Scholars-in-Residence Continues to Be a Leading Opportunity for Undergraduate Students

Now in its tenth year, the Scholars-in-Residence (SiR) program has established itself as a premier opportunity for upper-year University of Toronto undergraduates to engage in intensive humanities and humanistic social-science research. This four-week, paid research fellowship provides students with hands-on experience as Research Assistants on faculty-led projects, while immersing them in an interdisciplinary intellectual community.

Participants benefit from collaborative research, methodological training, and professional development activities, including workshops, cultural events, and career talks featuring professionals such as lawyers, policymakers, and documentary filmmakers. The programs provides students with complimentary residence accommodations across the St. George, Mississauga, and Scarborough campuses, partial dining plans, and a $1,000 Jackman Scholar Award.

Scholars-in-Residence has become highly competitive, with almost 80 faculty project proposals resulting from the Fall 2024 call—24 projects were accepted. Student applications in past years exceeded 1000 for up to 120 spots!

Current JHI Undergraduate Fellows—Mitzi Badlis, Kaina Mendoza-Price and Tiana Milacic—reflect on their experiences participating in 2024 SiR.

Mitzi Badlis

SiR Project: The Inventory of Critical Video Game Analysis, supervised by Assistant Professor Sonja Nikkila

Participating in the Jackman Scholars-in-Residence program was easily one of the highlights of my undergraduate studies. I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Sonja Nikkila on her upcoming resource: The Inventory of Critical Video Game Analysis. Her previous SiR team had originated the project and used Pressbooks to construct a digital textbook which featured frameworks and lenses through which video games could be analyzed using methods familiar to those studying literature or film.

Our team’s primary goal was to continue their work but we had the freedom to decide what our contributions looked like based on our own strengths and interests. My fellow researchers and I worked collaboratively on project planning and organization, designing the cover, creating citation style guidelines, and of course, writing and editing our own articles for the resource.

Given my background in education, I was most interested in outlining a new pedagogical section of the Inventory. I researched the development of the field of game studies and interviewed professors and graduate students who taught video games courses at Canadian institutions. In these interviews I learned about their teaching practices, syllabi, and assignments and I used their feedback to build the foundation for the pedagogical section.

I continued working under Dr. Nikkila through June and by the end of my time as a research assistant, I’d conducted several interviews, summarized my findings, and set up a database for educators to find suitable games for the classroom (i.e. ones that were accessible, inexpensive, and critically engaging). SiR was the perfect opportunity for me to develop new skills, learn from a seasoned professor, and work alongside a dedicated group of scholars.

I’m immensely proud of everything I accomplished but the best part of it was the friends I made along the way. It sounds so cliché but I’m incredibly grateful I had the chance to get to know some of the most brilliant, kind, and creative people at U of T. We made so many memories together and I look back fondly at all our late night talks and bonding sessions, shared meals and laughter. Since then, we’ve stayed in touch and even celebrated birthdays and reunions together.

Scholars-in-Residence gave me exactly the kind of rigorous and exciting research experience I’d been looking for. Being able to work and live with like-minded peers was such a special opportunity and it meant that our support and care for one another extended beyond our daily research meetings and into long term friendships. I would highly recommend this program to any interested undergraduate students—there’s a reason it’s so competitive. If I could give any advice to future applicants, it would be to spend time writing a good cover letter that clearly demonstrates how your skills and interests would help you contribute to the project. I’d also recommend applying regardless of whether or not you have prior research experience. SiR is a great opportunity to hone the academic skills you already have while learning and acquiring new ones in a supportive and intellectually engaging environment.

Kaina Mendoza-Price

SiR Project: Knowing Black Atlantic Worlds, supervised by Professor Kamari Clarke

I worked on the Knowing Black Atlantic Worlds project which consisted of building an archive of spiritual beliefs, proverbs, music, and other vernacular sociocultural productions of Black communities across the Atlantic. While engaging with the reality of a high level of absence in official archives, we questioned who exactly controls the archives, what historical narratives do they seek to portray, and what goes into making one. Because I grew up in a Caribbean family very deeply immersed in these traditions, my role was to collect other sources of information within religious and cultural spaces where historical preservation is indeed occurring in creative and vernacular ways. I am still working with Kamari as an RA on this project, continuing to write and collect materials.

I think the fact I was able to develop such a strong working relationship with my research supervisor has been by far one of the most impactful results of my time in SiR. For a first-generation university student from an immigrant family, there's a lot about academia I don't know and didn't really understand. No one tells you things like grad school is a viable option, that there are work-studies and research awards, or how to apply for scholarships, bursaries, and grants, unless you have some pre-existing knowledge to be able to articulate those asks. SiR was intense but it taught me what I needed to know to imagine a future for myself within the academy, while also introducing me to a supervisor who has provided incredible amounts of support and opportunities for me to become a better student, writer, and researcher.

I was the student who was most involved in Afro-Diasporic Religious Communities, so I knew the kinds of areas of knowledge production outside of the archives that Professor Clarke was thinking about as an alternative to them. The other students were talented researchers, though didn't know that aspect as thoroughly. I think this worked out really well in the end, because I was able to support in the dissemination of certain media and literature that had religious roots while they helped me find material in English that I was less familiar with than that of my native language of Spanish.

The projects this year look incredible, and I was really moved to see the research on LGBTQ+ Backlash by Michael Donnelly and Julie Moreau, and Alison Mountz's project on designing a toolkit for asylum seekers with a focus on LGBTQ+ asylum. These projects are meaningful to me as a trans woman from Venezuela, the country at the centre of extensive anti-migrant rhetoric. These discourses of hate in the short time they have emerged as a serious political force have upended almost every aspect of my life here in Canada as a transgender woman with family in Venezuela and the US. I hope that these and all projects actively work to encourage trans students to apply and involve them in their projects, as our incomes and security have really been affected during this time. And I want to encourage trans students and student clubs/organizations supporting trans students to actively support their applications; this is not a time for the university, and especially the humanities, to stay silent on the discrimination this community is facing.

Tiana Milacic

SiR Project: The Edinburgh Edition of the Works of John Galt, supervised by Professor Angela Esterhammer

During the Scholars-in-Residence program my role involved a variety of tasks, including transcription, reference-checking, proofreading, and drafting annotations. Each of these tasks gave me wonderful hands-on exposure to different aspects of research and scholarly editing!

Looking back, I can honestly say that my experience in the Scholars-in-Residence program was transformative—it was one of the most rewarding parts of my academic journey. When I applied, I was seriously considering a career in academia but found research to be a little intimidating. However, my time in the program completely shifted my perspective; I discovered that I genuinely enjoy research, and it gave me a newfound confidence in my abilities as a scholar.

One of the absolute highlights of my experience was visiting the Archives of Ontario to work with John Galt’s unpublished manuscripts. Before that, I had never seen a manuscript in person or conducted archival research, so it was an incredibly exciting moment for me. That experience sparked a deep interest in the materiality of literature, textual mediation, and archival work—interests that have since shaped my independent research and led me to the fellowship project I’m working on today.

Beyond the project itself, the collaborative aspect of the program was just as rewarding. The other students I worked with were all so kind and supportive, and we truly bonded over our shared work. It was so inspiring to be surrounded by people who were just as passionate about research and eager to learn from one another.

For students thinking about applying to the program, my biggest piece of advice is: just go for it! When I applied, I had zero expectations of getting an interview, let alone being accepted. But I took a chance, and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made. If you’re interested in a project, let that enthusiasm shine through in your application—genuine passion can make all the difference!

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A decade after its inception, the Scholars-in-Residence program continues to foster meaningful student-faculty collaboration, equipping undergraduates with the skills and confidence to pursue advanced research and academic careers. Through immersive projects, hands-on mentorship, and a vibrant intellectual community, SiR not only strengthens research training but also cultivates lifelong connections and transformative academic experiences. As the program moves forward, it remains a model for integrating undergraduates into high-level humanities research.