Volunteer At Lab Research In Vancouver

[Swedish_Med_Student]

Hi, I am a 22 years old swede, currently studying my fifth term of
Medicine at Linköping University in Sweden.
This fall will be my last term of "Pre-Clinical-studies" (As we call it in sweden) 
and we are all supposed to participate in a research project, as volunteers.

We are free to find this project ourselves and it is a great opportunity to 

get abroad for a couple of months!  
I've always had a dream of living in Canada and since my father was born in
Vancouver, it would be wonderful to get the chance to experience "his" city. 

 

For many weeks now I have been sending emails to LOTS of different research facilities, hospitals, Universities
and doctors, but it seems to be very difficult to get any good respons or even a lead of any one to reach out to. 

 

During my daily search for people to contact I stumbled upon this forum. It might be completely wrong and you 
might get mad with me for infiltrating your Forum, but after reading thru a couple of Topics I got the feeling that there
are a lot of students and graduates here who might be able to give me a lead, some advice or maybe maybe even
a name or an email adress to anyone in Vancouver who could possibly be interested in helping a

Swedish Medical student to find a research project for this fall! 

 

Sorry for the long post, and sorry for invading your forum..
I would be so thankful for ANY help or advice! 

Feel free to comment this or send me a PM

 

[neurophile]

Hey! Since no one has replied to you yet I'll see if I can help you a little bit.

 

What are you writing when you reach out to professors? I have read that professors are more likely to respond to personalized emails. I can elaborate on that more if you want. 

Are you being clear that you're interested in volunteer opportunities, and not a paid position? 

When I was doing my own research about how to get involved in research I found a few articles with tips about how to approach professors. Let me know if you'd like me to send them to you. 

[McMasterforever]

Agree with gonads comments on personalized emails. Hopefully, you're putting some thought into what you're writing. Your email should include why you're interested in the position, what you can bring to the experience, etc., but it should be specific. It shouldn't feel like someone is getting this email. Since you're in Sweden, would also consider speaking with your faculty who may have contacts in Canada or looking for people working in Canadian universities with Sweden ties. That might increase your response rate.