Join the Lab

Graduate Students

Dr. Kawakami will be accepting MA and PhD students to begin in September 2026. For more information, please contact her at kawakami@yorku.ca. Additional information about the Social Personality graduate program at York University is available here.

Honours Thesis Students

If you are a psychology student at York who is interested in doing your honours thesis with Dr. Kawakami, please contact her at kawakami@yorku.ca. Additional information about completing an honours thesis at York University is available here.

Please note: Dr. Kawakami is not taking honours thesis students for the 2025/2026 school year. If you are interested in getting involved with the Social Cognition Lab as an undergraduate, however, we are taking applications for volunteer research assistants (see below).

Research Assistants

The Social Cognition Lab offers opportunities for bright, motivated, conscientious students who want first-hand experience conducting psychological research. We conduct rigorous and in-depth laboratory studies that will give you invaluable experience for graduate or professional school admission or a career in research.

We recruit our research assistants during the summer and recommend applying during April–June to be considered for positions beginning in the fall semester.

Please note that we are not currently recruiting research assistants for the 2025/2026 school year. Any applications we currently receive will be considered for the 2026/2027 school year!

If you are interested in volunteering as a research assistant, please contact Hannah Tran at kawakamisocialcoglab@gmail.com. In your email, please include your unofficial transcript, resume, and a short description of your plans for the next few years (1-3 sentences). While research experience is an asset, it is not a requirement! We encourage students from all years of experience and backgrounds to apply.