The Berkeley Postdoctoral Association (BPA) is a volunteer organization of postdocs working to advocate for the postdoc and visiting scholar community at UC Berkeley. Alongside the VSPA-affiliated organizations, we strive to provide a network of support and professional development for postdocs and visiting scholars through workshops, social events, seminars, and other opportunities.
We keep a well-rounded schedule of events to enhance postdoc interaction, provide networking opportunities, provide resources for career advancement, and ensure we are doing our part to actively promote diversity, equity, and inclusion through our programming.
To this end, we currently have three programming committees:
Committee for Social Events
Committee for Career Development
Committee for Diversity and Inclusion
Calendar planning is underway through for the 2020-2021 academic year so stay tuned for event information!
In our 2nd workshop of the series ‘The Value of Research in Society’, we will discuss the role of researchers in politics with the help of our guest speaker Shaughnessy Naughton, chemist and former congressional candidate, now the founder and president of 314 Action, a nonprofit advocacy organization committed to advocating for the voices of scientists to be heard in Washington.
Whether you want to practice a new language or just speak in your native language, this is the event for you! Mark your calendar - The BPA Language Exchange is now running {virtually} once per month via zoom (3rd Wed of each month!)
Earlier this year, the BPA's Diversity Committee hosted an open discussion with our postdoc peers here at Berkeley to identify concerns and issues related to diversity & inclusion in our postdoc community. Diversity Committee Chair Caroine Figueroa presents our results in her blog post "Why Academia's Diversity Efforts Need to Include Postdocs" published at the beginning of this month. Great work Caroline! And thanks for all of those who participated in our discussion.
We are happy to announce an adapted version of the BPA Professional Development Award to temporarily fund online professional development courses during the shelter in place! In case you’re having trouble finding ways to be productive outside the lab or office, it could be a good time to take advantage of the large amount of online training available out there. Examples include taking online classes ranging from learning coding in python, communication skills, management techniques, entrepreneurship insights, writing, teaching, etc.