Honours Programs

The Psychology Department offers honours study leading to a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree, a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree, and a Certificate of Honours Standing (Honours Equivalency)—academic regulation 26.

The honours program is intended for students of above average ability who wish to proceed to graduate work in psychology or related fields or who intend to pursue careers in psychology. For admission to honours in psychology, students at the time of application must have:

a minimum CGPA of 3.00;
completed at least eighteen (18) credit hours in PSYC courses;
a minimum GPA of 3.70 in PSYC courses;
a minimum grade of B in each of PSYC 2010 (formerly 2340) and PSYC 2020 (formerly 2350)

These requirements are minimum standards only.

Because the Department has limited resources for offering the honours program, some students who meet the minimum standards may have to be denied admission.

The deadline for submission is April 30, 2026.

To begin the application process, applicants should submit the following form in electronic format to Dr. Jason Ivanoff, Psychology Undergraduate Program Coordinator at honours.psychology@smu.ca:

Please complete BOTH forms to submit for the thesis:

Honours Application Form

Honours Thesis Psychology Application Form 2026-2027

Supervisor	Area of Study	Planned honour supervisions (26-27)
Dr. David Bourgeois	Social Psychology Political Psychology Cross-Cultural Psychology Youth Engagement	5
Dr. Margherita Cameranesi	Resilience research Mental health in marginalized, equity-deserving populations Violence and trauma Participatory qualitative and mixed methods research approaches and methodologies Program development and evaluation	3
Dr. James Cameron	Social identity and intergroup relations Social psychology of collective action Stereotyping and discrimination Psychology of globalization	3
Dr. Patrick Carolan	Attention, mind wandering, emotion, and other topics in cognitive neuroscience Psychopathic personality traits Electroencephalography (EEG) and Event-related Potentials (ERP)	1-2
Dr. Steven Carroll	Psychophysics Cognitive Psychology Computer models of psychological processes	2
Dr. Leanna Closson	Developmental Psychology topics relevant to adolescence and emerging adulthood, including: Social competence Peer relationships Risk and resilience Psychosocial adjustment	3
Dr. Nicole Conrad	Cognitive/Developmental Psychology topic related to learning to read including: how memory encodes, stores, and uses information about words when reading and spelling reciprocal relations between reading and spelling statistical learning and orthographic processing literacy learning and mental health outcomes	1-2
Dr. Ryan Cook	Psychometrics and testing Space psychology + other Isolated and Confined Environments (ICEs) “Legal” forms of bias in hiring (e.g., tattoos, height, working in stigmatized industries) Workplace psychopathy Social media use in hiring	2
Dr. Arla Day	I/O Psychology & Occupational Health Psychology topics: Psychologically healthy workplaces Work-life balance Job stress Worker health and well-being Emotional intelligence Leadership & health	1-2
Dr. Maryanne Fisher	Diverse topics in evolutionary perspectives of psychology including: aggression, competition, and rivalry sex similarities and differences mate preferences personality applications to pop culture, social media, and literature	0
Dr. Mark Fleming	Industrial/Organizational Psychology	0
Dr. Debra Gilin	Organizational conflict, mediation, and negotiation Individual differences in the workplace Organizational culture and intervention Workplace stress and burnout	0
Isaiah Hipel	Leadership efficacy Leadership in the workplace Well being in the workplace Personality (big 5 or dark tetrad) and leadership	1
Dr. Camilla Holmvall	Workplace mistreatment broadly defined (including incivility, aggression, bullying) Fairness issues in organizations Workplace stress Organizational citizenship behaviours Leader well-being	0
Harley Harwood	The use of AI in employee selection tools (e.g., interviews, situational judgement tests, personality tests) The use of impression management (faking) in various selection tools Other topics on selection and recruitment	1
Dr. Jason Ivanoff	Inhibition, Attention, Action Dynamics, Multi-tasking, Executive Control, and Behavioural Economics Mental Chronometry, Human Psychophysics (esp. Speed-Accuracy-Tradeoffs), Human Kinematics, Computational Models, Psychopharmacology, and Psychophysiology	4
Dr. Kevin Kelloway	Diverse topics in I/O psychology including: The role of personality (Big 5 and Dark Tetrad) in predicting organizational behaviour Occupational health and safety Leadership processes and development in the workplace Dignity in the workplace Workplace violence Occupational stress Mental health at work Union-member relationships	0
Dr. Lucie Kocum	Students who worked with me have gone on to study/work in: clinical psychology counselling I-O psychology public service psychometrics occupational therapy social work Topics I supervise: Centring First Voice constituents in research and practice (i.e., epistemic justice) Developing psychological measures and tracking change in organizations, people, and systems Research-driven advocacy and civic engagement Topics in knowledge mobilization and implementation science Workplace inclusion: feeling and being safe, respected, valued, supported to succeed, and influential as a worker, elite athlete, performer, or other performance role	3
Dr. Robert Konopasky	Psychology of civil litigation: Decision making, applying the civil standard of proof in cases in which there is statistical evidence. Technology in the classroom: Use of technology that enhances flipping the classroom and invites student participation.	0
Dr. Eden-Raye Lukacik	Selection (e.g., interviews, video interviews, interview anxiety) Recruitment (e.g., job search, organizational reputation) Impression management Deception and faking Personality	2
Dr. Marc Patry	Psychology and law Police interrogations and confessions Eyewitness memory Correctional psychology Law and public policy	0
Dr. Nicolas Roulin	Personnel recruitment and selection New technologies in selection (e.g., social media, video interviews, AI) Impression management, faking, and deception Employment discrimination and biases Workplace psychopathy	2
Dr. Steven Smith	Social, Health, and Forensic Psychology. Specific projects include: Factors affecting student success The effectiveness of health promotion campaigns Race and personnel selection Diversity & Inclusion Eyewitness identification False confession	4
Dr. Veronica Stinson	Role of crime victims in courts Victim impact statements Public views on courts Clare’s Law Forensic Psychology	2-3
Dr. Skye Stephens	Paraphilias Sexual offending Sexual violence prevention programs and barriers to the development of these programs Mandatory reporting and clinician decision making *Please Note: Although I am a clinical psychologist, my research is focused on clinical forensic psychology. I am unable to provide honours thesis supervision to students interested in non-forensic clinical psychology topics (e.g., depression, anxiety, adolescent mental health).	0
Dr. Meg Ternes	Lie detection Eyewitness memory Correctional psychology Violent offenders Substance Abuse and Addiction Investigative interviewing Role of victims	5
Dr. Moira Law	Youth wellbeing, socio-emotional learning, human dignity, human rights education, mattering, teacher burnout, attitudes/risk perception of infectious disease, risk-need-responsivity model in mental health services	2

Department of Psychology

psychology@smu.ca

902-420-5846

902-496-8287

Mailing address:

McNally Building South Wing (MS 323)

923 Robie Street, Halifax, NS

B3H 3C3

Social media

@smupsychologydepartment/

PsycSMU

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