Events

Upcoming events

23 Sep 2025

IWH Speaker Series

Beyond employment rates: The long-term work experiences of Canadians with mental health conditions

Kathleen Dobson, Institute for Work & Health

People living with a mental health condition often face a lower likelihood of employment than those without such conditions. Yet in Canada, we know far less about the diversity of employment experiences for people with mental health conditions, and how these experiences change over time. In this presentation, Dr. Kathleen Dobson examines the long-term employment trajectories of Canadians living with common mental disorders, severe mental disorders, and substance use disorders. Drawing on 25 years of linked survey and tax data, she explores whether, compared to those without these conditions, people with these conditions are more likely to exit the workforce early, experience unstable employment, or sustain work across their prime working years. 

21 Oct 2025

IWH Speaker Series

Engaging employees in wellness: Insights from workplace champions

Aviroop Biswas, Institute for Work & Health

Champions are often cited as important facilitators of employee participation in workplace wellbeing activities. However, little is known about their experiences or the approaches they take to engage colleagues in wellbeing efforts. Understanding how formal and informal champions carry out these roles is essential to appreciating their potential impact and determining what supports are needed to strengthen their contributions to workplace wellbeing. In this presentation, Dr. Aviroop Biswas shares findings from a qualitative study of workplace wellbeing champions across Canada. The study explored how formal and informal champions promote wellbeing within their organizations—as well as their motivations, the activities and strategies they use, and the successes and challenges they face in engaging peers across diverse organizational contexts.

30 Oct 2025

Systematic Review Workshop

Fall 2025 Systematic Review Workshop

This two-day in-person workshop teaches participants how to plan and carry out a basic systematic review, understand the appropriate methods for more complex analysis, interpret the results of a meta-analysis and accurately communicate the results and interpretation of a review.

Past events

27 May 2025

IWH Speaker Series

Preventing PTSI work disability at first responder organizations: an environmental scan

Emile Tompa, Institute for Work & Health

Due to the nature of their work, first responders ( paramedics, police and firefighters) are routinely exposed to traumatizing experiences. As a result, they are at a much greater risk of work disability associated with post-traumatic stress injuries (PTSI) than the general population. However, we currently know little about how to effectively support first responders in work disability prevention and the management of occupational stress and mental health. In this presentation, Dr. Emile Tompa shares findings from an environmental scan of current programs, services and practices in first responder organizations. Through a synthesis of the research literature to date and interviews with experts in English-speaking jurisdictions (including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia), the scan sets out to learn about organizational-level programs, services, and practices for first responders. It also looks at the contextual factors—for example, the key actors, processes, barriers and facilitators—that can have a positive or negative impact on the programs, services and practices.

22 Apr 2025

IWH Speaker Series

Good jobs, bad jobs, and ‘deaths of despair’

Faraz Vahid Shahidi, Institute for Work & Health

Life expectancy is stalling in Canada and other high-income countries. These trends are partly due to rising “deaths of despair,” a term that some researchers use to describe suicide, drug poisoning, and alcohol-related mortality. In this presentation, Dr. Faraz Vahid Shahidi examines the link between job quality—whether one has a “good” or “bad” job—and deaths of despair in the Canadian workforce. He asks whether people in precarious employment, which is insecure and unrewarding, are more likely to suffer an early death due to suicide, drug poisoning, or alcohol-related causes. He also discusses the role job quality can play in improving population health and stemming the rise of deaths of despair.

25 Mar 2025

IWH Speaker Series

Surveying the landscape for AI use in occupational health and safety in Ontario and British Columbia

Arif Jetha, Institute for Work & Health

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming workplaces across Canada, enhancing productivity and efficiency in countless ways. AI also has the potential to transform occupational health and safety practice. Despite its promise, however, we still know very little about how organizations are using AI to protect worker health and what factors influence their decision to adopt these technologies. In this presentation, Dr. Arif Jetha dives into findings from a recent survey of over 800 occupational health and safety professionals in Ontario and British Columbia. He outlines how AI could create safer workplaces and support worker health, sparking a discussion on both the risks and opportunities of AI in occupational health and safety and offering valuable takeaways for future research and practice.

View all past events