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Welcome!

Welcome to the PNB Graduate Handbook. Please see below for a Table of Contents.

The Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour (PNB), at McMaster University, has a strong research base in the areas of Animal Behaviour, Systems and Behavioural Neuroscience, Cognition/Perception, Developmental Psychology, and Evolution and Social Behaviour. In addition, we offer Research and Clinical Training (RCT) which is a stream within the PNB Graduate Program.

There are 30 core faculty in PNB, several associate faculty members, and approximately 120 graduate students. Our graduate program is strongly research-oriented and provides flexibility to optimize the program around the interests of the student. The breadth of research areas provides a rich environment for graduate training. There is a strong collegial environment in the department that supports scientific interactions among faculty and students. As a consequence of this long-standing department culture, students often undertake research projects with more than one faculty member. Our graduate students are introduced to theory, issues, and questions in the field of Experimental Psychology and are trained in the research approaches used to study the problems.

General Information

Official sources of information about our graduate program are the McMaster Graduate Calendar (2024-2025), the School of Graduate Studies, and the PNB department policies. If there is a difference between official sources of information and information presented in the PNB Graduate Handbook, the official university documents should be taken as correct. If you cannot find the information you need or if you need any clarification about any of the guidelines and procedures, please do not hesitate to contact us:

• Anju Dalal, Graduate Administrative Assistant; Phone: 905-525-9140 ext. 23027
• Dr. David Feinberg, PNB Associate Chair (Graduate), aka Graduate Chair

Prospective Graduate Students (how to apply)

The application for the September 2025-2026 academic year is now open until December 14th, 2024.

• Admission Requirements
• Financial Support
• Course Requirements

Incoming Students (getting to know McMaster, Hamilton, and PNB)

Life in Hamilton

• Living in Hamilton
• PNB Social Life

International Students

• International Students
• International Student experiences with housing

First Steps

• Orientation Guide for Incoming Grads
• Mandatory Training: Health and Safety training, SGS 101, and SGS 201 must be completed in the first term of the first year.
• Student Software Benefits

Current Graduate Students (guidelines and forms and things)

The School of Graduate Studies (SGS) maintains a page where you can find various forms and guides. These forms, and the links to them, tend to change occasionally. We'll provide links directly to some of the forms in various places in the handbook; if you find a broken link, look for the form directly on the SGS Forms and Guides, SGS resources page, and also - let us know about the broken link!

Forms

• Forms: Links to forms are scattered throughout the wiki; we are attempting to gather many of them together here, to help when you are doing a quick search.

Finances

• Financial Support
• External Scholarships
• Teaching Assistantships
• PNB Graduate Travel Support

Academic

• Supervisory Committee
• Supervisory Committee Meetings
• Plan of Study: A map to plan your path through graduate school
• Progress Reports (due annually on May 15)
• Course Requirements: Guidelines about required courses
• Registering for RCT Practicum Courses
• Comprehensive Exam: When and How
• Completing your Degree: The defense process
• Graduate Research Day - 2025 Date TBA

Help, Advise, Support

Sometimes we need:

• Help, Advise, Support
• Leaves of Absence and vacation time
• Open Access Publishing

Beyond the Degree (Career Planning)

Career planning and professional development:

• Career Planning

About this Wiki

The PNB Graduate Handbook Wiki was started in April 2018, with a small group of editors. Information is updated regularly. If you would like to join our editing group, let us know!

If you find a broken link

If you find a broken link in this Graduate Handbook, please email our Wiki Group.

PNB Graduate Handbook LOGO competition

It's a small thing (135 x 135 pixels), but this Wiki needs a logo. Do you have artistic talents? Are you interested in submitting an entry to our logo competition? The logo should be something that represents the research by graduate students in PNB. My first attempt was a boring image of a human brain, and then an animated thing, and then a Santiago Ramon y Cajal drawing. Do you have a better idea? It is challenging because the logo is expected to be a very small 135 x 135 pixels, simple, eye-catching, and representative of PNB.

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