The best way to get in touch with a lab is to email the professor, who would be the head of the lab, or you email a lab manager about how to get involved in the lab. If you want to find out more information about what it’s like to work in the lab email graduate and/or undergraduate students who have previously (or are currently) working in said lab.

For both thesis and QQ3 courses students typically work on a project under a masters or PhD student who would already have a research study ongoing. There are a few rare cases where undergraduate students are able to come up with their own research projects but it’s not common.

The PNB 4D09/06 courses are two thesis courses offered in the PNB department. The PNB 4D09 course is worth 9 units and is split across the fall and winter semesters. Thesis students enrolled in 4D09 can choose how to distribute their 9 units across the semesters (3 units in the Fall and 6 units in the Winter is one example). In 4D06 your units are spread out evenly throughout the length of your thesis (3 units in the Fall and 3 units in the Winter). It is also possible, but not very common, for students to use their 6 units for one semester instead. You would have to organize this with your supervisor.

A thesis typically is a larger commitment for the professor and so if you don’t get one don’t worry! There are still many ways to obtain research experience. In lieu of a fourth-year thesis, you can do a 4QQ Senior Research Project, a 4QM which is a Library Study, or 4SC6 the Science communication course. You just need to ensure that if you do not obtain a thesis, you are still fulfilling your fourth-year PNB requirements to graduate which are six units from the capstone course list and one psychology course. If you don’t obtain a thesis but still want research experience, you can still inquire about the third-year lab courses available to all 3rd year and above PNB students. They’re a fantastic way to still get a feel for the research environment.

The type of research you’ll be doing in either a thesis or a QQ varies widely between the different fields in PNB and the professor you’re working with. You may be working directly with subjects, manipulating previously collected data, or creating resources for conferences. However, broadly you’ll be expected to form a research proposal, collect the data (or perform the literature review) necessary for proving/disproving your hypothesis, create a scientific paper explaining your results, and finally create a poster presentation about your research. If the project is complete, the results are significant, and the paper makes it past the peer-review stage then you may even be credited as an author for the work you did.

For students in the Mental Health Specialization, it is the same process for applying to QQ/lab positions. You will apply through the PNB Ballot system, where you will basically rank the supervisors you would like to work with. However, it is a very very good idea to look into some of these supervisors before hand, read some of their work, and contact them (via their preferred method) about the possibility of being a QQ student in their lab. Some supervisors really prefer it if you’ve talked to them before filling out the ballot. However, for the Mental Health Program specifically, you also have the option to enroll in a PNB 3QM3, which is the same course as PNB 3QQ3, but the labs that you can apply to focus on mental health research. I believe PNB 3QM3 is for those in the Mental Health Specialization and there is a list of supervisors that you can apply to for the 3QM3 course. Also, speaking from experience, Mental Health students are not necessarily guaranteed positions. It all depends on a supervisor’s availability (openings in their lab) and many other factors.

Human behaviour students have the option to do an inquiry project, senior inquiry project, or seminar courses, but they do not currently have a thesis or QQ option.