Common Questions.

University of Toronto students who are curious and willing to work carefully. Prior experience is helpful, not required.

You don't need a specific program, a portfolio, or a technical background to get involved.

Ready to join? Fill out our membership sign-up form.

Typically around the start of each term (September, January), but people can reach out year-round if projects have room.

Missing one event doesn't lock you out — email uoftosint@gmail.com anytime.

No. Technical help is useful; research, writing, visual analysis, and organization are equally useful.

Coding experience helps for tooling and data projects, but it isn't required for most research work. If a project needs Python, GIS, or similar, we'll teach the minimum (via modules) or pair you with someone who knows it.

An interesting question → a scope → source plan → assigned tasks (TPM + Core Members) → regular check-ins → documentation → verification → and a final write-up, paper, or GitHub repo.

When a project ends, findings get reviewed, documented, archived or published (if appropriate).

Yes. Bring a clear question, why it matters, impact on open-source intelligence (OSINT), and a realistic scope.

If it's ethical, scoped, and feasible, we can help figure out whether it fits and how to staff it.

Show reliability, good documentation, ethical judgment, and the ability to help others.

Leads are trusted coordinators, not just the most intense researchers.

Yes. If your club or lab wants to work with us, email uoftosint@gmail.com.

If you are an external company, organization, or lab that would like to participate, collaborate, or propose a project, we want to hear from you.

Email uoftosint@gmail.com with who you are, what you have in mind, and how you think it fits open-source, ethical research.

Email uoftosint@gmail.com. A direct question beats guessing from the website.