Alternative Pathways to Research

Cold emailing is a powerful tool, but it is not the only way to secure a research position!!!! In fact, some of the most rewarding opportunities arise from less formal channels, through networking, volunteering, or even everyday conversations. Expanding your approach beyond cold emails not only increases your chances of success but also allows you to build genuine relationships and gain experience in unexpected ways.

1. Begin by Volunteering

Many research labs and academic units require assistance with non-technical tasks such as literature reviews, participant recruitment, data entry, or administrative support. These roles are often less competitive and provide a valuable entry point into the research environment.

Example: A student volunteered to help with logistical support at a neuroscience symposium. After demonstrating reliability and attention to detail, they were invited to join a lab team as a summer assistant.

Volunteering allows you to demonstrate your work ethic and gain trust, often leading to more technical roles over time.

2. Network at Research Events

In-person events provide an excellent opportunity to meet researchers face-to-face. These include:

Academic department seminars and colloquia
Undergraduate research conferences
Graduate student symposia
Career development workshops hosted by faculties or student unions

Where to find these:

Department websites (look for “Events” or “News” tabs)
Event platforms such as Eventbrite or Meetup (search with keywords like "research", "seminar", or "science" in your city or institution)
Facebook groups and Discord servers for university departments or student research initiatives
University newsletters and student portals

After attending, consider following up with speakers or participants via email or LinkedIn. Reference the event and your conversation to make the connection more personal and memorable

3. Find Opportunities in Everyday Communities

Academic professionals, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and even professors often participate in community or extracurricular activities. Joining clubs, attending fitness classes, or playing intramural sports are all ways of organically meeting people involved in research.

Example: One undergraduate student was invited to apply to a lab after discussing research interests during a post-run club coffee chat with a graduate student.

These social settings allow you to build rapport naturally, and they can lead to unexpected opportunities through word of mouth.

4. Explore Opportunity Platforms

Many research opportunities are formally posted online. Platforms and programs to monitor include:

LabXchange (for virtual and remote research)
Mitacs Accelerate and Mitacs Globalink (internships in Canada and abroad)
NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards (check internal university deadlines)
Faculty-specific research postings on university career portals
Research job boards such as University Affairs or Science Careers
LinkedIn and Twitter/X, where PIs often share openings directly

Staying active on these platforms and reaching out early can increase your chances of securinga position, often before formal application cycles begin.

What to Do If You Don’t Get a Research Position

Not receiving a research opportunity in a given term or summer is common and not a sign of failure. There are many other ways to stay engaged in STEM and continue developing skills that are equally valuable for future applications. The key is to remain curious, proactive, and willing to pursue alternative learning and project-based opportunities.

1. Take a Summer Course

A summer course can help strengthen your academic record and fill in skill gaps that are important for research. Consider enrolling in:

Research methods or experimental design
Statistics (especially R, Python, or SPSS)
Scientific writing or critical appraisal of literature

Many of these are available through your home institution or via online platforms such as Coursera, edX, or FutureLearn. Completing such a course can be added to your resume or LinkedIn profile and shows initiative.

2. Start a Personal STEM Project

You do not need to be in a lab to engage in scientific inquiry. Consider undertaking a project on your own:

Analyze open-access datasets from repositories like the NIH, Kaggle, or Dryad
Conduct a meta-analysis or literature review on a topic of interest
Build a hardware or coding project (e.g., Arduino, Raspberry Pi, or web-based data visualizations)
Design an educational tool or infographic based on a recent scientific paper

Documenting your work and sharing it via a portfolio, personal website, or GitHub can demonstrate both initiative and technical capability. You can even independently publish these projects in student-run journals, or sometimes (depending on the technical depth) even full-fledged academic journals (e.g. Call For Papers 2025 from NeurIPS).

3. Participate in STEM Competitions and Communities

There are numerous ways to gain research-relevant experience outside of traditional lab settings. Consider participating in:

International science competitions (e.g., the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition)
Student research journals or writing competitions
Interdisciplinary case competitions or hackathons
STEM-related student organizations or publication boards

Getting involved in these communities allows you to meet mentors, develop collaborative skills, and potentially produce work that can be cited or published.

4. Engage in Science Communication

Effective science communication is a valuable and often overlooked skill. Consider:

Starting a blog where you summarize recent scientific findings
Writing for platforms like Medium or Substack on STEM topics
Submitting articles to undergraduate journals such as the Journal of Young Investigators, URNCST, or STEM Fellowship Journal
Creating educational content on social media platforms like LinkedIn or Instagram

These projects showcase your passion for science, improve your writing, and help you build a public profile that professors can reference.

Final Thoughts

Your research journey doesn’t need to follow a traditional path. What matters most is your ongoing curiosity, your willingness to learn, and the actions you take to demonstrate initiative. Whether through personal projects, community engagement, or alternative forms of learning, there are many ways to grow in STEM, even without a formal research position. Stay active. Keep asking questions. Research will come.