Faculty of Arts Undergraduate Research Award Opportunities
For 2025, there are over 50 advertised opportunities for eligible undergraduate students to work with researchers in the Faculty of Arts.
Note: The advertised opportunities are not an exhaustive or exclusive list. Professors do not need to be listed in order to be eligible to supervise students for the purposes of this award. You may interview any eligible professor who is considering supervising a research assistant. They must be full-time UM faculty, not adjunct professors or instructors.
Application deadline is February 17, 2025.
2025 Research Opportunities
Anthropology
Haskel Greenfield
Supervisor: Haskel Greenfield
Contact Information: Haskel.Greenfield@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
- Development of Bronze Age urban societies in the Near East.
- ArcGIS analysis of archaeological excavation from Europe, Near East or Africa.
- Making an archaeological film on European, African, and/or Near Eastern archaeological excavations.
- Art, theatre and social protest in Greenwich Village – a biography of an artist.
- Origins of metallurgy – an archaeological approach.
- Zooarchaeology – animal bones in archaeology.
- Early domestic herd managements and provisioning of urban societies – zoology, proteomics and isotopes in archaeology.
- Virtual reconstruction and reality of early urban settlements.
Lara Rosenoff Gauvin
Supervisor: Lara Rosenoff Gauvin
Contact Information: Lara.RosenoffGauvin@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
My current work concerns nurturing a collaborative repatriation process in the Department of Anthropology. I am particularly interested in addressing settler colonial violence as manifest in academic institutions, and in fostering community-driven work that creates and allows for processes that centres Indigenous self-determination respect, responsibility and reciprocity. Participating in the Respectful Repatriation Ceremony at UM, the research involves potential archival, historical or artistic forms of engagement.
Classics
Michael Sampson
Supervisor: Michael Sampson
Contact Information: Mike.Sampson@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
I am a scholar of ancient Greek literature with two major active projects. The first is a study of literary culture in an Egyptian village, undertaken via an examination of its papyrus fragments, uncovered via archaeological excavation. The second is an ongoing, international collaboration to archive those papyrus texts digitally, in TEI/EpiDoc XML, at the papyri.info portal. I am especially eager to supervise a student with expertise in XML/XSLT, which will enable new approaches to the corpus to be explored.
Economics
Robert Chernomas
Supervisor: Robert Chernomas
Contact Information: Robert.Chernomas@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Economic determinants of health; Progressive macroeconomics; American history
Jesse Hajer
Supervisor: Jesse Hajer
Contact Information: Jesse.Hajer@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
The Political Economy of Public Policy in Manitoba; Income Distribution and Poverty; Labour and the State; Community Economic Development and the Social / Solidarity Economy
Ian Hudson
Supervisor: Ian Hudson
Contact Information: Ian.Hudson@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Determinants of Interprovincial Variation in Social Welfare Indicators: Research has shown that there is considerable variation in provincial social welfare policy and outcomes. Our research will incorporate Power Resources Theory to investigate the factors that account for these differences.
Jonathan Jenner
Supervisor: Jonathan Jenner
Contact Information: Jonathan.Donald.Jenner@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
- The political economy of colonial capitalism.
- African economic history.
- Extramaket labour coercion in capitalism.
Anamary Maqueira Linares
Supervisor: Anamary Maqueira Linares
Contact Information: Anamary.Maqueiralinares@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
- Crises and reform processes in the Global South and transition economies from a social reproduction lens.
- Measuring the cost of social reproduction: the distribution of the costs of social reproduction among the state, families, the market and the communities.
- Gender inequalities in paid and unpaid work: childcare provision and maternal time use.
During the summer, I will be working specifically on a project that investigates the contributions of unpaid household labour to the Cuban social reproductive bargain titled: “Renegotiating the reproductive bargain in Cuba: the role of unpaid household labour.”
Note: Reading skills in Spanish are a plus.
Gregory Mason
Supervisor: Gregory Mason
Contact Information: Gregory.Mason@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Health economics and indigenous economics development; using AI in empirical research.
English, Theatre, Film & Media
Hee-Jung Serenity Joo
Supervisor: Hee-Jung Serenity Joo
Research Interests:
Science fiction by writers of colour; abolition; critical race theory; queer theory.
Erin Keating
Supervisor: Erin Keating
Contact Information: Erin.Keating@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
British Restoration theatre and fiction; early modern celebrity and fan cultures; book history; affect, queer and gender theory; contemporary fantasy (fiction, television and film).
Dana Medoro
Supervisor: Dana Medoro
Contact Information: Dana.Medoro@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Literature, feminism, gender, animals, history of medicine, nineteenth century U.S.
Vanessa Warne
Supervisor: Vanessa Warne
Contact Information: Vanessa.Warne@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Vanessa Warne’s current research interests include the literary depiction of traditional crafts (i.e. weaving, lacemaking, and woodcarving) and the cultural history of disability, with a focus on the history of blindness. This summer she will be researching Victorian-era visual and literary depictions of blind people’s experiences of crafting, including knitting and wired beadwork. She welcomes the opportunity to work with an Undergraduate Researcher on the neglected history of blind people’s experiences as creators of material culture.
German and Slavic Studies
Stephan Jaeger
Supervisor: Stephan Jaeger
Contact Information: Stephan.Jaeger@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Dr. Jaeger’s research analyzes the representation of war and genocide, particularly the two world wars and the Holocaust in German, European and North-American public memory in museums, literature, film and historiography. His current research is particularly interested in the narration/storytelling and representation of the Holocaust, refugees, war, genocide and other atrocities, in perspectives of perpetration, collaboration, implication and victimhood in physical and virtual exhibitions, and how these museum exhibitions create experiences and empathy for potential and real visitors. He is also working on a larger project that examines the behaviour of visitors in museum space (particularly in Holocaust exhibitions) and how this correspnds to narrative and curatorial strategies. Student research could relate among others to current online exhibition strategies and/or the analysis of online reactions/reviews to specific museums, monuments and exhibitions, as well as support in analyzing physical exhibition spaces and observing visitors' behaviour in museum space. Areas of research: German and European Studies, War and Holocaust Studies, Representation of Atrocities in transhistorical contexts, Museum and Memory Studies.
History
Jarvis Brownlie
Supervisor: Jarvis Brownlie
Contact Information: Jarvis.Brownlie@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Hydro-impacted Indigenous peoples in Manitoba; Community-based research; Indigenous oral history; Settler colonialism in Canada; Crown-Indigenous relations.
Sean Carleton
Supervisor: Sean Carleton
Contact Information: Sean.Carleton@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Settler colonialism; Indigenous resistance; Indian Residential Schools.
Tina Chen
Supervisor: Tina Chen
Contact Information: Tina.Chen@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Histories of race, anti-racism and anti-oppression; visual cultures and creative engagement in anti-colonial solidarity movements; modern Chinese history; equity, diversity, and inclusion in sport; socialist and feminist theories and practice.
David Churchill
Supervisor: David Churchill
Contact Information: David.Churchill@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
History of the United States; queer history; histories of gender and sexuality; history of visual culture; history of human rights and social justice.
Roisin Cossar
Supervisor: Roisin Cossar
Contact Information: Roisin.Cossar@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
History of the environment in the Middle Ages; histories of women in the Christian Church; digital history and mapping the Middle Ages.
David Parent
Supervisor: David Parent
Contact Information: David.Parent@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Metis history, society, politics, and governance; Critical Indigenous studies
Adele Perry
Supervisor: Adele Perry
Contact Information: Adele.Perry@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
History, Gender, Colonialism, Water, the Body, Infrastructure, western Canada, feminist research methods, Indigenous research methods
Greg Smith
Supervisor: Greg Smith
Contact Information: Greg.Smith@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Legal history; criminal justice history; history of evidence in criminal law; history of youth and juvenile delinquency.
Indigenous Studies
Merissa Daborn
Supervisor: Merissa Daborn
Contact Information: Merissa.Daborn@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Food security; surveillance and policing; critical carceral studies; urban Indigenous studies.
Peter Kulchyski
Supervisor: Peter Kulchyski
Contact Information: Peter.Kulchyski@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Hydro affected Indigenous communities; critical theory; Indigenous rights.
David Parent
Supervisor: David Parent
Contact Information: David.Parent@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Metis history, society, politics, and governance; Critical Indigenous studies
Sean Carleton
Supervisor: Sean Carleton
Contact Information: Sean.Carleton@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Settler colonialism; Indigenous resistance; Indian Residential Schools.
Labour Studies
Julie Guard
Supervisor: Julie Guard
Contact Information: Julie.Guard@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
I'm working with the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg (SPCW) on the history of food justice activism in Manitoba. The project involves participating with the SPCW, Harvest Manitoba and Food Matters Manitoba to promote community education about the history of food justice activism and to advocate for good public policy to address food insecurity today.
Jesse Hajer
Supervisor: Jesse Hajer
Contact Information: Jesse.Hajer@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
The Political Economy of Public Policy in Manitoba; Income Distribution and Poverty; Labour and the State; Community Economic Development and the Social / Solidarity Economy
Adam King
Supervisor: Adam King
Contact Information: Adam.King@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
My research examines labour unions' engagement with Indigenous workers and communities, with particular attention to collective bargaining relationships, member education and training and government consultation and political advocacy.
Julia Smith
Supervisor: Julia Smith
Contact Information: Julia.Smith@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
I'm researching feminist labour activism in Canada between 1940 and 1990. This project involves locating and examining archival documents related to labour and feminist movements in Manitoba during this period.
Linguistics
Nicole Rosen
Supervisor: Nicole Rosen
Contact Information: Nicole.Rosen@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Sociolinguistics, language variation and change, language revitalization, language documentation, Canadian English and French, Heritage languages, language interactions.
Political Studies
Andrea Charron
Supervisor: Andrea Charron
Contact Information: Andrea.Charron@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
NORAD, Arctic security, Canadian sanctions.
Sarah Hannan
Supervisor: Sarah Hannan
Contact Information: Sarah.Hannan@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Contemporary political theory; Well-being; Autonomy; Children's rights; Morality of procreation; Familial justice; Educational equality
Tami Amanda Jacoby
Supervisor: Tami Amanda Jacoby
Contact Information: Tami.Jacoby@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Middle East Politics; War; Terrorism; Gender and Feminism; Identity Politics.
Kiera Ladner
Supervisor: Kiera Ladner
Contact Information: Kiera.Ladner@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests: Indigenous Law and Politics, Transformative Decolonization, Digital Sovereignties, Constitutions and Gender.
I am currently involved in a number of research projects involving: constitutional law and politics in Australia and New Zealand; the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and its implementation (globally); digital sovereignties (working at the intersections of cybernetics, data sovereignty and digital archiving); Indigenous Participation and Representation (comparative); Gendering Decolonization; MMIWG; and a new comparative project exploring the conditions necessary for achieving transformative decolonization, reconciliation and restoration.
URA students have the opportunity to engage in meaningful research as part of a a collaborative team with students, academics and community partners at UM, from across Canada and internationally.
Susan Prentice
Supervisor: Susan Prentice
Contact Information: Susan.Prentice@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Social & family policy, childcare (daycare), women’s work, gender discrimination, work/family balance, care.
Psychology
Danielle Gaucher
Supervisor: Danielle Gaucher
Contact Information: Danielle.Gaucher@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Social justice; EDI; Social Change.
Steven Greening
Supervisor: Leslie Roos
Contact Information: Steven.Greening@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Neuroscience of human emotion; cognitive neuroscience; emotion regulation; mental imagery
Debbie Kelly
Supervisor: Debbie Kelly
Contact Information: debbie.kelly@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Spatial cognition, avian food-storing, field studies of spatial cognition.
Sunmee Kim
Supervisor: Sunmee Kim
Contact Information: Sunmee.Kim@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Longitudinal Design, Prediction Modeling, Longitudinal Data Analysis Methods, Cognitive Aging and Related Psychosocial and physiological Factors.
Kristin Reynolds
Supervisor: Kristin Reynolds
Contact Information: Kristin.Reynolds@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
The overarching aim of Health Information Exchange Laboratory work is to understand the unique health-related needs of population groups, ascertain gaps in information and services, and work with groups to create information, resources, and services that will meet their targeted needs. We draw on a range of research methodologies in our work, including qualitative, quantitative, epidemiological, mixed-methods, website evaluation, intervention science, and integration of physiological measurements.
Leslie Roos
Supervisor: Leslie Roos
Contact Information: Leslie.Roos@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
I lead clinical research in 3 broad areas: (1) Intervention science: the role of family mental health for child development; (2) Equity-focused care: the promotion of initiatives driven by the leadership of trainees advancing community wellness through self-determination, with current projects relevant to Indigenous & Newcomer family mental health; (3) Technology-enhanced interventions: advancements in eHealth and wearable tech for family mental health.
Melanie Soderstrom
Supervisor: Melanie Soderstrom
Contact Information: M_Soderstrom@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
My research examines infant language development, including the cognitive and perceptual capabilities that support this process and the nature of infants' everyday language environment. I employ both experimental laboratory behavioural testing of infants (infant speech perception) and linguistic analysis of audiorecordings via transcription/annotation, acoustic measurement, and adult perceptual ratings. I play a leadership role in ManyBabies, a largescale collaborative network of infant researchers that promotes and supports collaborative open science practices.
Katherine Starzyk
Supervisor: Katherine Starzyk
Contact Information: Katherine.Starzyk@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Social justice; reconciliation.
Religion
Justin Lewis
Supervisor: Justin Jaron Lewis
Contact Information: JustinJaron.Lewis@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Anarchist thought, Judaism and Hinduism, Sexuality and religion, Stories of holy people, Winnipeg Jewish history.
Kenneth MacKendrick
Supervisor: Kenneth MacKendrick
Contact Information: Kenneth.MacKendrick@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Religion and the imagination; fantasy gaming and imagination; myth and ritual studies; religion and popular culture; evil and religion
Sociology and Criminology
Joseph Asomah
Supervisor: Joseph Asomah
Contact Information: Joseph.Asomah@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Dr. Asomah's research aims to produce critical sociological scholarship to inform policy and promote social justice. His work spans four key sub-fields: (1) policing, (2) democracy, law, and human rights, (3) white-collar crime, and (4) youth justice.
Sonia Bookman
Supervisor: Sonia Bookman
Contact Information: Sonia.Bookman@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Cosmopolitanism, consumption, brands and branding, urban culture, media and Canadian film.
Mara Fridell
Supervisor: Mara Fridell
Contact Information: Mara.Fridell@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Enlightenment, Counterenlightenment & Antienlightenment theory and politics; comparative university neoliberalization; comparative history of organicist science, positivist-mechanism, and authoritarianism; complex ecology; biology and sociological theory; inequality and inegalitarianism; capacitation policy; social reproduction theory and policy; contextualized comparative research.
Mark Hudson
Supervisor: Mark Hudson
Contact Information: Mark.Hudson@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Unions and social equality; political economy of the environment; climate politics; energy politics; sociology of wildland fire.
Melanie Murchison
Supervisor: Melanie Murchison
Contact Information: Melanie.Murchison@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Doctrinal legal research, intersectional feminist criminology, gender based violence, legal pedagogy, law in popular culture, comparative constitutional law.
Susan Prentice
Supervisor: Susan Prentice
Contact Information: Susan.Prentice@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Social & family policy, childcare (daycare), women’s work, gender discrimination, work/family balance, care.
Lori Wilkinson
Supervisor: Lori Wilkinson
Contact Information: Lori.Wilkinson@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
Dr. Wilkinson’s research agenda focuses on the resettlement of refugees and the integration of newcomers to Canada. Students working with my research team will join a highly motivated team of student researchers exploring several questions including:
What are the short-term resettlement experiences of Afghan refugees to Canada?
Are immigrants the cause of Canada’s housing shortage?
Why are young women and racialized youth dropping out of amateur sport in Canada?
What can Canadians do to address racism and xenophobia in Canada?
My team works with academics across the country and around the world. We collaborate with community organizations to fight racism and assist immigrants and refugees in resettling. We also collaborate with national and international governments to help them create new regulations and policies to assist newcomers and address issues related to racism and xenophobia. Please consider joining our team if you want to have experience turning research into policy and practice. We are looking forward to welcoming you to our team this summer!
Women's and Gender Studies
Kiera Ladner
Supervisor: Kiera Ladner
Contact Information: Kiera.Ladner@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests: Indigenous Law and Politics, Transformative Decolonization, Digital Sovereignties, Constitutions and Gender.
I am currently involved in a number of research projects involving: constitutional law and politics in Australia and New Zealand; the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and its implementation (globally); digital sovereignties (working at the intersections of cybernetics, data sovereignty and digital archiving); Indigenous Participation and Representation (comparative); Gendering Decolonization; MMIWG; and a new comparative project exploring the conditions necessary for achieving transformative decolonization, reconciliation and restoration.
URA students have the opportunity to engage in meaningful research as part of a a collaborative team with students, academics and community partners at UM, from across Canada and internationally.
Adele Perry
Supervisor: Adele Perry
Contact Information: Adele.Perry@umanitoba.ca
Research Interests:
History, Gender, Colonialism, Water, the Body, Infrastructure, western Canada, feminist research methods, Indigenous research methods
