Research, how to?!?

[mrsceejoy]

Ive heard alot of people talking on the forums about what they did in terms of research. Call me a newb, but I have no idea how one would even find research opportunities. Do I find them via my school (Im doing a BSc via distance ed.)? Do I need to have any prereqs per say to be able to participate in research projects? Ive heard alot about NSERC, how would one go abouts trying to participate in research projects through them? Ive done quite a bit of research on the topic of research and how to go about finding opportunities but Ive found nothing. Any insight would be great!

[NewfieMike]

Ive heard alot of people talking on the forums about what they did in terms of research. Call me a newb, but I have no idea how one would even find research opportunities. Do I find them via my school (Im doing a BSc via distance ed.)? Do I need to have any prereqs per say to be able to participate in research projects? Ive heard alot about NSERC, how would one go abouts trying to participate in research projects through them? Ive done quite a bit of research on the topic of research and how to go about finding opportunities but Ive found nothing. Any insight would be great!

 

you can wait and apply for an NSERC or similar award if you'd like to get paid. If you're really interested (meaning you don't care about a paycheck) you can just start asking people to volunteer in their lab. Some people would love the free labor, other people couldn't be bothered. Generally though, PI's love it when people are interested in their research, as their ego-monsters need to be frequently fed.

[mrsceejoy]

Thank you so much for your insight. So as I have no experience related to research or working in a research lab, I would more than likely get a volunteering position as "lab lackey" even if I found myself in a position doing menial tasks, this would still count as participating in research?

[Prothrombin]

Where do you live? All big cities have affiliated research institutes connected with one of their hospitals. Try checking out their website for summer student opportunities. I got my research job with the OHRI which is connected with the Ottawa Hospital. They have a list of like 100 scientists you can e-mail and ask if they are hiring summer students. I think I e-mailed like 10 of them and got responses from 5.

 

NSERC is another possibility but you need really good grades and they're fairly competitive in terms of getting your grant. For NSERC you need to find a supervisor for your project, but in my experience at least, you need a strong cGPA. My suggestion would be to email scientists or researchers at your local research institute and ask if they are taking on summer students. It might be a bit too late now seeing as most of them do their hiring in mid to late May, but its a good option for next summer.

[mrsceejoy]

Where do you live? All big cities have affiliated research institutes connected with one of their hospitals. Try checking out their website for summer student opportunities. I got my research job with the OHRI which is connected with the Ottawa Hospital. They have a list of like 100 scientists you can e-mail and ask if they are hiring summer students. I think I e-mailed like 10 of them and got responses from 5.

 

NSERC is another possibility but you need really good grades and they're fairly competitive in terms of getting your grant. For NSERC you need to find a supervisor for your project, but in my experience at least, you need a strong cGPA. My suggestion would be to email scientists or researchers at your local research institute and ask if they are taking on summer students. It might be a bit too late now seeing as most of them do their hiring in mid to late May, but its a good option for next summer.

 

As a matter of fact I was just checking out the OHRI website as Im located in ottawa....I was thinking of emailing one of the "106 scientists" but I was unsure if sending an email was how I would go about offering to volunteer my time with them, I guess thats exactly what I should do! Thanks : D

[Starling]

Call me a newb, but I have no idea how one would even find research opportunities. Do I find them via my school (Im doing a BSc via distance ed.)?

 

Yep, just contact profs. Some schools also have work study type programs, usually doing menial tasks for a few hours a week, but it's paid, and if you do a good job with that, there may be opportunities to move up and do actual research.

 

Do I need to have any prereqs per say to be able to participate in research projects?

 

There aren't prereqs per se, but you stand a much better chance if you (a) have taken some relevant lab courses and ( have decent grades.

 

Ive heard alot about NSERC, how would one go abouts trying to participate in research projects through them?

 

The only NSERC I had was an industry one, so it might be a bit different, but I got the job first, and then they had me apply for NSERC.

 

Other options are co-op (where you take an extra year to do your degree but work during it -- I did part of mine in a research lab and part at a pharmaceutical/biotech company) and directed research/honours projects (where you get credit, but no pay, to do a research project in a lab).

[Dr.Dark]

You could always talk to your professors during the school year to see if they have anything available. Having a good reputation in class and good rapport with professor would definitely help you in getting the research position as well as decent letter of recommendation because they can comment on both your grades and your lab work.

[treejuice1]

I really think it's luck of the draw if you're going to blindly email PIs... That's what my friend and I did last spring and now I'm still doing pretty trivial tasks, whereas he's working on his 3rd independent project and has won poster competitions for the work he's done over the summer. But definitely get into it anyway even if you start out doing menial work. You'll still get to go to seminars and meet lots of great people

[Prothrombin]

As a matter of fact I was just checking out the OHRI website as Im located in ottawa....I was thinking of emailing one of the "106 scientists" but I was unsure if sending an email was how I would go about offering to volunteer my time with them, I guess thats exactly what I should do! Thanks : D

 

Yeah just shoot them an e-mail telling them who you are, where you go to school, what you're studying and why you're interested in their work. Then ask them if they are taking on any volunteers or what not. I can't speak for everybody but from what I know they tend to hire summer students over volunteers and tend to do all this in mid May. A few of the scientists i've spoken with have said it just gets too hard to manage everybody when you have 2 summer students, 2 PhD students and 2 Masters students.

[dr_horrible]

Just a tip: I think e-mailing PIs is a good idea, and is actually how I got my research job. But definitely do some background reading on what the lab researches, some recent publications, etc. We take on 4-5 summer students each year, but closer to 50 apply. If one of the students e-mailing about the position shows an interest in what our lab is doing, my supervisor will be much more likely to consider them for the job.

[Apixaban85]

1. Pick a topic

2. ????

3. Publish!

 

Another thing you could do in addition to emails is to go to the profs during their office hours especially if no one is really there and maybe chat about what you could possibly do in their lab