Connected Academics for social science and humanities graduate students and postdoctoral scholars features invited speakers from a variety of institutions, as well as the McGill community, to offer a broader perspective on topics related to professional development. Each talk will be followed by a 1 hour community café. During the community café participants will have the opportunity to connect with their peers, discuss the topic of the session and enjoy food and drinks.

Fall 2025 Schedule:

Descriptions:

Failing to Succeed: Rethinking the Value of Failure in Academia

Academic culture promotes ideas of success that are often toxic—yet failure is an essential part of the academic journey. In this session, we will talk about the need to rethink the value of failure and how it relates to success in academia with Prof. Maïka Sondarjee, who specializes on how gender, race and class mediate academic success and recognition. Prof. Sondarjee’s talk will be followed by a Q&A and refreshments.

When: Thursday, October 2, 2025 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm

Where: Arts 150, Arts Building

How: Register here

Demystifying Book Publishing: Insights from McGill-Queen’s University Press Editors

Publishing is a vital part of scholarly life, yet the path from book manuscript to publication can feel opaque—especially for graduate students. This workshop offers an opportunity to hear directly from editors at McGill-Queen’s University Press about the publishing process, from turning a dissertation into a book manuscript, writing a strong book proposal, and finding an academic publisher to navigating peer review and revisions. Come meet the editors for a short presentation followed by a Q&A.

Speakers: Kyla Madden is a senior acquisitions editor at McGill-Queen’s University Press, and Marie-Claude Felton is an acquisitions editor at McGill-Queen’s University Press.

When: Thursday, October 30, 2025 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm

Where: Arts 150, Arts Building

How: Register here

The Journey From Academia: TRaCE Talk

Join us to learn about the career pathways of McGill PhD and Postdoc alumni with a social science and humanities background who are now working in non-academic careers!

Panelists:

• W. Y. Alice Chan (PhD, Education), Executive Director and Co-Founder, Centre de littératie religieuse civique / Centre for Civic Religious Literacy

• Shawn McCutcheon (PhD, History), Open Knowledge Editor, Projet collectif

• Edu Meneses (PhD, Music Technology), Research Director, Société des arts technologiques / Society for Arts and Technology

When: Thursday, November 20, 2025 from 5:30 pm to 7 pm

Where: online *due to the STM strike, this session will be held online

How: Register here

No-Show Fee Alert: There are no fees associated with SKILLSETS workshops; however, registering for an event is a commitment to attend. If you can no longer attend, make sure to cancel your registration at least 48 hours before the workshop. Otherwise, a $25 No-Show Fee will be charged to your McGill student account. For more information on our policy, please go to www.mcgill.ca/skillsets/policies