Are you interested in joining our team?
The Spence Lab is an enthusiastic, supportive, and collaborative working environment. We strive for research excellence by aiming to create practical solutions for real-life problems. We invest in our trainees by providing mentorship, professional development opportunities, and support for obtaining career goals.
All open opportunities in the Spence Lab are listed below. If you are interested in working with us, but do not qualify for a posted position, you can send us an email that includes an unofficial transcript, academic CV, and a description of your research interests, and we will contact you should a suitable position become available for application. All inquiries can be directed to Dr. Kelsey Spence at kspenc04[at]uoguelph.ca.
Undergraduate Student Opportunities
We currently have one summer student position funded by the Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) Program. Applicants must meet the eligibility requirements for a USRA position and must apply via Experience Guelph.
Job Title: Assessing the quality of online disease prevention advice for pet owners
Application Deadline: February 24, 2025 at 11:59pm
Research Project: Pets are susceptible to many different diseases. Preventive measures, including vaccinations, parasite prevention, regular veterinary visits, and good hygiene practices, are essential to reduce disease risks and maintain health among pets. However, pet owners’ decisions to use (or not use) preventive measures are complex and not well understood. Some pet owners report hesitation to using preventive measures, with some citing concerns over the use of pharmaceutical products and distrust in veterinary advice. There is also a growing preference among pet owners to use online sources to seek out health information. With the rise of health content shared through social media and generative artificial intelligence, it is imperative to understand the availability and accuracy of online content about disease prevention. The objective of this project is to assess the type, quality, and reliability of online content about disease prevention for pets. An environmental scan will be used to identify the most frequently accessed online sources for pet health information. Next, online content related to disease prevention will be extracted from these sources and analyzed using content analysis. The content will be assessed against published best practices for disease prevention to determine its quality and reliability. The findings will contribute to a better understanding of online preventive health content available to pet owners, which can be used to inform tailored resources for pet owners and veterinarians.
Job Description: The successful candidate will take a leadership role in research question development, literature searches, data collection and analysis, and manuscript writing (if time permits). They will also contribute to other ongoing research projects in the Spence Lab, and will have the opportunity to participate in the Ontario Veterinary College Summer Career Opportunities & Research Exploration (CORE) Program. We currently operate on a hybrid work schedule (in person and virtual), so flexible scheduling can be arranged, depending on the abilities and interests of the successful candidate.
Qualifications: Qualifications for this position include experience with literature searches, excellent oral and written communication skills, excellent organization and time management skills, ability to work independently and part of a team, and a keen interest in epidemiology, infectious diseases, and/or veterinary research. Previous research experience is not required but considered an asset.
Graduate Student Opportunities
Thank you for your interest! At this time, there are no open graduate student positions in the Spence Lab.