The Department of Earth Sciences allows Master’s and Doctoral students the opportunity to undertake paid, full-time internships related to their field of study. Students are responsible for arranging their own internships. All internships must be approved in advance by the student’s graduate program supervisor and either the Head of Earth Sciences or the Graduate Officer. 

Internships are normally one semester in duration, must be full-time and paid by the employer, and may be taken no more than twice by MSc students and no more than four times by PhD students. The course carries no credit hours and does not count toward the two required program courses for the degree. 

At the end of the internship, students must submit a concise report to their academic supervisor. The report will be evaluated on a Pass/Fail basis by the supervisor, in consultation with the on-site work supervisor. Grades are due by the standard course deadline for that semester. 

Registration procedure: 

• Canadian students are required to submit a Leave-of-Absence Form (LOA). While on a LOA, students are not permitted to make any progress on their thesis.  

• International students do not submit a LOA. Instead, they must register for the internship by adding EASC 7000 Internship Course Description to their program of study by completing a Change of Program Form 2025, and then manually register for the course by completing a Course Change Form.  

Funding procedures: 

• If a student is receiving supervisor and/or School of Graduate Studies (SGS) funding, the stipend will be paused during the internship semester and reinstated when the student returns to full-time studies. The deferred funding will be applied at the end of the student’s regular funding period, ensuring MSc students receive six funded semesters and PhD students receive twelve. 

• It is the student’s responsibility to notify the department by email at least one month in advance of the start and end dates of their internship. Failure to do so will result in delays in pausing or restarting funding. 

Teaching Assistantships (TAs)

The Department of Earth Sciences offers Teaching Assistantships (TAs) to eligible full-time graduate students (master’s or doctoral), in line with the TAUMUN collective agreement. These positions provide valuable teaching support for undergraduate courses during the Fall and Winter semesters, while offering graduate students supplementary financial support. TAs are reserved for full-time students currently enrolled in their programs, specifically, MSc students in their first two years, and PhD students in their first four years (excluding any leave of absence) 

TAs typically involve approximately 60 hours of work over a 14-week semester. Specific duties are determined in consultation with the course instructor and may include leading labs or tutorials, grading, and other instructional support tasks. Interested students should speak with the Earth Sciences First Year Laboratory Instructor, Amanda Langille (alangille@mun.ca), for more information.  

How to apply for a Teaching Assistantship: Keep an eye out for the call for applications. Prepare to submit the following: 

1. Unofficial transcripts from all current and previous academic programs 
2. A current curriculum vitae (CV) 
3. A list of our courses that you would be comfortable teaching. (Optional) 
4. A list of undergraduate courses can be found in the University Calendar. 

Note: TA positions are competitive and depend on undergraduate course enrollments, which limit the number of available roles.