April, 2015 – Jon Breen, a PhD candidate within the School of Social Work, has recently been awarded the Banting and Best Canada Graduate Scholarship. This three-year award, provided by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, is described as providing “special recognition and support” to doctoral students in a health related field in Canada who are “expected to have an exceptionally high potential for future research achievement”. Funding includes an annual stipend of $30,000 as well as $5,000 per year for research-related expenses. When he first learned of being awarded this scholarship, Jon said “I am honoured to receive this award. I will make every effort to contribute something useful to my field of study.”
Jon’s research is focused on issues of disability and employment. His research goal is to develop a new measure that will assist in determining employer and co-worker attitudes toward employees and job seekers with disabilities. Jon has recently completed his coursework and comprehensive exams, obtaining candidacy status following his oral defence in June. He is now developing his research proposal and intends to begin his research later this year.
