Sweaty palms. Racing hearts. Focused minds. The start of a race? Or the start of the seventeenth annual Bertha Rosenstadt National Undergraduate Research Conference.
For the 84 undergraduate students from across Canada presenting their work, the opening moments of this one-day event certainly felt like the start of something exciting and represented the culmination of many hours of literature reviews, ethics protocol preparation, data collection, analysis — and much hard work.
Hosted by the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education (KPE) on April 1, this year’s event welcomed the highest number of participants to date. Presenters included third- and fourth-year students from McMaster, McGill, Lakehead and Queen’s Universities. Some came from as far away as the Universities of Alberta and Calgary.
“We present our research locally, but this conference gave us a chance to meet with students from other schools across the province and country,” said Thomas Hoshizaki, a student who flew in from Lakehead University.
Thomas and other students spoke about a wide range of topics including muscle and cardiovascular physiology, motor control and the psychology and sociology of sport.
“Given the shared focus of our Faculty on research and the provision of high-quality experiential education, hosting the national undergraduate student research conference is a natural fit,” said Ashley Stirling, the Faculty’s Director of Experiential Education. “This conference reflects the amazing breadth of research that our Faculty offers. It’s a chance for students to further their research experience and share their outstanding projects with their peers.”
Event organizers Ashley Stirling, Karen McLeister, Carolyn Laidlaw, Michael Atkinson, Luc Tremblay and Catherine Amara with Keynote Speaker Dr. Kathleen Martin Ginis
A first-time experience for many, the conference broadens students’ horizons, helping them to develop key presentation, critical thinking and networking skills.
“I’m more focused on socio-cultural research, but I really enjoyed learning about physiological research and how to get people more active,” said KPE student Casandra Brown. Fellow student Victor Chan agreed, “Even within a specific research area there was a lot of variety. My area featured lifting, keyboard typing, and visual and spatial perception — it really opened my mind.”
Beyond student presentations, the event also featured keynote speaker Dr. Kathleen Martin Ginis, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University. She spoke about how Spinal Cord Injury Action Canada, a partnership between community organizations and scientists, has helped people with spinal cord injuries become more active.
“Dr. Martin Ginis spoke about the importance of partnerships and that really resonated with me,” said KPE student Darrin Wijeyaratnam. “Today I had the chance to build connections with other students, which could lead to future collaborations. It’s all about great minds with different perspectives coming together to translate knowledge.”
Congratulations to this year’s research presentation award winners: Raquel Burgess (McMaster University), Thomas Hoshizaki (Lakehead University) and Rheanna Bulten (University of Toronto).