The IndigiNerds Research Internship program celebrated its tenth cohort of students this year, as it continues to inspire and support the next generation of Indigenous scholars.
The IndigiNerds program, run by the McMaster Indigenous Research Institute, welcomes Indigenous undergraduate students from across Canada for an eight-week summer research experience.
Six of the 2025 cohort of IndigiNerds. The program welcomes Indigenous undergraduate students from across Canada for an eight-week summer research experience.
The program is unique in that it accepts students from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds, said program coordinators Justice Ryan and Elya Porter.
"Every year it's different," Ryan said. "Sometimes there's a STEM heavy cohort, sometimes it's social science, arts based. We've had students in music and physics and astronomy."
Students are paired with supervisors who may not necessarily be in the same field of research; these interdisciplinary pairings are designed to encourage growth from both the students and supervisors.
The IndigiNerds program provides students with the preliminary skills and tools to embark on their research journeys, and to make more informed choices about graduate school.
That can include knowledge synthesis and citation software training, scientific writing workshops, how to do a literature review, and time management and presentation skills.
They also dive into topics like being Indigenous in academia, and how to apply to grad school and fund grad school.
"A really key aspect of this tenth year is having that solid foundation to now reach out and do even more community building from the program outwards," said Ryan.
Last year, the program started a new partnership with the Canadian Cancer Society, and now has three to four dedicated spots for students interested in cancer research or harm prevention or reduction.
This summer they also worked with McQuesten Urban Farm, an Indigenous organization where IndigiNerds students would volunteer biweekly.
Students come from across Canada, and providing them with a sense of community is integral to their success, Ryan said. That comes in part from "getting connected with the land, getting connected with the people that live here."
They've also fine-tuned the program to have a maximum of 10 students per cohort, allowing students to become a tight-knit group.
"We're seeing students really thoroughly get into their research, but also have such a good friend group happening," Ryan said.
These connections happen with people they might not have otherwise met, either because of geographical distance or educational silos. "And now they're creating those relationships and developing amazing, interdisciplinary research."
The IndigiNerds internship has had 163 participants to date. Many of them keep in touch; Porter and Ryan have recently started working on a survey to see where they are now, and what impact the IndigiNerds internship had on their research and graduate journeys.
"It's been great looking back and seeing how many [of the participants] have now become doctors, lawyers, or are writing books, or have master's [degrees]," said Porter.
"In the short time that we've been doing it, some of the alumni from our previous years, some who are even still in their undergraduate degrees, have told us that the program connected them with research and opportunities that they never would have had otherwise," Porter said. "It's great to hear those types of things from our alumni."
Click here to learn more about each of the IndigiNerds, and their research projects, from the summer 2025 cohort.
