Yes, PCHR is not a distance education program; all learners are required to live in the Greater Vancouver area during their tenure with the program.

The three target learner groups are graduate students from multiple disciplines and programs, trans-disciplinary postdoctoral fellows (who have received their Ph.D. within the last three years), and community program managers/learners/policy makers (who are working a minimum of 80% time with up to two employers).

Graduate Student (Academic Learner); Postdoctoral Fellow (Academic Learner); Community Learner.

Please see “Recruitment – Learner Categories” for more detail:

http://www.pchr.net/EN/learner_categories/

Yes, as an academic learner you must be enrolled as a full-time graduate student in an accredited university.

No, as long as you are enrolled in an accredited university and reside in the Greater Vancouver area for the duration of the program you are considered eligible.

Yes, you are welcome to apply to the PCHR training program as an “unpaid” academic learner.

Academic learners are required to inform PCHR Management should they receive additional funding. In this case, PCHR funding will cease once alternate funding begins. If the amount of the external funding is less than that offered by PCHR, the external funding will be supplemented by PCHR to the PCHR base level. If you are no longer receiving funding from PCHR you would be able to remain in the program as an “unpaid” learner. Unpaid learners must complete all PCHR activities of that of a paid learner.

A PCHR community learner is required to have a full-time position (0.8 time or more) or no more than two part-time positions (equaling 0.8 time or more) in a community health related field.

You must have agreement from your employer(s) to continue to provide you with your usual salary and benefits; release you from regular employment activities to train with PCHR for the equivalent of one day per week; send PCHR an invoice for one day per week of your time (not including benefits); and not diminish or influence your overall salary/wages by being a PCHR community learner.

Academic mentors are affiliated with a post-secondary institution, and include professors, instructors, visiting scholars, post-doctoral fellows, and research associates. Community mentors are drawn from community-based institutions (e.g., health regions, health unions), non-governmental organizations, the private sector, and, where appropriate, the lay public. Mentors may assume one or more of the following roles: cluster member, cluster co-convener, PCHR Steering Council member, working group member, and/or primary mentor.

A co-convener is a PCHR academic or community mentor who leads the cluster in their project work. The co-convener is also a member of the PCHR Steering Council and the Learner Recruitment and Selection Committee.

A PCHR cluster is a community-based learning environment that is comprised of academic and community learners and mentors. This environment provides an approach that allows for shared learning across diverse university and community target groups through project-based teamwork on actual community research priorities.

A stipend is not a fellowship; it is a set amount of funding provided to academic learners (including postdoctoral fellows) in the PCHR Training Program, with the expectation that the learner will fulfill program commitments as outlined in the learner “Letter of Offer”. The stipend amount is set by CIHR funding guidelines for STIHR programs such as PCHR.

Community learners receive a stipend which is paid in the form of a “buy-out” to their employer(s) for one day a week. During their tenure with PCHR the learners’ employer(s) agrees to release them for one day a week to train with PCHR and to continue to regularly pay their salary. Reimbursement for the one day a week is paid to the employer (not including benefits) and not to the learner.