Welcome to the 2025 TRU Undergraduate Research & Innovation Conference. The 20th annual conference will take place March 24 - 28, 2025.
The conference is a chance for TRU students from all programs and at all stages of their undergraduate experience to share their work with the rest of the TRU and Kamloops community. This year’s conference will include several poster sessions in the Learning Commons, on the 1st floor of the House of Learning, as well as lecture sessions held in OLARA.
The conference is free to attend, so please come out and support TRU's student researchers!
Questions can be directed to Elizabeth Rennie, erennie@tru.ca
LECTURE sessions will be held in OLARA in the 2nd floor Hub space (next door to the clock tower, look for event signage). During these sessions, students will each have 15 minutes to present their work. After all of the students have presented, there will be a shared question period for the audience to ask all of the presenters about their research. Presentations will take place in the order listed below. Note that most of these students also have posters available for viewing during the Poster Exhibits throughout the week.
Lecture Session 1: Wednesday March 26, 1:00 - 2:30pm
Lecture Session 2: Thursday March 27, 10:00 - 11:30am
Does it have to be a poster?
While most presentations will likely be posters, you aren't limited to sharing a traditional academic poster. You might apply to share a work of creative writing, the results a research paper, a series of photos or images you created as part of the creative output of your research, or something else entirely (we've even seen boardgames in the past!). Just let us know what you have in mind, and we can work with you to help share your work.
What size should my poster be?
Posters can be up to 36" x 48", either horizonal or vertical orientation. Smaller is an option, but keep in mind you want people to be able to see them from a couple of steps back. You do not need to pay for expensive heavy paper and laminating; those tend to be harder to keep up, and laminated posters tend to catch the glare of ceiling lights, making them tough to read. Basic colour printing will still look good, we promise!
How will the lecture sessions work?
If you'd like to give a 15-minute lecture presentation about your work, you'll be grouped with 4-5 other students in a 1.5 hour moderated session. Each student will present their work, and then there will be time for questions at the end, after everyone has presented. The timing of the sessions will be scheduled around student availability. We try to vary the groups, so you may be presenting your Chemistry research after someone else has shared their Tourism work, and before an Economics presentation.
What does a moderator do?
The lecture sessions are moderated, meaning there will be a faculty member whose job it will be to introduce all of the student presentations and to lead the question period at the end, ensuring all presenters are asked at least a couple of questions. They'll keep track of the audience questions, and not let any one presenter get grilled too hard; it should be a shared learning experience and hopefully kind of fun, not feel like an exam!