Current Graduate Students

The following is a compilation of useful information for current graduate students in the department. If you are a new student to the department, you might want to check out page on what to do you first get here.

One of the first things you should do is look at the Graduate Student Handbook.  It describes all our current programs and the regulations surrounding them.  This is an especially handy resource if you want to know the procedure around the evaluation of theses and how comprehensive exams are conducted.

Funding and Financial Information

There are a number of avenues available both internally and externally designed to help graduate students financially.

Tri-Council Funding

Be sure to apply for funding through SSHRC, NSERC, and CIHR. Your supervisors will have more information and can help you with this. The School of Graduate Studies also often hosts information events about these and other scholarship opportunities. For more information, see here.

Other Funding

Keep in mind that there are many other funding sources available through MUN as well. Talk to your advisor, and to the people in the School of Grad Studies for information about these and other funding opportunities. For more information, visit https://www.mun.ca/sgs/current/scholarships/.

The Graduate Students Union

The GSU offers help to the Graduate students! Every semester each Graduate student pays roughly $31 in GSU membership fees (a little less than $100 a year) but is eligible to get back even more in the grants offered by the GSU! Below are some examples. More information can be found at http://www.gsumun.ca/funding.

    • The Professional Development Grant ($200 for Master's students and $400 for Doctorate students). This grant can cover the costs of things such as books, articles, seminars, workshops, First Aid Courses, etc.
    • The Professional Membership Grant ($50/year. Renewable up to 2 times for Master's students and 4 times for Doctorate students). This grant will cover the cost of membership to any field related organization.
    • GSU Conference Funding/Travel Assistance ($250 for Master's students and $500 for Doctorate students). This grant will help cover the costs to travel to conferences.

How to Get Involved

Grad school is a unique experience for everyone. One of the best ways to have a great experience at grad school is to get involved and seize the opportunities that are presented to you. Take advantage of these – or create your own opportunities. There are a lot of extra-curricular activities available that are also great avenues for building your CV. The following are some possible examples.

Graduate Student Society

If anyone is interested in being a part of the Graduate Psychology Society, you should contact Jillian Cleary (jmc312@mun.ca) or Shannon Waye (scw003@mun.ca), who have indicated their interested in getting this society up and running.  The society is a great way to meet other grad students, create social events, and represent graduate students needs to the department.

In order to establish the society, we need students to assume the roles of president, vice president, and treasurer, and at least 10 general members. Once these people have been identified and ready to fulfill those roles, you can contact Victoria Kavanagh (vajk87@mun.ca) and she can help you submit all of the paperwork required. Ratified societies can apply for up to $750 per year to host special projects for their members (under the Special Projects Grant) or up to $2000 for other things (under the Graduate Student Development Fund). More information can be found at http://www.gsumun.ca/clubs-societies.

Canadian Psychological Assocoiation (CPA)

The CPA is the largest national association for psychology and being a member provides you with great benefits for a number of services, activities, and products. There is also an national convention held each year where you can showcase your research, network with other students and scholars, and to share ideas among other academics and practitioners. CPA has a variety of Sections specific to the different domains of psychology. As a student, you can receive a discounted membership fee! For more information about joining the CPA, please visit www.cpa.ca or contact one of the following representatives here in our department:

Campus Representative: Chris Lively (clively@mun.ca)
Graduate Student Representative: Laura Fallon (lfallon@mun.ca)
Faculty Representative: Dr. Aimee Surprenant (asurpren@mun.ca)

Three-minute Thesis

This is a research communication competition where students have “three minutes to present a compelling oration on their thesis and its significance.” MUN’s Science Faculty and School of Grad Studies each host these events. More info at https://www.mun.ca/sgs/3MT/index.php

SSHRC Storytellers

“SSHRC’s Storytellers contest challenges postsecondary students to show Canadians how social sciences and humanities research is affecting our lives, our world, and our futures for the better. The challenge is to tell Canadians about a great SSHRC-funded project happening at your school in three minutes or 300 words.”
More info can be found here.

Networking Advice

Graduate training and conducting research generally does not happen in a vacuum and is a collaborative process. Get to know the people in your lab, your classes, your department, and also people outside the boundaries of MUN. There are a number of ways to do this:

Grow Your Online Presence

If you haven’t already, think about creating a personal website or science blog to write about your research, share posters and presentations. Maintaining your own website and posting research information will also help you to practice your writing skills, share findings about your research, and get your name out there in the research world. For example, LinkedIn, Twitter, and ResearchGate are all platforms that help to build your online presence and connect you with other researchers.

You can also keep up with MUN Psychology by joining the Facebook group (Department of Psychology, Memorial University of Newfoundland) and following the twitter account, @MUN_Psychology

Attend regional, national, and international conferences

Presenting research at a conference helps to disseminate findings, and gives you an opportunity to develop collaborative relationships with other researchers. Even if you don’t have anything to present, attending conferences can be rewarding and expose you to lots of learning opportunities and also helps you to meet other students, academics, and scholars in your field.