The Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance supports the delivery of department-led graduate student symposiums/forums related to agriculture, food, and rural research as part of its commitment to knowledge translation and transfer (KTT).

Graduate student symposiums provide a unique opportunity for graduate students to network and showcase their research to policy makers, analysts and program staff at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), while giving OMAFRA staff an opportunity to increase their awareness of new and innovative research happening at U of G.

Graduate student symposiums are department-led events. U of G departments must identify a project lead who is responsible for organizing and executing the event.

On behalf of the Alliance, the Office of Research, Agri-Food Partnership supports U of G departments to independently deliver graduate student symposiums.

U of G departments can access the following resources:

• Financial support of up to $5,000 via the KTT-Initiatives (KTT-I) funding stream. See the KTT Funding Program web page [1] and the KTT-I Program Guide [2] for more information
• Promotional support via Alliance communications channels
• Brokering services to connect department leads with OMAFRA staff, including support with event invitations
• Coaching or mentoring services to support first-time department leads, plus ongoing availability for questions
• Resources to support the planning process, including sample agendas, invitations and promotional materials

Examples of past U of G graduate student symposiums

• 2023 Rural Symposium [3]
• 2023 School of Environmental Sciences (SES) Graduate Student Symposium [4]
• 2023 Animal Biosciences Research Graduate Student Symposium [5]

Interested in hosting a graduate student symposium?

Please contact kttadmin@uoguelph.ca [6] to discuss how the Alliance can help.