Seven PhD students advancing social work policy, practice and education through the RBC Fellowship

The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Graduate Fellowship in Applied Social Work Research at the University of Toronto is designed to support FIFSW research by providing PhD students with research training opportunities and financial support. Seven PhD students from FIFSW received RBC Fellowships this year. 

This year’s RBGF recipients include: 

• Rushdia Ahmed 
• Abigail Lash Ballew 
• Monique Clarke 
• Andrew McKenzie 
• Kristen Nolan 
• Heba Ragheb 
• Ofir Sivan

The RBC Graduate Fellowship is funded by RBC, the Ontario government, and U of T, to support PhD students in applied research, combining merit and need-based criteria. 

Rushdia Ahmed 

Rushdia Ahmed holds a Bachelor’s degree is in Pharmacy and a Master of Public Health, which launched her career in global health and health systems research.  Before starting her PhD at FIFSW, Rushdia was a graduate student at York University, pursuing a second Master’s degree in Health Policy and Equity. 

Rushdia’s research interests focus on health equity and social justice among marginalized populations in Canada and in the Global South, where she addresses systems-level challenges and impacting policy-level transformations. Her doctoral research explores the systemic and structural level barriers and risk factors related to African refugee women’s reproductive decision-making and autonomy. Her work examines the influence of societal norms and power imbalances and the impacts of reproductive coercion on the women’s health and wellbeing.  

The RBC fellowship supports Rushida in gathering experiential learning experience as a Research Ethics Board (REB) Fellow with the University of Toronto Health Sciences REB. As part of this year-long fellowship, under the guidance of two faculty supervisors, including Associate Professor Rachelle Ashcroft, she is reviewing both full and delegated ethics protocols. She will also attend the monthly Health Sciences REB meetings and present the full review protocols to the board for further discussion and decision.   

This opportunity assists Rushdia in garnering an embedded experience in research ethics proceedings within a Canadian public research university. Through the RBC REB fellowship, she will achieve the practical experience of day-to-day functioning, rapid and skillful decision-making of REB in an academic institution, and be prepared for a similar role in the future.  

Abigail Lash-Ballew 

Abigail Lash-Ballew (she/her) is a PhD Candidate and Registered Social Worker. She holds a Master of Social Work (MSW) from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) from George Mason University. Her doctoral research examines how social work practicum students in child welfare field placements experience and navigate their professional socialization in relation to institutional racism targeting perinatal mothers. 

Through the RBC Fellowship, Abigail is working under the supervision of Dr. Ramona Alaggia in the ThRIve Lab, a research incubator dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth exposed to trauma. The ThRIve Lab brings together researchers, practitioners, community partners, and students to advance the mission of the Canadian Consortium on Child and Youth Trauma, generating evidence to inform provincial policies and develop consistent, trauma-informed training for professionals working with children and families. Through this collaborative work, the lab seeks to strengthen nurturing, non-violent families and communities as the foundation of healthy child development. 

Guided by commitments to justice, prevention, and systemic transformation, Abigail views the RBC Fellowship as an opportunity to deepen her research on institutional and educational responses to trauma and inequity. Her goal is to reimagine social work education and community-based field placements as pathways toward equity, liberation, and improved outcomes for children and families.  

Monique Clarke 

First year PhD student, Monique Clarke (she/her) is a proud recipient of the RBC Fellowship for the 2025-2026 academic year.  

Monique’s research interest includes critical race theory, anti-Black racism, critical social work pedagogy, criminal justice transformation, probation and community sentencing, as well as Black men’s mental health and Black wellness. Through the RBC fellowship, she is working with Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream Carolyn Mak to examine how social work educators and students engage in processes of knowledge production to integrate social justice orientation within clinical social work.  

Monique’s contribution to this project will not only allow her to contribute to social work pedagogy through research but also support her development as a researcher. This opportunity will allow her to refine her skills for developing research designs and Research Ethics Board (REB) proposals. It will also help her enhance her skill set for carrying out ethical qualitative research. 

Andrew McKenzie 

Andrew was raised in Toronto/Tkaronto and has worked as a social worker since 2012. He attained his undergraduate degree from York University and his Master of Social Work from the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. 

For four years prior to beginning his PhD, Andrew worked extensively with young men engaged in extremist ideologies, almost all of which were deeply misogynistic. His research interest aligns closely with Assistant Professor Kyle Ganson’s project, Looksmaxxing Among Men and Boys, which examines the impact of online misogynistic discourse on male appearance enhancement efforts. His experience working with young men involved in the involuntary celibate (“Ince”) movement informs his analysis of Incel-inspired language on masculinity. This experience grounds his central research interest: developing a theory of the core competencies social workers need to effectively engage individuals involved in extremism.  

The RBC Fellowship provides the financial support and dedicated research time needed to deepen Andrew’s methodological expertise and advance the development of a grounded theory framework, strengthening the theoretical and practical impact of his doctoral research. 

Kristen Nolan 

Kristen Nolan is a second year Ph.D. student at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. She holds a Masters in Research for Policy and Evaluation from the University of Western Ontario as well as a Masters in Social Work from the University of Toronto.  

Kristen’s research focuses on the impacts of exposure to high-conflict separation and divorce on children. With particular attention on educational spaces, her research looks to examine how school-based professionals identify and support children facing social, emotional, academic, and behavioural challenges as a result of exposure to high-conflict separation and divorce.  

Kristen’s current RBC Fellowship research examines mental health concerns among sexual and gender diverse youth and adults. Through this work, she is working with Professor Shelley Craig to identify strategies that strengthen both policy and practice to better meet the needs of children and adults. The Fellowship will provide her with the resources and mentorship to advance in her research program, building critical connections across the field of social work.  

Heba Ragheb 

Ofir Sivan  

Ofir Sivan is a second-year PhD student at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and holds a B.A. in Philosophy and the Multidisciplinary Program in the Humanities and an MSW from Tel Aviv University. With a decade of experience in grassroots organizing and community development, Ofir is interested in the growing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in community-based interventions as well as the potential of community practices to cope with adversarial, unexpected consequences of technological developments.  

During the RBC Fellowship, Ofir will work under the supervision of Professor Jia Xue, focusing on AI-facilitated image-based sexual assault (IBSA) among young adults in Ontario, Canada. The project’s objectives are to estimate the prevalence of IBSA, identify sociodemographic and psychological predictors of both victimization and perpetration, and assess the mental health outcomes associated with the phenomenon. Additionally, the project will examine gaps in frontline organizations’ response to AI-facilitated IBSA in a bid to develop innovative and evidence-based interventions to address these gaps.  

The RBC Fellowship will provide Ofir with invaluable skills to understand and analyze an ICT-facilitate social problem, gather and organize empirical evidence of its existence, and explore the potential role of social work, frontline organizations, and community-based interventions in tackling this problem.