Undergraduate Research Assistant positions

Principal Investigator: Dr. Jonathan Oakman

Graduate student: Sarena Daljeet

Lab: Psychological Intervention Research Team

Contact: pirtlab@gmail.com

Our research team studies the change process in psychotherapy, addressing a number of research questions using a range of research methods. We are interested in the relation of:

• client characteristics
• therapist characteristics
• features of the therapist-client relationship
• properties of the psychological intervention itself

to both the process of a psychological intervention and its eventual outcome. Through our research we are seeking to improve the efficacy and acceptability of psychological interventions to those seeking help for mental health problems.

Some of the current projects in the lab:

Sarena Daljeet is investigating how common factors (e.g., the therapeutic alliance, emotional processing) develop within and between sessions of psychotherapy.

Qualifications for the volunteering position:

• We are looking for motivated and conscientious students with an interest in clinical psychology
• Minimum 80% average in their completed psychology courses (preference is given to students who can demonstrate academic excellence)
• Excellent verbal ability, good interpersonal skills

Duties:

• Data collection, data coding, behaviour coding, data entry, recruitment and scheduling of participants, management of online studies, and preparation of study materials (e.g., building questionnaires using online survey software)

Optional, depending on students’ interests:

• Review research literature on topic of interest and present findings
• Participate in weekly research meetings/talks
• Come up with original research ideas, collect data or use existing data to conduct statistical analyses, and present the findings (e.g., in the form of conference poster presentations, or publications)

Time commitment: 6–8 hours/week, one semester minimum (more than one semester preferable)

***As of May 2025, we are not currently recruiting.

How to Apply:
Please feel free to send a CV,unofficial transcript, and 1-2 academic writing samples (ideally recent and from a psychology course) to pirtlab@gmail.com. When we are looking to recruit, you may be contacted. While we would like to respond to all applicants, we receive a very large volume of applications and it is not always possible.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Christine Purdon

Graduate Students: Tyler Eschenwecker (tjeschen@uwaterloo.ca)

Research and Duties:

Tyler is recruiting research assistants to code video data for one of his dissertation series of studies. In this study, participants come to our lab kitchen, dirty their hands, and then wash them. The hand wash is videotaped with participants’ full consent. Your role will be to code specific steps in the handwash (e.g., pump soap, rub palms) using a coding system on which you will be trained. The videos must be coded in our lab, which is in the Psychology, Anthropology, Psychology building. You do not need experience with SPSS, R, or statistics, but the task requires very careful observational attention, patience, and diligence.

Qualifications:

• Enthusiastic and curious about clinical psychology
• Keen attention to detail and sustained attentional vigilance
• Do not need prior research or statistics experience
• Minimum 75% average in psychology courses

Time commitment:

• 5-10 hours every week until coding is completed
• Anticipate starting in November 2025 and end in March 2026, with the option to continue if required.

Benefits:

This opportunity will introduce you to clinical psychology research and provide a unique experience coding behavioural data at the micro level. You will also have the opportunity to connect with a graduate student in clinical psychology for questions and advice about clinical psychology and other mental health careers.

To Apply:

Please send an email to Tyler (tjeschen@uwaterloo.ca) containing your academic CV, cover letter, and transcript by no later than October 24^th, 2025. In your cover letter, please describe any relevant research or work experience, your research interests, and your career goals.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Evan Risko

Lab: Cognition and Natural Behaviour Laboratory

Contact: Dr. Evan Risko, efrisko@uwaterloo.ca

Research Area: Cognitive psychology, embodied and embedded cognition, effort, metacognition, learning/education/training.

Duties:

• Data collection, coding, recruitment and scheduling of participants, management of online studies.
• Behaviour coding, data entry, and preparation of study materials.
• Statistical analysis (training provided in SPSS, R).
• Attend weekly laboratory meetings.

Time commitment: minimum 6 to 8 hours/week

Qualifications:

• We are looking for smart, reliable, and conscientious students with an interest in cognitive psychology.
• Basic computer literacy is expected and advanced computer skills (e.g., programming) are desired.
• Prior research experience is not necessary (but is desired).
• Applicants should have at least an 80% average in their completed psychology courses.

Benefits:

• Develop research experience in a fun and supportive learning environment.
• Learn about human cognition.
• Opportunity to participate in all aspects of research from research design to dissemination of results.
• Learn critical and transferable research skills (e.g., programming, statistical analysis).
• Potential to develop your own research projects.

How to Apply:

If you're interested in any of these positions, please email the following documents to Dr. Evan Risko (efrisko@uwaterloo.ca).

1. Cover letter describing why you want to work in the Cognition and Natural Behaviour Laboratory
2. Resume/CV
3. Unofficial transcript

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Sam Johnson

Lab: Decision, Inference, and Cognitive Economics (DICE) Lab

Contact: Dr. Sam Johnson, samuel.johnson@uwaterloo.ca

Research areas: Our lab works at the intersection of cognitive science, behavioural economics, and philosophy. We study how people explain the world, how those explanations shape our choices, and how those choices influence society. Recent topics of interest include moral psychology, mental models of economic institutions, decision under uncertainty, and how people prioritize tasks. We mainly use experiments but increasingly incorporate other methods such as qualitative research, computational linguistics, economic modeling, and computer simulation €”in our work.

Duties: We aim for undergraduate research assistants to be involved in many aspects of the research process, potentially including:

• Brainstorming research ideas and designing experiments
• Creating experimental stimuli and programming experiments
• Testing participants and coding behaviour/responses
• Statistical and qualitative data analysis (we can train you in R or SPSS)
• Computer simulations
• Attending weekly lab meetings

Time commitment: 5 hours/week (minimum)

Qualifications:

• We are looking for passionate, reliable, and conscientious students with an interest in cognitive science, economics, or empirical philosophy
• Prior research experience is not necessary; we welcome applicants from any major or year of study
• Basic computer literacy is expected; it is desirable to either have or be willing to learn advanced computer skills (e.g., programming)
• Applicants should have at least an 80% average in their completed psychology courses.

Benefits:

• Learn about and contribute to the cutting edge of cognitive and behavioural science
• Find out what it is like to do graduate school in cognitive psychology
• Collaborate on projects with our team, spanning different fields, universities, and countries
• Try out different aspects of the research process
• Potentially co-author scientific publications (many former undergraduates are co-authors on journal articles or conference presentations)
• Learn critical research skills (e.g., programming, statistical analysis)
• Potential to develop your own research projects
• Highly dignified lab mascot

How to apply:
If you're interested in any of these positions, please email the following documents to Dr. Sam Johnson (samuel.johnson@uwaterloo.ca)

1. Brief cover letter describing why you want to work in the DICE Lab
2. Resume/CV
3. Unofficial transcript

Principal Investigator: Dr. Krista Kelly

Lab: Vision and Neurodevelopment Lab

Contact: Dr. Krista Kelly, krista.kelly@uwaterloo.ca

Positions available starting Winter 2026:

• Volunteers
• Research apprenticeships (Psych 264/464)
• Honors thesis students (Psych 499)

Research: The VAN lab is located at the School of Optometry and Vision Science. Using multiple techniques (psychophysics, standardized assessments, eye tracking, body tracking), we investigate the consequences of childhood eye conditions such as amblyopia (lazy eye) and strabismus (eye turn) on:

• Eye movements
• Reading
• Motor Skills

Duties:

• Create and test experiments
• Attend weekly lab meetings
• Recruit and schedule participants
• Assist grad students with in-lab studies and data collection
• Analyze eye movement and body movement data
• General lab maintenance

Time commitment: Approximately 5-10 hours per week, depending on position

Benefits:

• Participate in all aspects of research
• Gain experience in child vision assessment and eye movements
• Experience working in a research laboratory
• Learn critical research skills (programming, design, data collection and processing, statistics)
• Potential opportunity to apply for graduate positions
• Potentially co-author abstracts and manuscripts

Qualifications:

• Highly-motivated, organized, reliable
• Able to work in a team
• Strong interest in research, and vision, and child development
• Passionate about working with children
• Preference given to those in the psychology major/honours program
• Research experience not necessary but an asset

How to apply: Please send the following documents to Dr. Krista Kelly (krista.kelly@uwaterloo.ca) and indicate the position and term you are applying for:

1. Resume
2. Cover letter explaining your interest and skills
3. Unofficial transcript

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Igor Grossmann

Lab: Wisdom and Culture Lab

Contact: wcl@uwaterloo.ca

Research Areas: UW Wisdom and Culture lab examines factors that enable people to think and act wisely: How can individuals and groups adaptively resolve social conflicts? What factors foster wise reasoning? How are mental processes situated within a larger cultural context?

Duties: Research Assistants will be responsible for data collection and data analysis, participant recruitment running experiments, coding data, and preparing materials for studies,

Benefits: Learn about all phases of Wisdom and Culture psychological research, and belong to a lab group dedicated to working within the field of social psychology

Time commitment: Roughly 6-10 hours a week

Qualifications: Applicants should be enthusiastic, organized, conscientious, and comfortable interacting with participants, with at least a 75% average in completed psychology courses. Prior research experience, particularly with running social psychology experiments, and using physiological measurement equipment (heart rate and respiration devices) would be an asset.

To Apply: Please email the lab at wcl@uwaterloo.ca with your resume/CV, unofficial transcript, term schedule, and please specify any relevant research or technical experience.

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Hilary Bergsieker

Lab: Diversity and Intergroup Relations Lab

Contact: digrlab@uwaterloo.ca

Research Areas: Intergroup trust and conflict; reducing bias based on race, gender, religion, sexual identity, or disability; field experiments on diversity and inclusion in STEM fields. We ask: What conditions help our conversations, collaborations, and friendships with people from different backgrounds succeed? What steps can individuals (and institutions) take to overcome prejudice and repair trust in intergroup interactions?

Benefits: Research Assistants gain experience with both standard and advanced social psychological research methods. Professor Bergsieker works directly with undergraduate research assistants, engaging them in the research process and providing personalized mentorship.

Time Commitment: 6-8 hours per week on average, with a minimum of 5 hours per week.

How to Apply: Please complete the online application linked below.Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, but if possible, please apply before the second week of the term when you hope to join our lab. Individuals from underrepresented backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.

Faculty Supervisor: Neil Hester

Lab: Impressions Lab

Research Areas: person perception; stereotyping and prejudice; social cognition; perceptions of clothing and bodies

Benefits: Hands-on experience with various social psychological research methods, as well as ongoing education on current research in person perception and social cognition. (Learn how research works in a way that you can't through classes!)

Time Commitment: 4-6 hours per week

How to Apply: Applications are due 3-5 days before the start of the Fall and Winter terms. See specific instructions in the top section of the landing page of the Impressions Lab website.