2026 Characterization@UBC Fall Training School

Fall School Booklets

Overview

The annual three-day Characterization@UBC Fall Training School will be held from October 20-22, 2026, at UBC Vancouver in Fred Kaiser 2020/2030 - featuring seminars and workshops in the field of advanced characterization. This training school is open to all levels of trainees across both UBC campuses (e.g., Master's, PhD, postdocs, etc.). This year, we are pleased to be welcoming Dr. Rhonda Stroud (ASU) and Dr. Arun Devaraj (PNNL) as our plenary speakers! 

To kick things off, we invite attendees to join us for a student mixer and networking event on the evening of Monday, October 19, 3-5 pm at the Kaiser Atrium.

We are thrilled to work with several of our incredible industry partners for this year's event. Thank you to our confirmed lineup of sponsors - Edge Scientific, h-Bar Instruments, Soquelec, Systems for Research (SFR), TESCAN, and the Microscopy Society of Canada.

Registration

Registration is now closed.

Fall School Programming

Travel Support

This scheme is now closed. The cluster is pleased to announce up to $500 in travel support (e.g., transportation, accommodation) to UBC students who reside outside of metro Vancouver (i.e., UBCO students) to attend this training school. You will be asked whether you need travel support while filling out the registration form - you do not need a separate application for this. Note that this support is limited and available on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Oral Presentation

The call for oral talks is now closed. The (contributed) oral presentations will be presented on Wednesday morning, Oct 21, and should be a maximum of 8 mins in duration each, there will be an additional Q&A of up to 2 mins for each talk. 

Poster Session

Poster call is now closed. As part of the Fall School programming, we are pleased to invite trainees and researchers to participate in a poster session that will be held at the Fred Kaiser Building Atrium. This session provides a valuable opportunity to showcase research findings, promote knowledge exchange, and foster professional connections in the field of advanced characterization. We welcome a broad range of poster submissions related to the use of characterization tools and techniques. Submissions may include, but are not limited to work involving:

• Scanning/transmission electron microscopy (SEM/TEM);
• X-ray, micro-computed tomography;
• Optical, confocal, and fluorescence microscopy;
• Electrochemical methods;
• Mechanical testing techniques;
• Other qualitative and quantitative analysis methods (e.g., data analysis).

Poster Guidelines

• Only authors listed on the abstract may present. The poster content must closely align with the submitted abstract.
• Presenters are responsible for printing and transporting their posters. The organizing team will not provide printing support.
• The display area is 4 ft × 3 ft (48 in × 36 in) in either portrait or landscape. However, note that a full 4x3 ft poster will overflow slightly on the board, so we kindly ask that you leave at least 1.5 inches of margin on all four sides. Pushpins will be provided for mounting.
• Posters should be legible from at least 1 m (3 ft) away. Use large font sizes, clear visuals, and bold graphics.
• Each poster must include the project title, names and affiliations of all authors.
• Do not fold your poster, roll and bring it with you in an appropriate container to the session.
• Posters must be removed at the end of the day on October 22, 2026. The organizing team will not be responsible for any posters left behind after the event.
• We encourage participants to explore online guides on effective poster design, including content selection, layout, color use, and typography.
• While we do not require a specific template, participants who wish to align their posters with UBC branding can download UBC-branded templates here.