Summer Research Experience Professional Development Activities

The following activities are designed to help students engaged in full-time research get the most out of their experience.

Register for the workshops below by logging into Experience Guelph under "Students" with your U of G single sign-on and selecting Career > Events / Workshops in the left-hand menu. From the calendar, click on the workshop you’d like to attend and select Register for this event.

Workshops will be offered in-person or virtually; please ensure to register for the correct format. In-person workshops will be help in the Experiential Learning Hub, virtual workshops will be held on Microsoft Teams, you will receive a calendar invite to join the day before the workshop.

Note that these are the same workshops being offered multiple times. 

If you have questions or require an accommodation for an in-person workshop please e-mail Brittney at brittney.ogilvie@uoguelph.ca

Workshop 1: Making the Most of your Summer Research Experience

May 13 - 15

Learn how to build quality relationships with your team and supervisor - even when working remotely - and how to make professional connections in your field. Find out what networking is really about (and how to not feel awkward doing it!).

Workshop 2: Connecting your Summer Research Position to Life After Graduation

July 15 - 18

This workshop features three hands-on activities designed to identify your career interests, strengths, and values, as well as give you the tools to engage in further career exploration. Whether you have no clue what’s in store for you after graduation or you know exactly the path you’d like to follow, this workshop can help uncover and affirm what you have to offer the world.

Download the activity handouts for Workshop 2 (DOC)

Workshop 3: Translating your Experience

August 12 - 15

Is your resume a list of tasks or a list of achievements? Learn how to decode a job posting and make your resume stand out from the pile by reflecting on what you’ve accomplished this summer and marketing the transferable skills.

Download the activity handouts for Workshop 3 (DOC)

The goal of this community, hosted through Discord, is to create connections, share resources, and facilitate professional development opportunities for students through weekly discussion posts, socials, and virtual Lunch and Learn sessions with guest speakers.

Join the Student Research Network Discord

Open to any undergraduate student engaged in research over the  summer, this is an opportunity to present findings and key learning to the campus community. This is an excellent way to build presentation skills vital to professional work in research. It can also form an assessment opportunity for students taking the UNIV*2800/3800/4800: Independent Research course series. The showcase will be open for the public to view.

Students that opt-in will be asked to:

  1. Prepare and present a 3-5 minute overview of their research in a live presentation group and be prepared to answer questions from the audience the week of August 19. Presentation dates are tentatively scheduled from August 19-21, but may be scheduled on Thursday and Friday if there is extraordinary interest.
  2. Attend one other presentation group as an audience member, being prepared with 1-2 questions for one other presenter within their assigned group

Interested? Complete the Showcase intake form by Thursday, August 8.

Presentation Resources:

Questions about the Showcase can be directed to experience@uoguelph.ca.

Experience Profiles

  • Samantha is in her 5th year of undergraduate studies at the University of Guelph and is currently a SPARK writer, having previously completed course-integrated experiential learning.