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Students encouraged to apply for York's annual Undergraduate Research Fair and Art Walk

The ninth Undergraduate Research Fair and Art Walk will take place on March 10, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., online. Applications for participation in the annual multidisciplinary exhibition are now open to student applicants. The fair’s organizing committee is calling on York instructors to encourage students to apply.

Support from instructors is instrumental in giving students the confidence and motivation to apply to participate in this valuable experiential learning event. While grading final assignments, instructors are asked to consider suggesting to students who have produced a strong research or creative arts project in a York undergraduate course (January to December 2020) to apply to present a poster session about their project at the juried Undergraduate Research Fair.

Faculty, staff and students are invited to attend the eighth annual Undergraduate Research Fair planned for March 4 at the Keele Campus

Faculty, staff and students are invited to attend the ninth annual Undergraduate Research Fair planned for March 10 at the Keele Campus

Applications will be accepted until Jan. 31 and can be found on the Undergraduate Research Fair website. Family, friends and all members of the York University community are welcome to support students and attend the event virtually.

Jointly sponsored by York University Libraries and the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, the Undergraduate Research Fair and Art Walk honours student researchers and provides them with an opportunity to share work that creates positive change. Fair participants design a poster and present the results of a course research essay or project to the York community in a friendly, cross-curricular environment. Students apply by filling out an application form, writing an abstract about their project, and appending their graded project or honours thesis. Workshops on designing and presenting a poster session will be offered to successful applicants.

This is an excellent experiential learning opportunity for both upper- and lower-year undergraduate students. The 2021 Undergraduate Research Fair welcomes applicants from all York Faculties, including Glendon Campus. In addition, students who have created a piece of artwork for a 2020 York credit course are invited to apply to have their work exhibited on the online platform.

Monetary prizes ($250, $500, $600) will be awarded to poster presenters deemed to have the best lower-year project, best upper-year project, best honours thesis, best group project, best poster presentation and best art project. In addition, the Libraries offer an Information Literacy award of $600 to the Undergraduate Research Fair participant whose project or creative work best exemplifies excellent practices in library research and information literacy, evidence of critical thinking, and personal learning and growth. All student-presenters will receive an invitation to submit an article on their project, to be considered for publication in the refereed e-journal Revue YOUR Review (York Online Undergraduate Research Review) associated with the fair. One artwork submission will be chosen to grace the cover of the e-journal (http://YOURreview.journals.yorku.ca).

Last year’s fair drew a large audience of nearly 500 students, faculty, administrators and senior leaders from across York’s diverse community, as well as friends and families of student-presenters.

This is an excellent opportunity for undergraduates to participate in the cycle of knowledge production and dissemination, and to advance work that tackles complex societal challenges. For more information about the fair, participant eligibility, and how to apply to present a poster or display artwork, visit the Undergraduate Research Fair website at https://undergradfair.library.yorku.ca/.