AVC Summer Research and Leadership Program

About the program

The Atlantic Veterinary College invites DVM students interested in participating in a mentored research program during the summer of 2025 to apply to our AVC Summer Research and Leadership Program (BSc students may be considered depending upon space availability). The program introduces students to careers in veterinary and biomedical research by incorporating a summer research project with a faculty member, which is complemented with weekly research-oriented sessions. Completion of this summer program is awarded the equivalent to one credit for a research elective in the third year DVM program and is the prerequisite for another optional third year research elective.

Goals of the program

1. to provide each student with a summer experience in animal health or biomedical research.
2. to provide each student with information about potential career pathways in veterinary medicine with a focus on post-graduate studies and research-related careers.
3. to introduce each student to important aspects of research, including ethics, research methods and communication.

Students will be supervised by faculty mentors and other research personnel on a specific research project for approximately 3 months, (May to August 2025). The program will also consist of a series of seminars and round table discussions on various aspects of research as well as give the students an opportunity to present their research results.

AVC Undergraduate Veterinary Research Credits

The AVC office of Graduate Studies and Research, in collaboration with the office of AVC Academic and Student Affairs, has developed a series of directed studies courses in the DVM curriculum which will allow our students to earn credit for approved research activities. Regardless of when the research is conducted, the credits will appear as electives in third year of the program, or as non-core rotation credits in the fourth year, depending on which requirements are met (the courses and requirements are outlined below):

VBS 3610, Directed Studies (in Summer Research and Leadership) elective, 1 credit

Any AVC DVM student who completed the AVC Summer Research and Leadership Program (SRLP) will automatically be enrolled for this third-year elective credit, which will count towards their elective credit requirements. The course will be graded as pass / fail, based on participation in SRLP seminars, conducting full time research with a faculty supervisor over a 12-week period (or more), a 5-minute presentation to fellow students describing their research project, preparing a research abstract, and presentation of their final poster. SRLP coordinators will submit the passing grades. Students who do not meet the criteria will not be enrolled in the course. 

VPM 3610, Directed Studies (in Undergraduate Research) elective, 1 credit

Students who have completed VBS 3610 (or who have comparable research experience) and have made arrangements with their research supervisor to continue their research, may submit a proposal to apply for this credit. Criteria for earning this credit includes conducting research at AVC beyond the requirement of VBS 3610 (or other comparable research experience) and passing an oral exam. The exam will be conducted by the student’s supervisor and the undergraduate veterinary research coordinator (or other appointee of the associate dean of AVC Graduate Studies and Research). The course will be graded as pass / fail.

The requirements must be completed by the end of fall semester of third year in order for it to count towards the 16-credit third-year elective requirement. If the requirements are completed in the winter semester of third year, this credit will NOT count towards the 16-credit third-year elective requirement, but it will appear on the student’s transcript as an additional elective credit. 

Note: all research activities must be new and not associated with credit in any other degree.

Submit: VPM 3610 Proposal Form to Sherri Pineau (scpineau@upei.ca)

Proposal Deadline: September 5, 2025, at 12:00 pm (due 1st Semester of 3rd Year)

VPM 4710, Directed Studies (in Senior Research) rotation (non-core), 1 or 2 credits

Students who have arranged with their supervisor to continue their research beyond VPM 3610 Directed Studies (in Undergraduate Research), may submit a proposal for this rotation credit(s). Students and supervisors are encouraged to start the process early in the student’s program. Although the research project culminates in a final year rotation credit, the effort for this research project is expected to occur over an extended period and be completed by the end of Fall semester in the student's 4th year. The schedule of activities will be left to the discretion of the faculty supervisor so that they meet the requirements outlined in the VPM 4710 Proposal Form.

As a rough guide, one rotation credit (1 week) will represent approximately 100 hours of effort by the student (beyond efforts which were applied to VPM 3610). Additionally, students must present a college-level seminar about their project and results, which will be adjudicated by the student’s supervisor and the undergraduate veterinary research coordinator (or other appointee of the associate dean of AVC Graduate Studies and Research).

A two credit (2 week) option of this rotation may be proposed if the student has demonstrated extraordinary effort and time commitment (approximately 200 hrs) beyond the effort applied to VPM 3610. For eligibility, the student must submit a manuscript as first author, that is suitable for peer-reviewed publication, to be evaluated by the Coordinator for Undergraduate Veterinary Research, or the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research. Please note that publication of this manuscript, although ideal, is not required.  A college-level seminar, as described above, will also be required.

A student may be awarded fewer credits than proposed depending on the completed requirements. All students must enroll in the full requirement of clinical rotation credits, regardless of their intent to earn rotation credits for research, so that failure to meet the research requirements does not impact their eligibility to graduate. In some cases, if the research rotation requirements have been met early in the student's 4th year, the research rotation credit(s) may be applied towards the 39-rotation credit minimum requirement and can replace a non-core rotation of similar credit value scheduled for later in the year. Requests to apply the completed research credit(s) to the minimum credit requirement will be considered by the Office of Academic and Student Affairs until the end of Fall semester of the 4th year. If a future rotation cannot be replaced with the completed research credit, or if the research requirements are not completed until the winter semester of the 4th year, then the research credits will not count towards the 39-rotation credit requirement, but they will still appear on the student's transcript. The rotation (1 or 2 credits) will be graded as pass / fail.

Note: all research activities must be new and not associated with credit in any other degree.

Submit: VPM 4710 Proposal Form to Sherri Pineau (scpineau@upei.ca)

Proposal Deadline: September 5, 2025, at12:00 pm (due 1st Semester of 3rd Year)