crackmitacsAll disciplines

Public Health

9 Mitacs Globalink (GRI) research projects for Summer 2027.

1. Access to sports for new immigrants to Newfoundland and Labrador

Anecdotal evidence shows that newly arrived immigrants do not participate in sports as much as the average population of province. The study will aim to understand what the attitudes, practices, facilitators and barriers to participation in sports are for new immigrants, temporary residents and refugees in our mostly rural province.

Research area, student roles & skills

Research area: My research focuses on understanding the health and social needs of the communities in our province.

Student roles:
Conduct the survey and participate in the analysis.

Skills required:
Understanding of social determinants of health
Interest in public health
Some understanding of qualitative research methods

2. Climate Change and Global Health - Health ADAPT 2027

This research project provides an opportunity for a student to contribute to dynamic international climate-health initiatives focused on advancing collaboration between scientists, health professionals, and policy leaders. The student will be directly involved in a project that mobilizes the “Operational framework for building climate resilient and low carbon health systems” developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), with the aim to develop professional and resource capacity to support climate-health responses (i.e. adaptation and mitigation). Project activities focus on achieving three overarching objectives, including: 1) developing and delivering climate-health training, resources, and guidance for those entering, already in, leading, or training the health workforce, 2) developing capacity, fostering networks, and creating guidance for health sector collaboration in health-determining sectors on climate-health issues, and 3) advancing climate-health awareness among the general public to support and leverage efficient deployment of professional and human resource capacity in a changing climate. Through these activities, this project aims to develop the talent and skills needed for climate-resilient and low-carbon health systems.

Research area, student roles & skills

Research area: Climate change is one of the biggest global health threats of the 21st century; changes in climate already have been documented, including increases in high impact weather events, frequency and intensity of disasters, and the number of record-breaking extreme temperatures and droughts. These changes have direct and indirect health implications, including increased foodborne, waterborne, and vectorborne diseases; exacerbated heat-related mortality; mental health outcomes; and compromised food security. Understanding climate change's impact on physical and mental health and opportunities for climate action, including adaptation and mitigation, is critical for collaborative climate action on a global scale.

Student roles:
Project activities vary depending on the interests and aptitudes of the student, and the needs of the project at the time of the internship, however students can expect to assist with a variety of tasks related to event coordination, communications, research, and knowledge-sharing. This may include helping organize international meetings, coordinating knowledge mobilization events (i.e., immersive, time-bound workshops, panel discussions, local community events, etc.), engaging and collaborating with partners, contributing to research outputs, assisting with the measurement and evaluation of research activities, and supporting science communication efforts.

This role offers the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in climate-health research, strengthen collaboration and communication skills, and contribute to meaningful work at the intersection of science, public health, and global policy.

Skills required:
The successful applicant should have some experience with: quantitative or qualitative data; climate-health knowledge; public health or other related health studies; and should have strong organizational, time management, communication, and writing skills.

3. Climate Change and Mental Health - IMPACT 2027

IMPACT (Interdisciplinary Mental Health Perspectives on Adapting to Climate Threats) is an international climate-mental health research project dedicated to cutting edge research, knowledge mobilization, and capacity building at the intersection of climate change, mental health, and global resilience. Our goal is to understand how climate change shapes mental health in Canada and internationally, and how we can support wellbeing, resilience, and adaptation for people and the planet.

Research area, student roles & skills

Research area: Climate change is the defining public health challenge of the 21st century. Beyond the physical impacts of extreme weather and environmental change, a secondary crisis is rapidly unfolding: the profound toll on mental health. Climate change affects mental health through four pathways: 1) psychological trauma from environmental disruption (i.e. extreme weather and ecosystem loss); 2) degradation of the social and economic determinants of health; 3) distress and anxiety about the planet’s future; and 4) mental health consequences arising from climate adaptation responses. Understanding these climate-mental health impacts, and what promotes true adaptation and resilience, is critical to addressing the crisis.

Student roles:
This research project offers a dynamic opportunity for a student to contribute to an international initiative at the cutting edge of climate change and public health. As part of the IMPACT project, the student will support critical efforts to understand and address the growing crisis of climate-related mental health challenges. Project activities vary depending on the interests and aptitudes of the student, and the needs of the project at the time of the internship. However students can expect to assist with a variety of tasks related to event coordination, communications, research, and knowledge-sharing. This may include helping organize international meetings, coordinating knowledge mobilization events (i.e. workshops, talks, panel discussions, community or networking events, etc.), engaging and collaborating with stake holders, contributing to research outputs, assisting with the measurement and evaluation of research activities, and supporting science communication.

Skills required:
The successful applicant should have experience or interest in: mental health, climate change, public health, promoting community resilience, research, interdisciplinary collaboration, science communication, community engagement, quantitative or qualitative methods, literature reviews, and data analysis. They should also have strong organizational, time management, collaboration, communication, and writing skills.

4. Co-designing a community-informed social prescribing approach in Nova Scotia to improve health and well-being

Social determinants of health (SDHs) are social factors that affect health and include social isolation, housing, and food security. Social prescribing, the act of prescribing community and social services to address unmet SDH-related challenges, may be an effective and equitable way to improve health and well-being. Social prescription interventions have demonstrated significant benefits including improved health status, well-being, and healthier behaviours, especially for vulnerable populations. While the popularity of social prescribing is quickly growing in Nova Scotia and Canada, it is not routine practice in many healthcare institutions across Nova Scotia and there is a significant lack of research on the health impact of social prescribing. A social prescribing approach may be especially useful in Nova Scotia which is facing increasing SDH challenges such as rising rates of poverty, food insecurity, and homelessness. The purpose of this project is to co-design a provincial, community-informed approach to social prescribing in primary care that includes workflow, implementation, and evaluation plans. This will be done using a combination of evidence review and synthesis, semi-structured interviews, partner and community engagement activities, and an iterative co-design approach that centres the voices of people with lived experience. Importantly, this work will align with Nova Scotia Health’s provincial strategies for Primary Health Care, Integrated Wellness and Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, and the previous work of social prescribing researchers in Nova Scotia and Canada. At a time of economic uncertainty with increasing poverty rates in Nova Scotia, social prescribing can empower our communities to address these challenges head-on. The community-informed approach proposed in this project has the potential to positively impact healthcare delivery and well-being for Nova Scotians since it will be specifically tailored to facilitate and align with current provincial strategies, priorities, and plans, addressing the needs of Nova Scotians in an equitable way.

Research area, student roles & skills

Research area: I have experience working with healthcare partners to incorporate consideration of social determinants of health into clinical care including routine screening of social determinants of health and incorporation of them into treatment plans (also known as social prescribing). In this specific project, I am working with a range of partners across a Canadian province (Nova Scotia) to design a provincial social prescribing approach for primary care.

Student roles:
We have performed interviews with the community to ask about the current state of social prescribing in Nova Scotia and these interviews are in need of analysis. The student will mostly be focusing on the qualitative analysis of these interviews, in addition to helping the team develop related dissemination materials including a manuscript for publication.

Skills required:
Qualitative data analysis and ability to use Excel for qualitative data analysis is an asset on top of organizational skills, ability to follow detailed instructions, ability to work well with others and solve problems independently.

5. Integrating digital technologies into Clinical Workflows

I have a grant on a project that will explore the implementation of digital health technologies (it will be AI message drafting, or AI Scribe or AI-generated patient summaries). This is a mixed-methods study looking at electronic health records data and conducting interviews before and after the implementation. Depending on the stage of the project at the time of the student's arrival, the student will have an opportunity to engage in some data collection and data analysis (with a larger focus on data analysis).

Research area, student roles & skills

Research area: I study how technology is used in the healthcare system with a focus on virtual care (e.g. patient-provider video, phone or messaging), remote patient monitoring, patient portals or self-management apps. I am interested in understanding how the use of technology impacts patients and healthcare providers experience, patient outcomes, cost to the healthcare system, and access to care across various vulnerable patient populations.

Student roles:
The student will be integrated into my research team. The goal is to match the student's interests with project components (quantitative or qualitative) that fit the skills the student wants to develop. The student can be involved in quantitative data analysis, conducting interviews with users (patients, providers), analyzing and coding qualitative data (transcripts from interviews) and conducting literature searches related to the project.

Skills required:
I am looking for students who have ideally some experience working in research. I am open to students who have quantitative experience (knowledge of some statistical methods; knowledge of working with a statistical software (e.g. SPSS or R)) or students who have experience doing qualitative research (e.g. conducting interviews, qualitative data coding). Some knowledge/training is required either through coursework or working in research. I am looking for students who are knowledgeable about healthcare and who have an interest in telemedicine/digital health.

6. Mapping of AI Deployment, Data Practices, and Governance Gaps in Healthcare Systems across Canada

This project will map where and how artificial intelligence is currently deployed in hospitals and healthcare organizations across Canada. The student will document AI systems used for clinical and operational functions such as diagnostics, triage, clinical decision support, workflow optimization, resource allocation, and administrative automation. The project will also examine the data sources supporting these systems, including electronic health records, medical imaging, laboratory data, clinical notes, wearable and remote-monitoring data, and hospital management systems. A major focus will be identifying governance, oversight, validation, and accountability practices, including regulatory approvals, internal review processes, auditing, performance monitoring, patient safety, bias, transparency, and data protection. The student will collect and synthesize evidence from public and semi-public sources, including hospital websites, procurement reports, government documents, vendor materials, regulatory records, news reports, and academic literature. They may also support a survey of healthcare stakeholders to capture practices not publicly reported.

Research area, student roles & skills

Research area: My specialized research area is community-oriented artificial intelligence, mathematical modeling, and data science for infectious disease prevention, preparedness, and response. I develop AI-enabled and mathematical modeling approaches to support public-health decision-making, with emphasis on epidemic dynamics, behavioral responses, vaccination strategies, climate and environmental drivers, and health equity. This research integrates epidemiological data, climate-informed modelling, and community-relevant analytics to address infectious disease challenges in Canada, Africa, and the Global South, while supporting resilient health systems and equitable outbreak response.

Student roles:
The student will systematically identify, collect, and synthesize information on AI systems currently deployed in Canadian hospitals and healthcare organizations. They will review public and semi-public sources, extract data on clinical functions, data sources, governance practices, validation processes, and risks, and help design and administer a stakeholder survey. The student will clean and organize the collected data, support development of an interactive dashboard, analyze patterns and governance gaps, and contribute to visualizations, presentations, and manuscript writing. Regular collaboration with supervisors and interdisciplinary partners will be expected.

Skills required:
The ideal student should have a background in health informatics, public health, health policy, data science, artificial intelligence, computer science, or a related field. They should be familiar with healthcare systems, AI applications, health data governance, responsible AI, and research synthesis. Experience with literature reviews, document analysis, survey design, data cleaning, visualization, and dashboard development using tools such as Python, R, Tableau, or Power BI is an asset. Strong analytical, writing, communication, and teamwork skills are required.

7. Seafarers's needs when they return to their community

Seafarers spend a significant amount of time at sea, often in dangerous occupations. Research shows that they have significant physical and mental health needs linked to their occupation. Occupational health is required to meet those needs while at sea, but not to help with their consequences once the seafarer returns home. This study will survey the health needs of seafarers and their families and communities.

Research area, student roles & skills

Research area: My research focuses on understanding the public health needs of our rural and maritime province and adapting health interventions to their needs.

Student roles:
conduct the survey or interviews
participate in its analysis

Skills required:
Understanding of the social determinants of health
Understanding of qualitative methodology for health research
Interest in public health

8. Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Leprosy Governance in China: A Computational Approach to Historical Epidemiology and Public Health Evolution

Leprosy (Hansen’s disease) provides a unique historical model for understanding the interaction between infectious disease, public health governance, and social perception. Although the biological cause of leprosy has remained relatively stable, societal responses to the disease have changed substantially over time. In China, approaches have evolved from social exclusion and institutional isolation to organized public health intervention, surveillance, treatment, and long-term disease control. This makes leprosy an important case for studying how non-biological factors shape infectious disease trajectories. This 12-week internship will focus on developing foundational components of the research framework. Activities will include reviewing historical and epidemiological literature, developing an initial data-extraction protocol, compiling a pilot dataset from selected historical and public health sources, and generating preliminary spatial or temporal visualizations. The project will integrate approaches from historical epidemiology, computational social science, digital humanities, and public health analytics. Depending on data availability and student background, activities may include historical data coding, database construction, descriptive analysis, exploratory mapping, and visualization using R, Python, or GIS platforms. The project may also explore introductory text-mining or natural language processing approaches for extracting disease- and policy-related information from historical sources.

Research area, student roles & skills

Research area: This research lies at the intersection of historical epidemiology, public health, computational social science, and infectious disease analytics. The broader program examines how institutional capacity, social perception, policy implementation, and governance structures influence the long-term dynamics of infectious diseases. Using historical and epidemiological data, the research integrates methods from digital humanities, spatial analysis, data science, and public health to study how diseases evolve across time and space. The main focus will be on the development of computational frameworks and structured databases that enable quantitative analysis of long-term public health transitions and disease control strategies.

Student roles:
The student will contribute to the development of a pilot computational framework for studying the historical epidemiology and public health of leprosy in China. Under the supervision of Prof. Seyed Moghadas, the student will participate in literature review, historical data extraction, database construction, exploratory analysis, and visualization activities.

The student will first conduct a structured review of historical, epidemiological, and public health literature related to leprosy control in China, with attention to major historical periods, regional variation, and policy transitions. The student will then assist in developing a data-extraction framework to convert qualitative historical information into structured variables, including time, location, institutional responses, public health interventions, social attitudes, and disease-related descriptions.

Additional responsibilities will include identifying and compiling relevant historical and public health sources, constructing a pilot historical dataset, and organizing extracted information into reproducible analytical formats. The student will support descriptive analyses exploring temporal trends, spatial heterogeneity, and potential relationships between policy milestones and observed disease dynamics.

Depending on the student’s background and data availability, the internship may also involve exploratory mapping, GIS-based visualization, or introductory text-mining approaches to identify disease- and governance-related information from semi-structured historical sources. The student will contribute to preparation of figures, maps, reproducible analytical scripts, and a final short research report summarizing methods, findings, limitations, and future research directions. The internship will benefit from established collaboration between York University and Fudan University.

Skills required:
The project is suitable for an undergraduate student with interests in public health, epidemiology, history of medicine, data science, geography, statistics, digital humanities, or related fields. Experience with R, Python, GIS, or data visualization would be advantageous. Familiarity with historical research, epidemiological concepts, or spatial analysis would also be helpful. More important are strong organizational and analytical skills, attention to detail, and willingness to work with heterogeneous historical and public health data sources.

9. Understanding and advancing trauma-informed care approaches for residents and the workforce in Canada’s continuing care homes

There is increasing recognition that many residents and CCH workers have experienced psychological trauma at some point in their lifetimes, including symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). TREC has multiple research initiatives underway and completed to examine the experiences of caring for residents with suspected trauma histories as well as the personal and workplace trauma experiences of the workforce itself. We are currently conducting two pioneering projects in this field: 1) the co-design with CCHs of a trauma-informed care resource, and 2) a major survey of trauma among health care aides. Both projects will be integral to TREC’s work and outputs in 2027.

Research area, student roles & skills

Research area: Populations are aging worldwide, particularly in high income countries. Individuals are entering continuing care homes (CCHs) older and with more complex needs. This shift raises numerous challenges about how to provide best quality of care for older individuals and is attracting attention of policymakers, clinicians, care providers and researchers. TREC (Translating Research in Elder Care) is an applied health research program specializing in the study of continuing care. Its goal is to help enhance the quality of care and quality of life of care home residents by improving the quality of work life for members of the continuing care workforce.

Student roles:
1. The successful student will be expected to carry out under supervision both descriptive and bivariate statistical analysis as well as thematic or content qualitative analysis.
2. The student may be invited to help with manuscript publication through activities as literature searching and writing draft sections of reports and papers for peer review.
3. The student will have regular meetings with their supervisor and other members of the TREC research team, which will include opportunities to ask questions and learn more about the research process.

Skills required:
1. Students should have an interest in healthcare systems, aging and the need to improve quality of care for older adults and the healthcare workforce that provides it.
2. Students should have successfully completed at least one introductory course in statistics and statistical analysis as well as one in conducting qualitative research in the health and/or social sciences.
3. Students should have at least basic experience working with both quantitative and qualitative analytic software (e.g., SPSS, SAS + NVivo, Quirkos).