Vision

Our vision is to enhance the flourishing of people, communities and the planet through understanding, supporting or transforming the social-political structures*, policies, processes and practices to create and sustain well-being and health equity.

Mission

Our collective mission is the pursuit of well-being, health equity, social and environmental justice through engagement in mutual learning with multiple communities and ways of knowing, teaching, research and advocacy using a critical social science lens.

Objectives

  1. Reciprocal Learning/mentorship that builds on diverse knowledges, expands horizons, explores multiple ways of knowing and ecologies of knowledges, honours and learns from lived experience, generates critical reflexivity regarding the impacts of power, privilege and positionality, and seeks to marry theoretical and conceptual knowledge with practical know-how.
  2. Research through knowledge co-production with affected communities, frontline staff, and impacted others to deepen understanding of the social, political, economic and ecological determination of health as well as promising avenues and pathways for progressive and inclusive systems change.
  3. Service contributions to varied communities (academic, lay, professional) and the organizations that serve them, plus advocacy that speaks truth to power, mobilizes diverse knowledges and ways of knowing in service of progressive and inclusive social change that advances public and planetary health.

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* The list includes sexism, ableism, racism, sanism, genderism, antisemitism, colonialism, homophobia, transphobia, human exceptionalism, environmental degradation, ageism, modernity, Islamophobia, among other forms of discrimination and hatred.

The Division fosters:

  • Multidisciplinary Scholarship grounded in a broad array of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives and research methods;
  • Active Engagement with current and future public health practitioners, policymakers, educators and researchers;
  • Collaboration with community organizations, scholarly institutions, government and non-governmental organizations locally, nationally and internationally;
  • Knowledge exchange that influences policy and practice.

The Contribution of the Social and Behavioural Sciences to Public Health

Public health is a complex field of practice that engages a diverse range of perspectives and approaches for researching and changing health and its determinants at a population level. According to CIHR (Canadian Institutes for Health Research), one of the four foundational knowledge pillars of public health is “behavioural and social science research applied to health”. More Info

Examples of SBHS Division scholarship include:

  • Development of innovative quantitative and qualitative research approaches;
  • Application of social science theories to public health scholarship;
  • Use of historical and critical approaches to understand the context and factors influencing public health and health care policy;
  • Improvement of public health policy and practice through research and health promotion;
  • Examination of the impact of social inequities on health across the life course;
  • Exploration of the role of social determinants of health in preventing disease and improving well-being;
  • Current examples of substantive foci include the social determinants of health, smoke-free policies, gambling, addictions and mental health, HIV and AIDS, environmental health justice, social movements, housing, global health policy, gender and health, youth, and occupational health and safety.

Contacts

Division Head: Carol Strike
PhD Degree Program: Lisa Forman
MPH Degree Program: Social and Behavioural Health Sciences (Health Promotion): Suzanne Jackson
MPH Degree Program: Indigenous Health: Earl Nowgesic
MPH Degree Program: Black Health: Roberta K. Timothy
Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Support: Marija Vasilevska 

Educational Programs: