Research Assistantships and SOC 497

Winter 2025 opportunities and applications will open on Thursday, December 12th, 2024. Undergraduate Research Assistantships are offered through unpaid course credit via SOC 497 (Honours Research Practicum). The department does not have any paid positions at this time.

SOC 497 Honours Research Practicum

Description: Denoting a preprofessionalization experience, this course provides selected students with an opportunity to work (to a maximum of 8 hours per week over one term) as an apprentice with a specific instructor on a research project in which the instructor is currently engaged. Note: This is an unpaid position and may not be combined with sponsored research positions. Earlier or outside research involvements will not meet the criteria for this course. Also, this course cannot be used to fulfill any plan requirements, like the 400-level course requirements for the Sociology major. Rather, it is a Sociology elective only. It can however count towards the courses you need to fulfill the BA degree requirements (40 courses for Honours and 4-year general Arts, 30 courses for 3-year general Arts). This course is not repeatable; it can only be taken once.

Eligibility: You must be in level at least 3A. Preference will be given to level at least 4A Sociology and/or Legal Studies students.

Grading basis: Credit/no credit. You will be assigned a CR grade at the end of term by your supervisor upon satisfactory completion of the assigned research work.

Course requirements: You must complete up to 8 hours of research work per week with your supervisor over the course of a term. Your supervisor must be a Department of Sociology and Legal Studies faculty member.

Benefits: Completion of the course will appear on your transcript, and you can indicate completion of the course as well as research tasks completed and skills developed in your resume. This is a great opportunity for you to further develop your research skills and resume, and get to learn what real social scientific research looks like at UWaterloo!

Application instructions

Deadline: Student applications, which include the online application form and CV, must be received by Sunday, January 5th, 2025 at 11:59 pm.

Instructions: Please review the SOC 497 information above (if you want to receive course credit for the undergraduate research assistantship work) and the research projects below. Afterwards, please fill out the webform and indicate your preference for the projects (first choice = highest preference). Please do not contact the supervisors regarding the status of your application. If you submitted the webform and saw a confirmation message, then we received your application. You will be notified at the start of the term if you are a successful candidate. If you have any questions, please contact the undergraduate advisor.

Outcome: Depending on the number of student applications received, faculty members will select the most qualified available candidate for their research assistant position, and not all students in the end may be able to enrol in SOC 497. You will be notified by email of whether or not you have been accepted into SOC 497 at the latest by Friday, January 17th, 2025.  

Winter 2025 Research Projects

Assisting at the Institute for Religion, Culture and Societal Futures Project

Project description:

This project involves assisting for a few hours a week at the Institute for Religion, Culture and Societal Futures (IRCSF), based at St. Jerome’s University and the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario. The IRCSF is Canada’s hub for social scientific and empirical research related to religion, spirituality, and emerging forms of communities of belief and practice. The IRCSF is non-partisan, and brings together both resident and visiting scholars working in the fields of sociology of religion and the social scientific study of religion to support undergraduate and graduate students, community organizations, faith groups, schools, the media, and the general public in better understanding the religious landscape of Canada and connections between religion, spirituality, secularity and other aspects of public and social life. The IRCSF hosts talks and workshops, publishes reports, media releases and social media posts, and provides consulting services.

Instructor / supervisor: Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, Associate Professor | Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies, Sociology

Research tasks:

  • Assisting with the running of the IRCSF’s monthly webinars and hybrid seminars during the Winter 2025 term.
  • Research for high quality content to post on the IRCSF’s social media accounts (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X/Twitter and Youtube), and development of these weekly social media posts.
  • Online searches to build a repository list of Canadian researchers currently working on religion, spirituality and secularity.

Apply Here!

Have you taken SOC 497 before?
SOC 497 Application
Please upload your resume in PDF or DOC format.
One file only.
2 MB limit.
Allowed types: txt, pdf, doc, docx, odt.
Please provide a rationale for applying for this undergraduate research assistantship position.

If you have already received credit for SOC 497, unfortunately, you will not be able to reapply as SOC 497 is not a repeatable course.

I encourage you to explore other research opportunities at the University of Waterloo. 

Please note: if you have applied before but have not obtained an assistantship and have therefore not received credit for the course, you are free to apply as many times as you like. 

Thank you for your interest in SOC 497!