成人大片

Sara Pavan, a PhD candidate in political studies, embodies what modern-day students bring to the research enterprise: initiative, intellectual curiosity and excellence.

Pavan, an international student, was drawn to Queen鈥檚 because faculty members include 鈥渢he most important contributors to the current international debate on immigrant integration.鈥� Her supervisors are Drs. Keith Banting (Political Studies) and Fiona Kay (Sociology), and her research focuses on how political institutions in countries with large immigration flows impact immigrants' integration into democratic politics.

In 2013, Pavan received the prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and the Trudeau Scholarship to support her leading-edge research. She鈥檚 just completing her dissertation, which 鈥渆xamines immigrant integration policies and their effects on the political participation of different minority groups.鈥� Her work, while both theoretically and academically important, also has urgent global societal value.

Today鈥檚 powerful impact of students on research has evolved over decades, says Queen鈥檚 University historian Dr. Duncan McDowall. 鈥淚n fact, from the university鈥檚 founding in 1841 up until the 1960s, Queen鈥檚 focus was mainly on building a reputation for teaching,鈥� he notes. 鈥淩esearch was peripheral.鈥�

Research in the early days was curiosity-based, and often self-funded, says Dr. Brenda Brouwer, Vice-Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies. 鈥淗owever, a graduate degree has always been about advanced studies and discovery, building evidence upon which decisions are based.鈥�

Pockets of research developed slowly on campus. For example, the Chown Science Research Chair, established in 1919, was intended to release the holder from teaching and administrative duties to focus on research, with an unexpected result of increasing graduate student research involvement. But research stayed on the fringes until 1943, McDowall says, when the Queen鈥檚 Board of Graduate Studies was created, and for the first time, professors were expected to conduct research. New funding from Queen鈥檚 Park also meant 鈥渕any bright graduate students could be paid to do research,鈥� he adds.

Academic research really ignited on campus in the 1960s and 1970s, when various agencies, such as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, were created to provide systematic funding. At the same time, Queen鈥檚 Park was putting pressure on universities to grow their graduate studies programs.

鈥淭here were increased resources for faculty to pursue research,鈥� says Brouwer, 鈥渁nd with that came progressive development of scholarships and fellowships to support research trainees 鈭� graduate students.鈥�

Reflecting this change, in 1963, the Queen鈥檚 School of Graduate Studies and Research was created. Graduate studies enrolment and student research grew quickly 鈭� and this was to continue unabated. By 1995, the graduate and research portfolios were so large and complex that they split into separate units to make them manageable and enable each to grow and flourish.

Inquiry@Queen鈥檚 Undergraduate Research Conference

Today, with more than 120 programs, graduate education and research at Queen鈥檚 has spread to all corners of campus in all disciplines. 鈥淎cross the board, we rely heavily on the engagement of graduate students, who make an indelible mark on research and discovery,鈥� Brouwer says.

There鈥檚 also a push toward undergraduate research, says Dr. Jill Scott, Vice-Provost (Teaching and Learning). A decade ago, the annual Inquiry@Queen鈥檚 Undergraduate Research Conference was founded to help disseminate undergraduate research. 鈥淏ack then, there was less conversation in higher education around this, so Queen鈥檚 is a leader in establishing this kind of event.鈥� Queen鈥檚 is also home to the Undergraduate Student Summer Research Fellowships (USSRF) Program.

Other initiatives currently afoot include the development of a certificate in undergraduate research by the Faculty of Arts and Science, and a working group of the Provost鈥檚 Advisory Committee on Teaching and Learning (PACTL) that鈥檚 evaluating undergraduate research on campus, and how to support it.

Dr. Vicki Remenda, Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning, Faculty of Arts and Science), and chair of the PACTL working group, says students are keen. 鈥淲e have members of the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society and the Alma Mater Society on our committee, and they are really excited about this movement, and the opportunities.鈥�

Undergraduate research makes particular sense for Queen鈥檚, Remenda adds, because a high percentage of undergraduate students 鈭� far more than at most universities 鈭� go on to seek an advanced degree. 鈥淭he way I see it, it鈥檚 only going to get bigger and better and more embedded.鈥�

For more information on current student research initiatives and opportunities at Queen's, see聽Student Researchers