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A Postdoctoral Fellow (PDF) position is currently available for a one-year period (with the possibility of extension) in the Social Justice in Mental Health Research Lab in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Western University under the supervision of Dr. Carrie Anne Marshall. Candidates holding a PhD. in a social or health sciences discipline are invited to apply. Note that this position is a full-time posting. This position will be situated in Kingston, Ontario, with the potential for occasional travel to London, Ontario. 

This fellowship will offer an opportunity to build upon one’s research skills in the context of a pilot study aimed at evaluating a novel intervention called the “Peer to Community (P2C) Model”, an intervention designed to support community integration following homelessness through meaningful activity and relationship building facilitated by peer support specialists, occupational therapy and social work. This research involves: 

• Conducting mixed interviews every three months with persons with lived experiences of homelessness over the course of the one-year pilot
• Maintaining and updating the ethics applications for the study
• Participating in the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data every three months across the one-year pilot
• Leading one or more manuscripts based on the findings of the pilot study
• Participating in the refinement of the P2C model based on the pilot findings
• Supporting local organizations to obtain funding for implementing the P2C model beyond the one-year pilot study
• Participating in the development of grant applications to fund larger scale implementation science research aimed at evaluating the P2C model 
• Supervising master’s and PhD-level research assistants involved in this study 

Applicants must demonstrate some or all the following competencies: 

• Knowledge of mental illness and substance use disorders 
• Demonstrated experience in interacting with individuals with experiences of homelessness and housing precarity 
• Experience with qualitative research and the conduct and analysis of qualitative interviews 
• Use of qualitative data management (Dedoose or NVivo) and survey software (Qualtrics) 
• Knowledge of SPSS, and the conduct of descriptive statistics within this program 
• Knowledge of advanced statistics for measuring longitudinal outcomes (i.e. regression, mixed effects modelling) 
• Grant writing experience 
• Scholars who have backgrounds in epidemiology, statistics, or who are are social workers, occupational therapists, and/or who have lived experience of homelessness are specifically encouraged to apply 

This position will provide the following opportunities: 

• Expanding the candidate’s publication record 
• Development of expertise in implementation science research 
• Building upon existing research networks 
• Deepening one’s knowledge of poverty and homelessness, and how these intersect with mental health and substance use 
• Developing an independent program of research related to the objectives of the pilot study 
• Knowledge dissemination and mobilization opportunities 

This position will begin on June 1, 2023, and end on May 30, 2024 with the possibility of extension. Interested applicants should forward a copy of their research CV and a cover letter describing their competencies related to this position by 5pm on April 1, 2023 to carrie.marshall@uwo.ca. The successful candidate will be provided with $50,000/annum in funding with the expectation that they apply for external funding sources throughout their one-year appointment. 

A recent collaboration between the housing provider, Indwell, and researchers from the Centre for Research in Health Equity and Social Inclusion explored

• How can we create supportive housing to meet the needs of the Canada’s most vulnerable?
• What makes supportive housing work?
• What are the particular impacts of COVID-19 related to living in supportive housing?

Read the final report to learn how PSH is being enacted, how barriers are being broken down to make it happen in the first place, and what needs to be done to make PSH a more viable option from coast-to-coast-to-coast in Canada:

Learn more about the project and watch the recent webinar summary of findings.

Dr. Shehzad Ali, from Western’s Schulich School of Medicine, was recently awarded a 4-year CIHR grant of $439,876 to examine ways to integrate equity into policy decision-making. Dr. Ali and colleagues will first explore the challenges and opportunities of incorporating equity into real-world economic evaluations through interviews with key health policy actors. The team will then conduct ‘equity-efficiency trade-off’ experiments using population surveys to quantify the relative value society places on reducing inequity at the cost of sacrificing efficiency. The work will fill an important gap by providing analysts and decision-makers with new ways to think about cost-effectiveness and inequity, considering domains such as socioeconomic status, gender and race. A key output of the project is first-of-their-kind guidelines to facilitate embedding equity considerations into health policy-focused economic evaluations. CRHESI will facilitate knowledge sharing and partner engagement, offering knowledge mobilization opportunities to link emerging findings to community priorities.  

Watch this space for updates!

You Talked, We Listened: What is next for Health Promotion Canada?    

National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health (NCCDH) is hosting leaders from Health Promotion Canada as they share the findings of a recent national survey of health promotion practitioners and academics. This webinar will explore themes related to the need for a national health promotion organization/network to support intersectoral and interdisciplinary action, including on the social and structural determinants of health.    

March 9, 2023 |1 – 2 pm ET 

Join volunteer leaders from Health Promotion Canada as they share the findings of a recent national survey of health promotion practitioners and academics. This webinar will explore themes related to the need for a national health promotion organization/network to support intersectoral and interdisciplinary action, including on the social and structural determinants of health.    

Learn more and register here. 

Let’s talk about applying intersectionality in public health: A two-part webinar series.  

NCCDH is also leading a 2-part webinar series entitled ‘Let’s talk about applying intersectionality in public health’. The term ‘intersectionality’ is increasingly used (and misused) in both public health and in societal discourse. In this series participants will have the opportunity to review the historic roots of intersectionality, discuss its relevance to public health and health equity, and explore what it means to “take an intersectionality approach”. 

March-May 2023

In this two-part webinar series, participants will have the opportunity to review the historic roots of intersectionality, discuss its relevance to public health and health equity, and explore what it means to “take an intersectionality approach”.

Part 1: What is intersectionality, and why it is important for public health? | March 22, 2023 | 1:00pm – 2:00pm ET

Learn more and register here.