FREE MEMBERS EVENT

Ultimate Academic writing Hacks

Dr, Ryan Arthur

Dr. Ryan Arthur is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education at Durham University and
an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Warwick's Institute of Advanced
Study. He holds a PhD in Socio-Legal Studies, an MA in Education, and qualifications in
coaching. He brings extensive academic leadership to his work. most notably through
senior roles directing learning development programmes at Birkbeck Business School
and the Institute for the International Education of Students. His research and practice
concentrate on inclusive higher education, the awarding gap, and the design of highly
engaging, student-centered learning environments.

Session Description:

What happens when we frame academic writing skills as “hacks”? This interactive keynote explores the rationale behind this approach and considers what constitutes a writing hack. Through hands-on examples, participants will try practical strategies and reflect on their potential to make academic writing more accessible and manageable. The session will also critically examine the benefits and limitations of a hack-based approach, considering how these strategies can support, or potentially oversimplify, the development of academic writing skills.

Session Outline:

• Introduction
• Rationale: Why frame academic writing skills as "hacks"?
• Defining the Concept: What constitutes a writing hack?
• Interactive Section: Hands-on examples of applying hacks in practice
• Critical reflection: Weighing the pros and cons of a hack-based approach
• Q&A

FREE MEMBERS EVENT

ADHD and Focus Strategies

Miriam Unruh

Miriam has been working with PSE students since 1990, first as a coordinator of the Student Accessibility Lab at the University of Winnipeg, then as Coordinator of the UW SAS for two years, before moving on to coordinate the Academic Learning Centre (formerly the Learning Assistance Centre) at the University of Manitoba. No longer director, but still in the same department, Miriam works with graduate students on writing, Health Services students as a Learning Specialist, and as an ADHD coach. She also teaches a credit course (Introduction to University) that fulfills the UM writing requirement every fall.  Miriam loves working with students and the variety of work required by all her different “hats.”

Session Description:

This workshop explores Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and its impact on students’ learning and behaviour. I will focus on the interaction between emotion, working memory, and attention through the lens of current neuroscience research on ADHD. 

Learning outcomes:

• Develop a basic understanding of ADHD and executive functions.
• Learn how impaired emotional regulation can impact a student’s ability to focus and get work done. 
• Understand how the task-positive network (TPN) and the default mode network (DPN) impact neurodiverse students’ ability to study/learn
• Gain strategies on positive reframing, student overwhelm, and developing the students’ ability to leverage their interests (vs. importance) when faced with daunting tasks. 

FREE MEMBER EVENT

The Science of Learning: Interactive Q&A

Dr. Pooja K. Agarwal

This session will be an interactive Q&A based on Dr Agarwal's 2022 SXSW EDU keynote

Please watch the video before attending the session and bring your questions for Dr Agarwal.

FREE MEMBER EVENT

Managing Bias in Student Interactions

Dr. Arlette Herry

Dr. Arlette Herry wears several hats at St. George’s University - she serves as the Vice President for Multicultural Affairs, Chair of the Department of Medical Humanities and History of Medicine; and Director of the Masters in Clinical Community Psychology. These roles may seem many and varied but they have a common thread – they allow for ways to channel her passion for serving groups who are marginalized by inequitable systems – health, education, or otherwise – by creating inclusive environments.

Dr. Herry is a health psychologist whose areas of research and expertise include health equity, sense of belonging, aging and older adults, stress management across the lifespan, and minority stress, with an emphasis on how structural, cultural, and contextual factors shape mental health and health outcomes in underserved populations. Her peer-reviewed research includes publications on vaccine hesitancy, with particular attention to psychosocial determinants of health behavior.

In addition to her scholarly work, Dr. Herry provides leadership in student and faculty development, including training on implicit bias, creating inclusive and psychologically safe classrooms, and effectively engaging with underserved and marginalized populations.

FREE MEMBER EVENT

Graduate Writing

Dr. Rachel Cayley

Graduate students often have a uniquely challenging relationship with writing. Given those challenges, a new way of thinking about graduate writing can be powerful. In order to shift their perspective on academic writing, graduate students need consistent and concrete support with their writing. In this talk, Rachael Cayley will discuss how to help graduate students to build a new mindset before presenting some key writing principles and strategies. 

Rachael is the Director of the Centre for Graduate Professional Development at the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto. She is also an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream in the Graduate Centre for Academic Communication. Before joining the University of Toronto, she worked as an editor at Oxford University Press in Toronto. She has a PhD in philosophy from the New School for Social Research and a BA in political science from the University of British Columbia. Rachael has a blog, Explorations of Style, which discusses a wide range of topics associated with graduate writing. Her book, Thriving as a Graduate Writer (University of Michigan Press, 2023), offers principles, strategies, and habits for effective academic writing. Her new project, Writing Together (University of Michigan Press, 2025), is an co-edited collection about the way writing groups use sociality to support graduate writers.