The Arthritis Society Training Postdoctoral Fellowship (TPF)

The Arthritis Society Training Postdoctoral Fellowship (TPF) program provides support for highly qualified postdoctoral fellows to engage in research that is in an area of clear relevance to arthritis and Arthritis Society Canada’s Strategic Plan 2020-2025: Accelerating Impact - Research Strategy which aims to identify research avenues that focus on areas of highest priority to patients and achieve the highest levels of scientific excellence and rigour.  Applications must focus on innovative research efforts in the following priority areas.

• Arthritis pain research in:
  • Improving our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of pain
  • Translating basic science discoveries into practice
  • Improving techniques to measure pain
  • Developing new and more personalized treatment approaches
  • Alternative approaches to pain management including research on medical cannabis from basic science, clinical, health services and policy perspectives
  • Improving self-management tools and technology enablers to help manage and communicate about pain
• Osteoarthritis (OA) research in:
  • Improving our understanding of what cause different forms of OA, including the underlying biological mechanisms and how the disease progresses
  • Understand sex and gender differences in patients with OA
  • Developing new and more personalized treatment approaches
  • Developing more effective self-management tools
  • Improving health services and systems
  • Reducing health disparities in vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations
• Inflammatory arthritis (IA) research in:
  • Improving our understanding of what causes different forms of IA, including the underlaying biological mechanisms and how the disease progresses
  • Developing new and more personalized treatment approaches
  • Improving strategies to manage symptoms
  • Developing more effective methods to support patient-physician communications
  • Improving health services and systems
  • Reducing health disparities in vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations
• Childhood arthritis research in:
  • Improving our understanding of what causes childhood arthritis, how to detect it earlier, and diagnose it most effectively
  • Developing new and more personalized therapies that are safe and effective
  • Innovations to improve transitions in care as children navigate from pediatric to adult healthcare settings and improve unique quality of life issues through other life changes (e.g., education, employment)
• Work-related research in:
  • Providing a strong evidence base to inform arthritis-related workplace policies and accommodations
  • Ensuring that employees and employers have effective tools and resources to communicate how to manage chronic conditions in the workplace
  • The prevention of workplace disability and the most effective accommodations

Fellows will train under the supervision of an arthritis researcher who qualifies as a Principal Investigator as defined by Arthritis Society Canada. Applications are to be completed and submitted by the fellow, under the close supervision of the proposed supervisor. The training program must include actual involvement in conducting research. It is expected that the fellow will be spending at least 75% of his/her time conducting research during the tenure of the award. Fellows enrolled in programs oriented toward clinical training focused on research are eligible for these awards.

Successful applicants will also be invited to attend the Canadian Arthritis Research Conference. The intent is to augment the young investigators’ training by providing a forum to share their research, gain knowledge on select topics such as consumer engagement in research, and provide networking and mentorship opportunities.

Consumer Engagement
Arthritis Society Canada strongly values the voice of consumers in research, both in their inclusion in grant applications and the peer review process.  Applicants should consider this in their submission and are encouraged to integrate input from consumers in the development of research questions and/or design as appropriate. Productive engagement of consumers in the conduct, analysis and/or dissemination of the research should be described, where appropriate.

Sex and Gender
Applicants should account for sex as a biological variable and/or gender as a sociocultural determinant of health in basic science, clinical, health service and population health studies where appropriate.  Applicants will be required to articulate this within their application.  Sex and Gender in Health research resources and training modules can be accessed here.