PhD Student Association
About the PhD Student Association
What We Do
The PhD Student Association (PhDSA) represents and advocates for doctoral students’ interests at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. The PhDSA promotes links between social work doctoral students and the faculty. The PhDSA is the formal link to the Graduate Student Union (GSU). A part of this communication includes attending GSU Council meetings, where the PhDSA voices FIFSW PhD student concerns, such as funding, academic and equity issues. We also provide support and service to individual students. If you have any questions or concerns about life as a doctoral student, the PhDSA is here to support you! In person, by phone, or by e-mail – whatever suits you best. If we cannot help you directly, we will guide you to someone who can.
How We Are Organized
PhDSA council members volunteer for their positions and are responsible to students in the faculty. The PhDSA is funded by the GSU, based on the number of students in the faculty. The PhDSA Co-Chairs have ultimate decision-making authority and charge over PhDSA general affairs, but encourage student involvement.
Get Involved!
Becoming involved in the PhDSA is important. It helps to ensure we, as students, have a voice in departmental affairs and a vehicle through which we can express our concerns and opinions. Additionally, supporting the local and international community through outreach is an important goal for the PhDSA. Social advocacy and other work carried out by the PhDSA cannot happen without the involvement of its members — of which we are grateful for any and all help and support! If you want to become more active within the FIFSW community, drop by the PhDSA office during office hours, or send us an email.
Contact Information
fifsw.phdsa@utoronto.ca
Email for an appointment
PhDSA Council Members (Fall, 2019 – present)
Monte-Angel Richardson
Monte-Angel Richardson’s (she/they) research interests are violence prevention within communities, immigrants and refugees, trauma informed practice, and transformative justice models. Combining social work and public health at local, state, national, and international levels, Monte-Angel focuses on the prevention gun violence and interruption of the processes that permeate trauma within marginalized populations and communities. Monte-Angel’s research in the U.S., Canada, and Japan is diverse methodologically, spanning from participatory action research to surveys with complex sampling design, from building machine learning models to intervention research, including the use of machine learning to analyze trends in gun violence, a study of survivors of a mass shooting in California, and multi method qualitative studies of residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At the University of Toronto, she is a member of the collaborative specialization in social work and public health policy. One recent project involves evaluating levels of posttraumatic growth among survivors of mass violence through statistical and qualitative mixed methods analyses. In addition to her involvement with the National Center for Women & Information Technology in the United States (NCWIT), Monte-Angel is published in the Health & Social Work journal and has written a book chapter regarding trauma informed practices at university libraries.
Kaitrin Doll
Kaitrin Doll (they/them) is in their third year of the doctoral program. Their research interest includes sexual and gender minority populations (SGM) and the interplay between community membership, social support, connectedness, and mental wellness. Kaitrin’s doctoral research will focus on how sport participation in affirming environments — using roller derby as the site of study — contributes to stress-coping, affirmation of identity, community building, resilience, and improved mental health for SGM. For the past two years Kaitrin has been a student with the International Partnership for Queer Youth Resilience (INQYR), an interdisciplinary and international partnership designed to understand and support the resilience of SGM populations. This year, Kaitrin is co-chair of the Canadian Regional Research Network.
PhDSA Constitution
Please click here for a PDF document.