Call for Applications 2012/2013

We invite fellowship applications for the 2012/2013 academic year at the Comparative Program on Health and Society (CPHS), a vital and growing research institute based out of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. Generously funded by the Lupina Foundation, the CPHS supports innovative, interdisciplinary, comparative research on health, broadly defined through our extensive range of fellowships. Our program builds on the scholarly strengths of the University of Toronto in the social sciences, humanities and public health.

Since 2001, the CPHS has been funding outstanding young scholars who conduct innnovative research on the social dimensions of health. As the the CPHS moves into its second decade, we have adopted a renewed vision of the social determinants of health which recognizes the complexity and interrelatedness of domestic, transnational, regional and global factors that may impact on health conditions and access to health-related services within any country, including Canada. We recognize similarly that emerging and entrentched health inequalities may require policy-makers, communities and researchers to grapple with challenging ethical, human rights and social justice questions. We have accordingly expanded the thematic focus of the Comparative Program to accmmodate research which specifically focuses on these definitional and operational challenges.

Apply to the Comparative Program on Health and Society

For 2012/2013, we are offering Doctoral, Post-Doctoral, Research Associate and Senior Academic fellowships. To determine if a CPHS fellowship is right for you, we suggest the following steps:

1. Determine if your current status makes you eligible for one of our fellowships.
2. Determine if your research project meets our requirements for research proposals.
3. Determine if you will be able to meet the application deadlines.

More details and applications packages (with instructions) can be found by following the link at the bottom of each fellowship description. See the individual fellowships listed under Fellowships Offered below or at the left.

If you have any questions not answered in the information provided below or under the individual fellowships, please see Help below.

Eligible Research

In order to be eligible to receive a fellowship from the CPHS, your research proposal must be both comparative in scope and fall within one of our three research themes. We welcome applications from all academic disciplines, particularly those withing the social sciences and humanities. Please note that while we invite fellowships from doctoral students at a variety of stages, preference will be given to those at the proposal development stage.

Comparative Research

The CPHS believes that comparative research has the potential to reveal general structures and process underpinning the social determinants of health.

We recognize that comparison can take many forms. The CPHS is open to research proposals that may involve any one of the following types of case comparison: between countries, within a single country, longitudinal, single cases that test a comparative theory, single cases that may help generate one, or meta-theoretical inquiries.

The CPHS encourages proposals from a wide range of methodological perspectives such as: quantitative, comparative historical, feminist, legal and post-structuralist.

We will consider research projects using other types and methods of comparison not mentioned above.

Research Themes

In order to be eligible for a CPHS fellowship, your research project must fall within one of the three research themes listed below:

1. Social Determinants of Health: Research will explore social, economic, cultural and political determinants of health at the local, national and global levels in three primary areas:

a. Socioeconomic Status and Health Outcomes—Research will investigate the role of public policy, civil society groups and transnational and global actors and institutions in mediating the relationship between income inequality, socio-economic status and health effects.

b. Socioeconomic Status and Access to Health and Health-related Services—Research will explore the impact of the relationship between demographic, gender or socio-economic factors, the level and distribution of public and private investment in these areas and the design of programs on access to health and health related-services by various groups in society.

c. Accountability mechanisms for health—Research will explore mechanisms that link patients, providers, payers, investors and citizens under different institutional arrangements, and address among other issues, the information requirements of various accountability mechanisms. Research can focus on such mechanisms at the domestic, transnational or global levels, and on interactions between these levels.

2. Human Rights, Ethics and the Philosophical Dimensions of Health: Research will explore emerging or entrenched health issues from the perspective of international and/or comparative human rights law, public health ethics, bioethics and/or other philosophical approaches to achieving social justice and equity in relation to health.

3. Globalization and Health: Research will explore the impact of the processes of globalization on the social determinants of health. Globalization is understood to encompass rapid accelerations in traded goods, services and capital, changing patterns of production and exchange, labour market integration and migration. Potential research areas may include: global health governance and diplomacy, international trade and economic laws impacting health (particularly maternal and child health), emerging infectious disease pandemics, health human resource migration, climate change, and HIV/AIDS policy.

Deadlines and Important Dates

Fellowships Offered

Here is a summary of all Fellowships offered. For detailed information and an application package, click a fellowship name.

For more information and an application form, select: Doctoral | Post-Doctoral | Research Associate| Senior Academic Fellow.

Have Questions?

Contact CPHS Program Manager, Jyoti Phartiyal, at Tel: 416-946-8891, Fax: 416-946-8915 or E-mail: cphs.munk@utoronto.ca