Wellesley Junior Fellowships

• Anjana Aery
• Anjum Sultana
• Nazeefah Laher (Bob Gardner Equity Fellow)
• Nishi Kumar

• Health Equity and Access to Citizenship
• Improving Access to Interpretation Services
• Equitable Access to Home and Community Care
• A Thriving Income for a Healthy GTA
• Understanding Health Care Use Among Immigrants and Refugees

• Rebecca Cheff, Bob Gardner Equity Fellow
• Nadha Hassen, SAMI (Social Aetiology of Mental Illness) Fellow
• Dhvani Katakia
• Juan Camilo Sanchez

• The Real Cost of the Three Month Wait
• Growing Up in Healthy Homes: Repairing Indoor Air to Reduce Asthma
• Making Room for Health Equity: The Role of CHCs in Advocacy 
• Thriving Together: Reconstructing Social Capital for Refugee Health
• Green Paths to Mental Health

The Wellesley Junior Fellowship will build the next generation of professionals who will work to improve the health of the Greater Toronto Area by leading, researching and driving social change.

Fellows will develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will allow them to advance population health and reduce health inequities. They will drive change on the social determinants of health through applied research, effective policy impact, knowledge mobilization, and innovation.

The objectives of the Wellesley Junior Fellowship are:

1. To improve the health and health equity of the GTA through projects that impact the social determinants of health.
2. To increase the capacity of the GTA to improve health and health equity through the development of researchers, policy makers and communications experts.
3. To identify exceptional graduates who have the potential to be first-rate leaders and researchers in health improvement, health equity and social change.
4. To develop the fellows’ knowledge, attitudes and skills so that they have the capacity to develop innovative health research, policy solutions and knowledge translation.
5. To help the Fellows generate networks, including professional and public knowledge users, that function to leverage collective expertise, information access and knowledge.

 

The one-year, full-time junior fellowship program will begin in September each year. The year will begin with a five-week Training Phase, followed by a Project Phase.

Training. The first five weeks of the program will be devoted to didactic training designed to equip fellows with the practical knowledge and skills needed to innovate, design and work as part of a team to lead WI projects that integrate research, policy and knowledge translation. During the training phase we aim to augment the multidisciplinary and collaborative capacity of the group. The training will help equip fellows with the skills to develop and implement a project strategy.

Project Phase. In the second month fellows will work with the Wellesley Institute team to carry out a Wellesley Institute project. Project work will include a range of activities, such as design, stakeholder engagement, project design, data collection, data analysis, policy analysis, literature review and knowledge translation activities such as event planning and facilitation, and report writing. All WI projects will include elements of research, policy and knowledge translation. Emphasis will be put on integrating these three project components to create a project strategy for achieving policy change.

Week intensives. Once fellows begin their project work, training to augment specific skills and knowledge will occur at key junctures in the project implementation timeline. Three one-week training sessions will occur throughout the year. These week intensives are uniquely developed to meet the needs of the each unique WJF cohort. A primary focus will be on solving specific challenges by leveraging the collective ideas of mentors, project stakeholders, collaborators and junior fellow colleagues.

The learning objectives of the Wellesley Junior Fellowship are:

WI Institute Vision and Mission: Learn and engage in the vision and mission of the Wellesley Institute

Basic Knowledge: Gain exposure and access to basic knowledge, skills, and tools for doing policy, research and knowledge translation.

Creativity and Innovation: Gain knowledge, skills and tools for generating innovative and creative ideas for identifying and solving health inequities in Toronto

Integrated Strategies: Develop pragmatic strategies to unify policy, research and knowledge translation approaches

Leadership and Collaboration: Cultivate the ability mobilize, motivate, lead and collaborate with diverse networks and stakeholders

Application Information

Selection Process

The Wellesley Junior Fellowship is a highly competitive program. In the program’s inaugural year we received 150 applications. Only 4 spots are awarded each year.

Fellowships will be awarded to post-masters candidates who have set themselves apart through their research achievements, their productivity, creativity and their commitment to acting on the social determinants of health.

Successful applicants will have a relevant Master’s degree and be early in their research career, 1-3 years post-masters.

Fellows will receive an annual stipend of $50,000. All fellows are expected to commit full time for one year (September – August) to The Wellesley Junior Fellowship Program.

Fellowships will be awarded to individuals submitting project proposals that aim to improve health and health equity in the GTA through action on the social determinants of health.

Three categories of fellowships will exist: The Bob Gardner Fellowship in Health Equity, The Open Fellowships and The SAMI Fellowship.

Open Fellowships

Fellowship projects that align with Wellesley Institute’s strategic Plan 2014 – 2018 including the Wellesley Institute’s four priority areas will be most likely to succeed. However, applicants are encouraged to also submit project proposals that lie outside these specific priority areas. We especially encourage submissions that represent rapid responses to current emerging community needs and from individuals demonstrating a high degree of engagement with diverse communities, interests, backgrounds and perspectives.

The Bob Gardner Fellowship: Driving Health Equity into Action

Inspired by the work of the late Dr. Bob Gardner, the Wellesley Institute’s Director of Policy from 2005-2014, the Bob Gardner Fellowship will focus on policy actions that will reduce health inequities in Toronto. Bob was an advocate for building health and health equity into all policies and for the use of Health Equity Impact Assessments that are grounded in local experience. The Bob Gardner Fellow may share Bob’s interest in health care system reform or may focus their work on reducing and eliminating health inequities across other social determinants of health.

The SAMI Fellowship: The Social Aetiology of Mental Illness

The SAMI fellowship builds on the former CIHR funded Strategic Training Initiative in Health Research (STIHR), the Social Aetiology of Mental Illness (SAMI) Training Program. The SAMI fellowship will support researchers towards developing work that will improve the mental health of the GTA.

Admissions Requirements

• A relevant Master’s degree or equivalent;
• 1+ years work or volunteer experience (Master’s degree work is not considered here) related to the social determinants of health
• Demonstrated talent for productivity and innovation in research, policy, or knowledge translation
• Priority will be given to candidates demonstrating talent for driving change in one or more of Wellesley Institute’s four priority areas.

Selection Criteria

Fellows will be selected for their collaborative abilities and leadership potential. We seek individuals who can mobilize and coordinate solutions across disciplinary and sectoral boundaries to help drive action on social change. Successful candidates will demonstrate outstanding potential for examining complex connections between social factors and health, as well as an ability to critically analyze problems using multilevel thinking and multidisciplinary methods.

Update (February 6, 2017): This year, we have decided to extend the Wellesley Junior Fellowship into a two year program. We will not be accepting applications to the program in 2017. In January 2018, we are planning to post a call for applications for the next WJF cohort (September 2018-August 2020). Thanks for your interest in the Wellesley Junior Fellowship.