Information Security and Privacy (InSPiRe) Laboratory

Applying for Graduate Studies with InSPiRe

To do's:

Submit an email to Dr. Neville

In the email's body include:
1. Which degree program you are seeking to enter.
2. Your anticipated entry date (University processes restrict entry months to Sept., Jan., or May)
3. Which degrees you hold and where they are from.
4. Your GPAs in your degrees.
5. Which areas of research you are interested in and why
  - This is particularly important for Ph.D. students!
  - Students with only a vague idea of what they want to do generally do not fair well in Ph.D.'s.
6. Whether or not you are seeking a funded position.
  - If you are seeking a funded position then reference which of the open ones you are applying for and why you are suited to it.
  - Generally funded positions are for specific research projects (see Open Positions section) (i.e., Grants for research, from which the student funding comes, are attached to getting specific bodies of work done).
  - Student who have their own scholarships (or are self-funded) will generally have more freedom to choose their research areas.
  - Where funding is available, scholarship students may receive top-ups
7. Whether or not you have officially applied to UVic for graduate studies (this is important since your application cannot proceed to the next step unless you have)
8. The number of refereed conference/journal papers you have authored/co-authored and full references for them.
9. Whether or not you are a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant
  - If not then you will be required to apply for a student visa from the Canadian Consulate in your country of origin.
  - This generally also means you will likely need to have: a passport from you country and
  - a medical exam
  - The whole process can take some months to complete.
In the attachments from this email include:
1. Your up to date curriculum vita (c.v.) / resume.
2. Your transcripts.
3. Copies of your ''best'' work (i.e., conference/journal paper(s), thesis chapter, etc.) (if available)
Formally apply to the University of Victoria's graduate studies program.
1. See here for the steps required
2. If you want to work in the InSPiRe lab you will want to put Dr. Stephen Neville down as one of your proposed supervisors (this will ensure that your formal paperwork gets routed to Dr. Neville when it becomes available)
3. Graduate Studies does a full background check on all academic transcripts – this can take time, particularly for foreign institutions.
Provide a follow up email to Dr. Neville with your official application ID number that you received through step 2.

It is recognized that prospective students tend to apply to more than one institution for graduate studies. It can be helpful, therefore, to also include the date when you are likely to decide which institution you will go to.

Also, if you decide to go elsewhere it is polite to send a follow up email just stating that you no longer wish to be considered for an InSPiRe lab position, as this helps considerably in the InSPiRe lab's human resources planning process.

2003 - 2012 Information Security and Privacy Research (InSPiRe) Laboratory, University of Victoria

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