OUR visits Council of Undergraduate Research

Last year, two members of staff from the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) attended the Initiating and Sustaining Undergraduate Research Programs Institute, a series of capacity-building sessions organised by the Council of Undergraduate Research (CUR) in Washington, USA.

Assistant Director, Ms. Pamela Rose, and Advisory Council Member Mr. Lenandlar Singh represented the OUR at the institute, which was held from January 12-14, 2018, at the University of Central Florida. According to the CUR, the event was designed for campuses that are establishing new undergraduate research programmes or centralised undergraduate research offices, and those expanding undergraduate research opportunities from a single department to a campus-wide programme.

The institute comprised 10 intensive plenary and working sessions, which addressed areas such as models of undergraduate research; strategic planning and assessment; marketing; and programme components. Participants were given the opportunity to acquire current knowledge and strategies, and to implement initiatives for research engagement programmes and interdisciplinary creative activities.

The institute also exposed the OUR’s members to the diverse contemporary higher education landscape in which undergraduate research is given prominence. Ms. Rose and Mr. Singh left with a broader vision of how undergraduate research can potentially improve the status of the University of Guyana.