Research Programs
The Mike Petryk School of Dentistry's research office offers a variety of resources to help build our research portfolio. Our suite of funds is designed to meet the needs of our faculty, graduate and undergraduate researchers.
Research funding
Research funding is a grant for conducting scientific research, generally through a competitive process. The Mike Petryk School of Dentistry provides several internal research grant opportunities for funding including those to support big and small research projects, publication of scholarly books, and scholarly conference travel. The goal of this program is to increase research capacity, research participation, and grant submissions at the school.
The goal is to support high-quality, impactful research in the Mike Petryk School of Dentistry that may subsequently be supported by extramural grant capture. The grants are funded from endowment funds, and this was made possible by our generous donors. There are three major grants offering project funding of $30,000-40,000 and 8 minor grants ranging from $3,000 – 8,000 in funding opportunities for research studies. Both faculty and students are encouraged to apply for the grants they are eligible for.
Undergraduate Research Initiative (Summer Research)
The goal of the summer research program is to provide the opportunity for students enrolled in a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) and Dental Hygiene (DH) program at the school to participate in research activities with the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. This program aims to instill in students the importance of research for the professions of DDS and DH and to allow students to participate in the process of discovery and its application to evidence-informed decision-making. The program currently supports 31 projects. Every year one student clinician is selected for the CDA/Dentsply Sirona Student Clinician Research Program.
Dr. Fabiana Almeida
Director of Undergraduate Research Initiative
Student Research Group
The Department of Dentistry Student Research Group (SRG) is a student-run organization supported by the Network for Canadian Oral Health Research (NCOHR), the Canadian Association of Dental Research (CADR), and the Mike Petryk School of Dentistry. SRG provides students with networking, leadership training, and mentorship opportunities and fosters research collaborations amongst students.
The day of dentistry poster session is organized by the SRG, annually. This event offers students an opportunity to showcase their knowledge to the wider community. The event showcased 52 posters this year. The SRG coordinates Graduate Research Day annually in May. This event showcased the research projects of 42 first- and second-year graduate students in 2024. The event was a remarkable success, setting a new record for the highest number of presentations at a graduate day event. The SRG also hosts the Geoffrey H. Sperber Lecture during Graduate Research Day. Dr. Michael Glogauer, a globally recognized dental clinician scientist from the University of Toronto was the keynote speaker this year.
Dr. Reid Friesen
Faculty Advisor, Student Research Group
Research Seminars (DDS and SoTL)
The Discover Dental Sciences (DDS) seminar series enhances the visibility and impact of the school’s research cluster activities, discoveries, and innovations to our students, faculty, staff and others. The series is also a forum for scholars outside the Mike Petryk School of Dentistry, internal and external to the University of Alberta, to present topics of relevance and interest to the school members. The Education and Research Unit will host seminars on topics related to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and Educational Research.