The annual fellowships are designed to offer doctoral students the opportunity to explore the world of public scholarship. Fellows focus on engaging the public through their scholarly work – this can take a range of forms, from describing their work in a public forum to partnering with a school, community organization or cultural institution in an ongoing two-way exchange of knowledge and practices.

“We look forward to supporting this group of emerging scholars as they undertake the important work of engaging the wider public in their doctoral research,” said Sarah Sharma, acting vice-dean, research and program innovation at the School of Graduate Studies. “We congratulate the students who received the fellowship this year, and thank the Connaught Fund for the continued generous support of this program.”

The 2026-27 Connaught PhDs for Public Impact Fellows are:

• Harmata Aboubakar, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts & Science
• Ferdinand (Reke) Avikpe, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
• Reese Carr, Women and Gender Studies Institute, Faculty of Arts & Science
• Sajida Chowdhury, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
• Ruxandra Filip, Department of Applied Psychology & Human Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
• Brigid Goulem, Graduate Department of Public Health Sciences, Dalla Lana School of Public Health 
• Amanda Harvey-Sánchez, Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts & Science
• Natasha Henrique, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Dalla Lana School of Public Health 
• Lucia Nalbandian, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts & Science
• Gemma Postill, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Dalla Lana School of Public Health 
• Sterling Stutz, Graduate Department of Public Health Sciences, Dalla Lana School of Public Health 
• Jillian Sunderland, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts & Science
• Songtao (Steve) Wang, Department of Applied Psychology & Human Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
• Juan‑Manuel Vélez‑Villegas, Department of Geography and Planning, Faculty of Arts & Science
• Zhangzhu Wan, Women and Gender Studies Institute, Faculty of Arts & Science

Read more about the 2026-27 Connaught PhDs for Public Impact Fellows.