Postdoctoral Achievements and Awards
The Faculty of Graduate Studies is excited to share postdoctoral fellow achievements and awards including the 3MP (3 Minute Postdoctoral Competition), Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow Awards and the James House Memorial Awards for Excellence in Postdoctoral Mentoring.
2025 3MP Competition
Applications for the 2025 Three Minute Postdoctoral (3MP) Competition will open in June.
2024 3MP Winners
The 2024 3MP Winners:
1st Place - Carmine Slipski, Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
2nd Place and People's Choice - Titus Olukitibi, Medical Microbiology and Infecitous Diseases
3rd Place - Abhay Srivastava, Physiology and Pathophysiology
3MP (Three Minute Postdoc)
The 3MP is modelled after the 3MT (Three Minute Thesis) competition held in universities worldwide.
The 2025 3MP applications will open in Summer 2025.
2024 3MP Challengers
Daniel Zogona -Food Science
Bioactive compounds in cereals and their potential health benefits
Titus Olukitibi - Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
Immune markers associated with the natural clearance of HPV
Kaustav Dey - Electrical and Computer Engineering
Stability analysis of controller hardware-in-loop electro-magnetic transient simulations
Minoo Dabiri Golchin - Occupational Therapy
An overlooked human right: Play
Abhay Srivastava - Physiology and Pathophysiology
Nanotechnology can direct cellular fuel burn and fight inflammation!!!
Carmine Slipski - Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
Development of a rapid saliva test for detection of oral health
Illia Roskoshnyi - Law
Legal technological unemployment in the age of AI
Nicola Gasparre - Food Science
Green technology for upcycling protein industry co-products into high value food ingredients
2024 Judges
Dr. Loren Oschipok, PhD, Director, Partnerships, Knowledge Mobilization and Innovation
Dr. Iain Crozier, Director, Programs, North Forge Technology Exchange
Anam Ara, PhD Candidate, University of Manitoba, 2024 3MT Winner, UM
2024 Prizes
First Place $500
Second Place $250
Third Place $100
People's Choice Certificate
Eligibility
This is a university-wide competition where competitors have 1 static slide and 3 minutes to explain the breadth and significance of their postdoctoral research and to highlight their research to a broad and diverse non-specialist audience.
This event is modelled after the UBC 3-Minute Postdoc Slam, USask 3MP and the Three Minute Thesis event (with a few adjustments). Three Minute Thesis originated at the University of Queensland in 2008.
- All active UM Postdoctoral scholars are eligible to apply to compete in the 3MP competition
- Challengers must apply through the link below, the application includes a 30 second video
- Presentations must be based on research that is directly related to the postdoctoral research on campus
Past 3MP Winners
2024
First Place: Dr. Carmine Slipski, Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
Research Title: Development of a rapid saliva test for detection of oral health
Second Place and People's Choice: Titus Olukitibi, Medical Microbiology and Infecitous Diseases
Research Title: Immune markers associated with the natural clearance of HPV
Third Place: Abhay Srivastava, Physiology and Pathophysiology
Research Title: Nanotechnology can direct cellular fuel burn and fight inflammation!!!
Meet the challengers here.
2023 Event Program
Watch the event recording here.
Read about the event and winners here.
2023
First Place: Dr. Oladipupo Olatunde, Food Science
Research Title: Novel and ecofriendly methods for sustainable protein production
Second Place: Dr. Abhay Srivastava, Physiology and Pathophysiology
Research Title: Stem cell based personalized drug selection platform can help choose the most effective therapy for patients with rare genetic disorders.
Third Place and People's Choice: Dr. Niketa Sareen, Physiology and Pathophysiology
Research Title: Modulating immunogenicity of stem cells to enhance their post transplantation survival.
Meet the challengers here.
2023 Event Program
Watch the event recording here.
Read about the event and winners here.
Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow Awards
2024 marks the inaugural offering of the Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow Awards by the Faculty of Graduate Studies at the University of Manitoba. This initiative aims to celebrate and support the exceptional work of early-career researchers across the university. By recognizing postdoctoral fellows with innovative research programs and outstanding contributions to knowledge creation and mentorship, the awards represent the university’s commitment to fostering academic excellence and advancing research in health sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and social sciences and humanities.
Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow Award Nomination Details
University of Manitoba Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow Award
2025 Nominations are now closed.
The Faculty of Graduate Studies at the University of Manitoba offers up to three Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow Awards to current/recent UM Postdoctoral Fellows. The goal of this award is to recognize and celebrate Postdoctoral Fellows with innovative research programs who are making outstanding contributions to one or both of knowledge creation and mentorship of junior researchers.
Each calendar year, one award will be offered in each of the following categories: Health Sciences, Natural Sciences and Engineering, and Social Sciences and Humanities. A certificate will be offered in each of the three categories to Postdoctoral Fellows who are/were current Postdoctoral Fellows in the calendar year of the award (i.e. between January 1 and December 31 of the previous calendar year).
Each nomination package must include:
(i) a letter of nomination from the principal investigator who supervises the Postdoctoral Fellow describing the reasons for the nomination, and highlighting the impact of the nominee's contributions (2 page maximum);
(ii) a current curriculum vitae for the nominee; and
(iii) a letter of support from the unit/department head where the Postdoctoral Fellow is appointed.
The Faculty of Graduate Studies will verify the eligibility of nominees submitted. One application from each department can be submitted, and in order to broaden the impact of these awards, previous winners are not eligible to be nominated again. The selection committee will be named by the Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies (or designate) and will include an Associate Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, three Associate Deans of Research/Graduate Programs from the three areas identified above, and one current Postdoctoral Fellow who is not under consideration for the award in the current competition.
2025 Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow Award Recipients
Past Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow Award Recipients
2024 Winners
Dr. Alireza Shamkhalchian
Dr. Shamkhalchian’s research in computational hydraulics models addresses challenges related to flood inundation problems, which are particularly important to the province of Manitoba. His work directly addresses the pressing challenges posed by the escalating frequency and intensity of flooding events, making a significant impact on the field and contributing to the safety and resilience of communities in the region, and worldwide.
Dr. Amani Hamad
Dr. Hamad is incorporating machine learning methods to conduct international multi-generational studies about mental illnesses and other chronic conditions.Her work focuses on constructing family health histories for the entire Manitoba population and characterizing the intergenerational transfer of mental illnesses using administrative data housed at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy.
James House Memorial Awards for Excellence in Postdoctoral Mentoring
Dr. James “Jim” Duncan House, a beloved professor, researcher, and mentor, passed away peacefully on September 10th, 2024, at the age of 57. Jim’s contributions to academia, especially in the fields of food and human nutritional sciences and sustainable protein, were immense. He served as the Head of the Department of Food & Human Nutritional Sciences at the University of Manitoba, and most recently, as the Manitoba Strategic Research Chair in Sustainable Protein. Jim also led as the President of the Canadian Nutrition Society, leaving a profound mark on the nutrition science community in Canada. Jim was also known for his mentorship of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The Faculty of Graduate Studies has named these awards in his honour.
James House Memorial Awards for Excellence in Postdoctoral Mentoring Details:
2025 nominations are now closed.
The Faculty of Graduate Studies will offer three (3) awards annually to recognize outstanding mentorship of postdoctoral fellows. Those holding academic membership in the Faculty of Graduate Studies will be eligible to receive an award. Normally, one (1) award will be given each year to one faculty member in each of (a) Social Sciences and Humanities, (b) Natural and Applied Sciences, and (c) Health Sciences.
Complete nomination packages must include;
(a) nomination letter that describes the nominee’s record of excellence in postdoctoral fellow mentoring (please see criteria below);
(b) letters of support from former and/or current postdoctoral fellows;
(c) other supporting documents or letters as appropriate;
(d) *an abbreviated curriculum vitae will be requested by FGS from the nominated Faculty member which includes a complete and detailed list of the nominee's record related to postdoctoral fellow mentoring.
The Nominator will be required to indicate under which category the person is being nominated and submit the supporting documents on behalf of the nominee (*excluding the abbreviated CV) by the application deadline to pdfellows@umanitoba.ca.
Winners will be selected on the basis of evidence of (a) sustained excellence in the mentoring of postdoctoral fellows, (b) responsiveness to postdoctoral fellow needs, (c) success in fostering a collegial environment of inquiry and critical thinking, and (d) encouraging postdoctoral fellows to create and disseminate new knowledge.
The awards will be adjudicated by a committee chaired by the Dean (Faculty of Graduate Studies) or designate. The committee will include the President of the Postdoctoral Fellows Association (UM-PDFA), the Associate Deans of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, and three faculty members selected from amongst the members of the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
