Ward Family Summer Student Research Program
The Ward Family Summer Student Research Program is a highly prestigious student experience offered by the Bloorview Research Institute (BRI) giving undergraduate students an opportunity to experience a unique interdisciplinary mentorship within the field of childhood disability and developmental differences research.
Successful incumbents worked with a BRI scientist and their team on a research project, participated in lunch and learns and other activities to enhance both their training and research experience. The program culminated with an opportunity for students to showcase their work at the 20th annual Anne & David Ward Family Summer Student Research Day, which was held on July 21, 2026. To learn more about the 2026 Ward Research Day, click here.
The 2026 12-week program ran from May 4 to July 24, 2026.
Applications for the Summer 2027 program will open next year.
The program is generously supported by the Ward Family Foundation.
Sparking student Opportunities for Advancing inclusive childhood disability Research (SOAR)
To provide students experiencing structural disadvantages based on their identities, socioeconomic backgrounds and lived experience with invaluable research and mentorship opportunities, the Bloorview Research Institute has created SOAR positions within the Ward Family Summer Student Research program.
Like all positions within the Ward program, these opportunities will expose the successful candidates to the field of research and pediatric rehabilitation while providing them with a unique mentorship experience.
The SOAR positions are available through a partnership between the Bloorview Research Institute and the Community of Support-Research Application Support Initiative (COS-RASI). Administered by the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, COS-RASI is a collaborative initiative that provides learners from underrepresented communities and who face structural barriers with mentorship and support at various stages of their research career journey.
These students include those who self-identify as Indigenous, Black, Filipino, Latin American, economically disadvantaged, non-traditional learners or who self-identify with having a disability.
Applications for the Summer 2027 program will open next year.
SOAR is generously supported by the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation.
Questions?
Please contact Nadine Akbar (nakbar@hollandbloorview.ca) if you have any questions about the Ward Family Summer Student Research Program.
