University of Winnipeg enters new era with its first-ever PhD program
Darren Bernhardt | CBC News | Posted: March 18, 2025 7:14 PM | Last Updated: March 18
Studies begin in fall for 3 students, but U of W hopes to eventually expand to 10
The University of Winnipeg has graduated into a new class of education with its first-ever doctoral program — the PhD in bioscience and policy.
"It's been a long process. It's probably close to a decade since we started thinking about it and sort of putting ideas on paper about what we wanted to do," said Craig Willis, professor and chair of the graduate program.
The university announced in October 2024 that the province had approved the new program, and the official celebration of its launch was held Tuesday morning at the downtown campus.
The first three students have been accepted and will begin their doctoral journey in the fall, Willis says, adding the goal is to expand up to 10 students a year.
"It's never going to be a huge program, but I think that's a real strength … where all the faculty in our department will know all the graduate students. They'll work most closely with one supervisor, but we're all kind of there for them."
The program builds off the existing master of science degree by providing training in public communication so students can explain the real world implications of their research in layman's terms to the general public, "not just eggheads like me in the ivory tower," Willis said.
Students in the masters program are introduced to that element but for those in the PhD program "we're going to sort of crank that to 11 and really sort of double down on that public communication aspect," Willi said.
"We're living in an age of misinformation, disinformation, and it's so important to have scientific results communicated accurately and also understandably. It's a way to just improve trust with how research works and how to help people understand what's going on."
Unique to Western Canada
That part of the program makes it unique to Western Canada, Willis says.
Whereas most PhD students are focused entirely on their research projects, "we're adding some additional work to help students learn the policy implications of what they're doing," he said.
And that will need to be included in their thesis.
"They'll need to be able to explain why society should care about their work, what are the implications of their work for society," Willis said.
Students will also be required to participate in at least two public outreach events, such as public talks at retirement homes or as part of the community lecture series.
"And that's just good news for spreading the word about great research that's happening right here in Winnipeg and Manitoba," Willis said.
The program will not only benefit the school and students, but the city and province and beyond, he said.
"We've been sort of the last province in Western Canada to have only one PhD-granting institution. And what we've found is that, while other institutions are doing a terrific job, we've been leaving some research dollars on the table," Willis said.
"By offering more students the chance to do cutting-edge science at the highest levels, we'll bring more of those dollars into the province."
Expanding science research also strengthens our understanding about our province "in terms of the environment, climate change, human health, biomedicine and all sorts of issues that are important to Indigenous communities and inner city communities," Willis said.