University of Toronto Mississauga
Job Posting – Postdoctoral Fellow in Post-Secondary Educational Resilience and Productive Failure
Applications are invited for a fulltime post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Biology at the University of Toronto Mississauga to study educational resilience and productive failure. Specifically, we are interested in how students can overcome challenges in learning, embrace failure, learn from failure, and bounce-back from failure. Studies have shown failure is crucial to learning, however how to fail well and bounce back from failure is not commonly embedded into course design.
The postdoctoral fellow will be in a unique position to contribute to research and capacity building in resiliency-focused programming across the curriculum at the University of Toronto Mississauga. The postdoctoral fellow will be involved in all aspects of the research process and will have the opportunity to engage in applied pedagogical research using a range of methods and methodological frameworks. In addition, the fellow will be actively involved in knowledge mobilization activities, with opportunities to co-author publications, design pedagogical materials, and present research both at scholarly conferences and to key stakeholders in the university community.
Preferred qualifications include:
• Ph.D. or equivalent, earned within the last 5 years, in a field related to post-secondary education, ideally with an interdisciplinary focus.
• Experience working on curricular design and teaching materials
• Experience with relevant literature and education research methods, expertise in quantitative research methods and statistics (proficiency in multilevel statistical modeling using R, STATA, SAS, or HLM), and experience with qualitative research approaches such as conducting interviews with think-aloud prompts, and conducting focus groups.
• Interdisciplinary knowledge and experience
• Ability and desire to work collaboratively, and mentor team members and research students
• Project leadership, time management, communication, and writing skills
To apply:
Applicants should submit a cover letter, CV, and 2-3 page research statement including relevant background and experiences, as well as the names and email or phone contacts of three professional references to: nicole.laliberte@utoronto.ca. Use the subject heading of “UTM PostDoc Productive Failure.” Review of applications will begin on May 15, 2020.
Annual Salary: $45,000. Additional funding will be provided for conference travel and professional development.
Term: The Postdoctoral Fellow will be appointed for a one-year period with the possibility of extension for two additional years based on satisfactory performance.
Supervision: The primary supervisor will be Dr. Fiona Rawle, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Biology. The postdoctoral fellow will be provided further supervision in a co-mentorship model by Dr. Nicole Laliberte, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Geography; Dr. Mairi Cowan, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Historical Studies; and Dr. Ken Derry, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Department of Historical Studies.
Please contact Dr. Laliberte (nicole.laliberte@utoronto.ca) with any questions.
FTE: The normal hours of work are 40 hours per week for a full-time postdoctoral fellow (pro-rated for those holding a partial appointment), recognizing that the needs of the employee’s research and training and the needs of the supervisor’s research program may require flexibility in the performance of the employee’s duties and hours of work. A part-time position may be negotiable.
Employment as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto is covered by the terms of the CUPE 3902 Unit 5 Collective Agreement.
This job is posted in accordance with the CUPE 3902 Unit 5 Collective Agreement
The University of Toronto Mississauga is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from racialized persons / persons of colour, women, Indigenous / Aboriginal People of North America, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ persons, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas.