Are you someone who is looking to develop your communication skills? Do you like planning events or would like to network with the Glycoscience community? Would you like to have a say at what happens at the trainee level? If this sounds exciting to you, then the GlycoNet Trainee Association Executive Committee (GTA-EC) has an amazing opportunity for you.
The call for the 2021-2022 GTA-EC is now open and we are looking to recruit enthusiastic trainees like you who can support and enhance trainee development. 

If you are still contemplating whether or not you should join the team, take a look at what 4 GlycoNet trainees have to say about their experiences as a GTA-EC member:

Revathi Reddy (Communications Officer 2019-2020, 2020-2021)

I first joined the GTA-EC in 2019 as an introverted graduate student who was completely new to the field of Glycoscience, despised small talk at conferences and had a hard time networking with peers and mentors. Since then, it has been an amazing 2 years of improving my soft skills and making meaningful connections within and beyond the GlycoNet community. In my capacity as the Communications officer, I had the opportunity to develop my creative writing skills and interview a number of trainees working in different areas of glycoscience. Working with GTA-EC has been a rewarding experience and has taught me essential skills that I would not have learned by just being a bench scientist. 

Jolene Garber  (Symposium & Webinar Series Representative 2020-2021, Incoming chair 2021-2022): 

It was a weird year to join the GTA-EC with being suddenly thrown into adapting to the COVID-19 world. We faced unique challenges for how to generate engagement in the community when everything had to be done virtually and I’m proud of what we were able to accomplish despite these. I feel that I was able to make connections with GlycoNet investigators and trainees this year and I had a lot of fun and learned new skills. Serving on the committee gave me an additional sense of purpose and feeling of belonging, which was especially important during this challenging year.

Reilly Pidgeon (Communications Officer 2020-2021)

What a year it has been! Despite the challenges of the pandemic, I managed to gain a lot from participating in the GTA-EC: I developed my scientific communication and community outreach skills through the Instagram page and the CuriOSEity blog. I also improved my collaborative skills by working with the communications team. By contributing to the GTA-EC, I learned to be more out-spoken (relative to radio silence in the past), which is something I’ll bring to future committees.

Omozojie Paul Aigbogun (Members-At-Large 2020-2021)

The GTA-EC has provided a platform for me to expand my leadership and communication skills. We have had to adjust and be innovative with the covid-19 pandemic and it has been an interesting experience to share ideas and work together to have a successful year.

In summary, by being a part of the GTA-EC you can contribute towards the development of the next generation of Canadian glyco scientists while making your own voice heard. Sounds interesting and want to join the team? Checkout the call for applications for more information. We look forward to knowing more about you and seeing some of you in the next term!