OUPFB Coordinator
Gabriel Blouin-Demers
Full Professor
Department of Biology
University of Ottawa
Gendron Hall, Room 377
+1 (613) 562-5800 x6749
Email
Lab website
You can contact me with your questions regarding field courses. Many of you will be taking modules that are not offered by uOttawa. Thus, you should let me know about particularly good experiences. You should also let me know if the field course did not meet your expectations. This way, I can better guide students in their choices and, if serious problems are identified, I can bring them to the attention of other coordinators at our annual meeting.
OUPFB
The Ontario Universities Program in Field Biology (OUPFB) is 16 universities in Ontario pooling their offerings of field courses. This allows students from participating institutions to choose among the ≈ 25 modules offered annually around the globe instead of students being restricted to the 1-3 modules offered by their home institution. As a participant in the OUPFB, uOttawa offers courses in the program and has access to reserved places on the modules in the program. Check the central OUPFB website for the list of modules offered this year. The courses deal with most aspects of field biology and vary widely in price depending on their location.
The course code for registration is BIO3103 no matter which university is offering your module, but you do not register for this course yourself. You will be registered once you have been assigned to a module.
Prerequisite: BIO2129/2529.
Cours en français
Puisque ces cours sont offerts conjointement avec des universités anglophones, ces modules sont uniquement offerts en anglais. Cependant, Gabriel Blouin-Demers offre un cours de terrain en français sur l'écologie des déserts (BIO3503).
uOttawa Modules
Not all uOttawa modules are offered every year. Consult the central OUPFB website for the list of modules offered this year.
- Ecology of East African Ecosystems (Dr Kerr)
Intended Audience
We strongly encourage all students to take field courses: they are fabulous experiences and often lead to a life-long interest in natural history, ecology, and evolution. In fact, we encourage you to take several field courses. Multiple field courses will always appear on your transcript as BIO3103, but we will add the module title as the title of the course. Field courses are great preparation for honours thesis work and graduate work.
Information Session
The full list of modules offered - with their descriptions, costs, and dates - can be found on the central OUPFB website.
I will hold an information session on OUPFB courses on Wednesday 22 January 2025 at 17:30 in FTX 361. If you are thinking about taking a field course, you should attend this information session. I will clarify how the program works, explain the registration procedure, give examples of field courses, and answer your questions.
Registration Procedure
Registration will start on Monday 27 January 2025 at 8:30 and will continue until all modules are full. On Friday 7 February 2025 at 15:00, however, we will loose our reserved places and they will go into a general pool available to all universities. Thus, your best bet to get into the module you want is to submit your registration material as soon as possible. The number of remaining places for each module will be posted on the central OUPFB website in mid February. Once you have been assigned to a module in late February, you will be notified by email.
Registration will be on a “first come, first served” basis. To register, you have to complete the OUPFB application form and the emergency contact form. Submit the forms to Mariam Ishak in the Biology office, room 160 of Gendron Hall. Be warned that the doors of Gendron Hall open at 7:30. Use your @uottawa.ca email in your forms.
We have a limited number of reserved places on each module, so you will be asked if a second choice would be acceptable in the event that your first choice is full. If all the places reserved for uOttawa on the module for which you wished to register have been taken, you will be put on a waiting list for that module. If some universities do not fill their reserved places on that course, you will be registered for it. If all the spaces are filled, you will be assigned your second choice or you will be put on a waiting list if you only gave one choice.
Deposit
With your application forms, you will need to provide a $350 deposit (by cheque or money order payable to the University of Ottawa) for each module you want to take. This deposit is refundable if we are unable to register you for a module that interests you. If you decide to drop a module, your deposit will be refunded only if the course instructor allows it.