Graduate Writing and Speaking Courses
starting from next week
The end of term can be an intense time for graduates as you work on your assignments, articles, theses, proposals, or course and conference presentations. The Graduate Centre for Academic Communication (GCAC) offers short, non-credit courses designed to support you at every stage of the writing or speaking process.
Below you will find our current course offerings, some of which start next week. Please click on this link to be taken to the registration page; you will need your UTORid and password, and you may register for up to 2 courses at a time. You will receive an email confirmation after registration.
Courses to Develop Graduate Thinking, Writing, and Revising Skills
Prewriting: Strategies for Developing and Organizing Your Ideas is a four-week course designed to help you clarify the content and structure of your argument before you begin a draft. You will be introduced to a range of thinking and organizational strategies — freewriting, diagramming arguments, using spreadsheets to synthesize scholarship, tech tools, effective note-taking techniques, and Aristotle’s topics — and you will be encouraged to integrate these strategies with your own learning style.
Fridays, Mar 6 – Mar 27, 10am — 12 noon (online)
Writing: Conventions of Graduate Writing is a five-week course that covers the transition to graduate writing by providing guidance on the disciplinary practices of synthesizing diverse research, integrating sources smoothly, developing an authorial presence through metadiscourse, building effective structure through paragraphing, writing with formality, and developing your identity as a research writer. The course also offers an opportunity to meet individually with the instructor for feedback on a sample of your writing.
Wednesdays, Feb 25 — Mar 25, 10am—12 noon (online)
Revising: Achieving Flow and Clarity focuses on helping you become a better editor of your own work through developing an informed process for revision. Over five weeks, we cover improving coherence and achieving flow in your writing, learning the principles of clear and stylish sentences, achieving concision, correcting common grammatical errors, and drawing these elements into an effective editorial process. As part of this course, you will have an opportunity to meet and discuss your writing individually with the instructor.
Fridays, Feb 27 — Mar 27, 1pm — 3pm (online)
Courses to Develop Confident Presentation Skills
Oral Presentation Skills. If you would like to learn how to develop and present polished, focused presentations, this 6-week course is for you. We cover tailoring your message to your audience, structuring your presentation, creating strong visuals, managing the question period, and handling nerves. You will be given the opportunity to give a presentation, develop critical presentation skills while providing feedback to your peers, and receive valuable feedback on your own presentation.
2 Sections:
Mondays, Feb 23 — Mar 30, 5:30pm–7:30pm (online)
Tuesdays, Feb 24 — Mar 31, 4pm– 6pm (in person at the St. George campus)
Once again, here is the course registration page.
In addition, the GCAC offers individual feedback on any aspects of your writing through our Writing Centre; and live, online workshops through the semester on a range of graduate topics, including Cultivating Competencies in Generative AI and Academic Writing (Feb 24), Writing a Thesis or Grant Proposal (Mar 11), and Writing Effective Literature Reviews (Mar 18), among many others. The full list of workshops offered until the end of this term is available on our Workshops page.
If you would like to receive timely announcements of our forthcoming courses, workshops, registration dates, and other offerings, please join our listserv and follow us on Instagram (@gcacuoft). For help or inquiries regarding registration, please contact our GCAC administrator at sgs.gcacreg@utoronto.ca.
Warm wishes as you head into the home stretch of this Winter term!
- STAGE Call for Applications
STAGE Toronto is currently accepting applications from candidates in relevant departments at the University of Toronto for its training program in molecular epidemiology and statistical -omics. Trainees and mentors work across a wide spectrum of cutting-edge statistical, computational, genomic, epidemiological and population-based science.
🔗 For information about benefits, eligibility, and how to apply, visit: https://stage.utoronto.ca/apply-toronto/
📅 Application Deadline: March 16, 2026
2. STAGE International Speaker Seminar Series (ISSS): Dr. Elana Fertig
Join us for the next instalment of the STAGE ISSS with:
Dr. Elana J. Fertig, PhD, FAIMBE
Director of the Institute for Genome Sciences
Associate Director of Quantitative Sciences
UM Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center
Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
School of Medicine, University of Maryland
Talk Title: Forecasting Tumor-Immune Dynamics in Pancreatic Cancer
Date: Friday, March 6, 2026
Time: 12 – 1 pm
Format: Online
🔗 For more information and to register: https://stage.utoronto.ca/events/stage-isss-elana-fertig/
Join the Centre for Entrepreneurship for the third installment in their “Share Your Spark” series, presented as part of U of T Entrepreneurship Week. This session explores the journey of a student entrepreneur who aims to propel Canada’s space industry forward.
Discover how Jeanue Chung (4th year Astronomy & Astrophysics) transformed a national aerospace challenge into a commercial venture, in a fireside chat moderated by U of T alumnus and former Cabinet Minister, The Honourable Tony Clement, P.C. Unlock your own potential and learn how to take your idea to the next level.
- When: Tuesday, March 3, 2026 @ 5:30 PM (Networking reception to follow)
- Where: Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus (108 College St.), 2nd Floor
- Registration:REGISTER FOR SHARE YOUR SPARK
U of T Robotics Institute Seminar: Sergey Stavisky, “A multi-modal brain-computer interface for restoring lost communication”
Day: March 20, 2026
Time: 3-4 p.m. (EST)
This is a hybrid event. Join in-person in Room 580, Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship (55 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 0C9) or on Zoom.
A multi-modal brain-computer interface for restoring lost communication
Abstract
Restoring the ability to communicate to people with neurological injuries has long been a goal of neurotechnology research; today, this dream is on the verge of fruition with ongoing commercial cursor and click brain-computer interface (BCI) clinical trials. I will describe our lab’s development of an intracortical speech BCI, which is the next frontier in restoring communication. First, we built a 99% word accuracy “brain-to-text” speech BCI. To this core capability, we’ve added neural cursor control over the participant’s personal computer (despite recording from orofacial cortex). We’ve also augmented text decoding with a loudness layer and a gesture (emoji) layer, both of which provide added expressivity, and we prototyped a neural error decoder which can reduce user frustration. Lastly, I’ll describe our progress towards an instantaneous voice synthesis BCI aimed at functionally replacing the paralyzed vocal system.
About Sergey Stavisky
I’m a neuroscientist and neural engineer working at the intersection of systems and computational neuroscience, neural engineering, and machine learning. I’m trying to understand how the brain controls movements, and to use this knowledge to build brain-computer interface (BCIs) that treat brain injury and disease. My immediate goals are to develop BCIs for restoring speech. Closely related, I’m developing next-generation neural interfaces for human use.
As an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of California, Davis, I co-direct the UC Davis Neuroprosthetics Lab. Prior to that I was a postdoctoral fellow in the Stanford Neural Prosthetics Translational Laboratory led by Jaimie Henderson and Krishna Shenoy.
Hosted by the University of Toronto Robotics Institute
You are invited to the 2026 Fred Kan Distinguished Lecture in Engineering Ethics
Promoting ethical engineering research is necessary given the potential for widespread social and technological impacts of these research outcomes. But what motivates engineers to think and act ethically, particularly in the domain of research?
In this interactive talk, Dr. Justin L. Hess will address this question by sharing types of critical incidents experienced by engineering faculty who conduct biomedical engineering research. The incident types denote the formative impacts of professional culture and academic norms, engaging in ethical behaviors, observing questionable behaviors, attending to novel perspectives, formal and informal training and mentoring events, and reflecting on one’s own views and experiences. By understanding what experiences inspire engineers to think and act ethically, institutions of higher education and engineering organizations will be better positioned to support ethical growth be it in formal courses, faculty research labs, organizational training efforts, or by reshaping institutional norms.
Register by March 2, 2026. Limited tickets available.
Read more about the Fred Kan lecture series.
Wednesday, March 11, 20266:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
The Faculty Club, 41 Willcocks St, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3
Cost: Free
Limited tickets available
For questions or more information, please contact istep@utoronto.ca.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Justin L. Hess is an associate professor in the School of Engineering Education, where he also co-directs the Multidisciplinary Engineering and Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies undergraduate programs. Dr. Hess’s research explores how engineers develop ethical and empathic dispositions. He received his PhD in Engineering Education from Purdue University in 2015, and his BS/MS in Civil Engineering from Purdue in 2011 and 2015, respectively. He served as the assistant director of the STEM Education Research Institute at Purdue University for four years (2015-2019) before returning to Purdue as a tenure-track faculty member in 2019.
Research Ethics Information Session for Health Sciences – February 17, 2026
An online information session on research ethics for health sciences research involving human participants will be held on February 17, 2026, from 10:00–11:30 AM. The session will include a presentation followed by an opportunity for questions and discussion.
Topics covered:
- History and principles of research ethics review
- Procedures under the Tri-Council Policy Statement 2 (TCPS2 2022)
- U of T’s risk matrix for assessing participant vulnerability and research risk
- Free and informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, conflict of interest
- Preparing a research ethics protocol
Individuals interested in attending can register here:
https://cris.utoronto.ca/event/research-ethics-in-the-health-sciences-info-session-feb-17-2026/
Please share this announcement with graduate students, faculty, and staff who may be interested.
Dr. Julie Ottoy at the Sunnybrook Research Institute is seeking motivated students for a MSc thesis (2-years) through the Institute of Medical Science (IMS) starting Fall 2026. You will join a diverse, multidisciplinary team of researchers in a dynamic and collegial environment.
Project description: Many individuals with dementia have a mix of Alzheimer’s disease and blood vessel problems in the brain. This project investigates how blood vessel damage and inflammation affect memory and brain health, and how they interact with Alzheimer’s pathological proteins. By using brain scans, blood tests, and computational methods, the goal of this project is to better identify who may benefit from treatments that slow dementia progression.
The ideal candidate was enrolled in a Neuroimaging course and has hands-on experience with analyzing brain images. Coding (Python/R, Bash/Linux) and/or statistics background is preferred.
Please submit your CV and unofficial transcript to: julie.ottoy@sri.utoronto.ca. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
Please note that the early admission deadline for IMS fall 2026 is February 1st (domestic MSc applicants do not need a supervisory letter at the time of application). The benefit of submitting an early application is that you can be considered for several awards; more information here.
We thank you in advance for your interest; however, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.
Time Management for Grad & Professional Degree Students
Tuesday, February 3, 4:00-5:30 pm or
Friday, February 27, 12:00-1:30 pm
3MT as Learning Opportunity: Competition Prep
Wednesday, February 4, 3:30-5:30 pm or
Thursday, February 12, 12:00-2:00 pm (in-person)
Address Imposterism & Build Academic Confidence
Monday, February 9, 12:00-1:30 pm
Strengthen Academic Reading Skills
Tuesday, February 10, 4:00-5:30 pm or
Thursday, February 19, 12:00-1:30 pm
What to Expect at your Doctoral Defense
Friday February 13, 3:00-4:30 pm
Overcome Academic Procrastination
Tuesday, February 17, 12:00-1:30 pm or
Tuesday, February 24, 4:00-5:30 pm
Talking about Comps! Grad Themed Discussion
Friday, February 27, 12:00-1:15 pm
Ongoing Weekly
Writing Groups and Productivity Groups
All grad students in all disciplines are welcome in these supportive, positive, popular sessions.
Join a weekly group. See the schedule.
Email gwg@utoronto.ca to register.
New Programming in February for GWG Participants:Talking About Your Work! See your email or contact your facilitator for more information.
Grad Productivity Groups – Actually Work From Home!
Log in using this link to browse and register for any group anytime.
Accessibility Sections
GWG-A, GPG-A Accessibility Sections: log into Folio or inquire at as.learning@utoronto.ca.
Individual Learning Strategy Appointments
Meet with a Learning Strategist to improve your learning and academic experience. Book in Folio.
Questions or assistance booking an appointment: email clss@utoronto.ca or call 416-978-7970.
Join our Listserv!
Graduate students, staff and faculty are invited to join Grad Student Success to receive regular, advanced notice of workshops and programming designed specifically for graduate and second-entry professional students.
Grad Programming Inquiries: Dr. Andrea Graham ak.graham@utoronto.ca
Folio (Registration System) Inquiries: folio@utoronto.ca.
Dear Trainee,
The GMCA is excited to announce that applications for Cases and Coffee are now open!
Cases and Coffee is a beginner-friendly interactive workshop series designed to prepare graduate trainees (MSc, PhDs, Post-Docs, MDs, and JDs) for the 2026 full-time consultant recruitment cycle or 2027 internship recruitment cycle, drawing on lessons from successful GMCA alumni to support interview preparation and recruitment navigation.
This 4-session training program is designed to support students interested in consulting recruitment by providing exposure to case interviews and psychometric testing. This workshop aims to help students: (1) understand the fundamentals of the case interview, (2) practice their case interview skills, and (3) find casing partners. New for this year, Session 4 is hosted with CaseBasix to focus on pre-interview screening and aptitude tests commonly used in consulting recruitment. This session is open to all interested students, including those not accepted into the full Cases and Coffee program.
Learn More: https://www.gmcacanada.com/cases-and-coffee
Cases & Coffee Application Form: https://forms.gle/R3QposJ8N5E8mhta7
Application Deadline: January 27th, 2026 (5:00 PM ET)
If you have any questions about this event, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@gmcacanada.com. If you’re interested in receiving updates on upcoming GMCA events, gaining exclusive access to job postings from our partnering management consulting firms, and staying up to date with highlights from our previous events, subscribe to our GMCA monthly newsletter.
Warm regards,
The GMCA
e: info@gmcacanada.com
w: www.GMCAcanada.com