Funded PhD starting Fall 2026 at the University of Manitoba:
Gender+ analysis of primary care teams
Join a large comparative case study research project, exploring the implementation primary care team models in 5 Canadian provinces. The successful applicant will be a research team member on the newly CIHR-funded study titled Evaluating the implementation of team-based primary care in Canada: A multiple case study and deliberative dialogues (Sept 2026-Aug 2030).
PhD project focus: the full-time PhD student will take a leadership role in developing and completing a thesis that considers how gender dynamics shape primary care teams. The PhD student will complete a secondary analysis of selected case studies within the larger study, completed under the supervision of Dr. Patty Thille at the University of Manitoba.
Funding: The successful applicant will receive a minimum of $40,000(CAD)/year for 3 years. Most of this funding will be non-taxable income in Canada.
Supervisor: Dr. Patty Thille is feminist medical sociologist and qualitative methodologist with a clinical background in physiotherapy. She is an Associate Professor of Physical Therapy at the University of Manitoba. She serves as the co-chair of the North American Primary Care Research Group’s research methodologies group and sits on the executive of the international Critical Physiotherapy Network. Her research focus is disrupting discriminatory logics and practices as they manifest in primary care and rehabilitation practice.
Eligibility: Due to PhD application deadlines, applicants must be either a Canadian citizen, a person holding permanent resident (PR) status in Canada, or an American citizen. The Applied Health Sciences PhD program requires applicants to have a master’s degree, which includes clinical, thesis-based or coursework-based master’s degrees. You do not need to have a health professions background to apply! I can easily imagine a sociology, anthropology, or gender studies background serving this PhD student well.
Application deadline: The deadline for the Applied Health Sciences PhD program is March 1/26 to begin coursework in Fall 2026. [Note: we can design coursework to support an application for a PhD program transfer for 2027, if another PhD program (e.g. Community Health Sciences or social sciences) is a better fit for the student.]
To express interest: Please email Patty Thille (patty.thille@umanitoba.ca) as soon as possible to open a conversation.
