Finding a Supervisor
The Importance of a Supervisor
Choosing a supervisor is one of the most important decisions you'll make in graduate school. They'll be your mentor and advisor, and you'll work together closely throughout your graduate career.
Applicants are not required to have a supervisor when applying, however, an application will not be considered for offer until a prospective supervisor requests a review by the program. It is the applicant’s responsibility to contact faculty members whose research areas are of interest to them.
Researching Potential Supervisors
You should select a supervisor with a strong record of research and publication in your area of interest. When looking into potential supervisors for your program, become familiar with the type of research they do and their working style.
- Read journals or conference papers and sit in on any presentations.
- Look on their web site and read their CV. Their publications should give you a sense of the type of research you'd be doing.
- Talk to their students (without the supervisor present) to get a sense of how you'd fit together.
Finding the Perfect Fit
Contact each of your potential supervisors to discuss your research interests and see if they are interested and available. Be sure to ask them about their availability during your graduate program, and whether they're planning any extended absences during that time. When considering potential supervisors, you should talk to several professors before asking one to become your supervisor. Be sure you understand what your prospective supervisor would expect of you as a graduate student.
International Students: Funding to accept new international students is limited for some supervisors. Applicants should also take into consideration the timeline for study permit processing, based on their country of origin, when applying.
View a current listing of our Neuroscience Core Faculty
Sample questions for Prospective Supervisors
This list is an example of the types of questions you can ask a prospective supervisor. Please adapt as you see fit and feel free to ask some of your own.
We also recommend that you speak with current (or past) students and/or post-docs to ask about the work environment and day-to-day life within the lab.
- What is your leadership style?
- Do you prefer to supervise students directly, or is there another person in the lab I'd be working closely with?
- What are expectations for students to be present in the lab on a daily or weekly basis? Are the hours fixed or flexible?
- Can you put me in touch with some of your current students?
- How much flexibility would I have in choosing my own research project?
- How often do you like to meet with your students to discuss progress and concerns?
- How hands-on / hands-off are you in the lab?
- Are there particular skills or knowledge that I should have prior to entering your lab (coding, statistics etc.)?
- Do the members of the lab generally get along? Is it a supportive working environment?
- Where have graduates of the lab ended up working?
Featured Researchers
Laura Fitzgibbon-Collins
Email: lfitzgib@uwo.ca
Recruiting: Master’s students
Project 1: The Focus: Investigate neurovascular coupling (NVC) and cerebral blood flow to see how the brain dynamically regulates its blood supply during mental and physical challenges. The Goal: Uncover how age-related changes in these vascular mechanisms impact dual-tasking, memory, and mobility, helping predict and prevent cognitive decline and mobility loss.
Project 2: The Focus: Examine the distinct impact of sex hormones and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on systemic and cerebral vascular health. The Goal: Discover how hormone-driven differences in vascular health relate to long-term brain health and cognitive aging, addressing a critical gap in personalized medicine for women's health.
Rishi Ganesan
Email: rishi.ganesan@lhsc.on.ca
Recruiting: Master’s and PhD students
Research Interests: the '4C research group' tackles some of the hardest challenges faced by critically ill children and their families. This group led by neurocritical care physician-researcher, Dr. Ganesan uses multimodal functional neuroimaging techniques to detect and improve outcomes related to critical-illness associated brain dysfunction (delirium) and improve accuracy of neuroprognostication in brain-injured children through detection of hidden awareness (covert consciousness).
Jessica Grahn
Website: https://www.jessicagrahn.com/
Email: jgrahn@uwo.ca
Recruiting: Master’s and PhD students
Research Interests: include mechanisms of rhythm and beat perception, how temporal sequences are processed in the brain, and how do musical rhythm-based therapies work. I also am interested in music neuroscience more broadly. My lab uses behavioural methods, tDCS, fMRI, fNIRS, and EEG, as well as occasional cross-species work through collaboration.
NOTE: The following faculty members have informed the program office that they will NOT be accepting neuroscience students in the 2027 admissions cycle. Please do not contact them regarding supervision: R. Bartha, J. Culham, E. Finger, R. Klein, S. MacDougall-Shackleton, K. McRae, A. Owen
*These lists will be updated on an on-going basis
