The Department of Psychology, St. George campus, does not have formal procedures or application forms for either volunteer or paid research/lab positions in the summer or during the academic year. Suggestions on where students can investigate research opportunities with the Psychology Department and the wider research community are listed below.
- On the Faculty of Arts & Science Research Opportunities page
- At the U of T Career Centre including the Work-Study Program;
- Sign up for the Undergrad listserv to receive email notification of volunteer opportunities (we receive these regularly from within and outside the university). These opportunities are also posted on our Facebook page. "Like" our Facebook page to get the latest postings as well as other useful information.
- With the Psychology Students' Association;
- At various affiliated hospitals or co-operating institutions; including CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health).
- Check with individual faculty members about potential opportunities in their labs (this is the most common way students gain this type of experience). View contact and research information for our faculty members.
- Visit the Psych Research List website. While primarily American, this website contains various lists for paid internships, virtual graduate school information sessions, post-bac jobs, resources for applying to graduate school, and much more.
Other opportunities include:
- The summer NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) and University of Toronto Excellence Awards (UTEA) in Social Science and Humanities and in Natural Science and Engineering are considered awards however, they do provide students with excellent paid research experience;
- For students entering second and third year, the Research Opportunity Program (ROP), sponsored by the Faculty of Arts & Science, provides an opportunity for students early in their academic career to engage in an original research project with a professor, in exchange for course credit. Students who apply to an ROP in Psychology would receive a full-course credit of PSY299Y1 or PSY399Y1, with there being a few instances of 0.5 credit ROP courses (PSY299H1);
- Apply to our Research Specialist Program after you have completed your second year. This program is designed for students who have demonstrated a particular interest in and aptitude for research, and who want to complete a 4th year thesis. For more information on this program, please see here.
- Complete a 4th year Individual Project by taking PSY405H1/Y1 or PSY406H1/Y1. For more information, read the following PDF, and fill out the
PSY 405_406 Instructions and Application Form with your supervisor to be enrolled for course credit. This is another popular way students gain useful research experience relevant to future career opportunities or admission to graduate school. - Join PURC! The Psychology Undergraduate Research Community (PURC) is a group led by graduate students intended to create a community for undergraduate students to learn more about psychological research, present to their peers, and develop professional skills outside of the laboratory. You can find them here: https://purc.psych.utoronto.ca/
Clinical Opportunities:
While our department's focus is not on Clinical Psychology, many of our students are interested in pursuing careers in counselling/therapy. Here are some links to volunteering opportunities in the clinical field to get you started:
- https://www.startclinic.ca/volunteer-opportunities/
- https://www.dcogt.com/volunteer/
- http://www.blcc.ca/meet-our-volunteers.html
- https://bbs.camhx.ca/about-us/get-involved
- https://www.camh.ca/en/get-involved/join-the-cause/volunteer-at-camh
- https://stridestoronto.ca/about-us/join-our-team/
- https://charityvillage.com/jobs/mental-health-peer-support-volunteer-in-toronto-ontario-ca/