Science Atlantic Psychology Undergraduate Student Research Conference 2025

Welcome!

The organizing committee welcomes you to our Science Atlantic - Psychology undergraduate research conference 2025 website!

The 2025 conference will be held May 1-2 at St. Thomas University in Fredericton. Thursday afternoon is reserved for professional development workshops for students and faculty. Workshops will be followed by a keynote in the late afternoon, the faculty representatives meeting, and a social meet and greet in the evening. Friday includes oral and poster presentation sessions, a career and graduate school fair, and the banquet & awards dinner with a second keynote.

Key Dates

Extended to April 9, 2025: Abstract submission deadline. Find the instructions for preparing your abstract here.

April 15, 2025: Notification of acceptance

April 23, 2025: Last day to register for the conference

May 1-2, 2025: Conference

Conference Organizers

Dr. Sarah Vannier, Conference Co-chair, Dr. Sandra Thomson, Conference Co-chair, Alberto Chavez, Student Conference Organizer, Juliette Arsenault, French Student Liaison.

Final Conference Program

2025 Psychology Science Atlantic Program.pdf

Presentation Guidelines

Oral presentations: 7 minutes long followed by 2 minutes for questions. All presenters are required to use the podium computer (i.e., you won’t be able to use your own laptop), baring prior established accommodations. Please bring your presentation file on a flash drive (do not assume that you will be able to download it from the internet that day). The presentation rooms will be open 20 minutes before each session starts so you can go to the room, load your presentation, and make sure it works properly.

Poster presentations: Maximum poster size is 36 x 48 inches in landscape format. For readability you are encouraged to use a minimum 24-point font size. All poster presenters must bring their own printed (hard copy) research poster with them to the conference. We will have supplies available to hang your poster.

Accommodations

On-campus: We have reserved a block of rooms in our Harrington Hall residence for conference attendees. Single rooms are $75.88 per night and double rooms are $94.77 per night. This includes all taxes and fees. Guests have access to a shared kitchen and lounge. Main washrooms are shared, but offer a high degree of privacy, and there is a private washroom on the 2nd floor. The first floor is designed for accessibility offering a number of barrier free rooms and an accessible friendly washroom and bathroom. Rooms are available May 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Unfortunately the residence is not available for booking on April 30th.

Our residence team is small and opening residence just for our conference, so booking via the conference website closed on April 24th. If you still want to book a room in residence, please contact us via e-mail, and we will do the best we can to coordinate your stay.

Off-campus: Fredericton is a small city so if you have a car almost anything will be a quick drive to campus. Downtown, the Crowne Plaza and the Hilton Garden Inn are both are on the bus route that will take you to campus in < 10 minutes. Downtown also has several B&Bs including Carriage House Inn and Quartermain House.

Directions & Parking

Get directions to St. Thomas campus here. Use the links below to find specific parking lots.

Parking on campus is free during the summer (May-August). For easy access to residence and conference activities we recommend the lots above the JB O'Keefe Fitness Centre or above Brian Mulroney Hall.

Access a virtual campus map here.

Invited Speakers

Dr. Emilie Lacroix

University of New Brunswick

This year we are excited to include a faculty focused professional development workshop. Dr. Emilie Lacroix, Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at UNB, will share the results of a study titled Exploring Undergraduate Psychology Honours Programs in Canada. This project examines the characteristics, strengths, and challenges of Honours programs across the country, and serves to inform future program development, support best practices, and foster greater awareness across institutions. Following Dr. Lacroix's presentation we will have faculty-led roundtable discussions focused on themes identified through this research.
Thursday Keynote: Dr. Michelle Lafrance

St. Thomas University

Adventures in psychology: Reflections on a 30-year journey.
Michelle Lafrance is a Professor of Psychology at St. Thomas University. Her research and teaching interests are rooted in critical and feminist approaches, exploring the social construction of distress and wellbeing. She has published and presented in the areas of women’s experiences of depression, self-care, leisure, and sexuality, including critical explorations of the DSM and the medicalization of women’s distress. Her most recent research explores the experiences of caregivers of older adults and has resulted in the creation of “Aging in New Brunswick: A User’s Guide”, a bilingual tool that helps New Brunswickers navigate the health and home care systems in the province. Over the course of her career, Dr. Lafrance has been awarded multiple distinctions for excellence in research, including by the British Psychological Society, the American Association for Women in Psychology, and the Canadian Psychological Association. She was also the winner of the Dr. John McKendy Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2013 and the Dr. Sheila Andrew Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2006.
Research NB recently featured Dr. LaFrance's work!
Friday Evening Keynote: Dr. Rachel Ouellette

Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital

Dr. Rachel Ouellette is a general consulting pediatrician and clinical department head at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton. She graduated from St. Thomas in 2003 with an honours degree in psychology before completing medical school at Memorial University and Pediatrics at Queen’s University. She remains involved in medical education at Dalhousie and Memorial University. She received the NBMS Garfield Moffatt award in 2020 in recognition of her commitment to excellence of patient care, medical education, community at large, and the quality of life. She will offer an insightful and inspirational talk, reflecting on her career trajectory and the transferable skills she developed in her undergraduate degree.