University of Winnipeg enters new era with its first-ever PhD program

Darren Bernhardt · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 18, 2025 3:14 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

The University of Winnipeg has graduated into a caller people of acquisition with its first-ever doctoral program — the PhD successful bioscience and policy.

"It's been a agelong process. It's astir apt adjacent to a decennary since we started reasoning astir it and benignant of putting ideas connected insubstantial astir what we wanted to do," said Craig Willis, prof and seat of the postgraduate program.

The assemblage announced successful October 2024 that the state had approved the caller program, and the authoritative solemnisation of its motorboat was held Tuesday greeting astatine the downtown campus.

The archetypal 3 students person been accepted and volition statesman their doctoral travel successful the fall, Willis says, adding the extremity is to grow up to 10 students a year.

"It's ne'er going to beryllium a immense program, but I deliberation that's a existent spot … wherever each the module successful our section volition cognize each the postgraduate students. They'll enactment astir intimately with 1 supervisor, but we're each benignant of determination for them."

The program builds disconnected the existing maestro of subject grade by providing training successful nationalist connection truthful students tin explicate the existent satellite implications of their probe successful layman's presumption to the wide public, "not conscionable eggheads similar maine successful the ivory tower," Willis said.

Students successful the masters programme are introduced to that constituent but for those successful the PhD programme "we're going to benignant of crank that to 11 and really benignant of treble down connected that nationalist connection aspect," Willi said.

"We're surviving successful an property of misinformation, disinformation, and it's truthful important to person technological results communicated accurately and besides understandably. It's a mode to conscionable amended spot with however probe works and however to assistance radical recognize what's going on."

Unique to Western Canada

That portion of the programme makes it unsocial to Western Canada, Willis says. 

Whereas astir PhD students are focused wholly connected their research projects, "we're adding immoderate further enactment to assistance students larn the argumentation implications of what they're doing," helium said.

And that volition request to beryllium included successful their thesis.

"They'll request to beryllium capable to explicate wherefore nine should attraction astir their work, what are the implications of their enactment for society," Willis said.

Students volition besides beryllium required to enactment successful astatine slightest 2 nationalist outreach events, specified arsenic nationalist talks astatine status homes oregon arsenic portion of the assemblage lecture series.

"And that's conscionable bully quality for spreading the connection astir large probe that's happening close present successful Winnipeg and Manitoba," Willis said.

The programme volition not lone payment the schoolhouse and students, but the metropolis and state and beyond, helium said.

"We've been sort of the past state successful Western Canada to person lone 1 PhD-granting institution. And what we've recovered is that, portion different institutions are doing a terrific job, we've been leaving immoderate probe dollars connected the table," Willis said.

"By offering much students the accidental to bash cutting-edge subject astatine the highest levels, we'll bring much of those dollars into the province."

Expanding subject probe besides strengthens our knowing astir our state "in presumption of the environment, clime change, quality health, biomedicine and each sorts of issues that are important to Indigenous communities and interior metropolis communities," Willis said.