At research-intensive universities like U of T, undergraduate research is often framed as an opportunity. In practice, it operates more like a prerequisite for scholarship applications, honours requirements, graduate school admissions, and jobs. Undergraduate research experience often determines successful applicants long before any formal evaluation takes place.
Research shows that undergraduate research strengthens scientific training and academic persistence. Across STEM disciplines, students who participate in research are more likely to remain in their programs, graduate on time, and pursue further levels of study.
A 2024 multi-institution American study by Heather Haeger, Elia Hilda Bueno, and Quentin Sedlacek, published in Cell Biology Education (CBE)––Life Sciences Education, found that students who engaged in undergraduate research were twice as likely to graduate within four years and more than 10 times as likely to graduate within six years compared to statistically matched peers. When researchers controlled for background characteristics and prior academic performance, graduation gaps for low-income, first-generation, and racialized students were cut in half at four years and fully closed at six.
But this body of research leaves one question unexamined: who is actually able to access undergraduate research in the first place?
Who gets access to undergraduate research?
Research on undergraduate research access identifies a consistent pattern. Students from lower-income backgrounds, first-generation students, and students from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups participate in undergraduate research at lower rates, even though they stand to benefit the most. Financial constraints, uneven access to information, and reliance on informal mentorship networks shape who enters research spaces. Together, these factors create an early sorting process.
At UTM, this sorting often begins in first year. In an interview with The Varsity, Yassmina Mostafa, a second-year psychology student, described undergraduate research as “a quiet expectation rather than an explicit requirement.” In introductory psychology lectures, she says that professors frequently emphasized the importance of research experience when discussing honours programs and graduate school, but offered little concrete guidance about when students were expected to begin, how much time research actually requires, or what kinds of positions are realistic at different stages of a degree.
By second year, the pathway into research becomes clearer, but also more restrictive. Most psychology research opportunities at UTM are not embedded in the curriculum.
Students are expected to seek them out independently by cold emailing faculty, monitoring individual lab websites, or applying to Research Opportunity Programs (ROPs) — credit-bearing placements that pair undergraduates with faculty supervisors for a limited academic term. Mostafa says that, in her experience, ROPs are “very limited in number” and “prioritize students with a research background.”
Even when students are aware of these research programs, the application process can feel inaccessible. “If you do not already know how the system works, it is easy to feel underqualified or unsure whether it is even worth applying,” Mostafa said. Expectations around research terminology, lab culture, and academic norms are rarely taught explicitly, yet they function as silent filters.
Outside of formal programs, many psychology labs at UTM rely heavily on volunteer undergraduate research assistants, particularly during the fall and winter terms. These roles often require fixed weekly commitments, attendance at lab meetings, completion of ethics training, and ongoing responsibilities such as data coding or participant coordination. “The work is real and ongoing,” Mostafa said, “but it is framed as an opportunity rather than labour.” When this labour goes uncompensated, the costs are shifted onto students themselves.
When opportunity depends on financial flexibility
Financial constraints remain one of the most consistently documented barriers to undergraduate research participation. Many undergraduate research positions are unpaid or offer modest stipends, which can create financial barriers for students who rely on paid employment.
For students who need to maintain paid work during the academic year, volunteering in a lab can be impractical or impossible. “They expect a level of availability similar to paid work,” Mostafa explained, “without compensation.”
Studies show that students who work substantial hours during the academic year are significantly less able to participate in unpaid research roles, which are gateways to academic advancement. While funded research programs exist, they are often limited in number and frequently concentrated during summer terms, which can create uneven access depending on financial circumstances, employment needs, or eligibility requirements.
Students who can afford to volunteer early accumulate experience, mentorship, and institutional familiarity that make them competitive for funded roles down the line. Students who cannot volunteer are excluded at the outset, regardless of academic ability or interest. Over time, this experience gap compounds, and what appears to be merit increasingly reflects access to time, financial flexibility, and institutional knowledge rather than ability alone.
Black students and the unequal research pipeline
National data shows that Black students remain underrepresented at advanced stages of scientific training. According to a 2022 study published in the Biomedical Engineering Education Journal, Black students earned approximately nine per cent of science and four per cent of engineering bachelor’s degrees in 2016. In comparison, white students made up 56 per cent of the total science and engineering degrees.
Furthermore, Black students make up about five per cent of doctoral degrees throughout all fields, with many fields lacking any Black researchers altogether, despite making up about 13 per cent of the US population at the time this article was published. Representation narrows further in certain disciplines, including the life sciences, indicating progressive exclusion within the research pipeline.
Within Canadian research universities, Black scholars remain significantly underrepresented in tenure-track faculty positions, particularly in research-intensive departments. To illustrate, Black Canadians make up around four per cent of the population, yet only around two per cent of Canadian university senior leadership positions are held by Black scholars.
The future of scientific research
When research experience becomes an informal prerequisite for honours programs, theses, or graduate applications, its role shifts from a learning experience to a gatekeeping mechanism. Students without early access may find themselves excluded later, not because of a lack of ability, but because of a lack of opportunity.
At the University of Toronto, initiatives such as the Undergraduate Research Explorer and centralized funding programs aim to improve transparency and reduce financial barriers. These efforts mark meaningful progress, but they do not fully address the reliance on unpaid undergraduate labour that underpins much research production.
When participation in research depends on financial flexibility and race, rather than curiosity or potential, the scientific community risks narrowing the range of perspectives that shape knowledge production.
