Student Initiatives

iCon

An interdisciplinary Conference BY grad-students-in-law at UVic, FOR grad-students-in-law at UVic

The iCon idea sprouted out of informal discussions among grad-students-in-law about how we might grow stronger working relationships with one another within and across cohorts, starting early in the program and lasting at least as long as our studies.

As new graduate students at UVic, many of us understood little about what a graduate-level project might look like, or how it might take shape. In LAW501, many of us did not appreciate how the theories we were studying might find their way into our work. In LAW502, we presented our preliminary ideas to one another within our own cohort, only to lose sight of one another’s work over the subsequent summer. We had few or no formal windows into the work of grad students in other cohorts. The iCon carries the wish that we had had more early exposure to the projects of upper-year students, for project comprehension and peer collaboration purposes. The Conference is intended to help graduate students engage with one another and contribute to one another’s projects across cohorts, early in our course work and over a period of time extending beyond the completion of our course work.

Apart from the long term vision of collaboration and networking amongst law graduate students, the Conference will also be a supplement to the orientation for the new graduate students in law, at UVic. Throughout the official orientation programmes many crucial strategic matters remain undiscussed. The ‘obligations of the student and the supervisor’ document that is circulated is helpful, but a forum for discussion of significant strategic issues, from one grad student to another, could help make early graduate work move more successfully and smoothly. The Conference will foster frank and honest discussion amongst graduate students across cohorts on any academic and non-academic concerns that the new graduate students might have. Active participation by students in the new cohort is strongly encouraged.

All in all, iCon is intended to be a fun, voluntary conference planned from the bottom-up. iCon will be a conference by grad-students-in-law at UVic, for grad-students-in-law at UVic.

The 1st iCon took place on October 12th, 2010 in at Grad House, UVic, and it is intended to be an annual event carried on by future cohorts during the orientation season in fall. Click to view the 2010 iCon Program.

One day in iCon

For a copy of the Conference plan, pictures, videos, PowerPoint presentations, etc. please contact Qian Jing.