On July 30, the inaugural Canada Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP) wrapped with its own presentation fair, where students could present their work from the past 8 weeks. Congratulations to all the student researchers, faculty mentors, and organizers!

The SROP is an important diversity initiative that was brought to Canada this year by Dr. Page-Gould, Dr. Sonia Kang (Associate Professor, University of Toronto) and Dr. Kelci Harris (Assistant Professor, University of Victoria). Its American counterpart is in its 35th year, run by the Big Ten Academic Alliance. This anti-racism initiative seeks to diversity academia by providing access to the graduate school preparation, planning, and admission processes.

The Canadian version developed from the vision of Dr. Harris, who was an Ontario Postdoctoral Fellow in SPRQL from 2017-2019. Kelci made a Welcome Video for all the SROP students that was much loved.

In 2021, the program was open to undergraduate students who identified as Black, Indigenous, or People of Colour (BIPOC). Learn more about all the researchers and their projects here!

Running from June 7 to July 30th, the SROP provided student researchers with GRE preparation, community building opportunities, professional development sessions, and importantly, independent research experience and mentorship from a faculty member. All students were paid a living wage stipend for the duration of the program.

In its first iteration, the Canada SROP was hosted by the tri-campus University of Toronto Psychology Department, Graduate School of Management, and the Rotman Research Institute, all at the University of Toronto. The organizers hope to expand this program across Canadian universities in the coming years!

For more information, check out the Canada SROP website and Twitter page. For interested students, applications for Summer 2022 will open in November 2021 and will be due around February 15, 2022.