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 will work with a BRI scientist and their team on a research project, participate in lunch and learns and other activities to enhance both their training and research experience. The program will culminate with an opportunity for students to showcase their work at the 19th annual Anne & David Ward Family Summer Student Research Day, which will be held on July 22, 2025. To learn about the previous Ward Research Day, click here.
This year's 12-week program will run from May 5 to July 25, 2025.
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 new 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 with mentorship and support at various stages of their research career journey. These students include but are not limited to those who identify as Indigenous, Black, Filipino, socioeconomically disadvantaged, or identify as having a disability.
SOAR is generously supported by the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation.
