Grant: Collaborative Research and Training Experience

In the increasingly multidisciplinary and international world of science, traditional training programs for HQP are simply not competitive. We have proposed a novel training program which has four tiers. The first component is an international exchange which the students will undertake during their Ph.D., M.Sc. or B.Sc. degrees. This exchange will occur in either Japan, Sweden or France, to take advantage of existing exchange programs in these countries that can fund part or all of student travel. In particular, the Japanese government has invested significant funds with the aim of increasing the international experience of their students. Hence funds are available for foreign (e.g. Canadian) students and faculty to travel to Japan. In many cases, all of the travel and subsistence costs of Canadian students will be covered by the Japanese government. Existing collaborative programs between Queen's and universities in Sweden make this another obvious choice for an international partner. The large number of exchange programs available between Canada and France, and the ability of Canadian students to improve their French language skills during an exchange made this an excellent choice for the third country for exchanges. Industrial exchanges with one of the many companies who have expressed interest in this program will also be an option. The second aspect of the program is the development of new graduate modules that teach professional skills such as communication, organizational behaviour, financing, etc. The Department of Chemistry already has a nationally unique course in Scientific Communication, which includes sections on patent literature and other specialized types of scientific communication. A unique course on Scientific Ethics will be developed in collaboration with the Department of Philosophy, which will include the visit of one high profile scientist every year. International collaborators will also visit Queen's as the third pillar of the program, to give lectures and graduate courses. Finally, students will participate in multidisciplinary research in the area of chiral materials, for which Queen's is internationally renowned. Because of leveraging with other programs, 58 HQP will participate in this program.