Congratulations to the 2026 Studentship Cohort

AbSPORU Graduate Studentship in Patient-Oriented Research

The Alberta SPOR SUPPORT Unit (AbSPORU) Graduate Studentship provides opportunities for individuals enrolled in any year of a thesis-based Master’s or PhD program at one of Alberta’s four comprehensive academic research universities (CARU) to undertake research that both meaningfully engages patients and addresses their priorities.

Recipients will have the opportunity to attain the knowledge and experience they need to build exciting careers that leverage their unique training and expertise in patient-oriented research.

Since 2015, AbSPORU has awarded over $3 million to 100 graduate students, to support their patient-oriented research. Participants in the program have gone on to win 87 academic awards in the form of student funding, fellowships, research project funding, salary support, and professional development opportunities worth a combined total of over $5 million.

How the program works

Funding

The program provides 12 months of funding support towards a thesis-based Master’s or Doctoral degree, consisting of a stipend of $30,000.

The program also provides a range of patient-oriented research training and competency development activities to build the interdisciplinary and collaborative skills required of Alberta’s next generation of researchers, clinicians and health services professionals.

Congratulations to the 2026 Studentship Cohort

Dayirai Kapfunde - University of Alberta

Project: The Cost of Caring: A Focused Ethnography Exploring Occupational Health Experiences and the Invisible Struggles of Racialized-as-Black Women Allied Healthcare Workers in Alberta

Emily-Marie Roberts - University of Alberta

Project: An Exploration of Autistic Adults' Dental Insights through a Table-top Roleplaying Game (TTRPG)

Jordyn Cox - University of Alberta

Project: How does migration status impact weight stigma during pregnancy and postpartum and its relationship with psychosocial outcomes?

Joshua Tulk - University of Calgary

Project: Development of a Community-Based Sleep Treatment Education Program for Cancer Survivors: The WellSleep Education Program Study

Nisha Marshall - University of Calgary

Project: Setting the Top 10 Research Priorities in Psychedelic-Assisted Cancer Therapy

Noah Martin - University of Calgary

Project: Exploring the Psychosocial Components of Exercise Adherence in Women with Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders

Prosper Asaana - University of Alberta

Project: Community Engagement and Co-Creation of a Culturally Appropriate, Community Delivered Continence Management Program for Older Women

Samiha Mohsen - University of Calgary

Project: Implementing Patient-Centered Methods to Improve Outcome Measurement and Treatment Evaluation in Prurigo Nodularis

Santwana Carstensen-Sinha - University of Alberta

Project: Making space: Exploring autism-centering spaces to foster the wellbeing of Autistic students in inclusive mainstream schools

Steven Hall - University of Alberta

Project: Partnering with Carers and Healthcare Professionals to Co-Create the Dementia Carer WINK “What I Need to Know” Toolkit (DC-WINK)

Thomas Qiao - University of Calgary

Project: Co-designing a patient-oriented mHealth intervention to support psychosocial well-being and health behaviour change in AYA cancer survivors

Tyara Marchand - University of Calgary

Project: Exploring the Context of Indigenous Paramedicine in Southern Alberta (ECIPSA)

Vincent McRorie - University of Alberta

Project: Pre-op exercise for AIS surgery for correction rate, levels fused, and quality of life: A randomized controlled trial

Wenting Yan - University of Alberta

Project: Toward Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Care: Examining Health Disparities Among Linguistic Minority Residents in Long-term Care

Application Instructions

  1. Create an Award Spring account using your school email address
  2. Login using your email and password
  3. Click on “Application” on the left hand side of the screen (Note: changes will be auto-saved and you may return at any time to complete your application.)
  4. Fill out all of the information in each section
  5. Click “next step” (Note: you may return to previous sections using the navigation on the left side of the form.)
  6. The “secondary supervisor” section is optional; if you do not have a secondary supervisor you may skip this section and proceed to “academic record”.