Carving out a path

This research paper examines a student-partnership project on developing the first undergraduate student conference in the Social Psychology Program at McMaster University. This article first situates our research within the broader pedagogical literature on student partnership and engagement in research-based learning opportunities, followed by an overview of the research methodology, including a discussion of the exit survey administered to the first conference participants in 2022. Further, we discuss significant findings and challenges that arose from this student-partnership project by reflecting on the experiences of the student-partner team members, examining feedback received from undergraduate student conference participants at the first undergraduate conference in the Social Psychology Program, and discussing how the original conference in January 2022 informed the development of the March 2023 and March 2024 conferences. We conclude with suggestions for future research in this area of student-partnership based research and share the lessons learned.