Guide to Canadian Student Research Funding & Finding Research Positions at McGill

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Hi friends,

I hope you’ve been enjoying the first half of July! Why do you subscribe to Invite Health? I found that the top three reasons people subscribe to Invite Health are:

1. Learning how people got their positions (100% of respondents)

2. Learning about different career paths & jobs in the life & health sciences

3. Personal enjoyment and curiosity

This is interview #48! I will publish interview #49 next week, then I’m going to take a break from posting for a few weeks before posting interview #50. I have lots of exciting things planned for Invite Health for the rest of 2024 … stay tuned 😮‍💨

This week, I invited Benjamin to share his story. Benjamin & I had a chat a few weeks ago about breaking into research & our academic paths, and shared ideas for this newsletter! Today you’ll learn:

• Benjamin’s journey breaking into neuroscience at McGill

• The step-by-step process for securing summer research grants (notably, NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards (URSA))

• Benjamin’s comprehensive list of McGill’s research programs & funders for undergrad students

Enjoy today’s read,

Sachi 💌

Guide to Canadian Student Research Funding & Finding Research Positions at McGill: Interview with Benjamin Lévesque Kinder

First off, tell us about your journey so far. Where do you study, what inspired you to pursue this, and what’s next? What else do you like to do outside of studying?

Hello! My name is Benjamin Lévesque Kinder (he/him), and I am a third-year neuroscience student at McGill University in Montréal. Originally from Ottawa, Ontario, I applied to McGill as a Canadian out-of-province applicant. 

The unique educational system in Québec, where students go straight into their second year from colleges called CEGEPs, means that out-of-province and international students have to complete a ‘freshman year’ within their faculty of choice to catch up with CEGEP students. In my case, I did my freshman year in the Biological, Biomedical & Life Sciences program group and then applied to the neuroscience program. Admission to the neuroscience program requires an essay on why you are interested in the program and what drew you to neuroscience. It’s really short, so it’s helpful to get right to the core of what makes you passionate about the field and how you explored this passion before applying to the program. Personally, I came to neuroscience through a combination of personal experience and intellectual curiosity. In my mid-teens, I developed an interest in the question of whether human beings have free will, and by extension the origins of our behaviors. This interest coincided with a family member of mine undergoing neurosurgery for a brain aneurysm. Simultaneously, I was exposed to both the profound, philosophical aspects and the raw, personal dimensions of neuroscience, which has been my passion ever since. In the end, the essay I submitted followed a past-present-future format: what got me interested in neuroscience (past), what have I done to learn more/explore this interest (present), why do I want to be part of the program/where will this program take me (future). 

When I’m not studying or doing research I enjoy spending time outdoors, reading and cycling on Montréal’s F1 track. Although I am not particularly fast, triathlon training allows me to exercise in a new way every single day!

Can you tell us a bit about some of your past and current research positions?

Since my first summer at university, I have been involved in research at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro) in Dr. Sylvain Baillet’s neuroSPEED lab. Our group studies neural dynamics at the network level using a technique called magnetoencephalography (MEG). I got this opportunity by attending a research fair hosted by the Neuro, where I connected with a graduate student representing the group who then supervised me for the duration of the summer. In this role, I applied my coding and statistics abilities to methods development, which is to say, creating new tools for others to use in their own analyses. Once I had learned the foundations of MEG signal analysis in Brainstorm, I was tasked with implementing model selection to improve SPRiNT, a method that had previously been developed in the lab. I continued with the Baillet lab for the rest of the academic year on a part-time volunteer basis, working with a postdoc from Université de Montréal, this time doing data acquisition and analysis for a project on the sense of agency.

Can you walk us through the process for NSERC grants?

Navigating research and funding can seem daunting. However, there are many funding opportunities available for undergraduates students to do research over the summer. At McGill, specifically in Neuroscience, there are the TOSI Open Science Awards ($5’000) and the HBHL Undergraduate Summer Research Internship Award ($10’000, specifically for students with no prior paid research experience). In the health sciences more broadly, there is the McGill Biomedical Research Accelerator ($7’500), and the McGill Science Undergraduate Research Awards (SURA; $8’700+). This list is by no means exhaustive; at McGill alone, there are many other awards in physics, astronomy, ecology and biodiversity, see below. Don’t be afraid to reach out to upperclassmen at your institution to ask them what grants are available to you. 

By far the most well known awards are the tri-agency Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) given out by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Each agency gives out a select number of USRA to most Canadian higher education institutions for the university to award at their discretion. Tri-agency awards are available to all Canadian Permanent Residents, Citizens and Protected Persons and the CIHR and SSHRC USRAs are exclusively for applicants that self-identify as Black. Additionally, in order to be eligible for an USRA, your supervisor must have their own research funded at least in part by the agency you intend to apply to.

Applying to an NSERC USRA can broadly be divided into two steps: finding a supervisor and drafting your application. Finding a supervisor is arguably the harder of the two steps because a lot of it comes down to luck. With that being said, there are many things you can do to push the odds in your favor, which I am happy to discuss later. But let’s say you have a supervisor who has agreed to take you on: what’s next? Now, it is time to develop a project for you to work on over the summer! This is a process to undertake with your supervisor during which you will combine your interests with the work the lab is currently doing. Your research may or may not be supervised by a graduate student (often PhD candidates) or a postdoctoral fellow in the lab. Once you have a project in mind, you can begin the process of formally applying to a USRA. 

The steps to apply to an NSERC USRA will vary by institution, so in the event of a disagreement defer to your school’s policy. I applied at McGill for an award form the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, for which I had to do the following: 

• Fill out Form 202 Part I on the NSERC website (for more, see below).

• Ask my supervisor to fill out Form 202 Part II (for more, see below) on the NSERC website. Both must be verified andsubmitted. 

• Write a personal statement (<1 page, 3 questions).

• Fill a form for McGill that includes my NSERC ID so that McGill can find which application (Forms 202 pt. I + II) in NSERC’s database is mine. 

• Fill a checklist, and ask my supervisor to fill out a checklist, attesting that all of the above have been completed. 

• Send Form 202 part I and part II, personal statement, official transcript and checklist to McGill as one long PDF. 

What advice do you have for students who want to break into neuroscience and lab research, but may not have any experience yet? 

This is an excellent question because it touches on the employment-experience paradox: you need to join a lab to do research and gain experience, but you need prior experience to get into a lab. 

First and foremost, you need to do a bit of research (no pun intended) to find out what interests you. A good place to start is the ‘Faculty and Staff’ page on the website of the department you are interested in. These pages will have short profiles of the researchers in that department and will often link to their lab website where you can consult their research themes and recent publications. If this resonates with you, great! On to the next step…

Once you have found a principal investigator (PI; scientist at the head of their own lab) whose work interests you, the oft repeated recommendation is to email them directly to supervise you. Although this can work, you have to keep in mind that PIs receive a lot of emails. Furthermore, around the time that you email them, they will be receiving a lot of emails specifically from undergraduates in the same position as you who are often using the exact same email template.

But do not despair! In my experience, you are far more likely to get a reply if you first approach a graduate student whose research you connect with. Graduate students are often just as happy to gush about their research as their supervisors, but are generally more accessible. To find graduate students whose interests align with yours, there is often a list of current graduate students (with emails listed) on lab websites. Because graduate students in the same lab often speak to one another, I would not message more than one person in a given lab, but feel free to message a graduate student from a handful of labs you are interested in. Alternatively, you can connect with graduate students at networking events (think Wine and Cheeses) or on LinkedIn. Although it may feel uncomfortable, these ‘cold’ approaches are a completely normal and accepted part of how undergraduates get into research labs. 

“Alright, I know who to approach, but what do I say?”. As an undergraduate, it’s normal not to have any research experience from the jump. However, this doesn’t mean you don’t have meaningful experiences to draw on. Let’s say you are interested in neuroscience. In your message, make sure you are able to articulate: 

1. A bit about who you are (name, year, major, extracurricular experiences), and why you are interested in neuroscience.

2. What is it, specifically, about their research that resonates with you? Have you read a book on this topic? Are they studying a neurological condition that you have had close contact with?

3. What you have already done to learn more (read books/papers, attend seminars, etc.). When you mention papers, explain what you found interesting about them. If you have some experience, it’s even better if you can come up with questions or ideas for future research.

4. Why you are emailing them: you want to sit down to talk about their research, you want to explore how you could get involved in the lab, etc.

5. Depending on how direct your approach is, it is customary to also attach a CV (1 page) and a transcript. 

Remember, getting into a lab is always a bit of a numbers game. Even if you are a perfect match for a lab, they may not have the space for you, or the project may still be too new for you to make a meaningful contribution. Just keep your head up and keep trying!

What types of experiential learning opportunities did you have in undergrad that you think were the most pivotal in getting you to where you are today?

The opportunities that were most pivotal in allowing me to get involved in research were definitely attending seminars and doing independent study. Although it may not be fun, reading the blast emails your department sends out, taking a look at the hallway corkboard, and keeping up with your student society are all good ways of finding when events in your field are happening. At McGill, I attended Soup and Science, Neurolingo, Reality+, among others. Furthermore, most large research facilities will host seminars that anyone can attend! These are usually short lectures by invited speakers from other universities. You can find these by searching: <department> department seminar <institution>. All of these opportunities are great for helping you find out what interests you, and helps demonstrate your interest and dedication to your chosen field. 

Additionally, in my first year I took an online coding class that was pivotal in landing my first research position. Programming is becoming a bigger and bigger part of almost every field so this is an essential skill that will help you stand out! 

Lastly, showing an active and consistent dedication to the topic that interests you further helps you stand out. For instance, if you are deeply interested in working in a lab studying a specific pathology like Alzheimer’s, being able to say that you have attended seminars on neurodegenerative diseases, you are part of a campus club raising awareness about Alzheimer’s and volunteering at a retirement home are all good ways to find out what interests you and help you get your first experience. These experiences are by no means required, but they will help you best articulate your passion for a given research topic. 

Where can students go if they want to learn more about your experiences?

If you have any questions or would just like to chat please don’t hesitate to reach me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-lévesque-kinder. Even if it’s just to say that you found my testimony interesting/useful, I’d love to hear from you!

Is there any final advice or resources that you would like to share with Invite Health readers?

As I mentioned earlier, to apply for the NSERC you need to fill out the two parts of Form 202. Here is an overview of the information covered in each part:

NSERC Form 202 Part I: demographic/academic information, including your institution, citizenship status, address, etc. This form will also include an NSERC reference number. This is used to identify your application. 

NSERC Form 202 Part II: this form is submitted by your supervisor but you may be asked to help in filling it out. This form includes your supervisor’s name, their NSERC ID (to check they are NSERC grant holders themselves), the title of your proposed research project, an outline of your research project, an outline of your role in the project, and the expected quality of the training and mentorship you will receive. Although this may seem like a lot, the entire form fits on less than a page. 

From McGill’s ‘Other Sources of Funding’

• Other similar summer undergraduate research awards or sources of funding:

  • Science Undergraduate Research Awards (SURA) are for McGill Faculty of Science students with McGill Faculty of Science professors; however, there are neither restrictions for citizenship (international students may also apply) nor restrictions on the supervisor's grant type.

  • SURE (Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering: for research with McGill Engineering professors)

  • ARIA (Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Awards: for McGill B.A. and B.A. & Sc. students)

  • FRQS Undergraduate Introduction to Research Award / Bourse d’initiation à la recherche au 1er cycle, for research in the area of health.

  • FRQSC Undergraduate Initiation to Research Scholarship, for research in social and human sciences, arts and letters.

• Gault Research Awards, for projects that contribute to the understanding and conservation of the Gault Nature Reserve's unique ecosystems.

• McGill Biomedical Research Accelerator, for students in the second to last year of their undergraduate degree who hold an interest in the field of biomedical research.

• McGill Global Health Scholars - Undergraduate Program 

• NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE): undergraduate studentships are available through some of the CREATE training programs. Find out more about the program in general and then search for existing CREATE programs at McGill or across Canada.

• NSERC Indigenous Student Ambassadors (NISA)

• McGill Work-Study Program (for students with demonstrated financial need)

• Schull Yang International Experience Awards (for research abroad)

• SUS 21st Century Ambassador Fund (SCAF) (to attend or host academic conferences or competitions)

• Trottier Space Institute - Summer Undergraduate Research Awards

• McCAIS Undergraduate Research Awards (McURA), for interdisciplinary research in the realm of AI and Society.

• External funding

  • Funding from your country (if you are a citizen or resident of a country other than Canada; e.g., NSF REU).

  • Other Canadian and international programs: MITACS Globalink (various countries), DAAD RISE (Germany), etc.

  • Some foundations (cancer, liver, wildlife, etc.) or scholarly associations (physiology, etc.) have summer studentship programs. Brainstorm with your supervisor or lab members to determine which associations might be relevant, then check if they have funding for which you are eligible.

• INRS Undergraduate Summer Research Internships

Jobs, Opportunities & Resources 💻️

Most of these resources are reposted on Invite Health’s LinkedIn page!

• Clinical Research Project Assistant, Child Health Evaluative Sciences at The Hospital for Sick Children | LinkedIn

• Company Support Coordinator - CAN Health (canhealthnetwork.ca)

• Black Research Network | 2024-25 Scholarship for Graduate Dementia Research by Black Students – Toronto Dementia Research Alliance (utoronto.ca)

• Paid Opportunities - CERC in Health Equity and Community Wellbeing - Toronto Metropolitan University (torontomu.ca)

• CIHR Healthy Youth Team Grant (communityresearchcanada.ca)

• Project Coordinator, Health Commons Solutions Lab | Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto), Sinai Health

• Communicating Climate Hope Conference at UBC

• Getting an Internship at Waterloo Computer Science - Notion Guide

• Research Internships - Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence

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• Interested in working at Eli Lilly & Company? Read this recruiter’s tips

About Invite Health 💌

I started Invite Health for my younger self who was trying to figure out what to do with my health sci degree that wasn’t a career in medicine.

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Since 2022, we’re the leading resource for students figuring out what to do with a life sci / health sci degree. I interview students pursuing diverse careers in healthcare, and how they got there - no gatekeeping here. Every newsletter is rich with resources and insights.

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