Classical Studies
| Professor / contact | Altay Coskun |
|---|---|
| Position available | ongoing |
| Project | Database project Amici Populi Romani: collection of biographical data of kings and dynasts of the Mediterranean world who were friends of the Romans. |
| RA tasks | Depending on the skills and experience of the student, s/he could help me with the design and development of the website, with the production of digital genealogical tables, and/or with the editing of articles, many of which are written by non-native speakers. |
| Professor / contact | Altay Coskun |
|---|---|
| Position available | ongoing |
| Project | Ancient Black Sea Studies |
| RA tasks | The student would first be introduced into Ancient Black Sea Studies, with a particular focus on the Bosporan Kingdom on the North Coast of the Black Sea. Depending on the skills and languages the student commands, s/he could be involved in editing conference papers, website design, production of small texts (blurbs, summaries), digitizing texts, and the organization of the team meetings. |
| Professor / contact | Altay Coskun |
|---|---|
| Position available | ongoing |
| Project |
Biblical Texts as Historical Sources for Hellenistic Judaea I have recently moved my research interest to Hellenistic and Roman Judaea. In particular, I have found new clues to understand the process how the prophetic Book of Daniel or the dynastic history of 1 Maccabees have been composed or revised and reedited. This opens many new perspectives on how to use these Biblical texts as historical sources. I am currently writing a series of journal articles and book chapters on these topics. |
| RA tasks | The student would help edit my texts, discuss related questions with me and potentially also develop a research agenda of their own in the field, if the cooperation is for a longer period. I typically organize one international workshop per year at UW and would like to include the student in its preparation. |
| Professor / contact | Altay Coskun |
|---|---|
| Position available | ongoing |
| Project |
Kolchian Studies My research on the ancient Black Sea region includes the legendary kingdom of Kolchis (Colchis), also called the land of the Argonauts and believed to have been the home of the sorceress Medeia. I have recently produced a series of articles on the historical geography: based on intensive literary studies (geographic literature, tragedy and epic poetry) as well as surveying recent scholarship on archaeology and using Google Earth, I have suggested new locations among others for Dioskurias, the largest Greek city on the eastern Black Sea coast. My ongoing work traces the various cities that were identified as Aia, the home city of Medeia, in the early period of Greek colonialism. I further study how the myth of Athamas, Ino, Phrixos, and Helle developed over time. |
| RA tasks | The student would help edit these and other papers on the ancient Black Sea for publishing, assist my research with literary surveys, and potentially also develop a research agenda of their own in the field, if the cooperation is for a longer period. |
Communication Arts
| Professor / contact | Kim Nguyen (CommArts/GSJ) |
|---|---|
| Position available | September-December 2025 |
| Project |
Resisting Chemical Futures in the Waterloo Region: A Curatorial Project This project aims to produce a curatorial project or public museum exhibit for the City of Waterloo Museum by examining the archives at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University and other relevant libraries and sites. This curatorial project will narrate the production of chemical warfare manufacturing in the Waterloo Region (especially Elmira) and document the environmental/water activism and aftermath of chemical warfare manufacturing on the environment and peoples. |
| RA tasks |
The Research Assistant will create two bibliographies on museum exhibits and best curatorial practices, and on Canadian military industrial complex in the 20thcentury, specifically the Canadian military involvement in the Vietnam War and supporting the research team in archiving. The Research Assistant will assist team in archive requests and other supports in preparation and in completion of the other research objectives associated with the curatorial project. |
| Professor / contact | Shana MacDonald |
|---|---|
| Position available | Ongoing - Fall 2025-Spring 2027 |
| Project |
This research project explores toxic media landscapes including alt-right and misogynist content circulated within the Manosphere. It also looks at expanded efforts to counter gender based online hate in the public and at the university. The work includes data collection, organization, and analysis from a feminist, queer positive, and anti-racist framework. We welcome all researchers interested in building more supportive online environments for everyone. |
| RA tasks |
Literature review, data collection, data analysis, research data management, social media content creation |
English Language & Literature
| Professor / contact | Brianna Wiens |
|---|---|
| Position available | January 2026– December 2027 |
| Project |
Reactionary Rhetorics: Mapping Digitally Mediated Rhetorics of Gendered Violence and Feminist Resistance examines how narratives of rape culture, gender-based violence, and intersectional feminist resistance circulate across digital platforms in the decade following the viral uptake of #MeToo movement. The project tracks the evolution of key tropes, hashtags, and vernaculars on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, X, YouTube, and podcasts, while analyzing how these rhetorics are shaped by political polarization, misinformation, and the emerging relationship between AI, consent, and technology-facilitated violence. |
| RA tasks | Research assistants will support literature and media reviews, social media data collection, and contribute to public-facing research outputs, including social media posts for our Instagram account, @aesthetic.resistance. This position is ideal for students interested in digital humanities, feminist media studies, technology ethics, and/or critical data analysis. |
| Professor / contact | Marcel O'Gorman |
|---|---|
| Position available | fall 2018 (preferred), ongoing |
| Project | Digital Abstinence? Yes, the title of my SSHRC-funded research project is "Digital Abstinence: The Art, Philosophy, and Politics of Unplugging." The project runs out of the Critical Media Lab at the Creative Hub in Downtown Kitchener. There are many components to the project, from a psychology study of phone bans in high school, to interviewing Old Order Mennonites, to various digital art projects created in the Critical Media Lab. |
| RA tasks | The RA would help teach workshops in the Critical Media Lab and other locations, prepare materials for the workshops, and possibly contribute to data collection. The candidate will have access to a maker space and would be part of a lively research creation community. |
| Professor / contact | Randy Allen Harris |
|---|---|
| Position available | ongoing |
| Project |
This is an international, interdisciplinary project that combines rhetoric, style, cognition, linguistics, and artificial intelligence. It is based on a large database of rhetorical figures that models human knowledge. We are growing the database with a citizen-science game. The end goal is to support Machine Learning corpus work for such purposes as argument mining, text summarization, and authorship attribution). |
| RA tasks | The RA will work both independently and in collaboration with other researchers. Research activities will include some combination of data analysis, data collection, database management, game design, literature search, wiki-entry and reference-guide content provision, and bibliographical research, depending on the talents and interests of the RA. |
History
| Professor / contact |
Greta Kroeker (History & GSJ) |
|---|---|
| Position available |
September 2025-December 2027 |
| Project |
"The Artemisia Project" examines the construction of rape culture in legal cases and social discourse, from the early modern period (1450-1750) to today and works towards deconstructing it through targeted classroom interventions. The project analyses and tracks the evolution of key tropes in archives of sexual assault court cases to build a collection of online case studies and tools for research and educators. |
| RA tasks |
Support literature reviews, data collection, web design, survey design and dissemination (alongside a master's level RA) and contribute to public-facing research outputs (presentations, workshops, summer school). This position is ideal for students interested in history, digital humanities, feminist studies, K-12 education/higher education, and/or critical data analysis. |
| Professor / contact |
Katherine Bruce-Lockhart, History/Balsillie School of International Affairs |
|---|---|
| Position available |
Fall 2025, Winter 2026, with possible extensions |
| Project |
This project examines the history of the Nelson Mandela Rules, the UN's guidelines for prison conditions and prisoners’ rights around the globe. It will examine why and how the Rules first emerged in the 1920s, how they have changed over time, and the power dynamics behind their development and dissemination. Examining the history of the Mandela Rules will offer crucial insights into past and present understandings of human rights, incarceration, and global governance. |
| RA tasks |
The training and work for RAs will focus on primary data collection and analysis, secondary data collection and analysis, as well as knowledge mobilization. |
Philosophy/Gender and Social Justice
| Professor / contact |
Greta Kroeker (History & GSJ) |
|---|---|
| Position available |
September 2025-December 2027 |
| Project |
"The Artemisia Project" examines the construction of rape culture in legal cases and social discourse, from the early modern period (1450-1750) to today and works towards deconstructing it through targeted classroom interventions. The project analyses and tracks the evolution of key tropes in archives of sexual assault court cases to build a collection of online case studies and tools for research and educators. |
| RA tasks |
Support literature reviews, data collection, web design, survey design and dissemination (alongside a master's level RA) and contribute to public-facing research outputs (presentations, workshops, summer school). This position is ideal for students interested in history, digital humanities, feminist studies, K-12 education/higher education, and/or critical data analysis. |
| Professor / contact | Kim Nguyen (CommArts/GSJ) |
|---|---|
| Position available | September-December 2025 |
| Project |
Resisting Chemical Futures in the Waterloo Region: A Curatorial Project This project aims to produce a curatorial project or public museum exhibit for the City of Waterloo Museum by examining the archives at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University and other relevant libraries and sites. This curatorial project will narrate the production of chemical warfare manufacturing in the Waterloo Region (especially Elmira) and document the environmental/water activism and aftermath of chemical warfare manufacturing on the environment and peoples. |
| RA tasks |
The Research Assistant will create two bibliographies on museum exhibits and best curatorial practices, and on Canadian military industrial complex in the 20thcentury, specifically the Canadian military involvement in the Vietnam War and supporting the research team in archiving. The Research Assistant will assist team in archive requests and other supports in preparation and in completion of the other research objectives associated with the curatorial project. |
Political Science
| Professor / contact | |
|---|---|
| Position available | Begins Winter 2026 (ongoing) |
| Project | The Politics of Reproduction Research Group brings together students, faculty, and others working on the regulation and governance of reproduction, focusing on the Canadian context. Researchers affiliated with the group engage in a range of projects exploring the regulation of reproductive and genetic technologies, reproductive health and illness, abortion and contraception, reproductive aging, and the social construction of reproduction in relation to gender, sexuality, and wellbeing. |
| RA tasks | The research assistant would—depending on their interests and skills—be able to participate in different activities, including but not limited to the planning of the our speakers’ series and/or annual workshop for emerging scholars; literature reviews, and/or, finalizing manuscripts and reports for publication. |
Psychology
| Professor / contact |
Hilary Bergsieker |
|---|---|
| Position available | ongoing; typically two-term commitment for new lab members |
| Project | The Diversity and Intergroup Relations Lab uses experimental social psychology research methods to investigate interactions between diverse groups of people, studying factors that make them fail or flourish. We use lab-based experiments and field studies to test how, when, and why people establish, maintain, and repair trust in others from different backgrounds. Within the Engendering Success in STEM research consortium, our work advances gender equity in STEM fields by promoting adolescent girls’ identity fit in STEM and full-time professionals’ allyship to women in STEM. |
| RA tasks | Students working in my lab gain broad exposure to social-psychological theory and research methodology, with advanced students engaging in data analysis as well. I personally train lab members in literature review, experimental procedure, survey design, stimuli development, participant management, data preparation, and data analysis, as well as developing their skill in using programs and platforms such as Qualtrics, Zotero, ChatPlat, Prolific, Office/Excel, and SPSS or R. |
| Professor / contact |
Clara Colombatto |
|---|---|
| Position available | ongoing; for present or future terms; minimum 2-term commitment |
| Project |
Our lab investigates various aspects of human perception and cognition at the intersection of vision science, cognitive psychology, and social cognition — with a special focus on how we perceive other agents and their mental states. Topics include unconscious processing of social cues, perception of non-biological agents (e.g., robots and AI), perception of others' cognitive states (e.g., attention and intentions), and how these percepts influence our own mental states (e.g., our own attention and intentions) as well as on other aspects of cognition (e.g., metacognition, interpersonal trust, decision-making, moral judgments, and even aesthetic preferences). |
| RA tasks |
Undergraduate students in our lab will gain experience with all aspects of the research projects — from literature review and experimental design to data collection, analysis, writing, and presentation. In addition to participating in ongoing projects, students are encouraged to develop their own projects in close collaboration with the PI and graduate students. |
| Professor / contact |
Igor Grossmann |
|---|---|
| Position available | ongoing; typically requires two-term commitment for new lab members |
| Project | The Wisdom and Culture Lab investigates the interplay between human cognition, wisdom, and AI interactions, focusing on how these elements shape and are shaped by cultural and social processes. Our research aims to demystify wisdom—exploring whether sound judgment represents distinct qualities beyond abstract intelligence and personality—or if it's an idealized construct. We delve into augmented cognition and cultural modelling, seeking to redefine how cultural changes and psychological processes are understood through cutting-edge methodologies, including natural language processing, forecasting, and computational modelling. |
| RA tasks | Research Assistants in the Wisdom and Culture Lab will gain broad exposure to computational social science, cognitive science, and cultural psychology, engaging with both theoretical and applied research methodologies. Tasks include literature review, experimental design, survey development, participant management, data preparation, and data analysis. Advanced RAs will have opportunities to work with tools such as Python, R, Qualtrics, and other data analysis platforms. Training includes developing skills in project-specific software, managing experimental procedures, and contributing to the lab’s broader research goals on human-AI interactions, augmented cognition, and the dynamics of wisdom and judgment across cultures. |
| Professor / contact |
Ori Friedman |
|---|---|
| Position available | ongoing; currently open to new opportunities, whether for immediate, upcoming, or future terms |
| Project | My lab investigates social-cognitive understanding in both children and adults. Topics include how children and adults understand thoughts, emotions, and actions; how they understand ownership, rights, and responsibilities; how they understand the distinction between fantasy and reality, and between what is possible and impossible. |
| RA tasks | Research assistants in the lab are normally paid and have the opportunity to be involved in all aspects of the research process. Our publications have often included undergraduates as authors, sometimes as first author. Regular research assistant duties include: communicating with childcare centers as potential locations for our studies; visiting childcare centers to test children and help with testing them; running online studies on adult participants; conducting literature reviews; and generating ideas for new studies. |
Sociology and Legal Studies
| Professor / contact | |
|---|---|
| Position available | Fall 2026 |
| Project |
The Prison Transparency Project is a seven-year, collaborative, comparative study of prison transparency in seven research sites across Canada, Argentina, and Spain. Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, this project researches both formal mechanisms and informal practices that promote the movement of information in and out of carceral sites, both for accountability purposes, and also to defend the rights and freedoms of incarcerated persons. |
| RA tasks |
Research activities include data collection and organization, literature searches, filing and managing access to information requests, coordination of research activities, and creating content for the project website and social media. |