The Research at York (RAY) program enhances the research culture of the university and the undergraduate student academic experience. Students can gain valuable research experience from faculty or senior/graduate students while receiving compensation at a competitive rate.
Students who are awarded a RAY position cannot hold another RAY, Work/Study, CLAY or YES position concurrently.
Eligibility
You may be eligible for the RAY program if you meet all of the following criteria:
- An undergraduate student enrolled in a degree program.
- Canadian citizen, permanent resident or protected person.
- Demonstrate financial need.
- Demonstrate satisfactory academic progress (i.e. you are not on academic warning/probation).
- Meet the specific skills and experience requirements set by the sponsoring faculty member.
- Fall/winter (September to April): full-time in both the Fall and Winter terms – i.e. at least 60 per cent of a full course load (nine credits) in each term or at least 40 per cent (six credits) in each term for students with a permanent disability.
- Summer (May to August): student must be registered full-time in at least 60 per cent of a full course load (40 per cent of a full course load for students with a permanent disability) or registered as a full-time student in the winter term and returning to full-time studies in September.
Salary Rate
RAY student wages are set at a minimum rate of $15 per hour, which is above the top rate of other Work/Study university positions.
Rates for RAY positions and hours to be worked vary; details are available for each job posting on the Career Centre Web site.
Benefits and Responsibilities
By participating in the RAY program, you can receive financial assistance to meet your direct educational costs and gain valuable research experience that will supplement your classroom learning. RAY will also give you a preview of the type of research that you may encounter should you decide to pursue graduate studies. As a RAY student, you will get work experience that will help you in your post-graduation career and receive research mentoring from faculty members and senior/graduate students.
A RAY position can provide you with hands-on research experience while assisting faculty members with meaningful research support. Examples of quality research activities include:
- research proposal development
- literature searches, Web-search/surveys, archival searches
- preparing subjects for interviews
- basic fieldwork or data collection
- interview transcriptions
- basic data/statistical analysis
- translation of research materials
- cataloguing
- preparation and execution of experiments