Program Overview

Q-SURGE: Queen's Summer Undergraduate Research Growth Experience

Q-SURGE is a professional development program designed to nurture skills as a complement to course-based and faculty-supported disciplinary training. The program is intended to equip participants with valuable skills and research acumen.

Improve your skills

Q-SURGE comprises a total of six enriching sessions, each carefully crafted to sharpen research acumen and empower students with valuable skills. Attending the sessions will equip students with the following competencies:

• Plan and design the foundational components of conducting a research project
• Present research with confidence to diverse audiences using a variety of methods and platforms
• Bridge the gap between academia, industry, policy development, and government through knowledge mobilization

Registration and certificates

Students who complete all sessions qualify for a certificate granted by the Vice-Principal Research Portfolio. If a student is only able to attend five sessions, they may provide evidence of additional training completed in their department or centrally at the university as part of self-directed learning, such as:

• Safety training for research management
• Ethics training for research management
• NVIVO
• SPSS
• GIS
• Python
• Matlab

All sessions will be conducted in-person to facilitate real-time engagement, learning, and interaction.

Summer 2025 Program

The sessions for Summer 2025 will take place biweekly on Tuesdays, starting May 27, at Ellis Hall 226. The program includes the following sessions:

• Tuesday, May 27, 10-11 am: From Zero to Hero: How to design and execute your research project
  • Facilitators: Susan Boehnke, Nicolle Domnik, and Charlie Hindmarch (Queen's Health Sciences)
• Tuesday, June 10, 10-11 am: Research Project Management
  • Facilitator: Marina Darling (Human Resources, Organizational Development and Learning)
• Tuesday, June 24, 10-11 am: Research Impact and Translation
  • Facilitator: Peyman Saidi (Canadian Nuclear Laboratories)
• Tuesday, July 8, 10-11 am: Research Communications: Promotion and Outreach
  • Facilitators: Amanda Bongers (Faculty of Arts and Science) and Catarina Chagas (VP Research Portfolio)
• Tuesday, July 22, 10-11 am: Inclusive research: getting started on your I-EDIAA journey
  • Facilitator: Aleksandra Bergier (VP Research Portfolio)
• Tuesday, August 5, 10 am - 12 noon: Research Methodologies in Focus: A Showcase of Student Projects
  • Student presentation and final celebration