Responsibilities for ARIA Award Recipients

1. ARIA award recipients are required to complete and submit following documents to the Arts Internship Office within one (1) week after receiving the award confirmation email:
    
   All documents must be submitted via the ARIA document submission webform.
   
   - Award Certification Form 
      - Award Name: ARIA
      - Award Amount: 2,500$
   ** Please note that the "Internship Officer" signature is provided by AIO; only your signature is required at the time of submission.
   
   - If applicable, submit a thank you card to the donor supporting your ARIA project (you will be notified in a separate email) - please refer to the "Thank You Cards" page on the left menu for instructions
   
   - Completed Consent Form for permission to use photographs and reports.
   
   - High resolution professional headshot photo in portrait orientation (vertical), JPG/JPEG format (see examples)
   
   - 75-word bio in the third person (see examples), in a Word document. ** This is a safe space for gender expression and diversity. Feel free to use pronouns that best describe your identity.
   
   - McGill Travel Registry (for ARIA internship requiring travel outside of Montreal): Please upload a proof (screenshot) that you have registered your travel through the app.
   
   - Pre-Departure Orientation (for ARIA internship requiring travel outside of Canada): If not done so already, please submit the certificate of completion of the Pre-Departure Orientation
    
2. Complete Direct Deposit information on Minerva by April 5, 2024.
    
3. Attend the Faculty of Arts Internship Awards Reception (mandatory) on April 18th, 2024. 5:00 - 6:30 PM at the McGill Faculty Club (3450 McTavish St.) 
   As a recipient of Arts Internship Awards and Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Awards (ARIA), we invite you to join us for a celebration with likeminded McGill awardees and the donors whose generous contributions make your internship experience possible. Come join the event and celebrate together with donors and fellow students! Our annual group picture will be taken during the event – the dress code is business casual. RSVP to the event via this webform 
    
4. Attend ARIA Introductory Meeting (mandatory) on May 2, 2024, 12:00 - 1:00PM at Thomson House (3650 McTavish St.). Lunch served. RSVP to the event via this webform
    
5. Participate in the Equity in Research Workshop on May 9, 2024, 12:00 - 1:00PM on Zoom.
   Open to ARIA recipients and the faculty supervisors. Presented by McGill Equity team members. RSVP to the event via this webform
    
6. Participate in ARIA Library Research Workshops: Preparing for a Research Assistantship (mandatory) In person: May 23, 2024,  2:00 - 3:30 PM. McLennan eLearning Classroom  OR May 31, 2024, 10 - 11:30 AM. RSVP to the event via this webform
    
7. ARIA recipients are required to submit a Social Media post about their internship by June 15, 2024 via the social media submission webform: 
   Please provide us with a short description of the current highlight of your research internship experience (50 words, written in first-person), with a photo accompanying it (see examples). If applicable, please thank the donor who funded your Internship Award. The content will be shared on the AIO Facebook and Instagram.
    
8. ARIA recipients are encouraged to attend the in-person Pizza Lunch on June 4, 2024, 12:00 - 1:00PM. Open to ARIA recipients and the faculty supervisors. Further details will be shared by email.
    
9. ARIA recipients are required to submit a Final Report and Research Poster in electronic format by August 18, 2024 via the ARIA post-internship submission form.
    
10. ARIA students are asked to participate in the Annual Faculty of Arts Undergraduate Research Event (mandatory) in October 2024. More details TBD.

Award Disbursements

The award will be disbursed in four installments of $ 1, 250 between May and August. The Arts Internship Office will be responsible for issuing the first two installments; the supervising professor will be responsible for the third and fourth installments. The awards are processed using Banner Student Aid (BSA).

Please note for students travelling for their internships: Awards are conditional on submission of Pre-Departure Orientation certificate and completion of the McGill Student Travel Registry (prior to departure).

Direct Deposit Instructions

All awards are issued through direct deposit to your Canadian bank account. All award recipients must have a bank account in Canada. In order for the award to be deposited, you must update your information on Minerva: bank information, your Canadian Social Insurance Number (SIN), and a valid permanent address.

Note: For international students who do not have a Canadian Social Insurance Number (SIN), only complete steps 1 and 2. All Canadian students must have a Social Insurance Number.

Please follow the steps below as soon as possible. Failure to do so will result in your award processing being delayed.

• Step 1 - Access the Banking Information form on Minerva under:
  • Student Menu >> Student Accounts Menu >> Direct Deposit Bank Account and enter the information under Student-related and Payroll-related bank account information.
• Step 2 - Update Contact Information
  • Access the Addresses and Phones form on Minerva: Personal Menu > > Addresses and Phones
• Step 3 – for Canadian students: Access the Social Insurance Number form on Minerva under:
  • Student Menu >> Student Accounts Menu >> Student Tax Menu >> Social Insurance Number (SIN)

Tax Receipts/Slips

The award amount received will be recorded on a T4A/Releve 1 and will be treated as scholarship income by the Federal and Quebec governments. For more information regarding taxes click here.

T4A’s are issued for scholarships and awards and for exemptions from tuition related to staff dependent bursaries. Students are advised to consult this Canada Revenue Agency page for more information, and to find out who is required to report this amount as income.

You are able to view the details of the transactions that are part of your T4A / Releve 1 totals under Student Tax Slip Details menu in Minerva.

Thank You Cards

Many of the awards are provided thanks to gifts made by McGill Alumni. Only certain awards require thank-you letter to donor - you will be notified by email if required for your award. You could either create your own thank you letter or use online template (using Canva for example).

Please write a minimum of 60 words – you may wish to include some short biographical information about you (e.g. what you study at McGill), the title of your research and a brief description, examples of tasks you will complete as an intern, and how the internship award funds will help you during your internship experience. 

Equity in Research Workshop: Presented by Equity at McGill

This one-hour workshop is an introduction to the main themes and questions in research equity, including what it is, how it can be integrated in different parts of a research project, and its relevance for sharing the knowledge generated through research. It offers students an opportunity to learn more about research equity and to begin a discussion about how it is relevant for their research project. The attendance of faculty supervisors is encouraged to facilitate a richer discussion.

The ARIA program is an opportunity for faculty supervisors to implement equity practices in their mentoring and supervision and to create an inclusive and equitable research team environment. If faculty would like to discuss how to implement research equity in their research teams, they can contact the Senior Research Equity Advisor (uzma.jamil [at] mcgill.ca) or the Research Equity Advisor (vishakha.wijenayake [at] mcgill.ca).

ARIA Library Research Workshops: Preparing for a Research Assistantship

ARIA award recipients attend this mandatory library research workshop. Nearly all ARIA projects have a library research component, and students and faculty who have participated in past years have consistently let us know that this workshop is an essential and valuable component of the program. ARIA students typically engage in library research with the literature in their particular field, at a deeper and more rigorous level than they have in the past.

In this workshop students learn skills that they will use immediately and throughout their academic and professional careers. By the end of the workshop ARIA students will have:

• Develop advanced library research skills, including advanced search skills and citation management
• Learn about library resources they may not have been aware of
• Have the opportunity to connect and collaborate with other ARIA recipients
• Understand the scholarly publication process & environment
• Learn about open access and research impact metrics
• Learn how to disseminate their research
• Learn the value and the basic principles of research data management

The Humanities and Social Sciences Library also provides personal library carrels (Desks) during the summer for all ARIA students. We group these carrels together as much as possible to help break some of the isolation of working alone on a research project, and past ARIA participants have told us that it also helps create a sense of community. If you would like to have your own carrel in the library for the duration of the summer, simply present yourself at the main library services desk in the lobby of the McLennan Library Building, and let them know you are an ARIA student and would like a carrel. The staff at the library services desk has a list of all eligible ARIA students.

Thank you to the McGill McLennan Library especially Liaison Librarians David Greene and Sandy Hervieux for their support for ARIA.

The workshops are made possible through the generous support of the Faculty of Arts Tarr-Chevrefils Student Advising Fund.

Resources:

• 2023 PowerPoint slides:   aria_2023_presentation.pptx
• Virtual Tip Sheet

Final Report

ARIA recipients submit a final report at the end of the ARIA internship by August 20, 2023 via this web form:

 ARIA post-internship documents web form

Report Outline (750 words)

Format it in 12pt, Times New Roman, line breaks between paragraphs, single spaced and 1in margins. Must be submitted as Word Documents, (No PDFs):

• A short outline of your ARIA research project, mention your project title and name of academic supervisor.
• Tell the reader why you were interested in an ARIA project.
• What were your learning objectives?
• What were some of the highlights? Give some examples.
• What were some of the challenges that you encountered? How did you overcome them?
• How do you think ARIA has or will shape your future career and education path?
• If applicable, please thank the donor who funded your Award. Your report will be sent to your donor in appreciation of her / his contribution.

Digital photo

Please include one photo that represents your research experience and corresponding caption at the end of your final report in Word document. Photo should be in JPG/JPEG format. 

Captions are necessary to provide context and name people in the photos. Captions should be no more than 75 characters long and in the following format:

E.g. “Jane Smith during her internship at the UN World Food Programme office in Panama City.”

The photos are meant to represent your internship experience and work-place (Photos should be of you working during your internship and should not include any children).

The photos are used in AIO publications (including online) to help inform McGill students, professors and award donors about the valuable work that students do during their internships.

Poster Guidelines

Workshop

• Before mid-July we encourage ARIA students to attend the ARIA Poster Workshop (18-min recording workshop) to help you prepare your ARIA poster.

Basic Requirements

• The top of the poster should indicate the title, first and last name of author(s), and your program (e.g. BA English). You should acknowledge your supervisor and anyone else who contributed to the research.
• Only electronic PDF format is required. The office will take care of printing the posters in case of an in-person event.

Technical Recommendations

• The easiest way to create posters is by using a single MS Power Point slide set at the size to which the poster will be printed (use Page Setup to set the size).
• Use solid colour backgrounds, no gradients.

Formatting Recommendations

• Use a large, legible font.
• Consider using graphs rather than tables.
• Present small bites of information rather than lengthy narratives.
• Numbered or bulleted lists can be a concise and effective way to convey a series of points.
• Dimensions: 48 inches wide and 36 inches tall (maximum). Orientation: horizontal.
• Please submit a PDF and a JPEG version.

Please see examples of 2023 posters.