UU499 BR: Thesis Course

UU499 is an independent thesis under the direct supervision of a faculty advisor and is a two-semester course (September to April, 1.0 credit weight). Students meet weekly as a group with the course instructor, and individually with a faculty advisor. Students will select a topic and work with their faculty supervisor to design their project. The research project culminates in an oral presentation, a poster presentation, and a formal report. Grades will be calculated based on both classroom work and the thesis project.

Eligibility

You must be in your fourth year of studies with a minimum cumulative GPA of 10.0 (or 9.00 with permission of the faculty supervisor).

You must find a faculty supervisor before you can be allowed to enroll. Your supervisor will provide the paperwork once they agree to supervision.

Prerequisites will depend on your program and the type of thesis you are doing. For example, students in FHSS wishing to complete a data-driven research project will be required to have taken research methods and statistics courses.

Resources: 

• Calculate your GPA.
• Download a copy of your unofficial transcript.

Find a Supervisor

It is your responsibility to contact potential supervisors to see if they are able to supervise you. 

When you contact potential supervisors, please send them a PDF of your unofficial transcript. Students who do not meet the GPA requirements will not be permitted to take the course, even if they have a faculty supervisor.

Faculty Supervisor Process

1. Consult the list of potential faculty supervisors. 
2. Talk to professors you know from your courses (but please check that they are full-time faculty, as contract teaching faculty do not supervise student research projects).
3. Consult the faculty listing in your department to see which faculty conduct research in an area that interests you, and contact them to see if they would consider supervising you.
   Faculty Listing for the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences
   Faculty Listing for the Faculty of Liberal Arts

Can't Find a Supervisor?

Acceptance into UU499 is not guaranteed. Even if you meet the GPA and prerequisite requirements, it is possible that there will not be enough spaces for everyone who wants to take the course.

Faculty advisors may only take one or two students, and whether you are accepted might depend on many factors, including how many students they already have, how closely your proposed project fits with their research program, and whether they are already familiar with you and your work.

2024/2025 Potential Faculty Supervisors

Below is a list of potential faculty supervisors that you can reach out to. 

Faculty of Liberal Arts

Maurita Harris, User Experience Design, mauharris@wlu.ca 

The way technology can support the well-being of people as they age from a human factors psychology perspective focusing on design for aging; digital health; health and racial equity; and the technology lifecycle. This research is interdisciplinary, drawing from diverse fields such as community health, design, gerontology, psychology, and social justice. 

Ian MacRae, English, imacrae@wlu.ca 

The intersection of literature, culture, film studies, the environment.

Faculty of Human and Social Sciences

Judy Eaton, Psychology, jeaton@wlu.ca 

Apology, remorse, and forgiveness; positive psychology.

Sybil Geldart, Psychology, sgeldart@wlu.ca 

Loss and grief reactions in children and adults; situationships and other interpersonal relationships and their effect on perceived well being; stress, burnout and employee health

Danielle Law, Psychology/Youth and Children’s Studies, dlaw@wlu.ca 

Social emotional learning and regulation; externalizing and internalizing behaviours; child and adolescent development; internet socialization; overall wellbeing.

Rosemary A. McGowan, Leadership, rmcgowan@wlu.ca 

Women in leadership; transformational leadership; authentic leadership. 

Bruce McKay, Psychology, bmckay@wlu.ca 

Recreational psychoactive drug use; trends in undergraduate student alcohol and other drug use (with studies emphasizing cannabis, MDMA, nootropics and the use of psychedelics); relationships between alcohol and drug use and academic outcomes; the reasons underpinning recreational alcohol and drug use by student; harmful outcomes associated with excessive alcohol and drug use; harm reduction

Janet McLaughlin, Health Studies, jmclaughlin@wlu.ca 

Migrant agricultural workers’ health; migrant worker health care and workers’ compensation access; autism policy and service access barriers; autism caregiver experiences: stress, well-being, and employment; autism services for newcomer and/or Indigenous populations. 

Andrew Welsh, Criminology, awelsh@wlu.ca 

Media and crime; social media and crime.