Latest News
- Category: Latest News
Every few years, a new program director is appointed to each of Telfer’s graduate and executive-level programs. Following the favourable recommendation of the selection committee, Dean Stéphane Brutus announced Professor Walid Ben Amar as the newest PhD Program Director at the Telfer School of Management who will serve a mandate of three years from July 1st, 2022, to June 30th, 2025.
Meet the New Program Director
Walid Ben Amar is an Associate Professor of accounting at Telfer with a Master of Accounting from Université du Québec à Montréal and a PhD in Business Administration from HEC Montréal. Professor Ben Amar teaches both financial and managerial accounting courses at the undergraduate and MBA levels. He also serves on Telfer’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, driving forward Telfer’s goals for creating more inclusive and diverse programs.
History of the PhD Program at Telfer
For over 40 years, there were ambitions for Telfer to launch a PhD program under Dean François Julien’s leadership. Professor Barbara Orser stepped in alongside Danielle Bennette under the support and guidance of Dean Julien to go through the stages of creating this program. After years of dedication and considerable effort, approvals were reached in 2013 and the program was launched in 2016.
The program’s first director, Professor Silvia Bonaccio, was integral to the program’s success, after spending two years helping to build the program prior to its launch. Professor Mirou Jaana took over as program director following Professor Bonaccio’s mandate. Professor Jaana was credited with launching the first revision of the PhD program, resulting in the addition of a new field of study: Strategy and Organization.
Today, the PhD program has six key fields of study: Accounting and Control, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Health Systems, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources, and Strategy and Organization.
We celebrated the successful first Telfer PhD graduating cohort when Vusal Babashov was the first to complete his PhD in Management after successfully defending his thesis in 2021. Vusal shared that the experience of completing his PhD at Telfer made him a better person, a self-motivated leader, and an avid problem-solver.
Thank you Professor Chreim
The most recent and former PhD Director, Professor Samia Chreim, had a huge impact on the program. “Under her leadership, the progress of students in the program was remarkable, despite very difficult circumstances,” shared Dean Brutus in his announcement of this leadership change. Among other things, Professor Chreim implemented more flexibility for our PhD students, provided mental health support to students during the pandemic, organized countless information sessions, and established the PhD student lounge. Thank you to Professor Samia Chreim for her hard work and dedication to our doctoral program and its students.
- Category: Health Systems Management
Telfer PhD candidate, Peyman Varshoei, started his doctoral journey in 2017 when he moved from Iran to Ottawa. Since then, he has started on his three-chaptered thesis for his PhD in Management with a Specialization in Health Systems. He met his wife (Elmira Mirbahaeddin) who is also a doctoral candidate in the same PhD program at Telfer School.
The focus of his research relates to various medical scheduling problems which includes patient appointment scheduling, staff scheduling, clinic block scheduling, home-care nurse scheduling, routing, and more. After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of his research became evident more than ever. His research contributes by strengthening pandemic-wave recovery through preventing extreme back-log of elective surgeries cancelled during the earlier waves of COVID-19.
Becoming a Telfer PhD Student
Peyman was connected with the Telfer PhD program when he was consulting a graduate student who was working on her master's degree project in Iran. Through this project he was introduced to professor Jonathan Patrick.
“[Professor Patrick] encouraged me to apply to the PhD program at Telfer School, I heard about Telfer before, and I knew it has generous packages for international students and also has powerful computer labs that could facilitate my research” explained Peyman. “It was a pleasure for me to apply and be admitted to Telfer.”
Thus Peyman began his PhD journey and is now starting his fifth year in September 2021. Peyman has previously completed his Bachelor’s of Science in industrial engineering in which he graduated with distinction and was invited by the same school in Iran to directly pursue a master’s degree in Systems Engineering. This engineering background provided him with an interdisciplinary perspective and the required methods and skills to work on complex mathematical problems, particularly in healthcare analytics.
“I chose to do my PhD in Management with the Specialization in Health Systems because I did some research in that area during my undergraduate and graduate years in Iran. I was searching for opportunities to expand my knowledge in advanced analytics techniques, and to also explore the connections between my area of interest with health systems management.”
His educational background and eagerness to learn drove him to research newer topics such as business optimization and medical scheduling.
“I have always been passionate to work on innovative ideas that optimize health systems. . So, choosing this PhD program and focusing on the optimization of scheduling in health care services gave me the opportunity to enhance my skills and apply my knowledge to health care problems in the real world.”
Learning and skills acquisition
Peyman has been keen on developing his ability to learn how to learn. By challenging himself with new topics and problems, he managed to exercise many learning curves.
“I’m learning things everyday non-stop. I need to improve my skills regularly, so I am trying to explore new ways that I can quickly learn. I am happy with everything that I have explored throughout my research,” he states as he emphasizes the importance of getting out of his comfort zone to enhance and advancehis skillset while obtaining his PhD.
Peyman faced many challenges that he overcame by adopting an open mind with curiosity. He explained “I explored a lot in the literature because I didn’t have a broad background in optimization. My background was mostly in simulation modeling” he adds: “I had to find a way to solve new optimization problems during my research. For example, in my first chapter, I had to figure out how to make a trade-off between two or more conflicting objectives through connecting a stochastic and a deterministic optimization model and spent days figuring out how to do it. I learned new programming languages as well as several solution methods for addressing the problems that I am working on.”
Working with supervisors
His main resource for obtaining new knowledge, he said, was access to professors and researchers who were knowledgeable and willing to advise him during his research in the areas that he was interested in. In addition to his supervisors, Peyman had the opportunity to engage in research and teaching activities with the other Telfer faculty members. Therefore, he has been able to further expand his experience through various research projects as well as teaching undergraduate courses. Peyman refers to the faculties at Telfer: “they made my PhD program even more fruitful by generously sharing their professional experience and knowledge in research with me.”
Professor Jonathan Patrick, also commented on Peyman’s enthusiasm towards learning: “One of the real pleasures about working with Peyman is his willingness to take on new tasks and learn new methods and/or software. He is not afraid to tackle new methodologies and readily asks for guidance if he is uncertain. These characteristics of his will stand him in good stead as he continues in his career as a researcher.”
During the first two years of PhD, Peyman went through his coursework. He explained: “My supervisors supported me in many ways, for example, in choosing the right method courses and the other ups and downs that an international newcomer PhD student from another educational system might face with. Moreover, they guided me to the additional skills and methods that I needed to prepare for my comprehensive exam and my thesis program of research. I believe this individualized support has been of great importance for the progress of my thesis research.”
Being a PhD Student During COVID-19
Researching a Pandemic from Home
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Peyman, like many, was unsure how his education journey would continue. However, it turned out to be the pandemic itself that led him to develop what would be the first chapter of his thesis.
“While I was exploring different home care problems in the literature to start developing the first optimization problem in my thesis, the pandemic started. We identified a new problem about admitting elective patients to hospitals during pandemics, which later became my first chapter. The problem was how to admit elective patients in a hospital during a pandemic while ensuring the hospitals are ready to empty some capacity for pandemic patients in case of a surge in the pandemic-driven demand” explained Peyman. This problem became evident after the first wave of COVID-19 hit and hospitals faced massive backlogs of elective surgeries because of the cancellations.
“What happened during the first wave was a new situation for the hospitals because they were afraid of the coming COVID-driven demand and they emptied lots of beds and resources for a predicted demand that never happened during the first wave. So, their resources remained under-utilized while they had cancelled many elective procedures and caused a massive backlog of elective patients.”
Peyman put his focus on this new topic, despite the uncertainty around the topic and its solution method. His COVID-19 research was pursued in pandemic-style: at home.
“I was at home all the time during the pandemic. I followed the news that was relevant to my research.” shared Peyman. He specified that because it was a novel problem in the literature, he had a lot to delve into when working from home. “I read the news a lot, I searched for keywords and specific news articles. I worked hard to develop a new methodology.”
Eventually, he was able to develop a solution to this issue: an elective patient scheduling policy that would allow admitting patients during the pandemic waves while ensuring the hospital can empty enough beds for pandemic patients over a short warning period.
Managing the Impact of Future COVID-19 Waves
With his research Peyman hopes to lessen the negative impact of COVID-19 and other pandemic waves in the future.
“We may see more covid waves later. In the future, we can benefit from the lessons learned during the first wave and I believe the findings of my research can help hospitals to minimize cancellations.” he explained.
The model would help hospitals to adapt quicker and more efficiently than the first wave of COVID-19, allowing for a faster post-pandemic recovery.
Participating in Conferences
When Peyman progressed with his research and developed the structure for the forthcoming chapters, his supervisors invited him to present the findings of his first chapter at the Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS) 2021 annual conference. “This was a great opportunity for me to share this research and to get feedback from the participants and experts in this area. Happily, we received encouraging comments from the audience, especially about the novelty and timeliness of the topic as well as the innovative method that was developed” He said. Peyman also presented in 2021 annual Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research (CAHSPR) conference.
Finishing a Thesis
Peyman states that the main goal of his research is “making a balance between the needs of patients and the utilization of health-care resources and to find an optimal/near-optimal solution”. He keeps that in mind as he works towards finishing the next chapters of his thesis.
His next steps will include delving deeper into solution methods for the complex problems he is trying to solve in home-care nurse scheduling and routing problem and cancer clinics block scheduling.
“I am going to develop a heuristic/metaheuristic method that is able to provide a good quality solution in a reasonable time, which is what operations research analysts do when it is impossible to reach the optimal solution for combinatorial mathematical problems.”
The impact of his research is not only applicable now more than ever but could change the efficiency of planning and scheduling within the Canadian health care system for the better.
- Category: Telfer Announcements
On January 18th 2021, Telfer Nation celebrated an important milestone in the young history of its Doctorate in Management program when Vusal Babashov successfully defended his thesis and became the first PhD graduate of the School. Like the challenges of a candidate’s doctorate journey, the celebrations were well in order as it took a lot of effort, research, and the work of a whole team of faculty and staff members to finally create what is now the renowned PhD program at the Telfer School of Management.
History of the Telfer PhD
Developing a new degree program, especially a doctorate program, is a long process and an exciting challenge for any academic team. Telfer’s executive team, faculty members, and graduate office came together to create a program that reflects the vision of the School, value of a PhD and cutting-edge, valuable learning experiences for students. The program’s evolution also exemplifies the leadership of women faculty and staff in all phases of development, including inception, design, implementation and evaluation.
The School had been in discussions about creating a PhD program for nearly 40 years.
Telfer’s former Dean, François Julien, shared the challenges that come along with creating a new program: “The most credible and reputable PhD Programs are anchored in research excellence. The prerequisite to creating a PhD Program was to build a research culture within the School, and to develop faculty members in graduate supervision. The School-wide research culture was built over the past twenty years through various incentives to stimulate research productivity and excellence, and through the recruitment of professors who were not only excellent in education and teaching, but who were also actively engaged in influential and impactful research programs.”
At least four previous attempts to develop and launch Telfer’s PhD program were initiated in 1995, 1999, 2004 with Clarkson University, and 2008 with Babson College, respectively. The creation of a PhD program is truly a lengthy ordeal, as a lot of important facets need to be in place before anything official can happen.
Progress towards elevating research excellence at the School in hopes to eventually launch the PhD was well underway when the School created two research-based M.Sc. programs. The creation of the M.Sc. in Management in 2007 was directed by Professor Ajax Persaud who led colleagues in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship fields. The M.Sc. in Health Systems was launched in 2008 with Professor Wojtek Michalowski who led colleagues in the Health Systems Management field.
Dean Julien reflected on his involvement in these programs as Associate Dean of Programs and as the School’s Vice-Dean between the years of 2005 and 2010: “I had the pleasure of participating in faculty recruitment, and to work with colleagues in the creation of the School’s first research-based programs. Later, as Dean, I supported Professor Barbara Orser in the development of the PhD program, and Professors Silvia Bonaccio, Mirou Jaana, and Samia Chreim who successively became PhD Program Directors.”
In 2009, Telfer established a Graduate Studies Taskforce to consider a ‘built-in-Telfer’ doctorate, and in 2010 the Telfer PhD Committee was formed to establish standards for the program and conduct research into existing Canadian and international doctoral degrees.
Subsequently, 2011 and 2012 were the years when program details such as curricula, disciplines, and structure were established. These decisions were made collaboratively through consultations with faculty members and various stakeholders, benchmarking with and market research of competing programs. Many lengthy proposals were written, including plans for new faculty positions. Professor Barbara Orser served as the Chair of the Telfer PhD Committee from 2010 to 2013 and worked on setting up these program details alongside Danielle Bennett, the Executive Administrator of Telfer’s Graduate Programs at the time.
In 2013, approvals were reached with the University of Ottawa’s Senate and a number of its committees, the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities, and the Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance.
This then led to an evolving discussion on cross-disciplinary studies, and to bringing on new hires to doctoral students. Five key fields of study were created within the program: Accounting and Control, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Health Systems, and Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources. Each PhD candidate would choose one of these fields in which to specialize through their research and seminars.
Prior to 2016, the Telfer School was already offering several programs targeting different audiences: a bachelor’s degree for young professionals starting their careers, professional masters' programs for early to mid-career managers and emerging leaders, research-based masters programs for aspiring analysts, management researchers and consultants, and executive programs for experienced professionals.
In 2016, the program was officially opened for business when Professor Silvia Bonaccio led the program as the first PhD Program Director. Professor Bonaccio was glad to see the PhD program added to our portfolio: “this was the next step in the growth of the Telfer School; we had a roster of world-class professors who were eager for the opportunity to work alongside doctoral students and train the next generation of researchers. I was thrilled to earn the responsibility of being the first director.”
Former Vice-Dean of Research and former Interim Dean, Wojtek Michalowski, shared that the program was truly a result of hard work: “The program was created because of Dean Francois Julien’s leadership and because of the hard work and dedication of Professor Barbara Orser.”
Dean Julien reflected on the value added to Telfer once the doors were opened up to PhD in Management students: “Adding a PhD Program to our roster allowed us to complete our program portfolio. The program puts the Telfer School in a different league. It speaks to the academic rigour and excellence of its faculty members and allows us to attract and recruit talented professors, and students alike.”
Now that the program was set up for success, all it took was the right leader to steer the ship that is the Telfer PhD. Professor Silvia Bonaccio was up for the task.
Launching the Program
Silvia Bonaccio, Ian Telfer Professor of Workplace Psychology, was named the first director of the PhD program and has been instrumental in making the program what it is today. She led the program for five years from 2013 to 2018 and worked behind-the-scenes for more than 2 years on building the program prior to its official launch in 2016. Having the chance to finally welcome the first cohort of Telfer doctoral students is still a fresh memory for Professor Bonaccio: “The first weeks were some of the most thrilling ones of my close to 15 years at Telfer. Admitting the first cohort so that they could work alongside our professors on essential, impactful, and exciting research was my biggest accomplishment as director.”
The addition of the PhD to our research-based graduate programs portfolio is the most significant change at the School in the past decade, according to Professor Bonaccio: “This addition shifted us into a new group of institutional peers, as doctoral-granting institutions are a select group.”
Thanks to her leadership, the program has continued to grow and improve since its launch. As applicant and admission numbers keep increasing each year, the School has been able to maintain the highest standards for its diverse group of admitted students.
By the time Professor Mirou Jaana, current Telfer MHA Program Director, took over as PhD Program Director, Telfer had also welcomed a considerable number of new faculty members who were active researchers from various management areas.
This growth as well as the successful research performance of Telfer’s students (e.g., publications, presentations in conferences or meetings, recipient of awards or grants), attests to the successful evolution and maturity of the program. “Since its launch, the PhD had gained growing visibility and developed a strong reputation, which allowed it to attract an increasing number of diverse applicants from all around the world,” reflected Professor Jaana.
Above all, what makes the success of the program, according to Professor Jaana, is the support offered to students throughout their academic curriculum as well as the quality of the teaching experience. “The program provides attractive funding and support for students over a period of 4 years,” said Professor Jaana. “During their studies, PhD students can specialize in what have now become six fields of study, led by experienced, world-class and dedicated faculty.”
Professor Jaana’s mandate as Director was marked by a program revision: “The biggest accomplishment during my tenure was launching the first revision of the PhD Program, which resulted, among other changes, in the addition of a new field in Organization and Strategy,” noted Professor Jaana. “This new field will present research opportunities for PhD students who are interested in specializing in this area. The program revision also led to improvements and changes, which strengthened the experience of students and added more flexibility in relation to the program delivery.”
The third and current PhD Program Director as of July 2020, Professor Samia Chreim, Ian Telfer Professorship in Organization Studies, shares the same enthusiasm as her predecessor on these changes: “We have recently conducted a program revision based on the feedback we had received over the first four years of the program from various groups, including the students and the faculty members. As part of this revision, we have provided more flexibility to students in the choice of their courses. The addition of a 6th area of specialization, is giving students interested in our PhD program more choices.”
Professor Chreim also wanted to celebrate the efforts of her predecessors and all people implicated in the creation of the Telfer doctoral program. “The launch of the PhD program in 2016 was the culmination of the dedicated efforts of many people who were consulted extensively, both internally and externally,” added Professor Chreim. “The program has grown over the years and is now the program of choice for nearly 40 PhD students, who are working with accomplished researchers as their supervisors. The students have established a strong sense of community. They have also been very engaged in research, participating actively in conference presentations and journal publications.”
According to Professor Chreim, a testament to the sense of community and engagement in research is the Thesis Competition event, which the Telfer PhD and M.Sc. students organize and host each year with the help of Telfer’s Research Office.
The Echoes of the Program
As Interim Dean, Professor Michalowski was one of the first to congratulate Vusal and celebrate this important milestone of the program. “It was a great privilege and honour for me to announce our first PhD graduate. This program was long in the making and graduating a student seems like ‘reaching a destination’.” He continued: “Telfer’s PhD is our program, and I would like to thank all of my faculty colleagues, and staff in the Graduate and Research Offices for their hard work and commitment. Last but not least, I am very proud of our doctoral students. They will be Telfer’s ambassadors and will make us proud.”
Professor Michalowski, emphasized that the work is not yet done: “We need to work hard to ensure that the quality of the program meets students’ expectations, in order to attract the best and the brightest, and to ensure that the program contributes to Telfer’s research enterprise. The launch of the program strengthened our path towards research excellence - a catalyst of academic and intellectual debates at Telfer,” he concluded.
For Dean Julien, the success of the doctorate program is undeniable: “There is no doubt that the Program allowed us to recruit excellent, research-intensive faculty members who were attracted by the prospect of working with our researchers and supervising PhD candidates. The quality of the students we have recruited at the PhD level, and also in our research-based masters programs, has been excellent.”
This is only the beginning according to him: “Over time I expect the reputation of the PhD and, therefore, of the School will be confirmed by the excellence and reputation of the organizations where the graduates of this program will be hired and the impact of their work. We will track and promote the career of our PhD graduates with great interest!”
Since being involved in the program’s inception, Professor Barbara Orser shared where she hopes to see the PhD evolve in the future: “It would be great to see more PhD disciplines added, further integration of doctoral degree candidates in multi-disciplinary research portfolios, the creation of centres to support doctoral students, and Telfer to become the ‘go to’ School for prospective hires.”
The PhD program will be linked forever to Dean Julien’s legacy long after he stepped out of his 10-year tenure in 2020. The most important takeaway for him is that the institution will gain several benefits in the years to come. “I am happy I have been involved in some way in the process since the beginning,” he humbly added.
“I truly believe this program brings Telfer to a new level of excellence and that this program and its graduates will contribute in no small way in strengthening Telfer’s reputation as a leading business school in Canada and in the world!” he proudly concluded.
As Telfer is committed and united by a shared belief that better business means a better Canada, the PhD program and its contribution to the academic world will more than ever foster a greener, healthier, happier, and wealthier Canada for all.
- Category: Telferimpact
The Telfer PhD in Management program opened its doors to welcome the first cohort of PhD candidates in the fall of 2016. Eight exceptional candidates among 28 applicants were admitted into the brand-new program. They committed themselves to tackling the journey that is PhD training, surely not fully aware of the erratic ride of challenges and victories ahead of them. Four years and one semester later, Vusal Babashov was the first student to successfully defend his thesis on January 18, 2021, and he is the first graduate from the Telfer PhD in Management program. Considering the hurdles caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this is a remarkable achievement.
Choosing the right PhD program
Any student considering a PhD must first decide to dedicate the next 4 to 6 years of their life to PhD training. Choosing which field of study to join is also a major decision, as this will tie into their thesis topic, who their supervisors could be, and it could ultimately impact future career choices.
This is a big decision for all PhD candidates, but how does a student take the leap in applying to their field of choice?
Marwa Soliman joined the program in 2016. She felt that her decision to pursue a PhD at Telfer was obvious considering the diverse expertise of the school: “I worked in academia my whole life and pursuing a PhD in accounting was one of my dreams. Before joining Telfer, I lived for two years in upstate NY and during this time I was a frequent visitor to Ottawa. I started reading more about Telfer and the PhD program and I really liked what Telfer has to offer as a new PhD program. I contacted Dr. Walid Ben Amar and he was kind enough to provide all necessary information about the program. I enjoyed our conversation so much and I decided to join Telfer. Given the diverse expertise in the accounting and finance disciplines and the outstanding research output in the last few years, I felt I can prosper in this vibrant and encouraging research environment.”
Vusal Babashov did not give his program selection a second thought: “I chose Telfer's PhD program primarily based on the supervisors I was going to work with for the next 4 to 5 years. I did a fair bit of homework researching my supervisor. First, Professor Jonathan Patrick was quite visible and well regarded in the Healthcare Operations Research community. Second, he was actively engaged in research and publishing. Finally, after having an introductory meeting with him it was evident to me that we could work together. Professor Antoine Sauré joined the program shortly after I started my PhD. It was a natural fit for me to have him as my co-supervisor given our shared research interests. Also, he was just starting his tenure-track journey, and his engagement and motivation created more synergy and boost to my doctoral research commitment.”
Three Major Steps of PhD Training
After officially starting the program and completing four semesters of required course work, PhD students must complete the Comprehensive Examination, also known as the “PhD comps.” This consists of a two-part examination (written and oral) that is overseen by the Comprehensive Examination Committee . Passing these exams proves that they have acquired the relevant knowledge needed, and that they are ready to tackle a thesis project.
Before the end of their 3rd year in the program students must choose their thesis topic, prepare a thesis proposal and defend it orally. While most students at this stage are quite excited about starting their data collection, this is a big hurdle and a key rite of passage. Failure to successfully defend their proposal leads to withdrawal from the program – talk about stressful! We asked Andrea Ghazzawi how she felt about this challenge. “I knew what to expect, as I had defended my proposal for my Master as well. I absolutely love my research topic – social pediatrics – and had invested a lot of time into developing my research study with the support of my supervisor Dr. Craig Kuziemsky and the clinical director at the social pediatric centre Dr. Anne Marie Bureau. As such, I felt very prepared for my defense.”
We asked Marwa how she felt about this challenge. She adds that the support and guidance from her professors helped her achieve these milestones: “I was one of the first students in the first Telfer PhD cohort to join the program. It was both a challenge and an opportunity. Although, we did not have the history of previous students to guide us and provide some tips and tricks to manage our PhD journey, I was fortunate to always find the support and guidance from my professors in all the stages of my doctoral program including my comprehensive exam, choosing my dissertation topic and even during my proposal defense.”
After these steps, PhD candidates are well on their way to becoming independent researchers. This is after having spent countless hours of reading, planning, and designing the right research approach, making sure to ask the right research questions, and defining a methodology, a data collecting process, and analysis. Their major triumph is succeeding to publish their research, hoping to make an impact and help shape the future of their field. At this stage, PhD candidates are ready to write and defend their thesis and celebrate this immense achievement.
Support from Telfer
PhD training is an intense journey of academic and professional growth. The thesis supervisors play a major role in this process, but many other faculty members, support staff, and peers have a major influence on this training. For Marwa, Associate Professor Dr Qiu Chen has really made a lasting impression during her PhD: “I have enjoyed working with Dr. Qiu Chen. She is always supportive inside and outside of our seminar classes. I remember the first day of her class when she said that one of the great things about teaching PhD students is that you are working with your colleagues, not your students. I have recently asked her for a letter of support, and I was two days away from the deadline and she was very kind to provide her support and help. She came back asking for more information to provide her best recommendation letter even within this short period of time.”
Joining the student community
The Telfer Graduate Research Programs Student Association (TGRPSA) plays a major role in enhancing the PhD student experience at Telfer, sharing opinion or thoughts from the students, and ensuring their needs are met. Among the first PhD cohort, Alexander Chung was the first PhD student representative in the association and served as President until 2019. Alex offers a unique perspective about the Telfer PhD student experience: “Since the inception of the PhD program, the association has been instrumental in organizing activities to unite the students and promote our research. Two examples include “skills-sharing” activities and writing bootcamps. The skills-sharing activities allowed students to share their skills and hobbies with others while providing a social environment to help alleviate the stress of graduate studies, while the writing bootcamps were weekly sessions that provided a motivating environment for students to come together and write productively. Furthermore, we helped in organizing and delivering the thesis competition for graduate students.”
The Telfer PhD program now hosts five cohorts of ambitious PhD candidates, driven by a quest for knowledge and a desire to develop the research expertise and skills needed to conquer the world. Congratulations to them all for committing to the challenge. We wish all our students much success in their respective adventures and look forward to celebrating with each of them as they complete their candidacy.
- Category: Telfer Announcements
Congratulations to Telfer PhD graduate Vusal Babashov on the successful completion of his PhD in Management. He defended his thesis on practical problems in healthcare analytics just a few weeks ago.
First of many PhD graduates
The thesis defense was conducted on January 18th as Vusal presented a quick overview of his thesis followed by two rounds of questioning by the examiners. Satisfied with his answers, they unanimously agreed that he had successfully defended his thesis. He will be the first student to have officially completed his doctoral degree at the Telfer School of Management.
Vusal began his health systems research in 2016 when the Telfer PhD in Management was first created. Upon reflection of his time at Telfer, Vusal shared: “It has been an incredible four years of PhD that was challenging and somewhat stressful at times. It's a long, but unique experience you draw upon not only to become a domain expert in your area of research, but also to become a better person who is self-motivated and who develops problem-solving and leadership skills. There is certainly a lot to learn from this experience. I'm deeply grateful to everyone including my supervisors for the support and guidance along this journey. I'm glad that I've been able to reach the finish line in this marathon, and I wish the best of luck to other doctoral candidates.”
The Finish Line
Vusal worked closely with his supervisors, Dr. Jonathan Patrick, Telfer Full Professor and Vice-Dean of the Faculty, and Assistant Professor Dr. Antoine Sauré, throughout his thesis journey. Dr. Patrick, shared his thoughts about his collaboration with Vusal: “It was a source of great satisfaction to watch Vusal defend his thesis. The development of a thesis worthy of defense is a long, hard process. Every research endeavour has its roadblocks - promising avenues that go nowhere, puzzling components that take months to figure out - and I know that there were many times along the way where Vusal was tempted to call it quits. It is a testament to his character that he persevered and is now able to reap the benefits of that determination. So congratulations Vusal on becoming the first graduate of Telfer's PhD program!”
Dr. Sauré described his pride for Vusal’s accomplishment: “Vusal’s experience, dedication, and determination to master new concepts, and desire to make a positive difference with his work will make him an excellent professional in his chosen career path. I expect him to continue contributing to our field in many different and valuable ways.”
Vusal has until February 18th to complete the revisions he received at the thesis presentation, which will then be approved by his supervisors before official submission to the University of Ottawa’s Library.
Thesis topic:
Three Practical Problems in Healthcare Analytics
Examiners:
Associate Professor Gilles Reinhardt at the University of Ottawa
Associate Professor Jonathan Li at the University of Ottawa
Assistant Professor Onur Ozturk at the University of Ottawa
Associate Professor Peter Vanberkel at Dalhousie University
Co-Supervisors:
Full Professor Jonathan Patrick at the University of Ottawa
Assistant Professor Antoine Sauré at the University of Ottawa
Chair:
Full Professor Samia Chreim at the University of Ottawa
Date of oral defence:
Monday, January 18th from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (EST)
Vusal is the first of many PhD students that will be completing their doctoral studies starting this year at Telfer. We are extremely proud of all of our PhD candidates, and look forward to their continued success.
Stay tuned for more to come on this amazing milestone. Congratulations to all faculty, staff, and students who helped Vusal throughout his candidacy and made this journey possible.
- Category: Telfer Announcements
Alexander is a PhD candidate at the Telfer School of Management, in the Health Systems specialization. His research interests lie in applying analytics and management information systems methods to health-related issues, more specifically to the area of mobile health technologies.
He holds a Master’s degree in Systems Science with a specialization in Environmental Sustainability from the University of Ottawa, and an undergraduate degree in Biology from Carleton University. His master’s thesis focused on the formal definition, measurement, and simulation of coastal community preparedness for severe environmental events.
Following his Master’s degree, Alex worked as an independent management consultant and researcher while also teaching part-time at the Telfer School of Management. He has had the opportunity to work on topics that include: applying real-options analysis and financial modelling to the solar energy industry in Ontario and modelling how organizations use social media in order for them to anticipate problems that may arise later on. Alex also has an interest in fisheries management and has been involved in several projects with government and private industry on the management of Canadian fisheries and coastal areas.
Alex is a member of the Canadian Association of Management Consultants’ Eastern Ontario Chapter Council where he is responsible for marketing and social media. During his free time, he enjoys travelling, playing volleyball, and riding and restoring his many bicycles.
Alex holds the Lilian and Swee Chua Goh Doctoral Scholarship, the first admission scholarship created by donors for PhD candidates at the Telfer School of Management.
Find out more about the Telfer PhD program.
- Category: Rising Stars
“I believe it is important to continue learning – learning never stops. I love that Telfer supports personal growth and development through learning. It also connects its students to experts in their field,” said Andrea Ghazzawi, a PhD candidate in the Management Program with a field of study in Health Systems.
Inspired by Dr. Craig Kuziemsky and driven by the opportunity to contribute to improving the Canadian healthcare system, Andrea chose to continue her studies at the University of Ottawa in the Telfer School of Management. She completed her masters and is now currently working on her PhD.
Andrea went on to mention that the many opportunities available at the Telfer School of Management attracted her to begin and continue her studies here. “Having the chance to learn from a multidisciplinary group of professors with varying areas of expertise was an incredible experience for me.”
When asked which classes left a strong impression on her, Andrea answered, “The health systems courses stood out to me, especially the classes that covered the use of information technology in healthcare and the application of quantitative health research methods.”
While fulfilling the duties of being a mother, fulfilling her passion for cooking, and spending time with family and friends, Andrea works to maintain her academic success and continues to think about improvements needed in the healthcare system to benefit all Canadians, and how she can contribute.
“Thinking back, I would never have thought that I would be doing a PhD—it just wasn’t on my radar—but I am thankful to be here and to be participating in this program,” concluded Andrea.
Connect with Andrea Ghazzawi here: https://www.facebook.com/andrea.ghazzawi
Also – you can follow Telfer’s LinkedIn activities here!
- Category: Donations / Fundraising
Strong Momentum
We have a strong connection to the Telfer School—Swee as a Telfer School professor for 30 years and now Emeritus Professor, and Lilian as an advisor to the Telfer CPA Accounting and Governance Research Centre for over 20 years since its inception. We also have experience as graduate students. We understand how important it is being taught by faculty in a business school that is focused on carrying out research that contributes to new knowledge in the field of management.
So we were excited when the Telfer School set up its PhD program. It sends an important message that the school is now spurring top-flight research. It sets a tone that a new mission of the school is to focus on fostering research that contributes to new knowledge in the field of management. We realized that we had to provide strong momentum for success in the launch of the new PhD program. Our donation is to support the first cohort of students, in all its five fields, to attract the best doctoral candidates to the school for this new program and to help them financially in the critical first two years of study. We know how crucial it is for this initial cohort to create strong momentum in the program from the very beginning.
It is our hope that this momentum will serve to propel the program by attracting more top students to attend. We also hope our donation encourages others to be a part of the growing excellence of the Telfer PhD and consider contributing as donors. This help will sustain the positive momentum for the future growth and success of the school as evidenced by the launch of this new, important and exciting program.
- Category: Rising Stars
“From the staff to the exchange opportunities, the experience has been great. Take it from a student who has graduated twice from the School and just keeps coming back! I’ve really enjoyed my time here,” said Nicolas Legendre, a PhD candidate in Management with a field of study in Finance. Nicolas has shown true commitment to the Telfer family over the past 7 years, completing a Bachelor of Commerce with an option in Finance, a Master of Science in Management with an option in Finance and now a year into his PhD. He continued, “I wanted to continue my studies here because of all the great people I’ve met at Telfer and in other faculties at the University of Ottawa.”
Looking back on his experience as a Teaching Assistant for different statistics courses, completing his MSc, and now working on his PhD, Nicolas noted, “As PhD students, the relationship with faculty changes, becoming more collegial. With professors for example, the relationship is less student-teacher and more of a co-worker kind of relationship, where both parties bounce ideas off each other and learn from one another.”
Through hard work and dedication, Nicolas was the winner of the prestigious Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship. He said, “As a recipient of the Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship, I was able to apply for the Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement, which I was pleased to be granted. Through this scholarship, I am currently in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, investigating their loan guarantee program with Professor Jonathan Scott at Northumbria University. This gave me the opportunity to not only study abroad, but to research a topic that matters to me: as my PhD thesis investigates the Canadian loan guarantee program, this research period abroad is directly related to my PhD thesis. I’ve also had the opportunity to spend weekends traveling around Newcastle, visiting monuments such as Alnwick Castle from the Harry Potter films, and slowly learning the culture here in the Northeast of England. It has been quite the experience so far!”
Nicolas is also the recipient of the Lilian and Swee Chua Goh Doctoral Scholarship. Lilian and Swee Chua Goh will be recognized as Donors of the Year at the Telfer Gala of Excellence on October 21 2017.
Connect with Nicolas Legendre here: www.linkedin.com/in/legendrenicolas
Also – you can follow Telfer’s LinkedIn activities here!
- Category: Donations / Fundraising
Every year, we recognize outstanding Telfer School of Management donors in order to demonstrate our appreciation and create meaningful relationships with those in our community who choose us amongst a sea of giving opportunities. This year, the Telfer Donor of the Year awards will be presented at our annual Gala of Excellence on October 21, 2017, along with the celebration of our anniversary classes and the presentation of our Alumni Awards.
If you would like to learn more about giving to what matters to you at Telfer, please click here.
Congratulations to our 2017 Donor of the Year awards recipients:
Harry Mortimer – Fundraising Volunteer of the Year
Thanks to his leadership, commitment and dedication towards the Telfer Entrepreneur’s Club, the Kevin Vollett Entrepreneurial Award will be sustainable for future years.
Marlene Patrick – Loyal Donor of the Year
Her continued generosity and support of her alma mater, over the last 30 years, are truly inspired and valued.
Jean-Philippe Aubé – Young Donor of the Year
He is helping build a culture of giving at the School through his time, money and skills.
Lilian and Swee Chua Goh – Donors of the Year
The Lilian and Swee Chua Goh Doctoral Scholarships provided tremendous momentum to the fall 2016 launch of the PhD program by helping us recruit four of the eight top-notch candidates in 2016 and one in 2017. The couple has a long history at Telfer: Swee is an Emeritus Professor and Lilian is a founding advisor of the CPA Accounting and Governance Research Centre.
Click here for more information on the Telfer Gala of Excellence.
- Category: Rising Stars
"I chose to continue my doctoral studies with the Telfer School of Management based on the expertise at my disposal within the faculty and the school’s proven commitment to providing its graduate students with a comprehensive educational experience tailored to their research objectives. Telfer’s research programs are designed for flexibility, allowing candidates to align their coursework and assignments with their own field of research, and enabling them to explore their thesis topic from day one. The interdisciplinary nature of these programs and the diversity of topics that are being addressed by candidates and faculty members also encourage rich exchanges, and allow candidates to be sensitized to a variety of fields and methods that enrich their own projects.”
Caroline is a PhD student in Management, in the Health Systems specialization. She holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences in International Development and Globalization, and a Master of Science in Health Systems from the University of Ottawa.
While completing her MSc in Health Systems at the Telfer School of Management, Caroline focused her attention on human resources for maternal health in the context of development. Accordingly, her thesis research involved a case study of the obstacles and enablers to the professional development of skilled birth attendants providing perinatal care to migrants and refugees within a self-contained health system at the Thailand-Myanmar border.
Under the continued supervision of Professor Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, Caroline will utilize the PhD in Management to further develop her research skills and enrich her understanding of the complexities of maternal health workforce sustainability in the context of protracted displacement and fragility. Caroline has presented at the Canadian Association of Health Services and Policy Research Conference, the World Congress on Public Health, the Canadian Health Workforce Conference, and the Global Symposium for Health Systems Research, and will be presenting at the upcoming Triennial Congress of the International Confederation of Midwives.
Telfer PhD in Management
Today’s changing world demands creative, resourceful, and dedicated thinkers. The Telfer PhD program prepares a new generation of forward-looking scholars to confront complex management issues through research. Our PhD program is designed to shape visionary, influential thinkers who have a positive impact on the lives of people, organizations, and communities through their research. Above all, we have high expectations for our students. Whatever our students’ goals, we are always close by to help them reach them.
Download our brochure or learn more about our PhD Program and our five fields of study by visiting our website at telfer.uOttawa.ca/phd.
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Student Voices
The following article was written by a member of our student community. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Telfer School of Management. For more information or to flag inappropriate content, please