Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing
Our doctoral degree program fosters the next generation of nursing scholars. As a doctoral graduate, you'll be entrusted with advancing nursing knowledge, preserving and developing nursing literature, communicating nursing knowledge to others, and understanding and advancing the role of nursing in society.
Our program is delivered in a distance learning format, supplemented with mandatory on-campus visits. (The number and length of on-campus visits varies among cohorts.) If you're a self-directed learner, have a deep, active knowledge of a particular focus of study within the field of nursing, and want to contribute to the literature in that area, then our PhD program is for you.
Program objectives
As part of the PhD program, you will:
- develop a broad, critical knowledge of nursing literature and how different aspects of nursing relate to each other
- learn to discern among research methods and develop expertise in research methodologies in accordance with a chosen focus of inquiry
- conduct independent research, including conceptualization and design, analysis and interpretation of data, dissemination of research results to different audiences or stakeholder groups, and contributing to nursing disciplinary knowledge
- gain a general understanding of the centrality of nursing in society, the impact that nursing has in many fields of human health, and the impact that other disciplines have on nursing
- understand and commit to the ethical professional engagement in the discipline of nursing
- engage in professional service, both within your immediate community and as part of the broader community of nurse scholars
- help others learn to combine creativity, imagination and compassion with rigor, logic and critical thinking
Student stories
Vanier scholar examines community-led safer supply models
Nursing PhD student Nancy Henderson has seen first-hand how access to a safer supply can change the lives of people who use drugs.