The Bader International Study Centre prides itself on offering rigorous, innovative education to students from Canada and around the world. In September of this year, the BISC is set to offer one of the most innovative programs yet.
Working in partnership with the Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre (DDQIC), the BISC will co-host the first students in the i2TRM (International Innovation Term.) Students will combine a semester abroad in the UK, offering plenty of learning and networking opportunities, with the chance to form their own business ventures — all while earning 15 units towards their undergraduate degree.
Students will receive real-world expert support from Queen's instructors, innovators, and alumni living in Canada and the U.K. Supervising faculty include: Greg Bavington, Sc’85, Executive Director, DDQIC and Special Advisor to the Provost, Innovation and Entrepreneurship; Jim McLellan, Sc’81, PhD’90 Academic Director, DDQIC and Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Queen’s; and Christina Dinsmore, who will oversee the program and be based at the BISC for the fall. Christina is an Instructional Designer and Curriculum Developer in the Faculty of Arts and Science and brings a wealth of experience in designing and developing courses in entrepreneurship and innovation, including the new Queen’s Entrepreneurship Certificate and the Geology Department’s new Professional Masters of Earth and Energy Resources Leadership (MEERL).
The program is being run from the Castle, to leverage its proximity to both London and Brighton — two major centres of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the U.K. While living at the BISC, the students will have access to an ‘Innovation Lab’ equipped with the tools required to turn their creative ideas into reality, including workstations, woodworking, and metalworking tools, soldering equipment, 3D scanners, and printers. For the time being this is located in the Castle’s lower ground floor, but it will eventually move to the new science facility when it opens in the summer of 2019.
There will of course be guest lectures from members of the London Node of DDQIC's Global Network. Its members are Queen's alumni coming from a variety of backgrounds in engineering, law, and business. They will conduct guest lectures, listen to the students’ business pitches, and provide one-on-one feedback to teams and individuals. Places in the program are limited, so the program is an exciting, exclusive opportunity for participants to get career-ready and learn practical and networking skills that will help them stand out from the crowd. As an added bonus, by the time students reach the final pitch competition in December, the i2TRM faculty fully expect all participants to have a viable new product and perhaps even be in a position to compete for early stage funding.