic, for this academic year, the preference will be given to projects that are digital in nature and can be performed by students remotely. Topics of interest by faculty members and industry partners will remain relevant to applied health and may contain any theme (e.g. biomedical, public health, remote health, medical education, design of personal protective equipment, novel diagnostic tools, sharing data and management, app development, etc.).
Application deadline: Tuesday, September 15, 2020
For Faculty Members
We are inviting all faculty members at UBC Okanagan to submit their project proposals to MURPH for the Winter Terms 1 & 2. The MURPH management team 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);
▸Continuous mentorship to hired undergraduates, provided by the MURPH Graduate Student Mentors.
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.
Please note that all the awarded PIs must attend the MURPH launch meeting, to be held in October 2020, and the mid-term program review meeting, to be held in January 2021 (these meetings will be held digitally or in-person).
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, but they can still be regarded as the participants in the program (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; Science; Creative and Critical Studies; Education; Engineering; Health and Social Development; Management; and Medicine);
▸create research opportunities for undergraduate students from distinct disciplines; and
▸be conducted virtually (preference will be given to projects that are digital in nature).
For Undergraduate Students
We are inviting all undergraduate students from any faculty at UBC Okanagan (Arts; Science; Creative and Critical Studies; Education; Engineering; Health and Social Development; Management; and Medicine) to apply for MURPH research positions for the Winter Terms 1 & 2. Applicants must:
▸ have a strong desire and commitment to become involved in a multi-disciplinary research project focused on applied health;
▸ have a willingness to collaborate with others outside their discipline;
▸ hold a cumulative GPA of A (80%) or higher;
▸ commit to a minimum of 10 hours per week on the research project for 20 weeks;
▸ attend 4 professional virtual workshops which consist of pre and post workshop preparation, in addition to the workshop itself (4-6 hours commitment/workshop);
▸ attend 2 virtual research conferences in March 2021;
Note: The students who have participated in the MURPH 2019-2020 program are not eligible to apply again for this year.
MURPH offers participants the following opportunities:
▸a 20-week (starting October 5, 2020) part-time paid ($15/hour) research job, remotely working with two faculty members (or in the lab only when feasible, due to the current pandemic);
▸Skills development workshops on topics relevant to multidisciplinary research in health;
▸continuous mentorship support provided by two graduate students 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 their time through MURPH, as the research experience will be part of their coursework.
For Companies
MURPH is seeking partnerships with organizations interested in conducting multidisciplinary research projects for the upcoming academic year (September 2020- April 2021). We are inviting all interested parties to submit their project proposals to MURPH. Project proposals will be evaluated and short-listed by the program management team. If you are selected to participate, the MURPH staff will help you build connections with research faculty and student teams that have the expertise and lab facilities related to your proposed project.
Given the current pandemic, preference will be given to projects that are digital in nature and can be performed by students remotely. Topics of interest should be relevant to health, but may contain any theme (e.g. biomedical, public health, remote health, medical education, design of personal protective equipment, novel diagnostic tools, sharing data and management, app development, etc.).
For any inquiries regarding this program, please email Mahdi Takaffoli, MMRI Research Engineer, at mahdi.takaffoli@ubc.ca.