2015-2016 marked a period of expansion for the Jackman Humanities Institute, led by inaugural director, Professor Robert Gibbs. One of his key considerations was how to provide support to each of the University of Toronto’s three campuses. In the previous year, a Digital Humanities Research Fellowship had been launched at UT-Scarborough; work was in progress on what would emerge as the UTM/JHI Seminar, and President Meric Gertler had just announced his three priorities, one of which was reimagining undergraduate education, which included involving students in research activities.
The challenge at that time was that humanities applications for major research funding did not include students. When we asked why, the answers were questions: where do we find interested students, and how can we train them effectively? Scholars-in-Residence (SiR) was designed to provide undergraduate students with meaningful opportunities to contribute to humanities research. In the words of the original plan: “As part of a broader commitment to contribute toward re-imagining undergraduate education, one of SiR’s primary objectives is to increase institutional acceptance of undergraduate research in humanities disciplines. Central to this objective is to provide faculty members with opportunities to discover the value that undergraduate researchers can contribute to original research projects.”
A partnership with Victoria College made it happen. Professor Angela Esterhammer, together with Dr. Ira Wells, who was hired to help develop the program, led the organization of a “SiR pilot” in May 2016. SiR was launched at Victoria College with four research projects and attracted a pool of over 700 student applications, out of which 20 were selected to participate. The format has remained mostly consistent for ten years: for four intensive weeks, teams of five students are matched to the research of each faculty-led project. The students live together in residence, participate in cross-disciplinary workshops and panels in addition to working on their projects, and receive financial compensation for their research work; the faculty members work closely with their teams, which may also include graduate students and postdocs.
In 2017, SiR expanded to all the colleges on the St. George campus with ten projects and 50 Scholars. In 2018, it added five projects at UT-Mississauga; and in 2019 it reached its planned full size with 20 projects (10 at UTSG, 5 at UTM, and 5 at UTSC). By this time, SiR had an organizational structure and staff support at each campus. A 2019 self-study described a thriving and popular program: student satisfaction surveys “consistently report[ed] that the opportunity to work closely with a professor on the creation of original research was the most important facet of the experience.” Faculty participants consistently reported that SiR “facilitates significant gains in supervisors’ research.”
SiR has run continuously for ten years; during the pandemic it ran with online projects. In the 2025 iteration, it attracted a competitive pool of 79 faculty research projects, of which 24 were selected (14 at UTSG, 5 at UTM and 5 at UTSC). Competition for student spots is intense, with pools of well over 1000 applicants every year.
The program continues to provide unique intellectual experiences, as reflected in feedback from participants. One 2024 Scholar shared, "It felt like what I imagined ‘university’ would be." Another remarked, "This was one of the most enriching experiences I have had working at the University of Toronto."