Kick-start new ideas in occupational therapy research
What if daily life suddenly became out of reach? Your gift to the OT Research Initiative Fund helps spark the pilot projects that make everyday activities possible again—through new tools, therapies and breakthroughs that empower people to live fully.
Project Description
The Occupational Therapy Research Initiative Fund (RIF) is a fantastic way to support new innovation in occupational therapy. Your support fuels research that creates new technologies, approaches and interventions that make a direct difference to people’s lives.
Each year, faculty from the Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy can apply for up to $5,000 in seed funding to launch new research ideas or test small pilot projects. This funding acts as a springboard for larger research studies, allows for early hypothesis testing and supports new researchers gather the early data they need to apply for bigger grants. This funding is particularly important because it supports novel, untested, or risky ideas which might otherwise never be explored.
Previous projects supported by the fund include:
- Youth and mental health:
Novel programming for young job-seekers showed significant improvement in their mental health. Pilot data from this RIF study, led by Dr. Skye Barbic, was used to advocate for provincial and federal funding for employment as a core service for young adults receiving mental health services in British Columbia, and enabled the research to go to clinical trial. - Social justice and inclusion for people with disabilities in the healthcare professions:
Research-based theatre was tested as an innovative and effective teaching tool and was found to powerfully engage audiences and significantly shift attitudes towards people with disabilities in a positive way. Led by Dr. Tal Jarus, the first iteration of Alone in the Ring was created with the Research Initiative Fund, and has now been performed over 30 times to 2,000+ policymakers, university faculty, staff and students. - Protecting the brains of vulnerable pre-term infants:
Clinical testing of a new brain monitoring system, designed to be used in the neonatal intensive care nursery showed extremely promising results. Dr. Liisa Holsti used the data to leverage additional funding from UBC Health to support several PhD and master’s students in order to broaden and publish the research, and has used the research to contribute to wider scientific development on monitoring infant brain health.
Impact of Your Support
The Research Initiative Fund relies on donations to be granted each year. Often, funding organizations are reluctant to fund projects that have not been tested on a small scale and require pilot data or trialed research designs as evidence. That is where the Research Initiative Fund comes in.
Grants from the Research Initiative Fund not only support members of faculty to launch initial programs of research but also encourages the development of interdisciplinary team projects or new methodologies which lie outside of (or in between) traditional funding opportunities. It is possible to fund high-risk and high-reward research on a much shorter timescale, allowing new ideas to build momentum quickly.
Your support ensures that promising ideas don’t stall. Each donation creates a catalyst for faculty to establish new programs of research and crystallize nascent research ideas. Your donation could kickstart a project that goes on to change lives on a much greater scale.
About the Research Initiative Fund
The faculty team in the Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy work at the top of their fields across many areas of health research, social research, and educational leadership. Our group of 24 scholars conduct research with patients, the public, and students to ensure that findings have a direct influence on health care and education in occupational therapy. Each member of faculty brings their own distinct perspective on the value of life activities and how doing those activities affects your quality of life. Life is most fulfilling when we can do activities that matter to us.
Research areas in the team include aging, assistive technology, teaching and learning in occupational therapy, childhood-onset disability, chronic cardiovascular disease, traumatic brain injury, migration and Francophone minority communities, spinal cord injury, disorders of consciousness, wheeled mobility, the inclusion of persons with disabilities, pain and stress in preterm infants, implementation science, mental health, belonging and well-being, and the impact of chronic illness on participation in paid and unpaid work.
Occupational science and occupational therapy are focused on many aspects of human health and well-being, and there are exciting opportunities for new connections in interdisciplinary research. The faculty team is dedicated to finding ways to help people of all ages who live anywhere in the world to do what they love to do, with the goal of improving just and equitable occupational participation for all.