Isabelle Cavanagh

Snapshot

  • Honours Biology, Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour Level V student researching the relationship between specific physical symptoms and symptoms of anxiety and depression in adult patients with concussion

  • Completed thesis in 2022-2023

  • Position obtained through: networking, cold emailing, and a program requirement

  • My responsibilities entail communicating the goal of the project and requirements to all potential participants, obtaining their consent, obtaining their filled out questionnaires, handling sensitive and confidential patient data, running statistical testing, and generating the final write-up as well as abstracts and presentations along the way!

Don't get discouraged! Cold emailing is very difficult, and it's easy to feel discouraged and give up. There is a lot that goes into determining if a lab is able to accept undergraduate students including funding, the current state of projects, and more, so don't get discouraged if you're not getting offers right away! Also, start early! Labs have a tendency to fill up quickly as the spots can be competitive. The earlier you contact potential research labs, the higher the chance that they still have open spots!