Alix Bukkfalvi-Cadotte (M.Sc. Knowledge transfer and mobilisation, 2021)
Doctorate student in medical and health care studies
Swansea University, UK
“It is essential to have access to bursaries and scholarships when you decide to undertake graduate studies. Above all, it mitigates the impact of rising living costs and has a significant impact on our academic career.”
Alix Bukkfalvi-Cadotte, who holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the Université de Montréal, chose to pursue graduate studies at INRS after a visit to the Urbanisation Culture Société research centre for a summer internship. She quickly fell in love with the centre for its small size, the one-on-one supervision offered by the professors and the warm welcome of the staff. She decided to take the plunge and undertook a master’s degree. “One of the advantages of INRS is its human scale, which encourages interaction between students and faculty. It was easy for me to consult my professors or ask the administrative staff for help when I needed it.”
Throughout her time at INRS, Alix has distinguished herself through her actions, her community involvement and the quality of her work. She was the recipient of the international outreach award in 2021, to acknowledge her contribution to the influence of INRS through numerous participations in international conferences, internships, knowledge transfer activities or who has won an international award. Alix was also on the scientific director’s honour roll in recognition of the excellence of her dissertation. All this in addition to being awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council graduate scholarship in 2019. Alix feels privileged to have received the support of INRS in awarding scholarships. “It’s essential to have access to bursaries and scholarships when you decide to undertake graduate studies. Over all, it mitigates the impact of rising living costs and has a considerable impact on our academic career.”
While completing the final essay leading to her master’s degree, Alix started her career as a research professional at the Institut de la statistique du Québec in early 2020. She mentions that her director, Pr Laurence Charton, was very understanding and encouraged her to take this position, which Alix has held brilliantly for two years. The research and communication skills she acquired during her studies were put to good use in conducting large-scale surveys and social polls and have allowed her to broaden her horizons by exploring a wide range of topics. She says: “Thanks to INRS, I fell in love with research. Research is not at all boring, quite the contrary! The work is done not only with researchers, but also together with practitioners and service users, and it is this applied dimension that I found very interesting. I didn’t realise that this collaborative work could be done as part of the research activities.”
Alix is currently pursuing a PhD in Medical and Healthcare Studies at Swansea University in the UK. She hopes to return to Quebec and pursue her career at Institut de la statistique du Québec upon completing her PhD. “I would like to return to Quebec and continue in my field of study, particularly in the area of research communication. It has always interested me and that was highly valued when I was doing my master’s degree at INRS. I find it essential that research is not carried out in silos. We want it to be listened to and also to respond to the needs of the community. It is important to share this knowledge and the needs of the community.”
She concludes by inviting students to take advantage of all the opportunities to learn and develop offered by the INRS, both internal and external. Whether it is through training, participating in conferences or writing retreats, and involvement in committees, “Sharing knowledge with our peers is really essential and stimulating and allows us to expand our network."
[Interviewed in October 2022]