Reflecting on my role as a Research Assistant at the Gilbrea Centre

From June to August 2023, I worked as a student Research Assistant at the Gilbrea Centre for
Studies in Aging, funded by the generous support of the Associate Vice-President of Research’s (AVPR)
office. During my time at Gilbrea, I developed new skills and gained knowledge about working in a
research-based environment by taking on many different tasks at the Centre. For example, I helped create a site evaluation tool for the Nature-Based Dementia Pilot Project that will commence in fall 2023 and was able to practically utilize the tool in several off-campus site visits. I was able to support and
contribute to the new and exciting developments taking place at the Centre by providing feedback on the
Centre’s new logo and drafting a public facing visual summary of the achievements of the Centre for the
last year, among other tasks. Through my role as a research assistant, I was able to learn many new things related to academia, research, and my own personal interests, that I would have never had the chance of learning otherwise. For example, I would have never considered myself as someone that would enjoy writing ethics applications, however I created ethics templates and worked on an ethics application for the Intergenerational Café Pilot Project, and these ended up being some of the most enjoyable tasks for me.

Overall, having the opportunity to spend my summer working at the Gilbrea Centre was very valuable for
me as a student entering their final year and with not long until graduating. I would like to thank the Gilbrea Centre for helping me develop fundamental skills this summer and would like to extend my gratitude to the AVPR office for making all this possible through their funding.