Many research opportunities will open up as you enter university. There are lots of different ways for undergrads to get involved in research, whether it’s through specific programs or by reaching out to supervisors individually. In this article, I will describe the initial steps of how undergraduate students can get into research. I will also try to list some of the major research opportunities available to UBC undergraduate students, but there are far more opportunities out there and I encourage my audience to do their own google search. If you don’t study at UBC, most of these may still apply in different formats at your institution.
Reach out to supervisors directly
Although it may seem intimidating, reaching out to a supervisor is a good way to get started in research. If you are not sure where to start, here are the first steps. First, identify the field(s) of research that interests you. It is fine if you don’t have a very specific idea about what you want to study. What is something in the courses you have taken at university that intrigued you? Is there a specific topic that you want to learn more about through research? What is a problem you want to solve? Second, find potential supervisors in your field of interest. This can be done by browsing through the websites of various departments at your university or at your local research institute. You can also look into graduate school programs at your university and find supervisors listed under programs that you may want to pursue. You can further refine your list of potential supervisors by looking up their websites. By doing this, you can find out about their recent publications, know more about the type of work done in their lab (mouse work, fly work, dry vs wet lab, etc…), size of the lab, etc... Third, start contacting supervisors! Both the BCCHR and UBC websites listed below have very good advice on how to approach supervisors and decide on a project. For each supervisor that you want to connect, send them an email! Some labs may have specific instructions on their websites, but in general the email should contain the following: (1) a brief self-introduction (name of university, year, major, etc.), (2) a description of why you are interested in doing research at their lab, (3) mention any research awards you plan on applying or any research program/honours thesis you want to do, (4) attach your CV/resume. In general, give people a week to respond, but don’t be discouraged if they never responded to your email. If it’s a lab that you really want to join, send a follow-up email after 1 – 2 weeks to give yourself another shot at it. Once you have connected with a lab, schedule a time to meet with your supervisor and figure out the next steps!
Research programs and funding opportunities
Undergraduate Research Opportunities (URO) (https://www.uroubc.com/) is a club that connects undergrad students to research opportunities and mentorship. They also organize yearly multi-disciplinary research conferences (MURC) which is a nice opportunity for you to present your research.
BCCHR summer student research program (https://bcchr.ca/ssrp) is an excellent summer research program that allows you to develop and carry out a project, and present your work to other summer students, grad students, PIs at the institute. If you found the lab and project suitable for your career interests, it can open many future doors. To attend this program, you need to first find a research supervisor – the BCCHR website has instructions for that. In terms of funding, you can apply for the BCCHR studentship, which is a stipend that covers 12 weeks (max) of full-time work. However, even if you didn’t receive the BCCHR studentship, you can still participate in the program. You can either try to get external funding (eg/ apply for a UBC FoM SSRP) or volunteer.
UBC Faculty of Medicine SSRP (https://www.med.ubc.ca/current-learners/summer-student-research-program/) is another opportunity for receiving funding for doing summer research at a lab. Their website also has instructions for finding a supervisor.
Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) (https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/students-etudiants/ug-pc/usra-brpc_eng.asp)
Out of province summer research programs: McGill University offers quite a few research programs for Canadian university students.
Integrate research into your curriculum
Honours thesis is typically a research project that you carry out in the last year of your undergrad. In general, it requires you to find a supervisor in your department who will give you a project to do throughout the school year. At the end, you would need to write a thesis, which (at the undergrad level) is sort of like a very long lab report. There are pros and cons to doing an honours thesis. The pros would be learning new lab techniques, (maybe) seeing a project from start to finish, rarely but potentially getting a first or second author paper, as well as whatever that particular lab has to offer you (sometimes a summer research position). The cons of delaying doing any research until your honours thesis would be that if you are interested in applying to medical school in your last year of undergrad, none of your thesis work would be included in your application because it’d be past the deadline. As well, your supervisor would (likely) not be able to write you a reference if they had only known you for a few months. However, this is not the end of the world and you can always take a gap year after undergrad before applying for medical school. You may also have enough to put in your application that you don’t need anything from your honours thesis. In summary, doing an honours thesis is great and can open more doors for you in the research world, but for those who are passionate about research, I would not recommend it as a first step into research.
Co-op is another great way to get involved in research (and get paid!). At UBC, Co-op typically happens after 3rd year, and typically lasts a year. Unlike work-learn or an honours thesis, Co-op allows you to do research full-time. This means you really get the chance to immerse yourself in research and learn lots of new skills. You may get a publication out of it or present your work at a conference. It also means that your supervisor may get to know you well and may be able to write you reference letters in the future. However, co-op is not the only way you can achieve these things. The same things can be said if you’ve volunteered or worked at a lab on top of school for a long enough time.
Work-learn and Directed studies (448) are two other ways to integrate an independent research project into your undergrad studies but are much shorter than a co-op or an honours thesis. Some students do these to get to know a lab in which they may subsequently choose to do their honours thesis. This same purpose can also be achieved by doing a summer student research project (SSRP).
Volunteering during school is an informal way to get involve in a lab, which is what I did during my undergrad. I started in my lab as a summer student, and continued volunteering in the lab during my school year. Doing research like this poses lots of challenges such as balancing research and school (homework, projects, examssss!!), and you may find it difficult to make a lot of progress compared to people who are in the lab full-time (of course!). I was fortunate that my lab was very understanding of my heavy course load, and they gave me lots to do but little pressure. The pros were that I got to keep up with my lab techniques, got a third author publication, and my supervisor got to know me well and wrote me lots of reference letters. In summary, volunteering or working at a lab during school is hard, but the benefits will outweigh the cost if you are able to find a lab that is supportive.
Finally, I hope this article has given you some ideas about how to get involved in research as an undergraduate student. If you have any further questions about this topic or about any of the steps above, feel free to dm me on Instagram (@peppermint.adventures) or send me an email!
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