The Psychology Undergraduate Research Community (PURC) is a group led by both graduate and undergraduate students that is intended to create a community for undergraduate students in psychology.
Our goal is to provide undergraduates with access to many of the skills and supports that they would traditionally receive working as research assistants, but without needing to be in a laboratory. Because of this, we coordinate meetings to help students learn more about psychological research, present to their peers, develop professional skills, and receive mentorship and advice from graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. One of our big goals is also to create a comfortable environment where undergraduates can meet other students who are in similar careers stages to themselves and provide mentorship to junior students themselves! Everyone is welcome at our regular meetings – no registration or prior experience is required!
PURC took a break over the summer, but we’re currently in the process of planning our Fall 2023 meetings. In the past, our regular meetings have included:
- Panels and Q&A with graduate students
- 15-minute talks by ROP, independent study, or thesis students
- 15-minute literature updates by any undergraduates
- Guest presentations from faculty
- Guest presentations from graduate students
- Statistical & programming skills, such as using RStudio or Python
In addition to our regular meetings, we also host intensive writing workshops to help students apply to research-focused graduate programs in psychology and the Research Opportunity Program at the University of Toronto. Because these workshops unfold over the course of several weeks and require mentors to look over materials and provide feedback, slots are limited to make sure we can provide quality feedback to participants. As such, students must apply and be selected to participate in writing workshops.
Keep browsing our website to sign up for our listserv, apply for a slot in a writing workshop, find resources, or see our schedule!