Public Health Sciences - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

B.C Matthews Hall (BMH)

B.C Matthews Hall (BMH) on Waterloo's Campus, across Columbia St W.

Become an expert and tackle some of the biggest health concerns of today’s world with the PhD in Public Health Sciences program. Work alongside leading researchers, integrating perspectives from multiple disciplines and using research as a tool to design, implement, and evaluate health programs, policies, and services.

The trans-disciplinary nature of this program aims to address population and public health challenges on both a national and global scale with tangible, impactful solutions. You’ll learn how to use research to improve the management and accountability of health promotion programs and health systems, preparing you for a career in research (industry, government and academia), health promotion, health planning, policy and health informatics and analytics, research management, healthcare coordination, epidemiology, program evaluation and many others. 

You can pursue a graduate research field within your area of expertise such as epidemiology and biostatistics, health evaluation, health informatics, health and environment, global health, aging and health, and work and health. If you’re a domestic PhD student, the Faculty of Health is committed to providing you guaranteed funding over four years as part of the PhD funding initiative.   

Research areas

  • Aging and Health
  • Epidemiology and Biostatistics
  • Global Health
  • Health and Environment
  • Health Evaluation
  • Health Informatics
  • Work and Health

Program overview

Department/School: School of Public Health Sciences
Faculty: Faculty of Health
Admit term(s): Fall (September - December)
Delivery mode: On-campus
Program type: Doctoral, Research
Length of program: 48 months (full-time)
Registration option(s): Full-time, Part-time
Study option(s): Thesis

Application deadlines

  •  February 1 (for admission in September)

Key contacts

Program contact
sphs.grad.admissions@uwaterloo.ca

Considerations for international students before submitting an application:

While the Faculty of Health at the University of Waterloo values international students in our graduate programs, we can only accept a small proportion of these students. 

Guaranteed funding packages may not be able to cover all tuition and living expenses incurred during a graduate program and students are encouraged to understand more about the cost of completing their graduate program before applying.

Your requested supervisor may also be required to fund your studies for your application to be successful.

Natalie Doan

Everyone is privileged and disadvantaged in so many different ways. And it doesn’t really make sense to view people as singly disadvantaged or advantaged. So I wanted to do research that would build on that nuance.

Natalie Doan, Public Health Sciences, PhD

Supervisors

  • Review finding a supervisor resources to learn how to reach out to potential supervisors. While it is not required to reach out to potential supervisors prior to applying, it is strongly recommended to ensure that the faculty member you are interested in working with is accepting new students and your research interests align.

Admission requirements

  • Students applying to the program should have completed a Master's degree (or its equivalent) with content related to ongoing faculty research in areas such as health, public health, health systems, gerontology, health informatics, global health, occupational health, and evaluation.
  • A minimum 75% average in Master's level coursework.
  • Completion of a Master's degree and evidence of prior research achievements (e.g., Master's thesis, first author peer-reviewed publication, adjudicated research report).
  • Students may be allowed to transfer into the PhD program directly from the School of Public Health Sciences (SPHS) Master's programs. Such students must have completed all Master's coursework requirements, have demonstrated a superior academic record, and have evidence of prior research achievements (e.g., adjudicated research report, significant documented contribution as a co-author to a peer-reviewed publication, first author peer-reviewed publication).
  • Students are sometimes accepted for direct admission to the PhD in the SPHS program if they have an Honours Bachelor of Science degree or the equivalent and have exceptional academic and research performance, including evidence of prior research achievements (e.g., adjudicated research report, significant documented contribution as a co-author to a peer-reviewed publication, first author peer-reviewed publication). Directly admitted students will be required to complete 9 (required and elective) graduate courses, graduate milestones and a doctoral thesis.

Degree requirements

Application materials

  • Resume/Curriculum vitae
  • Supplementary information form (SIF)
    • The SIF contains questions specific to your program, typically about why you want to enrol and your experience in that field. Review the application documents web page for more information about this requirement
    • If a statement or letter is required by your program, review the writing your personal statement resources for helpful tips and tricks on completion
  • Transcript(s)
  • Writing sample
    • Students must submit a copy of previous academic work, such as copies of preprints, reprints, or master's thesis, or other evidence of written scholarly work
  • References
  • Proof of English language proficiency, if applicable

    • TOEFL 100 (writing 26, speaking 26), IELTS 7.5 (writing 7.0, speaking 7.0)

    • The School of Public Health Sciences does not consider international applications whose English language proficiency scores fall below the minimum requirements

Tuition and fees