The University of Guelph is an institution known for exceptional research opportunities. However, the University of Guelph-Humber, despite its connection to Guelph, has research projects that are less straightforward in their approval process and availability.
“There are definitely a lot of hoops and obstacles to go through,” said Ryley Liddle, a Guelph-Humber media studies student and undergraduate research assistant.
Liddle was an assistant for a research project called “Terrorizing Media,” a database showcasing visual and written depictions of terrorism in the media. Don Moore, a professor at Guelph-Humber, was the director of the project.
The way Liddle was informed of this opportunity was not a typical one.
“My research experience is not like other people’s I don't think. I was approached by my professor to work with him because I showed an interest in his research,” said Liddle.
Before students can be asked to assist in a study, the project needs to be approved in the first place. At the University of Guelph-Humber, the approval process is one that is unique and somewhat complicated.
“If there are human subjects [in the project], you need to get ethics approval. So for some projects, mine for instance, it had to go through the Humber ethics approval,” said Matthew LaGrone, assistant program head of electives.
LaGrone went on to say “if the faculty member [applying for a project] is more associated with Guelph, they’ll go through Guelph’s research ethics approval process.”
LaGrone is a professor who is very familiar with the ins and outs of research at Guelph-Humber. A year ago, he began a project called “measuring religiosity in university students,” surveying students of different backgrounds and asking how they fit amongst different traditions.
As far as the funding goes for those looking to do research, it’s a much simpler procedure.
“The decisions about funding are made internally within G.H. [Guelph-Humber], it’s not Guelph or Humber making those decisions,” said LeGrone.
He continued by saying “we put aside part of our annual budget to fund faculty and undergraduate research.”
Getting the word out to the student body is an important component of receiving assistance for projects. Unfortunately, one student finds that the way it’s done now can be inefficient and ineffective.
“Most of my knowledge about research projects comes from word of mouth - either from other students or professors I have a personal connection to,” said Emma Kelly, a third year justice studies student.
Kelly said she sometimes uses the school’s job database, “GH Works,” to learn about opportunities. However, she said there is a negative aspect of the service.
“Students rarely have the incentive to check for new opportunities there on a regular basis,” said Kelly.
Kelly suggested a few tips for improving this communication issue.
“It might be best to send out program-specific targeted emails with research opportunities,” said Kelly. “Social media is also a good way of engaging an age group of students that are highly involved with it.”
Kelly also recommended the use of in-person announcements, by having faculty share information with one another so that research opportunities could be described in class.
Despite there being inconvenient approval systems, and communication techniques that need to be improved, there is one component of research projects that should remain consistent.
“The key thing to getting the research funded is ‘will our students benefit from the research?’ The primary purpose of this is to give our undergraduate students research experience,” said LeGrone.
Comments